If you’ve ever streamed or watched a video or some footage online, you may have experienced buffering. Essentially, buffering is evident when the footage you are watching or streaming stops midway through and you have to wait for the bar at the bottom of the screen to move before play resumes.

Usually this buffering is apparent in the first few seconds of playback. Usually a transparent bar at the bottom moves and the first few seconds of footage are stored in the memory cache, but footage only starts a few seconds later when you often see a solid bar tries to catch the transparent one. Once the bars remain separate, there is more downloaded than playback and video should run smoothly.

Streaming services buffer video a little to prevent lagging and jerky video stopping every few seconds. If the speed of the video playback is faster than the speed of the download, then you get this jerky movement.

Even for those of us with good internet connections, buffering is there to compensate for the inconsistences of your connection. Fundamentally, it’s a safety mechanism to ensure good, smooth playback.

Of course, the faster your internet connection, the faster the download and the larger buffer, which means the smoother the playback?

There are a number of ways to prevent problems with playback and ensure there are no issues with buffering.

Pause It

The simplest way to prevent having to wait for a video to buffer is to, pause the video when it loads and allow a significant amount of buffer to build up. This means that a large portion of the video is downloaded before you start watching, giving the buffer a significant enough head start on the playback. This often takes time, but for the peace of smooth video is a necessity in many cases.

Connection

Perhaps you can get a faster Internet connection from your Internet service provider or perhaps you can change your provider. There can be a significant speed difference in ISPs and even ISP packages and where a buffer is always a necessary for one ISP it may not ever be needed for another.

Look through some of the Internet broadband sites on the Internet. Many provide the speed available in your area, meaning it’s very easy to compare.

Router

Often, the stock router you have received with your Internet connection is quite lacklustre and doesn’t provide the strongest possible signal. As you can imagine, some routers are significantly more technologically advanced than others.

Purchasing a router can make all the difference when it comes to Internet and buffering speeds. There are a number of excellent routers out there that don’t cost a significant amount of money, yet will really make the difference when it comes to broadband speeds in your home.

Ethernet Adaptors

One of the latest pieces of technology becoming increasingly common in homes and offices are Ethernet adaptors. These adaptors come in pairs and plug into the router’s Ethernet cable and send the Internet connection through the building’s electrical wires to another identical adaptor plugged into the wall beside the computer. This adaptor is then linked to the computer or laptop through another Ethernet cable. These devices can greatly speed up the connection speeds available and allow for significant increases in Internet speeds and so decrease the likelihood of mid video buffering.

These means generally don’t cost a large amount of money, if any money, but they can really end the irritating buffering many of us are irritated by. Use them to make buffering and the fragmented playback of video a thing of the past.

What is Buffering and How to Prevent it is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

For the past several years, Apple has been the lone dog in the tablet wars, with no other manufacturers able to create a device near as popular as the iPad. That all appears to be ready to change, however, as Google’s first tablet, the Nexus 7, hits the market later this month. Running on Google’s immensely popular Android operating system, the Nexus 7 will be introduced at a much lower price point and will clock in at 7 inches, much smaller than the current iPad.

While Apple has staunchly clung to its decision to only make iPads at their current size, it would appear the market is ready for a smaller tablet device. One of the primary concerns with tablets like the iPad is simply that the price point is too high for many casual users to consider purchasing it. The Nexus 7 will debut at just $199, coming in several hundred dollars cheaper than those devices released by Apple. While the screen size will be a bit smaller, the product will no doubt have tech gurus salivating, thanks to the impressive technology packed inside the device.

Perhaps most exciting is the inclusion of a quad-core processor and a 12-core video chip, both of which will make this tablet one of the most impressive mobile gaming devices around. Of course, it won’t feature the retina display that Apple’s iPads and iPhones use, but it nevertheless will provide the enduser with an enjoyable experience. Impressive computing power is far from the only feature in the Nexus 7, which will also include a GPS chip, bluetooth connectivity, and NFC technology.

All of this talk about the release of the Nexus 7 has experts talking about what Apple will do to try to keep the competition low in the tablet world. Steve Jobs famously stated that he believed a smaller tablet would not be able to provide users with an enjoyable mobile experience, and the tech company has yet to release a tablet that is smaller than the current iPad incarnation. Apple has previously recommended that those consumers hoping to get their hands on a smaller tablet running iOS should simply purchase an iPhone or iPad. As more tablets take off at a smaller size, however, Apple is said to be mulling over the decision to release a miniature iPad later this fall.

Irregardless of what Apple ultimately decides to do, there is little question that the Android marketplace will continue eating up these small, yet powerful tablets. The Nexus 7 contains some of the processing power seen in larger devices, but is also small enough to be slipped into a pocket or purse, making it extremely usable on the go. This release comes after a wave of similar products have hit the market, including Amazon’s Kindle Fire, another Android-powered tablet that is smaller than many others. It too is priced at just $199, which has led to the device being enormously popular across the board.

As for the Nexus 7, the product is slated to make its way to consumers by the end of July. Google’s tablet will be amongst the first to run Android’s “Jelly Bean” operating system, along with a new feature called Google Now. This is the first time tablet users will have seen the feature, which shares information that Google thinks the individual should know, based on recent search activity. The Nexus 7 is also serving up a voice recognition software of its own, making the tablet able to directly compete with Apple’s iPad device.

Google’s Nexus 7 Poised to Tackle Tablet Wars is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Have you wondered what else could be done to make a smartphone more appealing? The Samsung Galaxy Beam, this month’s newest arrival at Carphone Warehouse. With the powerful projecting system that has been added to the regular features of this phone, you can now easily share images and videos with multiple friends, family members, or business colleagues at simultaneously.

This feature is ideal for adding visuals to lectures or sharing those favourite family vacation moments. Simply project your content onto any flat surface such as a wall or the ceiling. You can even use the projector feature outdoors. The phone’s 15-lumens projector can reproduce an ultra-bright picture on a surface up to two metres away, and it can enlarge your media photos or videos to 50 inches, or 1.27 metres.

The Samsung Galaxy Beam continues to offer all the traditional quality that customers expect. The soft, rubberised back is comfortable in your hand, and the ultra-slim feature is great for carrying in your pocket, handbag, or briefcase. A 4-inch WVGA touch screen offers high-quality colour contrast for easier browsing and viewing.

This new 3G-capable handset operates on a 2,000 mAh battery, creating a superfast mobile Internet. It is powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor that runs with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The result is an ultra-smooth performance and flawless multimedia playback and projection. Switching apps is seamless and instant. If you use your phone for gaming, you’ll have no problem staying up to speed.

Samsung’s Galaxy Beam offers a dependable, flash-enabled 5-megapixel camera with a front-facing 1.3 megapixel feature. Users will enjoy the clarity captured in every picture. Being able to project those great shots for your friends and family will be an additional bonus. This smartphone also comes standard with 8 GB of internal memory. However, upgrading for more storage is always available through the micro SD slot.

Carphone Warehouse is currently offering pre-registration for this new phone. With free next-day delivery anywhere within the UK mainland, a company policy for all its phones and tablets, you can get your own Galaxy Beam as soon as it hits the shelves. Customers can shop at the store, by phone, or online and still receive the same great 24/7 service. Web-exclusive deals are a great opportunity to buy your next phone at a substantial savings. If the new Samsung Galaxy Beam has what you are looking for, you can find it at www.carphonewarehouse.com.

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Whether one is a student, lawyer or science scholar, the Internet has changed the way that people do research. Research for projects is not as intensive as it once may have been. More notably, social scientists now frequently offer their research to the public prior to publishing it in a prestigious academic journal.

The way that content is distributed is completely different from years before. Social scientists can now freely share their work online and through various science based organizations, and they can easily find people who are willing to help out with their projects. Here are a few of the reasons why the web is changing the nature of research:

Better Tools

Researchers in the field of law have witnessed a dramatic change in their field. About ten to fifteen years ago, Lexis Nexis and Westlaw were the leading research tools for researchers. The problem is that research tools like Lexis Nexis and Westlaw are incredibly expensive for lawyers and legal scholars. Running just one search on one of these platforms can cost $10 or $15.

Now, legal scholars frequently use Google Scholar to access the latest cases to hit the web instead of resorting to Westlaw or Lexis Nexis. Using Google Scholar allows legal scholars to save thousands of dollars in a given year. Google Scholar and other free research tools have transformed the way that academics are choosing to pursue their research projects.

Distribution of Information

Social scientists have greatly benefitted from the free distribution of research papers on the Internet. Social scientists now frequently share their work with peers on the Internet and are also able to gain credibility in this way. In prior years, social scientists were forced to submit their research to prestigious academic journals and hope that they would be published.

Peer Review

Social scientists can now achieve prestige in the world of social science by merely sharing their work with their peers and obtaining a few good reviews. Prestigious journals are no longer needed for establishing one’s self as a respected scholar. The Social Science Research Network is just one example of a leading network that allows professors to publish their work before publication. Works that are displayed on the Social Science Research Network are often more successful on this platform than they would be in other platforms that require a monthly fee or a membership.

Overall, the Internet has had a positive impact on the ability of serious academics to share their research with one another. It has provided less expensive search tools, changed the way information is distributed, and enabled more efficient peer review. In the coming years, we can expect an even greater impact on research from online innovation.

 ABOUT AUTHOR: This Guest Post was contributed by Sam Peters, who blogs about how the web is changing the way social scientists share their work.  One organization helping scientists freely share their projects and findings with peers around the world is Huntingdon Life Sciences.

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With the advent of social media, many aspects of our lives have become much more public than at any other time in our history. However, there are certain times when we not only want to maintain our privacy and security out of choice, but also out of necessity. One of these occasions is when using online services to back up and protect our digital files, whether they are documents, images, video or music. Our digital data is important to us, and part of who we are. It belongs to us, and its loss would be a major blow to many of us.

Therefore, understanding how online backup works, and in particular how are files are kept secure, is an important part of maintaining trust in the different services available for cloud storage. Understandably, companies providing online backup services will make a big deal about how secure their services are. For those who want extra peace of mind, however, a proper understanding of just how and why your data is kept secure helps to give you extra trust in the companies that manage your information.

What is Online Backup?

The principles behind online backup and cloud storage services are quite simple. In most cases, in order to keep accurate and current copies of your information, a backup service will most likely provide you with a piece of software to install on your computer. With a few clicks of your keyboard and mouse, you tell the software which files and folders on your computer you want to back up. The software will then securely copy those files and folders and send them, encrypted, over the internet for safe storage on a remote system. Using an online backup or cloud storage service prevents you having potentially unreliable and expensive hard drive costs of your own.

Online backup software keeps an up-to-date track of your files and folders, noting any changes when they occur, and uploading new versions of files to the online servers as and when it is necessary.

Of course, for this to happen safely, it has to happen securely. This means that the online backup service providers need to use special software and protocols (which is how computers on the internet move things around) in order to make sure your data and information is fully protected. Security is not the only consideration, however.
See here more information about online backup services.

What is Online Backup Security?

At the heart of online backup security are Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layers (SSL). If you have ever watched a spy movie, where a character calls back to base and asks for a connection to a ‘secure line’, the principle is exactly the same. With older phone lines, as well as with some forms of internet communication, it is theoretically possible for someone to ‘listen in’ and grab snippets of the conversation or data if they have the right skills or equipment. This is why security is of vital importance in protecting your data.

By using TLS and SSL, just as with a secure line in a spy movie plot, the information is scrambled and protected in such a way that it is extremely difficult for someone to listen in and grab any information. Almost all online file storage service providers, regardless of the connection they provide for you to upload your files (whether it is through their customized proprietary software, through a web interface, or through FTP), will be set up in a manner involving such measures as TLS and SSL to help keep your data safe.

The most significant part about this is that when you are uploading your important files and documents to your online backup service provider, you can be sure you are only uploading this data to them, and not to a third party who is snooping in on the internet ‘conversation’. Transport Layer Security and Secure Socket Layers are exactly the same services and protocols that are at work when you do your online shopping or internet banking. In those instances, people are often dealing with debit and credit card information and other important and personal financial information. You can therefore rest assured that an online backup service using TLS and SSL has the same level of high security as your bank.

Encryption

Next time that you are shopping online, look at the web address in your browser bar when you are going through the purchasing part of the site. Most web addresses begin with http://, but a secure web address (meaning one that uses SSL to transmit your information securely) will begin instead with https://. The key to this security is something that is called encryption. Encryption is a means whereby information is garbled, or encoded, at one end of the information chain. It is then decoded at the other end so that it makes sense again. If the information is interrupted in the middle of the transmission, it will make no sense whatsoever without the encryption key.

In the case of online data backups, the encryption keys that are used to encode and decode data are created and managed by the backup service companies. These companies go to great lengths to make sure that the keys are kept completely secure and are only accessed by those who are authorized to help you manage your data.  Some companies will even allow you to create your own encryption keys, if you would prefer to have even more control over your data. For most people, however, this is unnecessary.

Encryption can vary, with 40-bit encryption (no longer used) being typically the lowest level, and 448-bit encryption being the highest level. Most companies will use 128-bit standardized encryption, as does SSL. This is more than enough, as it has never been hacked.

Rest Assured that Online Backup Services are Secure

Although most online backup service providers will be considerably smaller businesses than the bank that looks after your money, your data is just as important to your backup service provider as your financial information is to your bank. This is exactly the reason why they use the same protocols and services, and will have staff whose priority is the safety of your data and information. With TLS and SSL encryption up to 128-bits, and in some cases beyond, you can be absolutely sure that your information and files are secure with online backup.

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After being a Telewest/Virgin Media broadband customer for over 10 years, I recently switched to BT Infinity.  Performance has been good and I’m getting an average of 35/7.5Mbps from my 40/10Mbps (upgrading this year to 80/20Mbps) service so I’m happy.

One side benefit of becoming a BT Infinity customer is I now have access to over 3.5 million BT Fon and BT Openzone wifi hotspots.  Luckily I noticed in the BT Fon small print that they recommended using a VPN, because the wifi traffic on public hotspots isn’t encrpyted.  Without a personal VPN, hackers and data sniffers can tap into your connection on an unsecured public Wi-Fi Hotspot.

This was a real shock to my system as I’d never thought about the security implications of using a public hotspot before.  Luckily, I had a quick solution in that I’m a giganews subscriber which now includes a free VyprVPN account.  This lets me create a secure connection from any location and any device including laptops, mobile phones and tablets.

VyprVPN accounts start from $14.99, but an even better value option in my view is to get  a Giganews Diamond account for $24.99 for the first 3 months.  You then get access to VyprVPN as part of your Giganews package, as well as:

• access to the best usenet provider: best retention, completion and the ability to max out any download connection
• 30GB of free online backup

If you’re not sure, you can take Giganews for a spin free for 14 days by following this link.

Using A Public Hotspot? You Really Should Use A VPN is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

I’ve had my own dedicated server for over 5 years now after outgrowing VPS solutions a long time ago.  I’m with my third server provider now – my first server was with PowerVPS (good), then liquidweb (bad) and I’ve been with WiredTree for nearly 3 years now.  I’ve recently added a bit more RAM and better HDDs to my server and the spec is now:

• Dual Intel Xeon E5420 Quad Core CPU
• 24GB Ram
• RAID 1: 2×120 Intel 320 120GB SSD
• mysql: X25-E 32GB SSD
• cpanel, litespeed, APC and Varnish cache

One feature of my server package which I’ve never appreciated before is multiple IP addresses.  For years, I’ve ignored these and just hosted all my sites on the same IP address.  I decided to research this last month, and I learnt that hosting all sites on the same IP address is bad for SEO, especially if you link between sites:

I run windows7news.com and windows8news.com jointly with Martin from ghacks.  These sites link to each other extensively for both natural and deliberate SEO reasons.  By hosting them on the same IP address we weren’t gaining the full benefit of these links, so I’ve now moved all my sites to separate IP addresses.

SEO TIP: Use Separate IP Addresses If You Interlink Your Sites is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Last month I did a lot of work to make my sites load faster.  One of the easiest ways to improve site performance is to remove unnecessary plugins, and one that I removed was Disqus.

Disqus is a great, sexy looking comment replacement for wordpress that is easy to install but I decided it wasn’t worth all the additional external javascript it was adding to my pages.  My pageview:comments ratio is masssive, with probably 1-2 comments per thousand pageviews, so I couldn’t justify offering a good experience for 2 users and a worse experience for the other 998.

Another reason why I removed Disqus is because for visitors without javascript, all comments are displayed, even spammy trackbacks and pingbacks.  This is really bad, as this is the version of  pages that the googlebot sees.

After removing Disqus, I also realised what a poor job it had been doing with blocking spam so I had to spend some time removing these.  Here are some of the steps I took.

Close All Pings/Trackbacks On Posts

In the wordpress dashboard there is an option to stop all pings and trackbacks.  Unfortunately this only works on posts written after you choose this option.  To apply it to all posts, go into your sql database and run:

This will close pings/trackbacks on all posts.

Mass Delete Pingbacks & Trackbacks

Some may disagree, but I see no value to displaying pingbacks and trackbacks on a post.  Most of these are spam anyway, so to delete all pingbacks and trackbacks:

to delete all pingbacks, and:

to delete all trackbacks.

The other steps I’m taking, unfortunately I haven’t found an easy way to fix.  Re-importing my comments back to WP has left me with lots of duplicates, which I’m having to delete manually..it’s a long term project…

The other problem is all the spam that Disqus missed.  What I had to do here, was use the updated word block list that akismet uses and search and delete offending comments.  Doing this also highlighted additional words to add to the filters, so I think my site is pretty much spam free now.

To stop any future spam, I’ve also set WP to make pending any comment containing a link.

SQL Commands To Help Manage WordPress Comments And Spam is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Did you know that if you look at the html behind the default WordPress RSS widget, it doesn’t just show the titles from the RSS feeds you enter – the full feed text is added to the page, even though only the titles are visible to readers.  This probably isn’t a good idea for your keyword density, as this text is visible to search engines, but it’s easily fixed.

One Tip A Day have found an easy way to fix this using the Linkable Title html and php Widget WordPress Plugin and some inbuilt WordPress code.  Clink here to learn how.

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Google recently made a change to its search engine results, where author images will be shown next to search results for sites that are correctly setup.  The aim is to help search engine users identify good content and to learn more about the author.

This is a great way to make your results stand out from other listings, and adding support to your blog is simple to ensure that all your posts show your Google+ profile image.

Add rel=”Author” to Each Post

To let google know who wrote each post, you simply have to add rel=”Author” to the link to the author post page.   Just open your single.php file (or equivalent for your theme e.g. content-post.php) and add rel=”Author” to the template.  The finished result should look something like this:

<a href="http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/author/everton-blair/" title="Posts by Everton" rel="author">Everton</a>


Add rel=”me” To Your Author Bio Page

In stage I we ensured that all links to your author page included rel=”author” – now we need to ensure that on this page you link to your google+ profile using rel=”me”. This is a bit trickier as WordPress removes all rel attributes from the author bio section.  To overcome this, add the following code to your functions.php file:

function allow_rel() {
global $allowedtags;
$allowedtags['a']['rel'] = array ();
}
add_action( 'wp_loaded', 'allow_rel' );

Now, you can add the following additional line to your bio info:

<a rel="me" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/113220466779656520745/about">my Google+ Profile</a>


Add Links To Your Author Pages On Google+

The final step is to add links to your your author profiles on google+ – you can do this for as many sites you contribute. Just open your Google+ profile and in the links on the right, add links to your Author pages, not the site homepages, in the other profile or contributor sections.

Check It’s Working Properly

To check your google+ authorship is working properly, go to Google’s rich snippets tool and enter in one of your urls. If there’s a problem, the tool will tell you how to fix your authorship.

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Today is an exciting day for Windows enthusiasts.  Windows 7 is  a great OS, but Windows 8 is a much more radical overhaul of the Windows operating system and goes much further than Windows 7 did in terms of creating a new interface and new features.

If you want to get a good peak at Windows 8, Microsoft will be releasing the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Windows 8 Beta) today.  Download links for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be available in the Windows 8 Download Center as soon as they become available, so head on over to Windows 8 News for more.

On the site, there’s a new Windows 8 Consumer Preview board where you can share your experiences with the latest build.  If you need more help with Windows 8, please use the Windows 8 Help forum and sub-forums.

To register with the Windows 8 forums yet, then click here.

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After much hype the curtain on the 55 inch OLED TV by LG the LGEM9600 was finally lifted at the 2012 CES in Las Vegas in January. Sleek, smart, stylish and skinny, LG EM9600 is a winner already. Currently it is the largest OLED TV in the world and also the best as the LG EM9600 was declared the “best product of the year 2012”.LG EM9600 is not just a 3D TV, it is an OLED TV meaning that LG has finally got rid of the shortcomings of both plasma and LCD TV. Though OLED technology is not new as it was already being used in the displays of smartphones and monitors and small screen TVs it has only recently been incorporated in large screen TVs. The LG EM9600 will be available for sale in the second half of 2012.

What is OLED?

OLED or Organic Light Emitting Diode as the name implies comprises of organic (carbon) compounds and give off light when electricity is passed through them. OLED has an edge over the LCDs as unlike LCD display; they do not need LED backlights and offer great off axis viewing angles. Similarly the OLED is more power efficient making it better than the plasma display. A perfect picture is not the only advantage of the flat panel OLED TV, its other benefits include fast response rate, infinite contrast (the contrast ratio is 1 billion to 1), wider viewing angle, immersing blacks and vibrant lively colors. Another advantage of the OLED is that the displays can be made extra thin; a fact evident from the 4 mm depth size and the super thin bezel of the LG EM9600 TV.

Vivid Colors

The exceptional colors and the wide range of hues of the EM9600 would put an artist’s palette to shame and are due to the 4 color pixel and the color refiner. The four color pixel includes the fourth color white along with the traditional blue, red and green. The result is a more colorful and wider palette visible to the human eye. The color refiner has been added for improving and refining the shades and tones. Color refiner also ensures color consistency when the screen is viewed off axis. The 1080 p resolution performs the rest of the magic in recreating brilliant true to life colors on the screen.

Passive 3D

LG has retained its passive 3D technology in the new EM9600. This type of 3D requires the use of polarized glasses when watching 3D content. However the glasses are relatively inexpensive and lighter and do not require batteries or synchronization or charging as compared to their active shutter counter parts.

The LG EM9600 is a complete package as it includes Smart TV connectivity, a built in mic and the Magic Motion remote which operates in four modes.

Drawbacks of OLED TV

It is quite costly to manufacture OLED panels and so price is the biggest drawback of the OLED TV. The price of LG EM9600 is stated to be US $8,000 but the manufacturers are hinting that the price is most likely to slash down to half ($ 4,000) by the end of 2013.

Conclusion

Referring to it as the technology of the future, LG unveild its 55 inch OLED TV the LG EM9600 on 6^th January 2012 in Las Vegas. Winning the best product of the CES 2012 title the LG EM9600 is all set to revolutionize home TV viewing. This super thin TV can be adjusted in narrow places and is stunning enough to compliment any décor. The best feature of the EM 9600 is its true to life image quality together with an array of amazing colors and a wide viewing angle. This super thin and super cool state of the art TV comes with a super expensive price tag and will be available in the market by September 2012. However LG promises to cut down the price by fifty percent by the end of 2013.

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In 1977, Ken Olsen, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, said, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Flash forward to 2011 and it turns out Ken was a little off. Computers have become indispensable components of many peoples’ lives. Internet use is a huge part of that. Whether you’re utilizing cloud services like onlinestorage.com or searching for new careers, the ‘global village’ created by the worldwide web is a vital part of contemporary human existence.

It’s generally agreed upon that your average Joe or Jane Internet user considers factors like security, performance, technology, customization, and features when deciding on a web browser. Most people end up choosing Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. But remember that there are other options. You may discover that certain browsers are more compatible with achieving your online objectives than others.

1) Compatibility with coding languages

Making sure your browser is compatible with a plethora of coding languages ensures that you’ll have access to online movies, music, and other forms of entertainment without having to rely on flea-ridden external software. HTML, CSS, Flash, and many other coding languages have cross-browser compatibility issues (most notably in Internet Explorer) that affect the user’s ability to view websites and access media.

2) Downloading/uploading speeds

You live in the 21st century—you upload pictures, stream music, and video chat over the web. You need your downloading and uploading speeds to be fast. Otherwise, you risk getting the dreaded LAG, brother to the spinning beach ball of death. Using fast browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox is a sure-fire way to guarantee your streamed episode of Mad Men won’t stall out.

3) Accessible features

User-friendly features such as toolbar search boxes and “add-ons” are also important. For example, Firefox users can download a handy URL generator directly into their toolbar to swiftly shorten URL’s for social media purposes. Presently, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Firefox are the three major browsers that offer add-ons.

4) Mobile compatibility

Let’s say you’re searching for a browser that is compatible with your iPad or smart phone. Most major browsers offer mobile apps, but the user’s ability to synchronize browsing data across devices varies. Your mobile browser may allow you to access your home computer’s history, bookmarks, tabs and passwords.

5) Open-source browsers

If you’re into collaboration, you may want to choose an open-source browser. Users here are treated as co-developers, which is why updates and fixes are frequent and often. Users of open-source browsers also benefit from diverse and decentralized crowd-sourcing that improves the software. Open source browsers end up becoming community projects.

Most people open the first browser icon they see on their desktop and don’t think twice about issues of compatibility and accessibility. But if you’re working in a high-tech work environment with demanding deadlines and vexing project criteria, knowing what you can and can’t expect from your browser is an important part of establishing your workflow. Knowing your browsers is a big part of understanding how Internet functions optimally.

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Smartphones have forever changed the way we interact with the world. Previously, blogging was done from the comfort of one’s home or at the most, an internet café. With the convenience of a cell phone, users can instead use the apps for their favorite blogging platforms in order to update their blogs while on the go.

This is handy for uploading pictures and capturing video of live events that would otherwise have to wait until you get home. Here are the top blogging apps available for iPhone and Android phones:

WordPress

WordPress is the number one blogging platform in the world. It is used by millions of people across the globe, both as the self-hosted downloadable version and the managed version provided for free by WordPress.com.

The WordPress app works with both of these services and makes it easy for bloggers to check their stats and update blogs while on the go. WordPress supports uploading pictures and video from your phone and you can even schedule posts directly from your phone.

The application is completely free for both iPhone and Android and is continuously updated by Automattic, the maintainers of the WordPress platform. Comments can be managed from within the app as well, so you can quickly follow the discussions generated by your blog throughout the day.

Blogger

While Blogger is not the most popular platform for blogging, it was the first and is the reason the term ‘blogging’ exists. The Blogger interface is simple and easy to use and allows you to update your blog instantly. You can also interact with comments left and add comments to any threads that have been started.

The only downside of the app is that it doesn’t allow you to make any changes to your blog, so if you want to edit the sidebar or any other information you will have to access the site from a computer.

Tumblr

Tumblr has grown in popularity as a quick-blogging platform for posting pictures, small snippets of text or bits of audio that people will enjoy. Most Tumblr’s are designed around a specific theme, while others are used as a professional catalog for artists and writers.

Since Tumblr is based around its own social network with the ability to follow other people’s blogs, the app also lets you catch up on all of your follower’s activity. You can quickly browse their updates and favorite them, or even leave a note to tell them what you liked about the entry.

Mobile Tethering 

Since these apps are designed to post to your blog on the go, if you need to make changes to the design or other interface options, you will need to access your site from a real browser on a computer. Mobile tethering can help with this, as it allows you to use your cell phone as a modem to bridge your data so that your laptop can connect to the Internet. If there are no wi-fi hotspots available, then mobile tethering is often the only way you will be able to get Internet on your laptop.

Some carriers charge extra for mobile tethering and require you to have a plan specifically designed for tethering, so if you want to tether your laptop or tablet with your cell phone you will need to check your carrier policy to determine whether or not you are violating the terms of service.

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Apple has embarked finally with the iPhone 4S- the latest iPhone. Though this hottest device might disappoint its fan since it doesn’t carry the aura of mythical iPhone 5, however, it comes with great sophistication and innovation which is going to surprise people all across the world.

Even the current users of iPhone 4 would be lured to upgrade to this new device. The following are the four important reasons to upgrade from any device or iPhone 4 to iPhone 4S, let’s try to find what makes it different from the previous version:

The Siri responds in whatever you demand

Do you feel like having any helping hand or assistant reading out your text messages or weather forecast, gets for you a list of good food joint near your place, sets your alarm, tell you the time in any foreign language, checks your schedule and appointments and anything you would require to have. And if you want this to happen in your life, these all things are made possible with Siri, a personal assistant which comes in iPhone 4S. You can seek any help from this assistant as said above as it remains your handy helper for anything posed at any now and then. Siri is capable of understanding your needs and its context in a right way and hence respond in the same fashion as you expect from your assistant.

The camera competent in all point and shoots

Apple is known to claim using the best cameras in its iPhone devices. However, at this point of time the hype which we hear about the camera used in iPhone 4S seems to be coming true. The device promises a camera having 8 megapixel sensor, an enlarged aperture, new fifth lens, face detection with low motion blur which means that it is capable of handling the specs of point and shoot. Besides, the camera also permits you for some of the basic photo editing requirements, wherein you can crop and rotate the image, enhance the photo automatically and even remove the red eye. Furthermore, the iPhone 4S is equally competent in video shooting as well, wherein it shoots the HD video with 1080p.

iPhone 4S comes with more power

The device has the A5 chip which is the same dual core chip used in the iPad 2. This means that it is capable of carrying the workload with efficiency and power. So whatever you do, you get things in pace, for instance web pages can load much faster or with double speed. The applications runs fast and smooth, data which you will download gets fast with a speed of 14.4 Mbps and graphics has amazing speed. With such speed the battery has nothing to compromise in its life, you will find a nonstop eight hours talk time or 14 hours for the 2G, and while in 3G browsing you will get a six hour life and lastly with WiFi the browsing time comes to nine hours.

All time compatible phone

You don’t have to worry whether you use a GSM or CDMA, since the phone is competent in handling both. So wherever you travel in the world, you do not have to worry about these constraints. An excellent choice for business class people who travel abroad on a frequent basis for their business needs. With this competence, the iPhone 4S can move around on a GSM networks in about 200 countries making an ideal choice for business community people. Now you do not have to worry about your carrier, anyone is compatible over this new device.

Final Word

Certainly with these above four factors as discussed above in the article you have enough reason to upgrade to the latest device of Apple – the iPhone 4S. So with double power, great camera of 8 Megapixels and feature like the Siri, no one can afford losing this device for sure. So have it and enjoy the incredible things which comes in built in this latest device of Apple.

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Competition is hotting up in the tablet market.  Despite, Steve Ballmer demo-ing a Windows 7 Tablet in advance of the Apple iPad launch, no Windows tablet has yet to be launched.  However, serious competition to Apple’s iPad is starting to emerge, based on Google’s popular Android operating system.

A strong contender for tablet of the year is the Samsung Galaxy Tab.  This super slim tablet from Samsung incorporates a very strong spec list, and looks beautiful in the flesh.

The Galaxy Tab  incorporates a 7 inch WSVGA screen, as well as four buttons on the front for home, options, back and search; similar to Android handsets.  Inside is a 1Ghz processor so it’s super-fast.  It has two built-in cameras – a 1.3MP front facing camera and a 3MP rear-facing camera.

Connectivity is well supported with 802.11n Wi-Fi, and 3G support is included in all models.

In terms of storage two sizes are offered, 16GB and 32GB.  However, both Galaxy Tab’s include a microSD slot so a further 32GB of storage can be added (of course, multiple microSD cards can be utilised so the iPad’s 64GB of storage can be exceeded)

To assist with the launch of the Galaxy Tab, Samsung have produced a series of videos.  My favourite is by a London-based photographer, who shares how he uses his Galaxy Tab:

To learn more about the Samsung Galaxy Tab, click here or visit their Facebook page here.

Sponsored Post

Viral video by ebuzzing

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“Computers have a lot of memory but no imagination in itself as the fantasy part is taken over by PC Games”.

Talk to any dedicated gamer and you will realize what it means. True, gamers have a world of their own. You may call them addicts, you may call them freaks or you may call it madness. However, one cannot deny the fact that most of these computer games have dominated the world of entertainment for kids and adults in the past 15 years.

Here, let us review some of the most expected PC games scheduled for release in 2012-

Half life 2 Episode 3

Half life 2 Episode 3 tops the list of the most anticipated computer games of 2012. The Half-Life series of video games are science fictions that have an alternate history. This one is the third and final instalment in the series of episodes with Half-Life 2 being the former version.

Developed by Valve Corporation, the series of games released so far were massive hits and the speculations revolving around the upcoming series is equally hot. It is extremely hard to silence or even turn a blind eye towards these rumours on the upcoming game, thanks to the success of the past episodes.

And of course, as gamers we have the right to expect and dream for more. So keep your fingers crossed as you may be playing the game of your life.

Diablo 3

Diablo 3 is yet another much awaited game that features dark fantasy and horror themed action role-play. Developed by Blizzard and his team, Diablo 3 makes its third edition debut by early 2012. The game was first announced in June 28, 2008 and very few know that it was a fantastic mix of thrill, horror, miseries, excitement and full of entertainment. It is a perfect blend of action and adventure with music and sound effects complimenting the game’s thrill.

The Diablo 3 is expected to have a feel that is similar or better to that of the earlier games in the series with innovative slots for armour and weaponry. As a game lover, you may expect a treat for your new year.

StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

Another action-packed game is on the way-

StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. The theme of the event is a military science fiction nature and real-time strategy. The game spans approximately twenty missions and is more likely to be released by April 2012.

With different characters casting different powers, the game calls for a lot of intelligence and swift actions, making it more thrilling. With a strong story line up that is revolving around the game, every scene or action here has a meaningful touch to it.

For those who have played the earlier series of the game, this version promises to be a convincing update with even better improvisations.

Battle field 3

Battle Field 3 game is purely a depiction of the 21st century action cinema. It is a catastrophic event of destruction and gunfire in the remotely located cityscapes around the world. The Modern Warfare 3 is the most recent among the long range of first-person shooters. This game is also more likely to make a lot of money than any other blockbuster movie-based games. The Cold War – Call of Duty, an earlier version of the game last year, became the biggest selling American game ever.

The series of games have been based on bomb blasts and bullets and the upcoming game is also expected to be a huge paean in the art of computer generated destructions.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Launched as early as 2000, the very first version of Deus Ex is still considered to be one of the greatest games of all times by many gaming extremists and experts. The changes brought about in this game’s revolution saw huge changes starting from a collection of first-person shooters to an array of choices and customizations to create one’s own game-play styles and weapons.

The toughness of the game and its difficulty level can at times test your will power. Human Revolution is a worthy update to the original game and is definitely one that will stay long in your mind.

BioShock: Infinite

An expected first person shooting game, BioShock Infinite is the third game in the BioShock series. It is developed by Irrational Games and is slated for a 2012 release. It will be compatible with the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Interestingly, this game shows no imitation of its earlier version as it is equipped with different settings of the earlier age.

As the waiting time gets lesser and lesser, speculations and expectations on the game became more and more. Die-hard-fans of the game would have a short wait for a long-time gaming pleasure. With early reviews of the game promising a lot, the game is almost certain to be a huge hit.

Saints Row 3

Saints Row 3, developed by Volition Inc. is a sandbox styled action-packed adventurous game. The game may be released late this year or early next year. It will be compatible with Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. The game will be the third title in the series after the launch of the Saints Row 2 in 2008. In the previous series of the games, the player controls the head of the Third Street Saints. The whole theme revolves around the gang war between the rival criminal group called the Syndicate and the Saints.

BioShock Infinite is arguably one of the best story-based video games in the last 10 years. As always and as in the case of most of the games, Saints Row 3 would be easier to play on knowing the theme, the story behind the theme and the best way to play them.

As all of the above games are a big hit in the past, there is hardly any doubt about their success in the future. Either way, it’s going to be a breathtaking year for the gamers around. As former player and American Football coach, Jim Coule quotes, “Love is all fun and games until someone loses an eye or gets pregnant“.

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Television watchers have a new way to enjoy their favourite shows, which is Internet protocol television, or IPTV for short. Essentially, IPTV is any service which plays television shows as streaming video files through an Internet connection. Some IPTV services work as applications that you must download and install. However, there are many services that will allow you to enjoy online streaming television by simply visiting a web site. Some IPTV services include BT Vision and Virgin Media, though even popular video-on-demand sites like Netflix and Hulu fit into the category.

The best part about IPTV services is that users can decide what TV shows they want to watch and when they want to watch them, while traditional TV broadcasts are stuck to a rigid schedule that may not fit into the busy lives of their target audiences.

As any broadband expert can tell you, a large percentage of the world’s Internet traffic is currently being devoted to watching streaming videos through IPTV services. During the early days of IPTV, users would have to access these services through their computer. Video could be transferred to a television by connecting the computer with an HDMI cable, but these cables are very costly and not very convenient for desktop computer users.

However, the advent of web-enabled televisions has allowed IPTV users to conveniently watch the service right in their living room, providing stiff competition to traditional over-the-air and cable TV broadcasts. Some television manufacturers that have begun to embrace the growing IPTV trend include Samsung, Philips, LG, Sony, Vizio, Panasonic and Toshiba. Unfortunately, users who want to watch IPTV from a web-enabled TV will also be limited to specific services chosen by the manufacturer. Users who watch IPTV from their desktop or laptop computer will not face such limitations.

Another highlight of IPTV is that the growing popularity of these services are allowing companies to produce TV shows specifically for Internet audiences. Netflix and Hulu have both already began producing their own original content. For example, Netflix recent outbid major cable networks, including HBO and AMC, for the rights for the show “House of Cards,” which is set to star Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey.

It is worth noting that IPTV services will also require a significant amount of Internet bandwidth to work properly. Currently, it requires a broadband connection with a download rate between 500 to 1,500 kilobytes per second to access a standard definition video stream over an IPTV network. To watch a high definition stream, connection speeds must be over 3,500 kilobytes for second. But it does not take a broadband expert to realize that most broadband Internet connections will have no trouble handling at least a standard definition video stream.

Overall, IPTV is a great way to enjoy TV without the restrictions placed by normal TV broadcast methods. The technology is still being developed and quality is being improved with each upgrade. In fact, IPTV may soon become the standard for TV watchers around the world.

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For the last 6 years or so, I’ve been a Giganews user.  Giganews is the largest Usenet provider in the world, and although they might be a bit pricier than other services, the premium is worth it because of Giganew’s outstanding retention and speeds.

However, recently I’d been unable to get more than a few Kbps, yes Kbps, at certain times of the days on my Virgin Media connection.  My first suspicion was that Virgin Media have intensified their traffic management antics and I was correct.  After a bit of research I learnt that Virgin Media is now throttling port 563 traffic, which is the port that Giganews uses for it encrypted traffic.

Luckily Giganews had already produced a solution for users like me who are getting capped by their ISPs, by supporting port 443 traffic.  Port 443 is the port used by https traffic or 256 bit SSL encrypted traffic.  Capping this port is much more problematic (and probably suicidal) for ISPs, and after switching to this port I’m now getting consistent download speeds of 48Mbps from my 50Mbps service.

If you are using a different Usenet service to Giganews and are suffering from speed issues, I recommend that you consider switching to Giganews.  There’s even a 14-day Free trial to make the switch less painful.

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In a surprisingly short period of time, smartphones have gotten to the point where they’ve become an essential commodity in our everyday lives. Their versatility and impressive app market has made them indispensable tools for every sector from business to education. Try and think of something that you’d like to do and there’s probably an app that will perform that specific function along with a dozen other things.

As far as college students are concerned, whether you’re attending any universities or top online colleges, it’s hard to keep track of everything. It’s this same concept that inspired the creation of many useful applications. Educational apps is one of the biggest markets where developers are creating new ways for a college student to more easily manage their busy day and numerous demands. Great apps for college students include:

iStudiez Pro

This app was developed to help students keep track of their schedules, but does far more than that and allows users to do everything from organize their homework assignments to keeping track of their grades in each class. You can alter the settings to give you alerts when a test, assignment, or presentation is coming up. This app can be used for more purposes than just students. Teachers have also found iStudiez Pro useful to keep track of all the needs and upcoming events for classes. It can also be useful to parents who are keeping tract of their young child’s schooling. This app costs $2.99, which brings it in on the expensive side, as far as apps go. There are free options you can choose from if you’re wanting comparable features for managing your workload.

Wikipedia Mobile

This free online encyclopedia has gotten a lot of blow back from many in the education field due to the nature of the way the information is gathered. The site relies heavily on user contribution and is discouraged among many collegiate programs, yet it remains one of the most popular ways for students to gain a quick overview of an idea, period, or topic. Though there are some instances where the information has been called into question, Wikipedia is still an excellent source that covers the gambit of most any topic you can think of, and the app is free which is always a bonus.

Evernote

This application gives a fresh and improved approach to taking notes for classes. Evernote obviously would work for far more than just students, but it’s useful in almost any capacity. The goal of this app was to give users the ability to never forget a moment, idea, or quote. It can be used across many platforms and devices. You can do anything from creating text notes to snapshots of whiteboards or book text. You can capture almost any text or something that you want to remember for a later date. You can save web pages or any source material that might be useful when writing a paper or keep ideas for your next assignment. It’s an incredible note management system that’s perfect for anyone who needs to keep track of a dozen things at once.

If you’re in college or getting ready to head off to one, look at some of these apps to help you increase your performance in your educational exploits. If you check some of these apps out, you may find that they’re just as essential as a good pen, book bag, or computer. College students live a fast-paced and hectic existence that requires a lot, but you can lessen the stress by adding some management approaches through some of these apps. If these aren’t what you’re looking for, there are many more apps that you can choose from to get the most out of your college experience.

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Over the last couple of months I’ve worked hard to increase the loading speed of this site.  Part of this process was stripping out as many WordPress plugins as possible and I’ve managed to get down to using just 15 WordPress plugins.  Below you can see the 15 essential WordPress Plugins that I use.

After The Deadline

Adds a contextual spell, style, and grammar checker to WordPress. Write better and spend less time editing. Visit your profile to configure. See the Proofreading Support page for help.

Better RSS Widget 

Replacement for the built in RSS widget that adds an optional link target, shortcode_handler, and page conditionals.

I use this instead of the default WordPress RSS widget as I spotted that the WordPress RSS Widget pulls in the full text feed, which is a lot of maybe useless content for SEO purposes

Custom Post Templates 

Provides a drop-down to select different templates for posts from the post edit screen. The templates are defined similarly to page templates, and will replace single.php for the specified post. 

Dean’s Permalinks Migration 

With this plugin, you can safely change your permalink structure without breaking the old links to your website,and even doesn’t hurt your google pagerank.

I moved from blogware to WordPress many years ago, and this plugin ensures that links to old posts still work.

Disqus Comment System

The Disqus comment system replaces your WordPress comment system with your comments hosted and powered by Disqus. Head over to the Comments admin page to set up your DISQUS Comment System.

This plugin allows me to eliminate a handful of other WordPress plugins.

jQuery lazy load plugin

a quick and dirty WordPress plugin to enable image lazy loading.

I use this plugin to speedup the loading of my pages, by delaying when images are downloaded.

NextGEN Gallery 

A NextGENeration Photo Gallery for WordPress.

Redirection 

Manage all your 301 redirects and monitor 404 errors

SEO Auto Links & Related Posts

SEO Auto Links & Related Posts, a combination of related posts plugin and auto links plugin. The auto links feature will automatically convert related posts title, meta keywords and post tags into internal link. 

This is a new addition, replacing my old YARPP plugin.  It does everything I need like adding related posts (with thumbnails if so desired) to posts and feeds, but it also allows me to auto link important keywords to improve SEO.

SEO Friendly Images 

Automatically adds alt and title attributes to all your images. Improves traffic from search results and makes them W3C/xHTML valid as well.

SEO Slugs 

Removes common words like ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘in’ from post slugs to improve SEO.

The Slide by SimpleReach

After installation, you must click ‘Settings ? SimpleReach Slide’ to turn on The Slide.

The results of this plugin have been fantastic and I’ve been achieved >5% CTR on some of my sites.  The team behind the plugin are very approachable, and even added in the ability to display the plugin on Pages as well as Posts after I requested it.

W3 Total Cache 

The highest rated and most complete WordPress performance plugin. Dramatically improve the speed and user experience of your site. Add browser, page, object and database caching as well as minify and content delivery network (CDN) to WordPress.

This plugin can be painful to use and configure, but is worth the effort.  If (correctly) configured it will significantly increase loading times.

WordPress SEO 

The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and much more.

WP Smush.it

Reduce image file sizes and improve performance using the Smush.it API within WordPress.

Do you have any WordPress plugins that you can’t live without?

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In a world where cell phones are becoming more and more technologically advanced, the Android and iPhones are two of the most popular cell phones on the market. There are many things to consider when deciding if an Android or an iPhone will best suit your needs.

While there are many applications for both kinds of phones, the iPhone blows the Android out of the market in terms of available apps.  iPhone offers more than 230,000 apps, compared to about 70,000 available for the Android. Many preloaded apps on the Android have been found to cause problems for users. It has gotten so bad that Motorola’s support forums contain a petition from Android users to have those preloaded apps removed from all new Android phones. One of the biggest complaints Android users have is that the phones are loaded with bugs that cause some users to have problems with their phone every day.

Android users have also reported problems viewing pictures on their phone. Oftentimes, trying to view pictures taken by the Android or imported to it results in an error message. Users report the only way to solve the problem is to restart the application or reboot the entire phone. Watching videos on the Android has also been an issue for many users. Some common problems reported when trying to watch a video on an Android are the picture is choppy and the audio is not in sync with the video.

iPhones have more internal memory than the Android does. When it comes to external memory, the Android is the winner. However, for many people, the internal memory of the iPhone is enough to suit their needs.

Both the Android and the iPhone offer SIM only deals. These deals will save users money on their monthly cell phone bill, making phone calls, text messaging and mobile Internet cheaper than they would be if the user did not have the SIM only deal. For iPhone users these deals are customised for anyone who is not currently under contract with them to receive cell phone service. iPhone users receive cheaper service through SIM only contracts because the offers meet the user’s needs. These users are generally most interested in downloading apps and surfing the Internet on their phone. iPhone users who receive a SIM only deal are not being charged for the phone itself or their daily use of it.

The SIM only deal for Android works pretty much the same as the deal for the iPhone. SIM only deals are beneficial to anyone looking to save money on their cell phone bill. SIM only deals for both phones are growing in popularity with today’s cell phone users.

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One of the most difficult aspects of professional blogging is remaining on task and focused on your work. As a freelance blogger, you tend to work from home and on your own schedule. While this is one of the major ploys for making a living as a blogger, it can also be the downfall for the easily distracted. Much of successful and therefore profitable blogging is about self-discipline and motivation. However, when the heart of your work relies on the use of the internet and a computer, it can be fairly easy to be under focused and highly distracted. As writers, we need quite, calm, and minimal platforms that are inspiring and motivating in which we work. Using a busy and complicated platform to produce our work can be frustrating and time wasting.

So many individuals enter the world of professional or hobby blogging thinking they can succeed with only their computer and mouse. While this is true to an extent, it can become difficult to stay on task and productive after a long period of time using distracting tools. Blogging is a difficult task to perform truly successfully. For this reason, blogging hopefuls should utilize every helpful tool they have available to them. Try one of these three blogging applications aimed to help bloggers stay focused on their writing process without too many distracting bells and whistles.

QuietWrite

QuiteWrite is a free web app that allows users to have a full screen writing experience. Easily eliminating any distracting buttons, backgrounds, colors, and more, QuietWrite enables writers and bloggers to fully focus on their writing without having to worry about setting templates, using formatting, and styling text. This application is one of the more minimal writing platforms available and comes at the right price free. You can access QuiteWrite as an online workspace or download it for regular use. If you find that you become easily distracted with other elements of your computer or you are wasting your time trying to carefully format your writing before you actually finish writing it, QuietWrite helps de-clutter your writing experience.

Ommwriter

Available only for Macs, Ommwriter is one of the strongest writing platform tools available. Focusing not only on distraction-less writing, Ommwriter also seeks to calm and relax you as you work. With several different fonts, sizes, colors, and backgrounds, Ommwriter allows each individual to personalize their workspace while still keeping it minimal. So, if staring at a completely blank screen is a daunting task, try personalizing your space with Ommwriter. With a consistent and soothing typing sound, Ommwriter enables bloggers to create a rhythm with their typing and become immersed in the flow of their work. You can also choose to play music gently in the background as you work. This app is perfect for the individual who seeks some sort of inspiration and interest in their work station, but still wishes for a clean and uncluttered space.

Pages App

Every individual has a different preference for their writing environment. While some may prefer the soothing and inspiring environment that Ommwriter offers, others may find the sounds, colors, and fonts too distracting to be worthwhile. For the individual that truly wishes for a blank slate, the Pages App is for you. This application provides a full screen experience, where the background of your computer is black and the page you are writing on is white. There are no buttons, font choices, colors, or sounds. This application cuts out all distraction and leaves the writer to just his mind and his page.

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I’ve just updated the Broadband Speed Test page, which I hadn’t realised had stopped working.  The test couldn’t be simpler to use; just click on ‘Start Speed Test’.

The test is one of the most accurate I’ve seen, so if you think you aren’t getting your full line speed, then use the broadband speed test results as ammunition to confront your ISP.

More: Broadband Speed Test

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One of my favourite features of Google Chrome is the extension synchronization.   Adding extensions to Google Chrome from the chrome web store is easy, and because Chrome adds new extensions in a very sensible way your toolbar never gets cluttered.  That is, unless you add dozens of extensions…..

If you are a Google Chrome user, here are Five Essential Google Chrome Extensions For Bloggers.

Webpage Screenshot

Quickly capture screenshots, including whole webpage.  Drawing tools available allowing annotations to be quickly added.

More: Webpage Screenshot

Click & Clean

This plugin is principally designed as a security tool to remove your browsing history, cookies etc but I use it to check site changes have been applied correctly, which can be difficult if your site uses caching plugins or software.

More: Click & Clean

Picnik Extension

Picnik is a great online tool for editing images.  With this extension you can automatically transfer images from the current page to Picnik.

More: Picnik Extension For Chrome

SitezMeter

Checking out the competition?

More: SitezMeter

RSS Subscription Extension

I’m amazed this isn’t a default part of Google Chrome.  This extensions adds a RSS icon to the addressbar/omnibox allowing you to subscribe quickly to RSS feeds.

More: RSS Subscription Extension

Five Essential Google Chrome Extensions For Bloggers is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Latest stats for browser usage in the UK shows that the Google Chrome browser has overhauled Firefox, to become the second most popular browser behind IE.  22% of UK users now use Chrome, whilst 45% still use some flavour of Internet Explorer.  Globally, Chrome is the 3rd most popular browser with 20% market share.

The numbers don’t surprise me as Google’s share of the search market is higher in the UK running at around 80%.  Google have also been marketing Chrome very heavily in the UK; Chrome was the first ever Google product to be advertised on TV and has also been pushed heavily in display and print advertising.

Google Chrome has really taken over from Firefox the mantle of being the browser that your internet savvy friend will recommend you use.  It’s a real shame that Firefox have really lost their way.  I started using Firefox in 2003/4 after being introduced to it by the hardcore techies at the ISP I worked for.  The latest Firefox 5 just doesn’t have that air of superiority about it anymore, whereas Chrome is nice and clean and just gets the job done.   For me, not only is it the easiest browser to use (although I think the layout of some of the option windows isn’t the best), but the sync function works much better than the other browsers, or any 3rd party tools like Xmarks – all it is missing is the syncing of history and tabs.

What’s your main browser?  Are you still using Internet Explorer?

More: The Telegraph

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Google announced yesterday a new service designed to help speed up websites, Google Page Speed Service.  The new service works in a similar fashion to Cloudflare or a CDN, where requests for your website are diverted to Google rather than to the actual server where your site is hosted.

By doing so, Google are then able to control how your webpages are loaded and can apply several tweaks to improve the speed with which they load:

The beauty of this service is that although webmasters can apply most of these fixes themselves, it can be quite fiddly, and this could be a quick and easy way for novice webmasters to access these tweaks.  Google claim that speed improvements of 25%-60% can be achieved.  If you’re not sure if your site will benefit, then Google have provided a url to test your site.

The results page for this site is below:

According to the tests you can see that this site would load faster on repeat page views with the Google Page Speed Service.  A word of caution on these results though – although this site isn’t the fastest mainly due to the adverts I have to serve, in my own testing it loads a lot faster than in 6 seconds, so I don’t think this test is very accurate.  The overall test result is generally correct though as this site is already heavily optimised, and it was unlikely that Google Page Speed Service could improve upon this.

I have a suspicion though that it might still be beneficial for even optimised sites to be delivered via Google Page Speed Service.  Why?  Well, by signing up to the service all of your traffic will be going via Google, so Google should get a better view of visitor behaviour on your site, which I’m sure at some point will filter though to their ranking algorithms.

The service will be chargeable and Google say the price will be competitive; whether this will be in the $5-20/pm range of services like Cloudflare remains to be seen.  During the testing period Google are opening the service up to a limited number of webmasters free of charge. You can request access to the service by filling out this web form.

More: Google Page Speed Service

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I’ve tried several plugins to try and increase page views per visit over the years, and this month I think I’ve found one that works.

The Slide from Simple Reach pops up a very discreet little window in the bottom right of the screen, with a post recommendation related to the post that is currently being read. The Slide works with Wordpress, Drupal, Tumblr, Blogger and other sites by manually installing the code.

I’ve been running the slide for around 2 weeks now, and the results have been very good so far with an average CTR of just under 3%.  Of course, this doesn’t mean that my site traffic has gone up by 3% as some of these users might have clicked on another link anyway.  But, somewhere in that 3% is a genuine traffic increase which is good when you consider (i) The Slide is free and (ii) it doesn’t slow down pages as the javascript loads asynchronously.

The CTR continues to improve and I believe what is happening is The Slide is learning which posts have better response rates on which pages, and is adjusting over time what posts are promoted.  I believe this to be true because my sites that have more traffic have the highest CTRs due to there being more traffic for Simple Reach to analyse.

In the latest version of The Slide WordPress plugin, users can now customise the ‘Recommended For You’ text and also the colour of the link.

One disappointment I have with the slide is that it isn’t registering on all my pages and I’ve sent an email to the Simple Reach team to see if we can fix this.

More: Simple Reach

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A web site’s presentation is everything, especially at a time when a growing number of companies are committing more of their resources to different online approaches. This is due to a growing demand, among consumers and business, for more effective online business solutions.

Simply having a web site isn’t enough anymore. An online approach needs to be as multifaceted as any real world business model. The same can be said when a site is trying to add a multi-layered face to their site. Multimedia is a growing necessity for web sites, but before including these features, it’s important to take an intelligent approach to its inclusion.

Web sites often fall victim to using poor integration methods. If you are wanting to put videos on your site as an available feature then, by all means, do so. However, never have the video set to auto-play. Many sites do this as a way to actively engage the viewer, but this is a really poor approach. If a person feels as though they’re being forced to watch a video, they’re going to do everything they can to stop it from playing. This is just a natural instinct to unsolicited information. You want a user to use the media naturally. They have to choose to watch it, otherwise you’re going to lose many potential customers to what they see as annoying media that relates far more to a pop up ad than useful information.

Another big novice mistake that even some of the big guys make is not making their media assessable across several OS platforms. This issue comes in when a video is built on a specific OS. The video will work great for anyone using that same system, but if they try to use anything else, it’s not going to play right. Most businesses and individuals don’t know that videos are not platform independent. Before you launch a video on a site, play it on as many operating systems and browsers as possible. You also have to consider smartphone users now, so keep that in mind. If you don’t, and a majority of people can’t get to what you’re posting, it will make your site look amateur.

Applying Multimedia is much different from setting up a normal web site. Multimedia takes up far more bandwidth than a site without media, and causes problems when video files are larger than the image files causing the video not to load. If you’re worried about hosting or size needs, you should use a San Diego Online Video Platform that will help you fulfill your media and bandwidth needs. Video platforms are great to use because they keep your site’s bandwidth free, allowing it to continue to run properly.

Employing multimedia features on your website will also be worth the investment. People, as the years pass, crave more and more interaction with technology, and a multimedia site satiates that craving – keeping users engaged and your site traffic increasing.

How To Intelligently Apply Multi-Media To Your Web Site is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Over the last two months I’ve made numerous changes to this site to improve the time it takes to load pages.  My pages aren’t superfast because of the time it takes to load the ads I need to load to generate income, but they do now load in a respectable amount of time.

I’m going to write a series of posts sharing the changes that I’ve made.  The most recent change I made was to implement Lazy Loading.  When you visit sites such as mashable.com or browse via your iPad or iPhone, you may have noticed a brief shimmer around images as you scroll down the page.  This is because images that are below the fold i.e. below the initial visible portion on your screen, are not loaded until they are visible on the screen.  This makes the initial pageload faster for users as they don’t load images below the fold until they reach them.  It will also save on bandwidth costs, as unnecessary images are not loaded.

There are a few wordpress plugins that implement Lazy Loading, but the one I’ve used is the jQuert Image Lazy Load WP Plugin.  I chose this particular plugin the other plugins caused issues with some images loading; the lazy load plugin allowed me to control which images were lazy loaded by opening the “jq_img_lazy_load.php” file in the plugin editor and changing:

jQuery("img").not(".cycle img").lazyload{

to:

jQuery("#div1,#div2").find("img").not(".cycle img").lazyload({

Where div1, div2, div3 etc are the IDs of the content divs or sections of your site that you want the lazy load plugin to work in e.g. for my site I have:

jQuery("#entry,#lazybottom,#lazybottom2,#disqus_thread,#woo_embed-2,#woo_embed-3,#footer-widgets,#footer,#lazymagazine,#archiveimage").find("img").not(".cycle img").lazyload({

As you can see, I created a few extra divs just for the lazy load plugin to further control when the plugin is utilised.

If you have an image intensive site, then I definitely recommend that you implement this tweak.

More: jQuery Image Lazy Load

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Blogging has become a tough business, particularly in popular niches like make money online or credit cards.

If you are blogging in a crowded niche, it can seem impossible for your blog to rise above the noise and make an impact. This isn’t necessarily so, and we’ve compiled a list of tips to help you get your blog noticed.

Be persistent

Nothing worthwhile happens overnight. Chris Guillebeau and the Art of Non-Conformity took nearly a year of constant effort to become “an overnight success.” Some blogs take even longer, especially in a popular niche.

If you believe in what you are offering, and honestly want to help people, success will come. It will be tempting to shift gears when things do not work out immediately. Remain committed and disciplined, and don’t slack off.

Focus on the needs of your target audience

Many bloggers make their blogs about themselves. This is fine if your blog exists to chronicle your life to your friends and family (or if you’re Brad Pitt). However, if you intend your blog to appeal to a wider audience, then you need to be quite specific about who you are trying to reach and what their needs are, and make sure that every word you write addresses these needs.

Marketers (and you are a marketer) learn as much about their target market as they can. They know their age, geographical location, gender, household income, educational attainment, and the brand of cereal they prefer. You’ll need to approximate this as best you can for your audience.

A great way to do this is to develop knowledge of your blogging ecosystem – the network of blogs in your niche. Think of it as your neighborhood. If you get to know these bloggers, and comment on their posts and contribute guest posts, you will not only be spreading your name around, but you’ll be learning more about your target audience. Case Western Reserve tells budding bloggers to join blog networks and submit posts to meta-blogs in order to reach more niche readers. Depending on your niche, this might be a great way to get included in weekly roundups or lists of important blogs.

Focus on quality

Probably the best piece of advice I can give is to focus on creating useful, high quality articles, posts, tweets, and paid content. In any crowded niche, there are literally thousands of craptacular blogs populated by keyword-stuffed content and spun posts. Google is constantly working on ways to lower the ranking of these sites, and hopefully, they will one day disappear.

By developing a reputation for quality, you’ll make it more likely that readers will come back, other bloggers will accept guest posts, or post for you, and that you might get mainstream media attention for your blog. You’ll be delivering a solid product that you can be proud of.

You also need to provide the best customer experience possible. Even if you’re not selling anything, it’s important to think of your readers as customers.

• Reply to every comment left on your blog.
• Respond promptly and engagingly to emails and questions.
• Follow readers back to their own blogs and leave comments there.
• Link to other bloggers’ content and share it on social networks.
• Thank your readers profusely and always help them out.
• Offer favors freely and return each one you are granted.

Be different

Seth Godin encourages people to be Purple Cows – extraordinary, unique, game changers – in whatever they do. This philosophy is very important for bloggers. If you follow the same recipe as everyone else, your blog will never be different and never rise above mediocrity.

Come up with something different and people will remember it. If you can couple that with persistence, quality, and a great experience – why, you might just have something, then.

Whatever niche you’re blogging in, try and remember that there’s always room for a better blog in it. Stick to your guns, create quality content, and success will come. Welcome to the world of competitive blogging, we hope to see you around.

If you’re a successful blogger in a competitive niche, we’d love to hear your advice in the comments!

How to Get Noticed in a Crowded Niche is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Gone are the days of computer games being played over dialup or barely-there internet connections, as technology has become more advanced, and as computers have become more powerful, games have become incredibly more demanding. So, if you’re in the market for an internet connection that will outshine your competitors’, what are the things you need to consider when doing a broadband comparison?

The Wiring

Today’s broadband internet connections generally fall into three groups, as far as wiring is concerned: there are copper connections, coaxial connections, and fiber-optic connections. Each of these has a certain set of features and drawbacks that affects the way your online game will be played.

Copper cable is generally associated with phone-line-based DSL connections, and offers the slowest internet speeds (and highest game-killing latency) of any broadband internet connection. While it’s great for casual internet users, it simply will not hold up to the demands of online gaming. Its latency will prove problematic, and its slow speeds may result in lost connections and lost games.

Coaxial cable is generally offered by cable broadband operators; these are the same cables that transmit television signals to digital cable set top boxes across the country. These connections are good, though the high speeds required for gaming will prove more expensive and rarer to find in rural markets. However, this is the predominant type of internet connection worldwide, and provides a solid way to take on the online gaming universe.

Finally, there’s the emerging market for fiber-optic internet connections. These connections are, far and away, the fastest internet connections in the world. And, as an added bonus, they typically have the lowest latency numbers of any type of internet connection. This makes them the ideal fit for gamers who need a huge amount of bandwidth that suffers from virtually no latency.

The Location

The game that you will be playing most likely operates through a central server, or a series of decentralized and user-hosted servers. These servers all have a physical location, just like your internet provider’s central office. The distance between that central office, and your online game’s servers, will determine just how much latency is experienced during game play.

Therefore, it’s important to research where your future internet provider’s main servers are located. Your distance from those servers, and their distance from your game’s host, may be the difference between virtual life and death. Remember that latency accelerates over long distances, so do your best to keep everything in the same general location or region of the country!

The Limitations

It’s no secret that bandwidth has opened up a new world of media downloads, demanding online games, and media streaming that has strained internet service providers worldwide. For this reason, many internet service providers have instituted strict limits on bandwidth use in order to keep users from abusing the ever-increasing speeds of their broadband networks.

When conducting a broadband comparison for your online gaming internet connection, pay special attention to these limits (known as “broadband caps”). Some providers may limit users to a certain number of gigabytes per month — no matter what — while others may allow unmetered usage during off-peak hours (such as the early morning or late at night). You know your game-playing and internet-using habits better than anyone else, so make sure your internet service provider works with them instead of against them.

Choosing a Broadband Internet Package for Online Gaming is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

In part I of my increasing Adsense Revenues series, I covered how to optimise revenues if you are using more than one adsense banner per page.

In Part II, I’m going to explain how DFP helps you maximise revenue from unsold inventory and how this can allow you to run more than 3 Adsense units per page, without breaking Google’s T &Cs.

DFP is a fully fledged ad serving platform that allows you to run multiple creatives with various targeting and pricing mechanisms:

• Pricing: CPM, CPC, CPD and Sponsorship mechanisms are all supported
• Targeting: Creative rotation, frequency capping, geotargeting and custom variables all supported

You can have more than three ad slots enabled  for AdSense on a single page if the following criteria is met:1. The ad slots are not exclusively showing AdSense, and other line items are rotating through the slots.
2. If at any time, you have three slots that exclusively show AdSense, and no other line items are targeting the slots, then it is your responsibility to disable AdSense on your other slots in order to adhere to the AdSense Terms of Service. For example, say you have five ad slots on your page. All of them can be enabled for AdSense IF you have line items targeting the slots.

How To Include More Than 3 Adsense Ads Per Page is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Google Adsense is the advertising network of choice for many bloggers as almost every site is eligible to join, a wide range of ads are available and good geographic coverage is offered.  Used correctly, Adsense can match and even outperform other networks.

I’ve had some success using Google Adsense over the years, and I’ve decided to write a series of posts to share with readers how I’ve used Google’s DoubleClick For Publishers Small Business Product to increase my adsense earnings, as well as other tips on how to increase Adsense revenues.

DoubleClick For Publishers Small Business (DFP) is a free ad serving platform that allows publishers to serve banners from multiple sources.  It is a fully featured solution that allows geo-targeting, capping, ad prioritisation etc.

As you can see from the diagram above, DFP can be used to serve Adsense ads.  These ads are created within DFP i.e. you don’t have to go into Google Adsense to create a banner slot and cut and paste the code into DFP; DFP creates the adsense code for you.  Delivering your Google Adsense ads via DFP will increase your adsense income.  How?  Well, to explain why I first need to explain how Google Adsense delivers ads.

How Google Adsense Prioritises Ads

Let’s assume:

• We have a typical website with three sections – a header, a primary content area and a sidebar on the right
• We have 3 ad slots all running Adsense ads – one in the header, one in the primary content and one in the right sidebar
• Each banner slot contains 3 adsense links

I’m now going to explain why using DFP not only allows you to place your adsense banners anywhere you like, but why it will also increase your revenues.

Increase Adsense Revenues If You’re Using More Than One Banner is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Whether it was The Social Network movie or the website’s habitual line-stepping on privacy issues, something has turned off over 7 million people to Facebook.  Last month was not only the first in years that the social networking site didn’t get to enjoy an increase in active users, but was actually the first in years that saw a decline (7 million is the number that most sources have been coming out with).

Although CEO and de facto Princess of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg is vehemently denying these numbers, they have yet to release their own “official” numbers, which is not doing much to help with their argument.  Regardless of whether Facebook is really following the paths of friendster and myspace or if this is all just speculation like they want us to believe, it begs the question: would the world be better off without the social networking giant?

Last year, identity theft cases increased over 12%, due much in part to online scams like spyware and phishing on social networking sites.  When you combine the facts that Facebook was the #1 most visited website in 2010, and has a constantly mutating privacy setting, there is no place better for scammers and hackers to “do business.”  Even if you are cognizant enough to avoid phishing attempts when you enter your login info, the information on your page alone may be enough to lose you substantial amounts of money.

Facebook’s “open” approach to your information doesn’t just put your spam folder at greater risk of receiving more “business proposals” fromNigeriathan usual, but actual burglaries as well.  Many burglars these days will create fake accounts and friend you (or simply read your page if you haven’t been keeping up with Facebook’s privacy setting A.D.D.) in order to find out your address, work schedule, when you’re leaving for vacation, etc.  If you’re thinking, “But what are the chances of that, I only accept friend requests from people I know,” you should keep in mind that a study done in 2009 found that out of 200 test subjects, more than 40% accepted a friend request from a person they didn’t know.  And yes, if you guessed that that random person was a 21 year old girl, then you guessed correctly.

So, what do you think?  Will Facebook’s demise precede worldwide drops in rates of identity theft, burglaries, and annoying crap filling up your spam folders, or will another social network (*cough* Google) step up to take its place?

Will the End of Facebook Be Doing the World a Favour? is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Most mobile phone users manage to use their batteries for quite some time, maybe one to years at the most depending on how they use their phone. This is quite understandable, as mobile phones are the virtual lifelines of individuals. Mobile phones are used every day at almost every hour, and so it is perfectly normal to think that the battery will degrade at some point.

Basically, there are several types of mobile phone batteries that can last longer when they are properly used. Simple habits can go a long way. To give you some tips, here are 8 ways on how you can extend the battery life of your phone:

1. Do not charge your phone more often unless it shows you are low in battery.

If you recharge your mobile phone every day, the capacity of your battery will be degraded. Depending on the battery type, the best time to recharge your battery is when it is low or empty. This will extend the battery’s life span longer. What is important is to avoid charging when unnecessary.

2. Turn off Wi-Fi and data connections.

Utilizing GPRS, Edge, 3G or Wi-Fi data connections wears out the battery too quickly. If you are not regularly using your phone for Wi-Fi or internet access, you can turn these options off to save battery life. Try to use your mobile phone without connecting to the Web, and observe the battery for a day—you will notice that you will not charge as frequently.

3. Lower the screen brightness.

Your phone looks great if it is set to maximum brightness. Unfortunately, it is not good for your battery. The display brightness uses more power and consumes the battery faster. Lowering brightness helps to extend battery life. What is important is that you are able to see clearly.

4. Avoid using your phone by playing games or listening to music.

The problem of all-around mobile phones is always the battery consumption. The battery of a typical smartphone runs out fast when games and the music player are played. The more you use your phone with these mobile applications, the shorter the life span of your battery. To lengthen the lifespan of your battery, bring a portable music player, gaming console and camera—all these are portable anyway.

5. Set phone to flight mode

If you do not want to make calls, use the internet or send text messages, but you want to keep your phone on, you can set it to flight mode to disconnect network connection temporarily to avoid extra power usage of your battery. When you are also in the plane for a long flight, it is best to set the phone to flight mode if you do not wish to turn it off.

6. Turn off Bluetooth.

Bluetooth consumes more power when not in use and can drain battery life. Turning it off will definitely maximize battery life. It is best to use this only when you are exchanging files.

7. Turn the phone off.

If you are not going to use your phone for some other reasons, or there is no service in the area, turning it off can save battery life.

8. Control the keypad tones, vibration function and ringtone volume.

The keypad tones and vibration function of mobile phones use additional battery power. Turning it off will help keep the battery stay longer. Also minimize the ring tone volume as low as possible when you least need it.

[]This guest was provided by Danny who blogs at http://www.androidtabletfanatic.com/ and loves to write about the best android tablets on the market.[/box]

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Several months back a few publications ran stories that went after the claims by AT&T that they were providing phones and service that could be defined as “4G” when these phones were in fact not quite 4G.

Since the HTC 4G Android phone lineup is expanding, it’s a good time to find out what 4G really is, and whether or not any of these companies are attempting to deceive consumers in anyway. The mission actually drove me to try and get an answer to the even bigger question of what exactly defines the difference between 2G, 3G, 4G, et cetera.

It turns out that the ITU-R, or the International Telecommunications Union Radiocommunication Sector, is who decides what defines the difference between mobile technology generations. They base these titles on speed-while-mobile versus speed-when-still: when the ITU-R decided what can be considered 4G, they defined it as devices that can receive/relay 100 Mbit/s when in fast motion such as a train or car and 1Gbit/s when the user is walking or sitting down. They also outline expectations for security.

But there is no such thing as definitive “3G” or “4G” – these are for all intents and purposes simplified differentiations utilized by mobile phone marketers. Everybody more or less runs on their different methods of achieving the speeds and security necessary to be considered “3G” or otherwise. This has created some serious room for debate among many people who consider the definition as nothing but an authoritative-sounding marketing ploy.

The reason being that companies, being left to their own devices to achieve the necessary requirements to be called 4G, are releasing phones marketed as part of the 4G that are in fact simply highly-advanced 3G technology. But that, they would argue, is the nature of the beast. Nobody can pinpoint when exactly a phone or a service enters a new generation. Whenever parts of the 4G achievement are met, that’s often good enough for a company such as AT&T to potentially pass along a phone marketed as 4G that might be a little bit faster than the average 3G phone and reach 1Gbit/s, but is actually not what the ITU-R would classify as 4G

The ITU-R, like most facets of the UN, is not a governing body as far as individual nations are concerned, so there’s virtually no illegality in a company calling their phones and networks 4G. You have to do your research before buying a phone marketed in such a way. Many are as strong as the ITU-R has defined as 4G, but it’s still uncharted territory and it can be argued that none are yet truly 4G because such a thing, 3G, 4G, or otherwise, doesn’t really exist in the first place. It’s just a guideline, one you should use when choosing the latest generation of smartphone and service.

Are We There Yet? Trying to Get to the Bottom of 4G is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for more articles.

Attracting a woman is not a very complicated science. And I dare say every woman likes to be chased so her true charm can shine. So if you can better understand women and know some arts of seduction, you are sure to be popular with women. Below are some seduction tips accompanied by some useful software for you to become a master seducer!

How to Pick Up Women in Nightclubs —— Be Sociable!

Women would like to date a man who has social value. You need not to do great deeds to prove your social value. Just a smile or a warm greeting is good enough for women to evaluate your social value. And Nightclub is the greatest testing platform to test your social value, also the most desirable place to pick up women. ‘How to Pick Up Women in Nightclubs’ is a useful guide for you to develop your social skills. It will tell you how to capture a woman’s attention, how to talk to women. It also impart the step-by-step procedures from saying a simple“hello” to more intimate matters.

Free Joke Book —— Be Humorous!

Women would like to date a man who has a generous sense of humor. Learn to laugh at yourself and learn to tell funny jokes. “Free Joke Book” is a joke e-book with 40 pages of Blonde jokes, Redneck Jokes, Sports jokes, Bar jokes etc etc.

Subliminal Blaster —— Be Confident!

As a female, I can say for sure: we love confident and charismatic men. Try to be a charismatic “alpha male” and you’ll be irresistable. You can develop these qualities with the help of sublimianl messages which can train your subconscious mind. Subliminal Blaster flashes messages on your computer screen that have the power to reprogram your mind. Please don’t be skeptical about what I say. It really works. Simply by letting a message run on your computer and you can improve your confidence. If you still hesitate to believe me, you can check out Wikepedia for research on “Subliminal Messages”

MB Free Palmistry —— Be tactical

Women don’t want men to think they’re easy to get because no woman wants to be thought of as a slut. So if you want to touch her or have some touches with a hidden intimacy motive, Palm reading is a good place to begin with. No need to be an expert Palm reader, just use some jargons and she’ll believe you. However, the tactic could work better if you can make a pointed comment. MB Free Palmistry is an effective tool based on the art of Palmistry. You can use it to practice your Palm reading skills or just learn some jargons. Moreover, you can know more about the woman through her interaction.

AllMyNotes Organizer ——Be Mindful

To be a master seducer, you need to be attentive of the targeted woman’s information, like the birthday date, hobbies, favorite books, music and food. The more you know about her, the more she will appreciate you. As a seducer, you certainly communicated with a lot of women. As a result, you need to remember a lot of information. So you need an awesome note organizer. Here comes AllMyNotes Organizer which can store information about your girls and everything about your seduction relationships clear and organized in your computer.

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By now, just about everybody knows that using social plugins from Facebook and allowing Opengraph lets your data be mined and used.

On the one hand we have to accept that Facebook is a public platform and that privacy is a very subjective term. On the other hand, some people feel there are limits to everything – including the regular changes in Facebook’s privacy policy.

On a positive note:

• By being able to study your behavior, likes and dislikes advertisers are able to provide more targeted adverts – which are more likely to be something you may want. Your history is taken into account in order to provide less irrelevant ads. Quite the contrary in fact – you are likely to be served with tailored offers based on your unique behavior.
• The fact that the information is shared, allows you to see what your friends are interested in. To many people, this could be important – especially for someone who wants to buy an item, but has no clue about making a good choice, and needs to rely on the judgment of others.
• If you have already decided you like a product or company, you would probably welcome the benefits brought about by the targeted applications.

On the negative side:

• Knowing that your data is going to be used and possibly abused could create a psychological barrier. As human beings, we tend to be selective about what we share with whom. As such, knowing the potential consequences of allowing any application is likely to be a deterrent for many folks.
• Wherever any private information is being collected, there is always the possibility of abuse. Your information could be sold by unscrupulous companies – and you have no control over that. You may sign up for something which is taken over by another company with different views. Additionally, it is possible that you can be sent excessive information – it happened with email, and Facebook is just another medium open to abuse.
• Living in a bubble – while it might be nice to only see things you are interested in, could also cut you off from being exposed to new things that may be of interest to you. If your activities on Facebook do not include all your interests, you will undoubtedly not be served with ads relating to all of your interests.
• For some, the lack of privacy may really become an issue – not everybody wants everybody to know what they just bought or did (at least not all of the time).

How these will affect you is likely to be a matter of personal preference. For some it may be a problem, and for some it won’t. As the average user becomes better informed however, we may just very well see a reduction in the numbers of people allowing Opengraph.

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I’ve recently been getting a lot of emails from people wanting to write guest posts for Connected Internet.  I’m happy to say that I’m now accepting guest posts, and I’m hoping to publish one or two every week.

Writing guest posts is a good way to reach out to new readers, and to potentially get experience of writing for a bigger audience.  I’m opening this up to all readers, so you don’t have to be a successful blogger to participate.  You might not even have your own blog; you just fancy submitting a post or two and seeing your name on the web.

If you’re interested in submitting a guest post, then please read my Guest Post Guidelines.

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Contract creation is a necessary task for almost any corporation, organisation, governing body, or anyone who must rely on others to remain responsible and diligent for any length of time. Contracts are legally binding and therefore must be rigorously detailed in their language. Writing a contract is time consuming work that requires both the knowledge of an attorney and the writing tenacity of a novelist. It’s said that the average business contract takes weeks and even a month to compile effectively. It’s the effectiveness that makes the hard work essential: without a contract that actually protects you lawfully from irresponsible behavior and criminal conduct committed by workers, making a contract is simply a waste of time.

In the world of information technology ensuring that you’re using contracts with precise language that reflect the most up-to-date changes in law and order is fundamental. If there were ever a field contracts were meant for it’d be IT. Those who manage the day-to-day development and programming functions of a business are oftentimes privileged with access to huge vaults of personal information as well as sensitive business information. Not only that, the job of IT workers is almost more important than the business itself, for in today’s world no other faction of your workforce is going to be more necessary in making sure your enterprise operates smoothly than those in IT. Without a responsible team of brains manning the machines and programs your business relies on, you’re on the fast track to closing up shop.

But it simply doesn’t make sound business sense to commit huge amounts of employee time or your own time to developing perfected contracts to ensure the tasks of an IT business are met and accomplished while rules and regulations aren’t violated. You’ll lose so much time and energy that it’s simply not worth it. That’s why it’s so important that IT businesses and enterprises heavily reliant on online sales and digital means of making money get a hold of contract management software that works best for them. They work in catching risks before they happen and more importantly before anything is signed. Contract management software removes the necessity for an employee to spend time writing a contract or paying an attorney the fee to do it. It cuts down on everything that can be otherwise spent more effectively in making your business perform better.

The world of digital business invites us to more opportunity than ever before, yet risks remain as always. Nobody likes writing contracts or signing them but in an age when employees can have access to every piece of important information your business has ever recorded, contracts are the only way to achieve peace of mind. Instead of spending all of your time creating these necessities yourself, get software that will do it for you. That’s simply good IT policy no matter what you’re up to.

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Malaysian government sites reported that they were the victims of the most recent hacker attack. No one is for certain as to why the online world has seen such activity on the part of hackers. There’ve been reports all over the world from different countries, companies, and web sites that are seeing an upswing in these malicious attacks. News from Tokyo came out recently that the server for Nintendo’s U.S. web site was hacked. Though absolutely no data or information was compromised, it still causes room for concern. The attack on Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Network was far less benign. Hackers breeched the company’s site and stole over a hundred million-user account details. Even the U.S. Government has voiced concerns about recent attacks.

Malaysian officials stated that the attack that took place was a part of an attempt to hack 51 different government web sites. It was also released that 41 of those attacks were successful in disrupting services. It is still unclear as to the level of damage that’s been caused when the sites’ security were compromised. The nature of the attacks is still unclear but government officials stated that, “We do not expect the overall recovery to these websites to take long as most websites have already recovered from the attack.” This is good news but trouble all the same.

No group has come forward to take credit for the attack but one group, “Anonymous”, said that this attack was in response to the Malaysian government blocking some web sites. It was further explained that, earlier this week, Malaysia began censoring films and TV shows and is blocking access to some file-sharing sites that, some have argued, is a denial of basic human rights. It’s uncertain if this is the real reason for the attack nor is any government clear on how to proceed.

Malaysia hasn’t been the only government to find themselves at risk. It seems that wherever the people are, that’s where the hackers go. Even the U.S. Government has released reports in the last several months of attacks on its sites in the attempts to access sensitive materials. In fact, the American government has taken this so seriously that, as MSN reported, the U.S. has decided that hacking can be considered an act of war.

As governments, businesses, and citizens are looking at the reports, this global trend raises serious questions about, not only to our online security, who is coordinating these attacks. These attacks have come on the heels of, what seems to be; a global movement as one country, company, and business is attacked after another. It’s making the world wonder if there’s anyone safe. It’s become increasingly important for sites to make their online security and data storage a number one priority. There are companies around the world, like San Francisco Data Center, that securely offer power and connectively capacity to support any level of need. Even with that said, the world is going to have to redouble it’s efforts to fight this growing tide of hacker attacks.

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One of the nice features in Google OS is the guest mode that automatically defaults to Incognito mode.  This means that guests to your home don’t have to worry about revealing what websites they’ve visited or any of their private information.

If you want to recreate a similar effect on your PC i.e. each time you start Google Chrome it automatically starts in privacy mode, then this is easy to achieve:

1. Right-click on the icon(s) you use to start Google Chrome and click on ‘Properties’
2. In the window that opens up find the target line and at the end of the current entry add ‘–incognito’ at the end of the entry.  Remember to leave a space between …chrome.exe and –incognito
3. Click Ok

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For various reasons media databases within Windows can get corrupt.  Symptoms include music and other files never appearing in the library, incorrect artwork, changes made not registering etc etc.  Both Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player run off the same database, so errors in one will be seen in the other.

To fix the Windows Media Player database do the following:

1. Go to Start and type ‘services.msc’ into the search box.  This will start Windows Services
2. Scroll down the list of Windows Services until you find Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service.  Select it, and then in the top left hand of the window click on ‘stop the service’.
3. Now open Windows Explorer and go to ‘\Users\YOUR USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player’ replacing ‘YOUR USERNAME’ with the name of the user who’s database you want to reset.
4. Now in the folder you’ve opened, sort by filetype and delete all the Windows Media Library files.
5. Go back to stage 2 and restart the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service

Now, when you restart Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center the database will rebuild and your files will start to appear.  Be patient as this might take a while, but once complete your media database will be free of errors.

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I don’t intend on queuing for 5 hours this year to get my iPhone 5, but I almost certainly will be upgrading to the latest iPhone as soon as possible.

I’m coming up to my second anniversary as an iPhone user, and here are the new features and improvements I’m hoping the iPhone 5 will include.

My iPhone 5 Wishlist

Universal Inbox

Please Apple, a universal inbox for SMS, mail and voicemail that stores logs for all contacts with address book entries in one location.

Wireless/OTA iTunes Synchronisation

Having to hook my iPhone up to my PC every time I want to sync it is ludicrous in this day and age.  I’d almost settle for being able to sync wirelessly on my home network, but full wireless sync is a must for me.

Quicker Access To Camera

One of my big pet hates with my iPhone is the length of time it takes to get to the camera.  When I see something I want to capture I have to press the home button, slide to unlock, enter my pin, click on the camera app and then press record…by the time I’ve done all this the moment has gone.  What would be great is a one touch way to get into the camera, either via a dedicated button or a keystroke combo.

Better Battery

I know that as smartphones become more and more powerful the power requirements will increase, but what I really want is a phone like my Sony Ericsson T68 back in 2001 which I only needed to charge twice a week.  At the moment my iPhone is lasting on average 1.5 days on a full charge which is ok, but I want more!

Improved Notifications

The notification system on Android is so much better than on iOS.  What I want is a way to see all my notifications in one place, rather than having to click on every app individually.

Richer Lock Screen

Prior to switching to an iPhone, I had a Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia.  What I miss the most is the Windows Mobile ‘Today’ screen that provided a quick snapshot of my world. What I’d really like is a richer lock screen with a similar experience on the iPhone 5.

NFC Support

I rarely use cash and I try to use my Amex card as often as possible.  It’d be great if I could speedup more of my transactions just by using my phone.  What would be even better if is I could store the details of my loyalty cards in my phone, as I don’t tend to carry these with me as I like to keep a slim wallet.

What features would you like to see in the iPhone 5?

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I’ve been using an amazing computer program from DVBlogic in my home for just over a year that has transformed the way we watch tv within our household.  I have a very connected home and since 2007 all of my music, videos, dvds, blu-rays and photos have been stored on a central machine.

Now with DVBlogic DVBLink I’ve been able to add live and recorded tv to this equation, which are now shared not only within my home but also online, allowing me to watch any of my shows through a browser or on my iPad or iPhone 4.

Initially I had DVBlogic running on a Windows Home Server, but in the last year my ‘server’ machine has been running Windows 7 to reduce costs as I ditched WHS when I realised the new version would still not have Media Center integrated (I now have one machine storing the files and connected to my main TV, rather than one machine storing the files via WHS and a second running Windows 7 Media Center connected to a TV).

The diagram below best shows how DVBlogic works:

My ‘server’ is represented by the PC on the left, which is connected to my main TV.  Within this machine I have 4x Hauppauge  WinTV-Nova-HD-S2 TV cards each taking a feed from my Satellite.  DVBLogic’s TVSource product uses these cards and makes both the SD and HD channels available within Windows Media Center with full support e.g. guide listings, live tv, pausing tv, scheduled recordings etc etc.

My Four TV cards allow me to watch or record up to four channels at once.  There’s no limit on how many cards can be added and DVBLink TVSource even allows different types of cards to be mixed i.e. Satellite, Cable and Terrestrial TV channels can all be used together as DVBLink intelligently merges these channels.   TV cards that aren’t directly supported by Media Center such as DVB-C cards can also be used via DVBLink TVSource.

The real power of TVSource is unlocked though, when it is combined with DVBLink Network Pack which is depicted by the right-hand side of the diagram above.  Network Pack allows the tv cards on your PC to be shared with other devices including other Windows Media Centers. Without Network Pack if you wanted to watch live TV on other Media Centers, then each media center needed to have its own tv cards installed.  Now, TV cards installed on one PC are shared with other PCs.

In my household for instance, we have 4 Media Centers each running W7MC.  Network Pack serves up 4 virtual tuners for each of these machines, so across my home we can record and watch up to four shows at once.  So in room 1 we could be watching BBC1 HD and recording Sky 1, in room 2 my daughter could be watching BabyTV and in room 3 I could be recording the football – i.e. up to four channels streamed from one PC to the others.  Network Pack also manages tuner sharing so if two or more rooms are actually watching the same channel at the same time, only one tuner is used rather than two.  Using Recorded TV Manager 3, any recordings made are copied over to the ‘server’ allowing them to be watched from any machine at a later date.

UPNP enabled clients such as Sony Playstation 3 and almost any internet connected device such as ipads and iphones are also supported. Streaming live tv requires a reasonably powered PC, but if you find your PC struggling then there are settings available to reduce the picture quality.   The software is so fantastic that you can even use the online service to schedule recordings that you’ve realised you’ve forgotten or are going to miss because you are running late.

All of this costs just over 40 euros; an amazingly low price for such a great piece of software that is constantly being updated by the developers.  If you have more than one PC in your home or just want to be able to watch your TV online then investing in DVBlink is a no-brainer.  If you’re not sure if DVBLink is right for you, then you can try the product out free for 30 days.

More: DVBLogic

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Over the last month I’ve been testing a MiFi Mobile Broadband device that has been lent to me from Three.  This small dongle sized device connects to the Three mobile network and creates a Wi-Fi hotspot  that can be connected to by up to five devices at once.  For the first week or so it remained in its box as I was too busy to test it, but then my world turned upside down.

In terms of internet connectivity at home I’m normally well served by my Virgin Media 50Mbps connection which is normally ultra-reliable.  However, suddenly last month Virgin had a network fault which knocked out my connection for around 10 days; a total disaster for a homeworker like me.   For the first day I totally forgot that I had the Three MiFi device sitting on my desk, but after spotting it on the second and getting it up and running it proved to be a godsend.

Setting up the device was simple. The MiFi itself is small enough to fit comfortably into a pocket measuring around 9x5x1cm, although we positioned it near a window to try and get the best possible mobile internet connection.   There is only one button on the device – to turn it on and off.  Once it’s on, the device automatically connects to the Three network and creates the mobile hotspot i.e. no configuration is needed.

Once up and running the front of the device has a small status screen providing information on:

• 3G signal strength
• Network speed: 3G or the faster HSDPA
• Wifi connections: how many devices are connected to the modem
• Battery charge level
• Data used: usage in MB per session

Speed

I was pleasantly surprised, no make that very surprised, by just how fast the Three MiFi was.  I’ve been with O2 for nearly two years and the only reason I chose O2 was because at the time they were the only network offering iPhones.  Since then I’ve learnt the hard way that O2′s mobile internet speed is shockingly slow, partly due to having more data hungry iPhone users than other networks.  However, I was shocked when I saw first hand just how slow the O2 network was compared to Three’s.  With the MiFi device I was able to browse the internet without really noticing that I wasn’t using my fixed line connection, or that I was sharing the connection with my wife.  This wouldn’t be possible with my iPhone 4 acting as a mobile modem, or using my O2 dongle (which of course can only connect one device at a time).

To compare the speeds of Three and O2 I installed Speedtest.net’s mobile app on my iPhone 4 and compared the results of connecting directly to the O2 network Vs connecting via the Three MiFi Unit.   On the O2 network my download speed averaged around 0.9-1.1Mbps and upload around 0.3-0.5Mbps, whereas Three averaged 2.2-2.6Mbps for downloads and 1.4-1.6Mbps for uploads.  That’s a huge difference!  My O2 contract is up in two months and I will be definitely switching to Three based on these results.

So what didn’t I like about the MiFi?

• The battery life wasn’t the greatest in terms of both usage and standby.  If I were a true mobile worker, the device wouldn’t have lasted a full day without a recharge and I’m sure I would get a bit frustrated trying to find charging points daily and having to charge it every night.
• I also had occasional problems connecting to the internet via the device – the MiFi would say that it was online, but I wasn’t able to go online with my laptop.  I’m sure though that this was probably related to my review unit, rather than this problem affecting all devices.

All in all, I think the MiFi is a great device and could be a worthwhile investment at £71.99 if you have more than one mobile device in your household.  For this price, not only do you get a dongle free mobile internet connection for your devices that can be carried in your pocket or bag, but you can also connect up to five devices at once.

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Our exposure to technology has not been incremental. We interact with it on an increasingly personal level and it seemed, that with the invention of the computer and Internet, things would only get faster, not stranger. We can now surf the web from practically any point on the globe and stay connected with anyone, anywhere. We can do everything from a little reverse phone lookup to compiling terabytes of data in an instant. Changes in the field of technology have been quick and noticeable as well as exceedingly smaller. It appears that this trend will continue and, in order to notice the changes to our technology in the coming years, one will require the assistance of a microscope to see it.

Nanotechnolgoy is likely to be a benchmark of our collective future. If you’re not familiar with nanotechnology it is, in essence, the science of very small things. Usually smaller than a hundred nanometers, which is really small. A hundred nanometers is the about the equivalent to a thousand atoms across. It appears that bigger isn’t always better and scientists are still trying to understand how pervasive this front in tech development will be. Nanotechnology is a very new science but once it starts to be applied it will evolve fast and will likely affect every aspect of our lives. Whether it is the medial field, to science research, to computers and cars, a new world is about to break through and many people don’t even realize it.

The process behind it is actually simple. It works on the premise that carbon is one of the most versatile particles in the universe. When you get small and take them down to the atomic level, very interesting things start to happen. If you take atomic carbon particles and arrange them in different ways, you get extremely different outcomes. Arranging carbon one way will give you diamonds. Another will give you graphite. The possibilities are limitless and through the use of nanotechnology we’ll, soon be able to alter the atomic ordering of things. In essence, reshaping the very foundation of creation.

It seems that the application process is starting small with a simple battery approach. Apple is currently devising a way to introduce nanotechnology into its power source for future iPhones. Apple hopes to completely get rid of the need to replace batteries. It works by taking the granules inside a battery that are a nanometer in scale, and use nanotechnology to recharge your battery using nothing more than kinetic energy. Scientists also hope to make a battery charge faster and last longer, if not indefinitely. You might even be able to charge your iPhone with as little as the heat/vibrations that comes from the users heartbeat.

This isn’t just for phones and will likely replace older computer systems in a mater of a decade or so. The silicon transistors in your computer will probably be replaced by carbon nanotubes. They will likely power, run, and process your computer and it’s information on a microscopic scale. Eventually everything’s just going to get smaller and smaller and rarely ever need to be recharged.

Eventually, scientists are hoping to develop a way to make nanotechnology self-replicating. This means that, in essence, this would create a self-sustaining mechanism built around cloning itself over and over again towards achieving a specific task. This is likely to be used to great success in diagnosing and operating on patents in the future and will probably extend our life spans by several years if not decades. This isn’t to mention how different the world is likely to look in the next 20 years.

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SONY who is trying to get back on its wheels after the hack attack that brought it down, may have it’s stomach wrenched at rumors abound that another attack is planned for this weekend.

“Observers of the Internet Relay Chat channel used by the hackers told CNET that a third major attack is planned this weekend against Sony’s Web site. The people involved plan to publicize all or some of the information they are able to copy from Sony’s servers, which could include customer names, credit card numbers, and addresses, according to the source. The hackers claim they currently have access to some of Sony’s servers.”

What happened in the Last Attack

A massive security breach affecting over 100 million online accounts occurred and they confirmed that personal data from 24.6 million user accounts was stolen in the hacker attack last month. The personal data, included credit card numbers, that may have been stolen from another 77 million PlayStation accounts.  The attack may have started as early as April 19, because Sony started to investigate unusual activity on its servers. To their chagrin, the attack was in full force by April 20th, but they did not inform their users or customers of the breach. This lack of candor has lawyers calling for a class action suit against Sony.

Anonymous

Who is behind the attacks, and Why? Who is not clear, and the why may be a revenge factor by a group of hackers upset with the way Sony treated another hacker, George Hotz, pictured below.

George Hotz is an American hacker known for unlocking the iPhone, and allowing the phone to be used with other wireless carriers, which is  contrary to AT&T and Apple’s intent. And he is also noted for hacking the PlayStation 3 and subsequently being sued by Sony. But Hotz’s attitude is that ” he has denied any responsibility for the attack, and said “Running homebrew and exploring security on your devices is cool, hacking into someone else’s server and stealing databases of user info is not cool”"

According to Sony, they suspect a group of hackers called Anonymous is behind the attack because the found a file on one of its servers and the tag line “we are legion” also referring to what Anonymous calls itself some time.

New Attack Coming?

Not withstanding the security work that Sony is implementing, there are rumors that a new series of attacks against Sony are in the works. Apparently,  it now seems that the same group of hackers that was able to infiltrate the Play Station servers is planning to hit back against Sony.

Source: Cnet

Washington Post

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Reported today (05/09/11) from Reuters that Apple has surpassed Google as the most valued brand.  Google fell to number two after leading the pack for four years.

Apple, the iPhone and iPad maker’s brand, is now worth $153 billion, almost half Apple’s market capitalization.  This occurred because Apple’s portfolio of  consumer goods propelled it past Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable technology company last year.

Other Brands

Of the top 10 brands in Monday’s report, six were technology and telecoms companies: Google at number two, IBM at number three, Microsoft at number five, AT&T at number seven and China Mobile at number nine.

Here is the list of the top 10 brands.

1. Apple (Tech)
2. Google (Tech)
3. IBM (Tech)
4. McDonalds (Fast Food)
5. Microsoft (Tech)
6. Coca Cola (Drink)
7. AT&T (Tech)
8. Marlboro (Tobacco)
9. China Mobile (Tech)
10. General Electric (Tech)

What makes Apple stand out? They’ve hit the cord with their customers. Their unique product line, which everyone wants to copy, and which makes their customers happy to own, stands them apart. And oddly enough, the high price of their products is not a dent maker or business killer.  Customers see a high price as a differentiator, not a drawback.

It was reported on Reuters that Apple was breaking the rules in terms of its pricing model. Apple is performing in the same way that luxury brands do, where the higher price the brand is, the more it seems to underpin and reinforce the desire for the product.

Blackberry And the Future

However, things don’t look so good for Blackberry. Over the course of the last year, Research In Motion’s (BlackBerry) brand lost twenty percent of its brand value. But among technology companies, only Nokia’s 28 percent decline was steeper.

This lead to the question, where is the technology going? Five years ago, no one foresaw the new products, and new technologies, but with the success of Apple, FaceBook, Twitter, and hundreds of other companies, where will the next innovative technology come from?

Source: Reuters

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