Custom Conection

Most Effective way to Lose Belly Fat

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:27:00 -0700

A tight abdomen is beneficial in that it offers protection to some vital organs such as the heart and the lungs as well as it helps us maintain good posture and balance coordination.

It is said that diet alone cannot make one lose belly fat. There is a closer relationship between stomach fat and exercises. We need to exercise for stomach fat to burn faster.

However, most of us have this question: What are some of the effective exercises that get rid of stomach fat?

Before tackling about the types of exercises to loose stomach fat, let us first find out how exercise burns fat. Exercise burns fat because it speeds up the body's metabolism thus spends up the body's demand for oxygen and calories to be burned. The body first burns the available calories then burns the fat deposits if actually needed. Thus a good stomach fat burning exercise is the one which does not only burn available calories but it should be able to burn the fat deposited in the belly.

Experts say that for exercise to be effective it would be done in 8-12 repetitions per exercise, about 2-3 times per week. As the exercises become easier, you can gradually increasing the number of repetitions.

Here are some of the most effective exercise the author has heard over the internet and the media nowadays:

1. The bicycle crunch

Nothing eats the popularity of the bicycle crunch. This exercise is sure to make you lose stomach fat in just a few weeks time. In this exercise the person lies on the floor with his lower back pressed into the floor. Then he brings both of his hands behind the head. Starting with the legs bent at a 45-degree angle, he then brings the right knee into the chest while extending the left leg out straight. At the same time, the torso is rotated so that the left elbow goes to the right knee, and then is switched so that the left elbow goes towards the right knee.

2. Reverse Crunch

In this exercise, the person lies flat on the floor with his lower back pressed into the ground. He then raises his legs into the air and bends his knees to a 90-degree angle. Keeping his legs still, he then lifts his hips up off the ground, and returns to starting position.

3. Captain's Chair

This exercise requires the use of a tall chair without a seat. The performer stabilizes his body on the chair by pressing his back against the back pad. He then places his elbows on the armrests and grips the handles. He then steps off the footrests and lets his legs hang while holding himself up. Then the knees are lifted towards the chest and are returned to starting position.

Before starting any exercises, always consult your doctor so that you can be screened for some medical conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. If you have these conditions, you have to refrain from strenuous physical activities and instead shift to light, aerobic ones. Also, tell your personal trainer if you have any back and spine problems so that they will not be aggravated by the exercises.

what is the relationship of Coconut Oil and Weight Loss?

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:23:00 -0700

Simple weight loss tips are everywhere - but do they really work? What is the connection between Coconut Oil and losing weight? If you have ever looked at a tub of coconut oil, you probably see that it looks a lot like lard. You know, that "bad" stuff that clogs arteries, sticks to your thighs and overall makes you unhealthy. What on earth are these so-called fitness and health gurus smoking to believe that something that looks like fat is going to make us skinny?

Well, like a book, you can't judge a fat by its cover. Turns out, there may be some actual science that supports the simple weight loss tips for the use of coconut oil in helping your body burn fat. The connection has something to do with "brown fat" and allowing your body to burn energy (read: calories) more efficiently.

What is Brown Fat?

Brown fat is the type of fat that actually burns calories rather than stores them. The fat that people are usually trying to get rid of when they want to lose weight is the yellow fat - the fat that stores our excess calories and adds inches to our hips.

Brown fat is part of your bodies system of thermogenesis which is just a fancy word for saying that heat is generated in the body during metabolism. You see, brown fat has a large number of mitochondria. Mitochondria are found in every cell of the body and contain the enzymes that are responsible for converting the food we eat (proteins, carbs, and fats) into energy. And, your brown fat has a LOT of mitochondria so there is a lot of action going on here - lots of heat - lots of fat burning power.

Where is Brown Fat?

We are all born with brown fat. And before you begin to think that it is what makes a baby's legs so chubby and cute, stop. Brown fat is in the parts of your body that require intense metabolic activity; heat. It's located deep within the body near the shoulder blades, down the spine, by your heart, and by your kidneys and adrenal glands. It keeps everything nice and warm, including your blood, and accounts for about 25% of the heat generated in your body.

Why is Brown Fat Important to Weight Loss?

When you lose brown fat, your body loses some of its ability to effectively burn the calories that you consume, making it harder to lose weight. As you age, some of your brown fat will be lost. Other things that contribute to the loss of brown fat are: exposure to toxins, yo-yo dieting, poor diet and negative behavioral activities.

Why is Coconut Oil Considered for Weight Loss?

There are several methods, foods and supplements you can consider to boost and enhance the performance of your brown fat. One simple weight loss tips points to oil. Coconut oil has been found to contain medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) which are believed to be effective in weight loss. Because of the reduced chain length, it's more rapidly absorbed by the body and metabolizes quicker. Plus, there is evidence that MCTs have an anti-coagulation effect and may lower cholesterol.

One study showed that just 1-2 tablespoons of MCTs added to a person's normal diet allowed for an additional 5% of calories burned and evidence of a natural reduction in appetite. So, adding this to your diet could result in your body using your food more efficiently (an increase in thermogenesis) and a feeling of being satisfied thus choosing to eat less without that feeling of deprivation.

Another source is grapeseed oil. You can cook with these oils just as you would any other vegetable oil or use it on vegetables and salad dressings. The recommended amount daily is 1-2 Tablespoons.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6548726

Selecting the High-Speed Connection | DSL Internet Providers

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:21:00 -0700

One of the most valuable technologies that people enjoy today is the Internet. Many enjoy the great pleasure of connecting with people without the geographical barrier. Communication is more efficient with the use of the Internet with benefits not only to personal needs and use but for many commercial purposes as well. In order to maximize the features and benefits from using the Internet technology it is essential to choose only the services from reliable Internet providers.

Many Internet providers are available to choose from. They offer the same promising features of a high speed connection that people are willing to pay for. The beneficial use of Internet technology extends to the flourishing ecommerce industry. The speed of Internet connection can also affect businesses therefore the need for reliable Internet connection is always emphasized. With a second rate Internet service provider, there is a danger of losing sales and failure to maintain an uninterrupted online business. A stable connection is needed in order to ensure that an online entrepreneur remains consistent in communicating with their clients and customers while being efficient in maintaining reliable services to cater to their needs. Thus, a good Internet service provider should be one that can provide Internet connection without technical interruptions to the user.

Balance should be made when assessing the DSL Internet providers by considering the price for their services and quality of the connection they can provide. You may find low cost Internet providers however they offer a limited bandwidth. Higher priced DSL Internet providers on the other hand can offer better bandwidth and less technical problems to their consumers. The bandwidth that an Internet provider offers is an important consideration to the user since it is the maximum constant rate for downloading data and files. Bigger bandwidth allows faster connection speed.

Ideally, what you want for your Internet is a maximum bandwidth for high speed Internet connection. DSL Internet providers usually offer flexible packages of various bandwidth rate. The higher the bandwidth however the higher the cost. But the fact that even the lowest bandwidth level offered by DSL Internet providers remains to be better than dial up connection gives it a better option. Maximum latency is important also to make loading of pages faster. But latency usually varies on an hourly and daily basis. So it is not distinguishable unlike bandwidth which has more effect on your browsing.

Evaluate your options very carefully when choosing among the DSL Internet providers available in the market, although most of them are similar in prices, you can look into some added features that they provide their clients like DSL, cable connection and phone lines altogether. And while it is good to have a high-speed Internet connection, you need to consider also the expense that you are going to pay for your monthly bill. Look into your options diligently so that you will end up with the reliable and affordable Internet service provider.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6548238

Desktop Manager Wont Backup Word Substitution

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:20:00 -0700

I saw this phrase from a blog post. On David Yach's. I think this feature is going to be one that gets lost. Copy & Paste may not work, but typing key ones on a bb w/ 5.0 is ok. I am hunting down my 9700's 5.0 handheld code.

----
David Yach’s keynote at RIM’s internal RDX developer conference:

A big portion of the talk is focusing on the benefit RIM will get from centralizing processes and tools.
One of the key reasons OS 6.1 is falling behind schedule is miscommunication between teams in the critical path of the project
He didn’t focus on the problems as much as how RIM is going to solve them by easing conflicts in the critical path
There is a new project “Highlander” using the concept from the movies “There can be only one”
This project is taking the best features from OS 6.1 and the QNX OS to make OS 7. This seems to be where the rumors about OS 6.1 having a QNX core are coming from
RIM is “very happy” with OS 6.1 but it struggling with losing the features users love

Troubleshooting Wi-Fi music sync on BlackBerry Desktop Software 6

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:16:00 -0700

I cannot connect to a Wi-Fi network:

Depending on your BlackBerry® device model, the Wi-Fi® feature might not be supported.
Try the following actions:

• Verify that you have turned on the connection to the Wi-Fi network.
• Verify that you are in a Wi-Fi coverage area.
• If the Wi-Fi network does not appear in the Set Up Wi-Fi application, it might be hidden. If you know the network name, connect to the Wi-Fi network manually.
• In the Set Up Wi-Fi application, verify that the options for the Wi-Fi network are correct.
• If you switched Wi-Fi networks manually, switch to another Wi-Fi network or set your BlackBerry device to scan for available Wi-Fi networks.
• If your wireless service provider supports UMA, verify that your connection preference is not set to Mobile Network Only.
• If your email account uses a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, your device might prevent you from connecting to certain wireless access points. For more information, contact your administrator.
• If you are using the Push Button Setup method, verify that the access point is enabled with Wi-Fi Protected Setup™, and that it has been set to send its profile. Verify that another device is not also attempting to connect at the same time, and that not more than one access point within range is in this mode.
• If you use PEAP, EAP-TLS, EAP-FAST, EAP-TTLS, or EAP-SIM to connect to a Wi-Fi network, verify that you have installed the root certificate for the certificate authority server that created the certificate for the authentication server.
• If you use EAP-TLS to connect to a Wi-Fi network, verify that you have added your authentication certificate to your device.

Wi-Fi music sync is not working as expected

If you are unable to use Wi-Fi® music sync to download your music or if you cannot view your music from Wi-Fi music sync, try the following actions:

• Verify that Wi-Fi music sync is installed correctly. On the Home screen of your BlackBerry® device, click the Media icon > Music icon. At the bottom of the screen, click Wi-Fi music sync. The status should display as connected.

• If a long time has passed since you installed the BlackBerry® Desktop Software, your security certificates might be expired. Try reinstalling the BlackBerry Desktop Software. To install the latest version, visit www.blackberry.com/desktop.
• If you are logged in to a VPN, you must log out of the VPN to use Wi-Fi music sync.

If you are trying to use a Wi-Fi connection, try the following actions:

• Verify that your Wi-Fi connection on your device is turned on. On the Home screen of your device, click the connections area at the top of the screen, or click the Manage Connections icon. If the Wi-Fi check box is cleared, select it.
• If the Wi-Fi connection on your device is turned on and there are still issues, verify that your device is connected to the same Wi-Fi network that your computer is connected to. Check the Wi-Fi connection software on your computer to see which network you are connected to. If you are not using a wireless connection on your computer, verify that an Ethernet cable is connected to the same router that provides your device with a Wi-Fi connection.
• If you cannot download your songs using a Wi-Fi connection, connect your device to your computer with a USB cable to download your songs. In some cases, if changes are made to your computer settings or device options, you might need to connect your device to your computer with a USB cable before you can use a Wi-Fi connection again.

If you think that a network connection might not be established, try the following actions:

• If your device cannot connect to your computer's network, type the following URL in a browser window: http://<your_computer_IP_address>:4481/mediasync/music. If you are prompted, accept the certificate warning. If the web page does not display the text "Wireless music sync", then your device is connected to the same network as your computer. If you do receive a displayerror, your device is not connected properly to the same network as your computer or there might be a firewall issue or routing issue.

• If your computer, router, or wireless network has a firewall, verify that ports 4481 and 4482 are open for TCP and UDP, and that the BlackBerry Desktop Software is allowed by the firewall. For more information and instructions, see the documentation for your firewall software.

• If your router has UDP broadcast, verify that UDP broadcast is turned on. Most routers support this feature and do not mention it, but your router might need special configuration. For instructions, see the documentation that came with your router.

• Verify that your gateway IP address is the same on both your device and your computer, and that both your device and computer IPaddresses are on the same subnet.

Some song details are not appearing on my device

Wi-Fi® music sync updates song details on your BlackBerry® device about once every hour, so it might take an hour after the song is downloaded before all the song details that are in your music application appear on your device. If you want the song details to appear before then, in the Wi-Fi Music Sync list on your device, press the Menu key and click Sync Now, or connect your device to your computer with a USB cable.

I cannot see songs on my device that are from the music library on my computer

Try the following:

• Verify that both the BlackBerry® Desktop Software and your iTunes library or Windows Media® Player library is open on your computer.

• Verify that the correct music library is selected in the BlackBerry Desktop Software. Click Device > Device options. On the Media tab, if the correct music library is not selected, in the Music source drop-down list, click the music library that you want to use.

Pending songs are not downloaded to my device

If the songs in your Wi-Fi Music Sync list are pending and are not being downloaded from your computer to your BlackBerry® device, try the following actions:

• Verify that your device is within range of the Wi-Fi® network that your computer is connected to.

• Verify that your device has enough available storage. Try transferring media files that you have stored on your device to a media card.

• Verify that the songs are not being played on your computer or have not been deleted from your computer.

• Verify that your device is charged. If the battery power level drops below 5 per cent, you cannot download your songs

Wi-Fi music sync cannot connect to a Wi-Fi network
Depending on your BlackBerry® device model, the Wi-Fi® feature might not be supported.Try the following actions:

• Verify that you have turned on the connection to the Wi-Fi network

• Verify that you are in a Wi-Fi coverage area.

• If the Wi-Fi network does not appear in the Set Up Wi-Fi application, it might be hidden. If you know the network name, connect tothe Wi-Fi network manually.

• In the Set Up Wi-Fi application, verify that the options for the Wi-Fi network are correct.

• If you switched Wi-Fi networks manually, switch to another Wi-Fi network or set your BlackBerry device to scan for available Wi-Finetworks.

• If your wireless service provider supports UMA, verify that your connection preference is not set to Mobile Network Only.

• If your email account uses a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, your device might prevent you from connecting to certain wireless accesspoints. For more information, contact your administrator.

• If you are using the Push Button Setup method, verify that the access point is enabled with Wi-Fi Protected Setup™, and that it hasbeen set to send its profile. Verify that another device is not also attempting to connect at the same time, and that not more than one access point within range is in this mode.

• If you use PEAP, EAP-TLS, EAP-FAST, EAP-TTLS, or EAP-SIM to connect to a Wi-Fi network, verify that you have installed the rootcertificate for the certificate authority server that created the certificate for the authentication server.

• If you use EAP-TLS to connect to a Wi-Fi network, verify that you have added your authentication certificate to your device.

If you are unable to use Wi-Fi® music sync to download your music or if you cannot view your music from Wi-Fi music sync, try the following actions:

• Verify that Wi-Fi music sync is installed correctly. On the Home screen of your BlackBerry® device, click the Media icon > Music icon. At the bottom of the screen, click Wi-Fi music sync. The status should display as connected.

• If a long time has passed since you installed the BlackBerry® Desktop Software, your security certificates might be expired. Try reinstalling the BlackBerry Desktop Software. To install the latest version, visit www.blackberry.com/desktop.

If you are logged in to a VPN, you must log out of the VPN to use Wi-Fi music sync.If you are trying to use a Wi-Fi connection, try the following actions:

• Verify that your Wi-Fi connection on your device is turned on. On the Home screen of your device, click the connections area at the top of the screen, or click the Manage Connections icon. If the Wi-Fi check box is cleared, select it.

• If the Wi-Fi connection on your device is turned on and there are still issues, verify that your device is connected to the same Wi-Fi network that your computer is connected to. Check the Wi-Fi connection software on your computer to see which network you are connected to. If you are not using a wireless connection on your computer, verify that an Ethernet cable is connected to the same router that provides your device with a Wi-Fi connection.

• If you cannot download your songs using a Wi-Fi connection, connect your device to your computer with a USB cable to download your songs. In some cases, if changes are made to your computer settings or device options, you might need to connect your device to your computer with a USB cable before you can use a Wi-Fi connection again.

If you think that a network connection might not be established, try the following actions:

• If your device cannot connect to your computer's network, type the following URL in a browser window: http://<your_computer_IP_address>:4481/mediasync/music. If you are prompted, accept the certificate warning. If the web page does not display the text "Wireless music sync", then your device is connected to the same network as your computer. If you do receive a display error, your device is not connected properly to the same network as your computer or there might be a firewall issue or routing issue.

• If your computer, router, or wireless network has a firewall, verify that ports 4481 and 4482 are open for TCP and UDP, and that the BlackBerry Desktop Software is allowed by the firewall. For more information and instructions, see the documentation for your firewall software.

• If your router has UDP broadcast, verify that UDP broadcast is turned on. Most routers support this feature and do not mention it, but your router might need special configuration. For instructions, see the documentation that came with your router.

• Verify that your gateway IP address is the same on both your device and your computer, and that both your device and computer IP addresses are on the same subnet.

Pending songs are not downloaded to my device

Some song details are not appearing on my deviceWi-Fi® music sync updates song details on your BlackBerry® device about once every hour, so it might take an hour after the song is downloaded before all the song details that are in your music application appear on your device. If you want the song details to appear before then, in the Wi-Fi Music Sync list on your device, press the Menu key and click Sync Now, or connect your device to your computer with a USB cable.

I cannot see songs on my device that are from the music library on my computer, try the following:

• Verify that both the BlackBerry® Desktop Software and your iTunes library or Windows Media® Player library is open on your computer.

• Verify that the correct music library is selected in the BlackBerry Desktop Software. Click Device > Device options. On the Media tab, if the correct music library is not selected, in the Music source drop-down list, click the music library that you want to use.

If the songs in your Wi-Fi Music Sync list are pending and are not being downloaded from your computer to your BlackBerry® device, try the following actions:

• Verify that your device is within range of the Wi-Fi® network that your computer is connected to.

• Verify that your device has enough available storage. Try transferring media files that you have stored on your device to a media card.

• Verify that the songs are not being played on your computer or have not been deleted from your computer.

• Verify that your device is charged. If the battery power level drops below 5 per cent, you cannot download your songs

Easy guide to troubleshooting the Blackbarry Desktop Manager

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:12:00 -0700

"Your messaging server does not support wireless synchronization."
-Make sure the user is on the BES. Typically they will get this error message when they are not on the BES.
The desktop manager is showing "disconnected."
-Make sure that the user has gone into the desktop manager and selected options > connection settings > detect.
-Complete a hard reset.
     Disconnect the BB from the computer.
     Perform a hard reset on the BB. (Leave the battery out a little longer then normal, 2 minutes).
     Reconnect the BB to the computer.
     In desktop manager, verify that the BB is shown to be connected.
-If the user is using a laptop, make sure it isn't in a docking station.
     Have them take the laptop out of the docking station.
     Make sure their Outlook is still up and online.
     In desktop manager, verify that the BB is shown to be connected.
-Uninstall/Reinstall the desktop manager.
-Some other options to try if none of these work:
     Try different USB ports on the computer.
     Try a different USB cable.
The desktop manager is showing "disabled."-Make sure that the user has gone into the desktop manager and selected options > connection settings > detect.
-Complete a hard reset.
     Disconnect the BB from the computer.
     Perform a hard reset on the BB. (Leave the battery out a little longer then normal, 2 minutes).
     Reconnect the BB to the computer.
     In desktop manager, verify that the BB is shown to be connected.
-If the user is using a laptop, make sure it isn't in a docking station.
     Have them take the laptop out of the docking station.
     Make sure their Outlook is still up and online.
     In desktop manager, verify that the BB is shown to be connected.
-Uninstall/Reinstall the desktop manager.
The desktop manager remains in "working" mode.-Complete a hard reset.
     Disconnect the BB from the computer.
     Perform a hard reset on the BB. (Leave the battery out a little longer then normal, 2 minutes).
     Reconnect the BB to the computer.
     In desktop manager, verify that the BB is shown to be connected.
-Complete a hard reset while the BB is still connected to the computer.
     Leave the BB connected to the computer and keep desktop manager open.
     Remove the battery from the BB while it is connected.
     Re-insert the battery.
Synchronize icon is grayed out.-Make sure that the BB is attached to the USB cable and to the computer.
-If the user is using a laptop, make sure it isn't in a docking station.
     Have them take the laptop out of the docking station.
     Make sure their Outlook is still up and online.
Synchronize option is grayed out.-Make sure that the BB is attached to the USB cable and to the computer.
-If the user is using a laptop, make sure it isn't in a docking station.
     Have them take the laptop out of the docking station.
     Make sure their Outlook is still up and online.
Internal Errors such as: internal error #-725 (0x8004fd2b).-Delete the Intellisync folder.
     Close the desktop manager application.
     Disconnect the BB from the computer.
     Double Click on My Computer> Local Disk (C Drive>Documents and   Settings>(username)>Application Data>Research In Motion>
   Blackberry>Intellisync.
     Note: If the Application Data folder is not present, click Tools>Folder Options at the top of the screen.
     Click the View Tab, then click on Show Hidden Files and Folders.
     Click Apply>Ok and continue through the remaining steps.
     Delete everything within the Intellisync folder.
     Launch desktop manager and attempt sync the device with the computer.

Error: "Unable to write or update application data."
-Complete a hard reset.
     Disconnect the BB from the computer.
     Perform a hard reset on the BB. (Leave the battery out a little longer then normal, 2 minutes).
     Reconnect the BB to the computer.
     Try to sync again.
-A contact in the Outlook address book is missing information or has invalid information.
     There must be a first name in the first name field and a last name in the last name field.
     Make sure there aren't any characters in the first name field or last name field (%, $, *).
-The BB does not have enough free memory to synchronize organizer data with the computer.
     Use desktop manager to reduce the range of days on the Calendar.
     In desktop manager, click on the synchronize icon.
     Click Configure Sync and select Calendar.
     Click Configure and select Advanced Settings.
     On the Date Range Tab, select one of the following options:
     Transfer all scheduled items
     Transfer only future items
     Transfer items within a range of days.
     Type a value in the Days prior to today and Days after today fields.
-Wipe the BB and re-sync through the desktop manager.

Error: "No Outlook or MS Exchange folders appear to be configured."
-Delete the Intellisync folder.
     Close the desktop manager application.
     Disconnect the BB from the computer.
     Double Click on My Computer> Local Disk (C Drive>Documents and Settings>(username)>Application Data>Research In Motion>
   Blackberry>Intellisync.
     Note: If the Application Data folder is not present, click Tools>Folder Options at the top of the screen.
     Click the View Tab, then click on Show Hidden Files and Folders.
     Click Apply>Ok and continue through the remaining steps.
     Delete everything within the Intellisync folder.
     Launch desktop manager and attempt sync the device with the computer.
-Wipe the BB and re-sync through the desktop manager.

Error: “No applications configured for synchronization.”BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.6To configure organizer applications for synchronization using BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.6, complete the following steps:

Connect the BlackBerry smartphone to the computer and open BlackBerry Desktop Manager.
Click Synchronize.
Click the Synchronization link on the left side of the screen, and then click the Synchronization button.
Select a BlackBerry smartphone organizer application and click Setup.
Select a desktop organizer application and click Next.
1. Outlook needs to be set for Address book, Memopad and Tasks.
2. BlackBerry Wireless Synch needs to be set for Calendar.
Select synchronization options and click Next.
If applicable, select Microsoft® Outlook® options and click Next.
Click Finish.
Repeat steps 4 to 8 for the remaining BlackBerry smartphone organizer applications.
Click OK to close the Device application window.
Click the Synchronize link on the left side of the screen, and click the Synchronize button.

BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.2To configure organizer applications for synchronization using BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.2, complete the following steps:

Connect the BlackBerry smartphone to the computer and open BlackBerry Desktop Manager.
Click Synchronize and click on the Configuration tab.
Click Configure synch.
Select a BlackBerry smartphone organizer application and click Choose.
Select a desktop organizer application from the Available Translators list and click OK.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the remaining BlackBerry smartphone organizer applications.
Choose the appropriate operation from the following list:
- Synchronize – This option allows the BlackBerry Desktop Manager to synchronize updated information between the BlackBerry smartphone and the desktop organizer application. Select this option if you want to have both the BlackBerry smartphone and Microsoft Outlook reflect the changes.
- Export – This option exports organizer data from the BlackBerry smartphone to the desktop organizer application.
- Import – This option imports organizer data information from the desktop organizer application to the BlackBerry smartphone.

Note: For both the Export and Import operations, you will be prompted to accept changes if similar organizer data exists in the desktop organizer application or on the BlackBerry smartphone.

Click OK.
Click OK to close the Configuration window.
Click the Synchronize tab and click Synchronize now.

how to use your blackberry as a USB device

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:11:00 -0700

I will explain :

how to install the "USB drivers for Blackberry" on Windows
how to activate "USB Mass Storage mode" on a blackberry device.

Why ?
Because you will get to a point in your life when you want to do interactions between your blackberry device and your Windows desktop. That can be :

to transfer files (mp3, videos, pictures, ringtones) on your memory card (aka media card)
to do a backup
to synchronize some personal data like calendar/contacts/tasks
to configure the reconciliation of emails
to copy your iTunes playlists to your blackberry

Yes, but why ?
Because USB is not the eldorado everybody has advertised in 1997. Sometimes, you need to tell windows the thing you attached to it is a Blackberry. And on the device side, depending on your carrier, they may have set the default to not enable your Blackberry to act as a real USB device. The U in USB (Universal Serial Bus) is not universal at all. It's still all about the drivers.

Yes, but still, why ?
Because on contrary to what would be great, when you install the Desktop Manager or the Blackberry Media Sync, the USB drivers are not installed along. Sometimes, it just works, sometimes you get frustrated.

so, what now ?
I recommend you to install the USB drivers prior to installing the other applications, that are :

Desktop Manager without Roxio Media Manager
Desktop Manager with Roxio Media Manager
Blackberry Media Sync

How ?
To install the USB drivers, you have to download them on the download section of Blackberry.com . Surprisingly enough, except if you are a European speaking person you won't find it in the "USB Drivers" but in the "Desktop Manager" section.

Here are the direct links for the USB drivers for Blackberry in english, I recommend the 4.5 version since it works for me.

Blackberry USB and Modem Drivers ENG (DM4.6 B13)

File size: 16.988 MB
Date posted: 15-August-08
Download Software

BlackBerry USB and Modem Drivers ENG (DM4.5 B13)

File size: 12.33545 MB
Date posted: 24-June-07
Download Software

then just double click on the installation file.

what now ?

Well, you have just taught your Windows how to recognize a Blackberry device. You still have to order your Blackberry device to not be shy and tell she's a real USB device.

How to activate the USB Mass Storage mode ?

it's pretty straightforward, just an option to activate. On your Blackberry device, from the Home screen, go to the Options and select the Media Card line. You will get to a page, please configure like this :

Media Card Support: On
Encryption Mode: None
Mass Storage Mode Support: On
Auto enable Mass Storage Mode When Connected: Prompt
Total Space: 999.9MB
Free Space: 999.9MB

How to verify everything is okay ?

Turn your Windows on. Turn your blackberry device on. Plug the USB cord.

On your Windows, a popup should appear near the system tray "RIM Blackberry device detected".

On your Blackberry device, you may or may not first see a message about insufficient current. It just means you can't charge your Blackberry with that PC USB port. Hit the escape key once (on your Blackberry device). You will be prompted a question : do you want to activate USB Mass Storage Mode. You can answer YES or NO. Answer YES.

Now, open a Windows Explorer : there should appear a new hard drive : it is the Blackberry that is recognized as a USB flash card reader. click on it. If you see four folders in it, everything is fine. If Windows says you must put something in the reader, it means you do not have a memory card installed inside your Blackberry. If you have a Blackberry that is not the blackberry Bold, you have to buy one in order to be able to use the multimedia features of your Blackberry. Either ways, the USB connection is okay.

Why did I do all that for ?
Well, with just the USB drivers, you can put music and videos and pictures on your blackberry. Just drag'n'drop the files in the proper folder (among the four). If you want more, you can install the Desktop Manager (with or withour the Roxio Media Manager)of the Blackberry Media Sync if you're an iTunes person.

problem with adjusting frame positions

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:03:00 -0700

this problem continues to frustrate me terribly! is there anyone who can help in this? there has got to be a way to get rid of unwanted spaces, and i can not figure it out.

why Remember my browsing history on firefox not working

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:00:00 -0700

Craigslist CSS form can not be an issue for Firefox, since Firefox will remember Craigslist visited links and change the link colors, whenever I will choose the "Remember History" in the Privacy category. So, the problem is not with Craigslist. I can not choose choice #1 "Remember History" because it also allows scores of cookies at the same time to be saved in my computer. If I were to allow it, I would have to fight a constant battle within "Tools", "options" and have to keep erasing the extraneous cookies every 5 minutes. (There are cookies there which I do need every day, so I can ask Firefox to either disallow or erase ALL cookies.) So, I don't think that CSS rules is the problem.

I see that things are even worst than I thought. Even though I never ever checked the dialogue box "Clear history when Firefox closes", Firefox decided to erase my whole history, when I re-booted my computer an hour ago. All there is in History now, is TODAY and TODAY contains only the links I opened in the last hour. There were still Craigslist history when I wrote my initial message here earlier today. There is absolutely no excuse for this weird action. I always had my history set to save for 999 days and now I can not see any of the history before an hour ago. I also can not see any of the addresses I didn't get to bookmark. The time option in saving history is no longer available in Firefox 5.

I know that I looked for certain things in my history last week, and I erased some of history of the messages I already read in my daily Gmail and daily Yahoo mailboxes - things that I didn't need a record of. But if doing that somehow threw the whole history maintenance program out of whack, that should not have happened. I have erased bits of my history before, with no consequence whatsoever to the system. There is something very wrong here and it is really sickening.

I have my daily 20+ Craigslist searches all set up and mechanized in my Bookmarks, so that I can do my searches quickly. I have another 60 bookmarks that I search weekly and others that I search several times a day. Now I can not know how far back my last search was. I can not even easily find my own ads. This is ridiculous. How do I get he Firefox people to fix this problem?

How to reslove Firefox 5 Add-ons frustration

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 01:59:00 -0700

I think part of issues may be down to 2 things, and i am fed up as well.

1) Mozilla has changed the way it works and label numbers in firefox, and most add ons are set, by creators, to work with firefox 4, and, at 4.01, they may have thought they did not have to do much, and 5 was preset as noncompatible, as they were miles away from 4.0.

2) Firefox 4 was removed and mozilla changewd it to 5 to mess up yje digits, and do not allow updating ff 4.01 to maybe 4.1. not allowing 4 and 5 to coexist individually updatred, is why your apps do not work.

if ff5 was renamed ff4.02, some plugins may have worked, maybe with override compatible, but because a massive silly different number, it does not appear to work.

I am a magor firefox fan and mozilla netscape and aol before it, but i am so sad mozilla have done this.

Currently use FF4.01
Kaspersky 2012
Mcafee Siteadvisoso
all work, but do not work on the crippled ff5.

Shame...

Mozilla...
Please update FF4 to work with av addons, and more, seperate to FF5.

See also
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/a ... ilure.html

Browser PDF Viewer on Mac

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 01:57:00 -0700

A new Schubert PDF Browser Plugin 2.4.1 was just released earlier today. It has 64-bit Firefox support for OSX 10.6 - Snow Leopard. Does not support 10.5 - Leopard or earlier.

If you have a previous version of Schubert PDF Browser Plugin you need to go to

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ [If installed machine wide]

or

/Users/<user_acct>/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ [If installed in a <user_acct>]

and remove it manually before installing the new one.

I'll leave this up for a while.

5 Ways To Improve Your Adsense Earnings

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Mon, 4 Jul 2011 10:44:00 -0700

If webmasters want to monetize their websites, the great way to do it is through Adsense. There are lots of webmasters struggling hard to earn some good money a day through their sites. But then some of the “geniuses” of them are enjoying hundreds of dollars a day from Adsense ads on their websites. What makes these webmasters different from the other kind is that they are different and they think out of the box.

The ones who have been there and done it have quite some useful tips to help those who would want to venture into this field. Some of these tips have boosted quite a lot of earnings in the past and is continuously doing so.

Here are some 5 proven ways on how best to improve your Adsense earnings.

1. Concentrating on one format of Adsense ad. The one format that worked well for the majority is the Large Rectangle (336X280). This same format have the tendency to result in higher CTR, or the click-through rates. Why choose this format out of the many you can use? Basically because the ads will look like normal web links, and people, being used to clicking on them, click these types of links. They may or may not know they are clicking on your Adsense but as long as there are clicks, then it will all be for your advantage.

2. Create a custom palette for your ads. Choose a color that will go well with the background of your site. If your site has a white background, try to use white as the color of your ad border and background. The idea to patterning the colors is to make the Adsense look like it is part of the web pages. Again, This will result to more clicks from people visiting your site.

3. Remove the Adsense from the bottom pages of your site and put them at the top. Do not try to hide your Adsense. Put them in the place where people can see them quickly. You will be amazed how the difference between Adsense locations can make when you see your earnings.

4. Maintain links to relevant websites. If you think some sites are better off than the others, put your ads there and try to maintaining and managing them. If there is already lots of Adsense put into that certain site, put yours on top of all of them. That way visitor will see your ads first upon browsing into that site.

5. Try to automate the insertion of your Adsense code into the webpages using SSI (or server side included). Ask your web administrator if your server supports SSI or not. How do you do it? Just save your Adsense code in a text file, save it as “adsense text”, and upload it to the root directory of the web server. Then using SSI, call the code on other pages. This tip is a time saver especially for those who are using automatic page generators to generate pages on their website.

These are some of the tips that have worked well for some who want to generate hundreds and even thousands on their websites. It is important to know though that ads are displayed because it fits the interest of the people viewing them. So focusing on a specific topic should be your primary purpose because the displays will be especially targeted on a topic that persons will be viewing already.

Note also that there are many other Adsense sharing the same topic as you. It is best to think of making a good ad that will be somewhat different and unique than the ones already done. Every clickthrough that visitors make is a point for you so make every click count by making your Adsense something that people will definitely click on.

Tips given by those who have boosted their earnings are just guidelines they want to share with others. If they have somehow worked wonders to some, maybe it can work wonders for you too. Try them out into your ads and see the result it will bring.

If others have done it, there is nothing wrong trying it out for yourself.

40 free blog hosts

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Mon, 4 Jul 2011 10:30:00 -0700

Here's a good list to keep handy,

Found it here. http://mashable.com/2007/08/06/free-blog-hosts/

GreatestJournal.com - Based on the same software as LiveJournal, offers free voice posts, 1GB of photo hosting, and space for up to 2,000 user icons.

InsaneJournal.com - Another site based on the Danga software that runs LiveJournal, offers free and paid accounts, paid benefits are only enhancements.

JorunalFen.net - Runs on the Danga platform, very much directed towards various “fandoms” (i.e. Harry Potter, various Television shows) and is meant for users 18 and older.

LiveJournal.com - One of the most well known of the blogging hosts. Offers multiple account types such as ad-supported and paid. The center of a few controversies recently.

Themed Blog Sites

Blogabond

Blogabond.com - A site dedicated to travel blogs with map integration and more.

BlogCheese.com - A video blogging website.

BusyThumbs.com - A blog site specifically for your text messages and camera phone images.

Freevlog - Designed for video blogging and completely free.

Trippert.com - Create and share blogs of your travels.

Ufem.com - Blogging site specifically geared towards women. Offers multiple themes and plugins.

Word Count Journal.com - A new blogging format that is also part challenge. Write one word on the first day, two words on the second day and so on, at the end of the year you’ll have written 66,795 words.

Xanco.com - Another moblogging site for you to share all your mobile communications with friends and family.

WordPress Powered

WordPress

Blogetery.com - Offers multiple templates, anti-spam, free sub-domain and more.

BlogRox.com - Runs on WordPress and offers 50MB of free online space.

Blogsome.com - Based out of Ireland, this site uses the WordPress MU platform, large choice of themes.

Edublogs.com - WordPress powered blogging for educators.

WordPress.com - Not only can you install WordPress on your own sites, you can use the same software on their site and save yourself all of the technical work.

Various Platforms

Blogger

Blog.com - Offers free blog hosting with unlimited bandwidth for their free package, more benefits for paid members.

Blog Ladder.com - All blog entries show up on the main ladder as well as inside your own blog.

Blogger.com - A great starting site to get a taste of blogging, very easy to use.

Blogr.com - Allows you to blog, host photos & videos, and podcasts.

BlogSpirit.com - European based blogging site, offers 30-day trial and subscription thereafter, but offers quite a bit of storage.

Blogster.com - Offers free image hosting in addition to free blogs.

BlogYx.com - Blogging site with extras such as chat boxes so you can interact with your readers.

Bloki.com - Lets you build a blog site and even open it up for collaboration.

Bravenet.com - Free blog hosting with RSS feeds and more.

ClearBlogs.com - Free blog hosting and offers templates, friends only posts, IP-Banning and more.

Etribes.com - Based in Europe, allows you to create all sorts of websites including a blog.

Multiply.com - Mixes blogging and social networking, with photo galleries and more.

Netcipia.com - Free blog and wiki for private or public display with 2GB of storage.

Open Diary.com - Offers unlimited storage and posts, low cost subscription rates for advanced features.

ShoutPost.com - A platform for creating blogs with a focus on generating traffic.

SoulCast.com - Have something you want to talk about, but want to say it anonymously? This may be the blogging site for you.

Squarespace.com - Lets you build your blog with numerous themes, also allows you to add other site features.

Terapad.com - Offers blogs as well as features such as an integrated store.

Tooum.com - Fully integrated blog and forum which allows for seamless discussion between the two.

Tumblr.com - A blog platform with a focus on allowing media-rich posts.

Weebly.com - Allows you to create a site and blog, free hosting and change designs on the fly.

Windows Live Spaces - Free blogging with your MSN account, only drawback is readers have to have an account also.

Vox.com - Part of the SixApart family of blogging sites, very much geared towards the personal journal types of blogs.

Xanga.com - Part social network, part blogging, all free.

Yahoo 360 - Part of your Yahoo account and features easy publishing.

Zoomshare.com - Free blog hosting with 250MB of free storage.

Big changes in Google content scoring

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Mon, 4 Jul 2011 10:02:00 -0700

Wow! Big changes in Google content scoring... don't fret just yet... things are probably in a state of flux with the transition to new google results.

* Link to relevant websites is WAY more valuable than it used to be.
* blockquote finally demoted from top 5 to 27. ouch!
* h1 makes a comeback! ... but is still more than half way down the list.
* p makes a comeback! Span, Div, A, H1-6 are on the decline!
* 40+ tags fall from the test SERPs! Which probably means there may be a new factor or limitation in play for sites.
* I am surprised to see HTML comments made the cut when so many other tags did not. Still not worth much priority though.
* SERP Quirking is back! Use caption to get multiple links for same page.

Key
--------------------------------
parent tag > child tag
tag.attribute
(tag incarnation).attribute

Rank Placement
---- -----------------------------
01 title
02 samp
03 acronym
04 linking to relevant pages
05 a.href
06 p
07 pre
08 inside a textarea
09 kbd
10 caption
11 small
12 code
13 strong
14 sub
15 u
16 center
17 cite
18 big
19 font
20 bdo
21 em
22 legend
23 button
24 table > thead > tr > td
25 abbr
26 address
27 blockquote
28 caption
29 div
30 span
31 del
32 ul > li
33 strike
34 ins
35 sup
36 dfn
37 body
38 tt
39 table > tr > td
40 dt
41 h1
42 i
43 s
44 h3
45 a
46 img.alt
47 select > option
48 object > param.name
49 object > param.value
50 input.value
51 (meta:keywords).content
52 (meta:description).content
53 (meta:author).content
54 URL
55 b
56 HTML comments

The Key Benefits Of WordPress For Search Engine Optimization | WordPress for Newbies

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Mon, 4 Jul 2011 09:56:00 -0700

WordPress is one of the most robust and extremely versatile content management systems around. WordPress could be used to design a basic blog page, or it can be used as the powerful support behind your e-commerce business. What is fantastic about WordPress is that you will be able to easily build both kinds of websites without any help; even if you do not know a single thing when it comes to building a internet site or HTML. Even so, the very best point about WordPress is that it is incredibly search engine optimization friendly. Why is WordPress is among the best web content management platforms for search engine optimization?

1. SEO Friendly Permalinks:

Permalinks are in essence links or URLs to your article. Any time you generate a post or article on WordPress, a URL is instantly created.

Word press lets you create URLs or permalinks that are made up of keywords that search engines love. This allows search engine crawlers to rank you for the keyword of your choice.

2. Search Engine Optimization Friendly Blog Post Titles:

Wordpress can be set up to automatically make the blog post titles a URL. A key word rich title utilized as a permalink to your internet site will make it easier for you to achieve greater rankings in Google and other search engines when people are searching for data or products that you have to offer.

3. The Ability to Create Tags:

Tags are similar to labels. Tags are located at the end of a article on any Word press web site and enable you to utilize keyword phrases to describe your article. At the end of this article you will likely see several words or tags at the end of the post such as “Word press”, “Wordpress for beginners”, or “Wordpress for SEO”. These tags or key words will let the search engines web spiders to better index your article which in turn will assist visitors who are looking for information like “word press” or Wordpress for SEO to find your online site.

4. Gives You The Capability To Cross Link Content:

Word press allows you to effectively link comparable content to one another which helps with search engine optimization. Cross linking is when you create a link from one of your articles to another relevant article on your site. Using this article as an illustration, I could create a link within this article that when clicked on will bring you to another Wordpress article which you may find insightful.

The link would be a key word, or keyword phrase such as “learn Wordpress”. This is another Wordpress tool that will help with your search engine optimization.

5. You Can Ping All New Articles or Posts:

Every time you publish or edit either a posting or a page your Word press web site will alert a number of different web sites that you have updated your website. This is called pinging and it is another very valuable aid that you can use to help your website ranking in the search engines.

6. Easy Set Up of Google Sitemaps:

Google Sitemaps comes with 2 very important advantages for website owners. Not only can it help site visitors see a outline of what they can find on your website, but it helps Google to further index and rank your website by letting Google know which blog pages are the most significant.

7. Ability to Create Categories:

Categories help you to automatically arrange your content on your web site. Think of categories like folders or maybe, a directory. Guests to your website can find any blog post that you have ever published on your web site, or any product that you want to sell easily because Wordpress lets you create a category. If you have visited web sites where you can easily select a list of subjects or products based on type, that web site has set up categories. As you’ve probably suspected, search engines love it when website information is well organized and this will also help with the indexing of your blog site on Google, or any of the major search engines. A suggestion for you: Use keywords that your audience is searching for as categories to make it simpler for people to discover you. Having a web site that is SEO friendly is a breeze because of the resources built in to Word press.

If you really want to make it simpler to be discovered on the internet, Word press is a an effective search engine optimization tool that you can not do without.

Original Post : http://www.sitepronews.com/

Could New Generic Domains Spell Trouble for Google & Webmasters?

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Mon, 4 Jul 2011 09:46:00 -0700

All Domain

ICANN, the governing body for all Internet addresses, has announced new changes on how domains will be named in the future, which could definitely spell trouble for not only Google but all the other search engines as well. But they won’t be the only ones. Small webmasters and online marketers should be more concerned and troubled by the introduction of these new “generic” or “dot anything” domains.

Why?

Mainly because these new ICANN changes will transform and alter the web forever.

The impact and range of this transformation will largely depend upon two factors. First, how wide or liberal will ICANN be in their interpretation and implementation of these new domain naming changes? Second, how quickly Internet users adjust to these changes and for that matter, whether or not, they will even use these new generic domains.

However, if human nature stays true and previous Internet usage stays firm, web users will want the fastest and easiest way to find what they’re looking for on the web. This is where the new “generic” domains could change the whole playing field. It could even possibly transform the web as we know it today.

Starting next year – between January 2012 to April 2012 – companies can apply to ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) for a “generic” or “dot anything” domain. Instead of using say a “.com” “.net” “.biz”… a company will be able to buy a domain such as “www.hotels” or “www.hotel” for a price tag of $185,000 and a $25,000 annual fee, which will probably mean anyone searching on the web for a hotel room could just type “hotels” or “hotel” directly into their browser and the site holding this domain will pop-up.

After a recent vote to approve these changes, the Chairman of ICANN’s board of directors, Peter Thrush, stated: “Today’s decision will usher in a new internet age. We have provided a platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration. Unless there is a good reason to restrain it, innovation should be allowed to run free.”

Unfortunately, this new Internet age comes with a hefty price tag which will be out of reach for the average site owner, leaving the Internet accessible only to the elite or the rich. An open and free Internet will still exist, but certain sections, mainly those which control all the lucrative e-commerce and business on the web, will be firmly blocked and regulated. The prime real estate on the web will no longer be open to anyone who has 8 or 10 bucks to buy a domain. Only wealthy individuals and companies will be able to afford these new top-level domains.

As every webmaster or online marketer will tell you, getting the top spot on the web is everything. These new changes could spell disaster for current “.com”, “.net”, “.org”… domains because the loss in direct traffic alone could be very significant. Web users will simply type in “loans”, “cars”, “hotels”, “banks”, “laptops”… into their browsers to find what they’re looking for on the web. Also, since a “dot com” will no longer be “king of the hill”, its value will be somewhat diminished, along with millions of other domains ending in a suffix, resulting in a potential paper-loss in the trillions of dollars.

The only saving grace here is that most surfers use “long tail” keywords or phrases to find what they’re searching for on the web. For example, someone looking for a vacation rental in Florida will usually type in something like: “florida vacation rental” and it is very unlikely that someone would purchase this domain for a 185 grand, unless the traffic and economics were feasible (Even then most people are not going to type in “floridavacationrental” when they’re looking for “florida vacation rental” so the direct browser route might be useless, unless of course, future browsers are designed to automatically combine these words together and read them as a top level domain). Another more likely scenario is where we could possibly see a company paying that amount for say a generic domain “rentals” or “rental” and having sub-domains such as “florida.rentals” or “florida.rental”.

The SEO fallout from these new “dot anything” domains will probably be the most important factor to consider. These domains will quickly rise to the top of the search engines. They simply will have the keyword DNA to reach the top, unless search engines put rules into place to lower their importance or rankings, which is not likely to happen. Besides, most companies buying these new domains will already have tons of backlinks and top rankings for lucrative keyword phrases in their niche markets and acquiring such a generic domain will be a way of cementing their dominance in these markets and/or to protect their trademarks.

But getting back to our original discussion or question: how can these new domains spell trouble for Google and the other search engines? The trouble lies in how surfers use the web and how they start their Internet day. It all has to do with “portals” or “points of entry” onto the web. Facebook is Google’s biggest competitor, not because it is a rival search engine, but because people start their Internet day by logging onto Facebook and staying there for the rest of the day. While they are on Facebook, they’re obviously not using Google to find what they’re looking for on the web.

With the introduction of these new top level generic domains, Internet users could have thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of extra “portals” or “points of entry” for accessing the web directly. They won’t be anywhere near the importance or size of Facebook, but they could be much more detrimental to Google, because these will mainly be the “commercially keyworded” entry points. Google’s bread and butter is advertising, mainly delivered through its Adsense and Adwords properties, which are mainly dictated by lucrative keyword phrases. Could these new “portal entry points” eat away at Google’s most important and lucrative keyword traffic and ad offerings?

Will Internet users bypass the search engines and go directly through their browsers to these “on topic” portals? Will a new generic domain quickly develop a prominent status or recognition on the web with surfers? When searching for rentals, we don’t need Google to tell us to go to a comprehensive rental portal which lists and directs you to the right house or apartment rental you need. Need a loan? Forget Google – go directly to a portal which will direct you right to the loan you need. Need a laptop… well you get the picture.

All this will take some time to blossom and we are talking years and decades here rather than months. BUT, we are talking about the future of the web and how that future will be significantly altered by these new changes.

There is much speculation on how all this plays out. Will companies have the marketing savvy and Internet know-how to make these “portals” popular like Facebook has done? Over time will they have the “business sense” not to use “powered by Google” search and develop their own “in-house” search engines promoting their own partnered interests and companies? More importantly, will new companies gradually start to come to these “portals” for their advertising, rather than to Google?

Let’s face it, Google is very diversified and probably strong enough to weather any kind of storm coming its way, but a potential wave of thousands of direct portal sites or domains, offering competition on all fronts, might prove troublesome. Let’s just hope all the good folks at Google are 10 steps ahead of the rest of us. After all, didn’t waves of barbarians conquer Rome?

Original Article : http://www.sitepronews.com/

A New Interface for Google Search Results Pages

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 3 Jul 2011 14:00:00 -0700

The latest design refresh updated not only Google's homepage, but also search results pages. Google uses a new color scheme for the sidebar, adds grayscale icons next to the specialized search engines, replaces the standard search button with a label-less blue button, uses a smaller Google logo and adds a gray background color to the header.

Google says it has "muted the color of the tools and reserved the use of bolder colors to highlight key action buttons, tools and filters". Unfortunately, the change made the sidebar icons less useful and the search box too prominent. The new header could pave the way to a search results page that uses "infinite scrolling" instead of pagination.

Here's the old interface:

Can you find other changes?

{ Thanks, Kimnaii, Chris, Swen, Nikita. }

Google Calendar's Design Refresh

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 3 Jul 2011 13:56:00 -0700

After Google Search and Google Maps, it's time for Google Calendar to switch to a Google+ interface. The new design is a lot cleaner, even if no important feature was removed. "Quick add" is now available if you click the arrow next to the "Create button" (not very intuitive), "Print" and "Refresh" are now buttons instead of links, the month view below the "Create" button can be collapsed, "Save" and "Discard" buttons are only displayed at the top of the page.

"Right now, the changes are just cosmetic and have not affected the way Calendar works. You can choose to turn off the new look by clicking the gear icon and choosingUse the classic look (you can turn it back on by going to the gear icon and choosing Try the new look)," explains Google. Obviously, at some point, Google Calendar will integrate with Google+ and we'll see even more changes.

How Google+ Transformed Picasa Web

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 3 Jul 2011 13:54:00 -0700

Even though it's not obvious, after you enable Google+ in your Google account, Picasa Web turns into a completely new app with a different set of rules. Some of these rules make Google's photo sharing service unusable for many existing users and it's important to know them in advance.

Picasa Web's face recognition feature helped you organize your photos. The integration between Picasa Web and Google Contacts made it easy to associate your photos with some of your contacts. By the default, the name tags from your public albums were hidden, but you could also hide the name tags from unlisted albums. When you join Google+, all of this changes. Adding a name tag to a photo is no longer a private action: your contact will get a notification that you tagged him. He will get access to your photo and to the entire album that includes the photo.

"You'll receive an email letting you know you've been tagged in a photo. By default, name tags by people in your circles are automatically approved. You can view or remove tags at any time on the photos homepage in Google+ as well as the Photos tab on your Google profile," informs Google. Name tags change their visibility too: if you have access to an album, you can see all the name tags from that album. You're not the only one who can add tags to your photos: anyone in your extended network at Google+ (friends and friends of friends) can add tags.

While these changes could improve Google's face recognition software and allow Google to add new social features, transforming Picasa Web's private tagging intoFacebook's photo tagging is a radical shift. Sharing an entire album with someone just because you've added a tag is something that might baffle a lot of Picasa Web users who don't realize that Picasa Web is now Google+ Photos.

The good news is that the existing name tags remain unchanged and your contacts won't be able to see your albums just because you've tagged them at some point. But that's true only for the name tags added before joining Google+.

The new version of Picasa Web for Google+ has another drawback: you can't comment on a photo of a Google+ user if you don't have a Google+ account. Even if the photo is included in a public album, it's still not possible to write a comment without joining Google+. The explanation is that "comments on photos are shared across Picasa Web Albums and Google+".

I suspect that joining Google+ will be required if you want to use Picasa Web Albums. AsAlexander Kunz noticed, this is similar to an update that required users to link Picasa Web with Google Profiles to be able to add comments or share photos. "I think it's pretty safe to say that qualifies as blackmailing. In the end, the users won: after a storm of protest in the Picasa help forums, the requirement was taken away," says Alexander. It's clear that it was just a temporary victory.

Now when you share an album with your contacts, they're allowed to reshare it with other people, so you can no longer tightly control the visibility of an album without constantly monitoring the access list. Google Docs has a similar rule, but you can change the sharing settings so that "only the owner can change the permissions." Google has an explanation: "to encourage the natural flow of conversation, once you sign up for Google+, all albums can be reshared by people that have access to the album - those people on the album's 'Shared with' list in Picasa Web Albums."

It's worth pointing out that the new Picasa Web adds some benefits (unlimited free storage for photos up to 2048 x 2048 pixels, easier photo sharing) and that you canmigrate your photos to a different Google Account, but it's sad to see that Picasa Web is now a Google+ app which no longer works well standalone and that users can no longer use advanced features without sharing their photos.

Remove Ads from Yahoo Messenger

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sun, 3 Jul 2011 13:50:00 -0700

If you install Yahoo Messenger 8.0 or 9.0, you'll notice a very annoying animated ad at the bottom of the main window.

How to get rid of the ads?

1. Close Yahoo Messenger.

2. Save this .bat file and execute it.

Please note that if you run Yahoo Messenger from a FAT32 disk, this fix disables some features from Yahoo Messenger, like chat rooms and the plug-in manager. NTFS is the standard file system used in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, so it's likely that you won't see these limitations if you use a recent version of windows.

The .bat file you've just downloaded edits most registry values related to the ads in Yahoo Messenger fromHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Yahoo\pager\YUrl, replacing the data with a dummy asterisk. Here's the list of string values:

Messenger Ad

Webcam Upload Ad

Webcam Viewer Ad

Webcam Viewer Ad Big

Webcam Viewer Ad Medium

Change Room Banner

Conf Adurl

Chat Adurl

The patch also makes the file C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache\urls.xmlread-only and it revokes all the permissions for the file, but only for NTFS disks.

If you install new versions of Yahoo Messenger, you'll have to repeat the steps above, as Yahoo setup rewrites the registry entries. New versions will most likely make removing the ads more difficult or even impossible.

Chinese claim to have world's fastest supercomputer with machine that performs 2,507 trillion calcu

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Sat, 2 Jul 2011 23:48:00 -0700

IT IS already close to overtaking the U.S. as the world’s economic superpower.

Now China has trumped the Americans in the fastest supercomputer stakes – by building a machine which is said to be 40 times faster than any other.

The Chinese supercomputer, called the Tianhe-1A, crunches numbers at warp speed – at a mind-boggling two thousand trillion calculations a second.

The £50 million machine took 200 engineers two years to build, and needs to be housed in 103 refridgerated cabinets.

It has a speed of 2.507 petaflops – 1.4 times as powerful as the current supercomputer, the Cray XT5 Jaguar at the U.S. Department of Energy, which has held the crown for the past year.
Professor Jack Dongarra, who compiles the rankings of the world’s fastest 500 supercomputers, said the Chinese computer ‘blows away the existing No 1 machine’.

Mr Dongarra’s list is not due to be completed until next week, but he predicts that no other machine will come close to matching the Tianhe.

‘It’s definitely a game changer,’ said Mark Seager, chief technology officer for computing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the U.S.

The Tianhe-1A, whose name means Milky Way in mandarin, has 14,000 times the processing power of a normal machine.

It also contains 7,000 graphics processors – the type used in video games – to further boost its power.

But despite its incredible speed the Tianhe-1A is also greener than the current top supercomputer – with the difference in energy consumption enough to provide electricity to more than 5,000 homes for a year.

Keep Your Data Safe When Telecommuting

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Fri, 1 Jul 2011 08:30:00 -0700

Thanks to the Web, more and more people are working remotely -- from home or anywhere. But not commuting anymore doesn't mean you don't have the same security issues that your corporate-office counterparts do. Here's how to protect your data, devices and computer without an IT department:

1. Back up your data in the cloud.
It’s easy to lose all your work: One computer virus or hard-disk-drive meltdown, and your important files may vanish forever. That’s why, when working from home, backup is crucial. Instead of depending on bulky hardware, try the many cloud services on the Web. They back up new content every night while you sleep, keeping your files safe and allowing you access from any computer at any time.

"Backup used to be cost-prohibitive," says Phil Montero, founder and CEO of an online resource called You Can Work From Anywhere. But these days, many online services charge as little as $50 per year, depending on your needs. Mozy even offers certain amounts of backup for free. If you’re only backing up documents, Google Docs is another good bet.

2. Protect your computer and critical files.
If your employer issues you a PC or laptop to use at home, they'll often install security software or a Web-based security service to block viruses or bar hackers. But if you are self-employed, the burden of protecting your computer and data from the increasing array of online security threats falls squarely on your shoulders.

When choosing a cloud-based security service, be sure it protects your computer with antivirus, spyware and firewall programs. It should also constantly updates to protect you against evolving threats.

You should also limit your family members’ access to your work computer. "You have to be sure that the really critical stuff isn't made accessible to someone who shouldn't have access to it," says Jack M. Nilles, founder of JALA International, a global telecommuting consulting company. "That includes the kids getting on your computer and downloading something [harmful]."

Finally, keep passwords and ID numbers private so they don’t fall into the wrong hands.

3. Seamlessly collaborate with others.
Whether you work on your home computer once a week or full time, if you need to share files with colleagues, synchronization tools can help ensure you (or your team) are working on the correct or latest version of a document. The “old” way to do this was to copy the files from your home computer onto an external hard drive, CD or thumb drive and install them on your work computer. But this process sets you up for accidentally writing over the most recent files -- and what if this external backup device you were depending on is destroyed or lost?

Cloud services enable you to sync automatically to ensure speedy backups. Or try Microsoft’s FolderShare, which allows you to synchronize files with colleagues over the Web.

There's no doubt to the benefits of Web to the home office worker. That said, you want to be smart about security issues. To really cover your bases, in addition to backing up and securing your data, Niles also says it's important to get a clear protocol from your company or clients: "We recommend that telecommuters working for a company have a formal agreement specifically stating who is responsible for what." This way, you can always fall back on the agreed-upon security plan for your best-quality work away from your IT department.

the ONLY people who can’t access Google+ are Google Apps user.. many of whom pay | Frustrating

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Fri, 1 Jul 2011 08:20:00 -0700

If you’re a Google Apps for Business user, you’ve undoubtedly been frustrated by the release of Google+. The product, still very much in private beta, isn’t available to you guys yet. I’m a paying Google Apps user myself and understand the frustration.

In fact in my eagerness to use Google+ on a daily basis, I made the switch and have literally moved all my email from my paid-for Google Apps account to a standard free Gmail account. Yes, I’ve gone from paying to not paying just to use one of Google’s products.

What’s even more frustrating is that anyone with an email address can get access to Google+, you don’t need a @gmail.com address. Signing up with a ymail.com, hotmail.com or other enterprise email address is perfectly fine unless you’re already using that address with Google Apps for Business.

Simply put, the only people who aren’t able to access Google’s new social project are people signed up to Google Apps, many of whom pay.

You can understand why there’s a little animosity.

Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product Management at Google, explains above that the company was aware of the problem and that it will be addressed soon BUT this isn’t the first time Google Apps users have been left behind. Most recently, the roll out of Google’s new design across its various apps has seen Google Apps users once again wondering why they’re being discounted.

There is an argument that Google Apps users, many of whom are large businesses, need to prepared in advance for releases such as Google+. Releases that could potentially complicate their working environment. Irrespective, I’m sure an option for customers who want access to new or pre-release features wouldn’t go amiss

From my experience, the reality is this; many of the users complaining that they haven’t got access to Google+ aren’t businesses but rather individuals who – in their eagerness to use a custom domain with Google’s products – signed up for Google Apps for your Business.

An ideal solution would be for Google to provide a new simple offering for individuals who want to use Google Apps with their own domain and are willing to pay for it – let’s call it Google Premier. Sit this new package neatly between standard Gmail accounts and Google Apps for Business. Users of Google Premier can then choose whether or not they receive priority access to Google’s new products and features. Devoted users are happy, it should provide great feedback and it’s potentially a lucrative source of revenue.

What do you think?

In the mean time current Google Apps users will either have to sit tight or make the switch to a standard gmail account and add your custom email address as an alternative to send from. Not sure how? Instructions here.

How to edit your site info in Alexa

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Fri, 1 Jul 2011 08:16:00 -0700

Well, it is simple, dear Alexa fans!
Look at:

"Site Tools > Edit Your Site Listing"

There (in "Edit Your Site Listing") you will see an edit listing for for your site. The information that you see below will be displayed publicly on the Alexa website.
And I think it is very useful for your SEO and for your Internet image. All you can add there is:
-Site Title
-Site Description
-Site Owner
-Address
-City
-State/Province
-Postal/Zip Code
-Country
-Phone Number
-Public E-Mail

It's up to you which ones you will share. Then you submit it and your information should be updated by Alexa within 2 business days.

See you, Alexa fans!

Gmail’s got a beautiful new look and you can try it NOW

noreply@blogger.com (error) — Fri, 1 Jul 2011 08:11:00 -0700

Only minutes after we posted user mockups of what a redesigned Gmail might look like, Google has released a preview of what the real new Gmail will look like, including themes that you can test out today.

It’s eerie how accurate the earlier mockups were. These screenshots show a Gmail that has adopted the Google+ minimalist, orange and gray aesthetic, though it’s not an identical aesthetic — the buttons for instance are larger.

Simply go to Gmail Settings, click over to the Themes tab and select “Preview” or “Preview (Dense)” as your theme to try this yourself. Google has provided two themes because the end result is an elastic responsive design that shifts its information density to accomodate your screen size, but for now, you need to pick based on the density you prefer.

The Preview theme, which spreads information out over more space and so must be the theme designed for larger screens, spreads things out a little too much. The eye doesn’t naturally scan over emails in the inbox because the whitespace between each message is a little too big for information that is provided in only one-line increments. The spacing works for Google+ because the items are generally a paragraph or more in length.

If you flick over the Preview (Dense) you get something that’s akin to the current layout with a new skin on it, and it works. It’s still easy to scan through your inbox and pleasant to both look at and use. The only complaint I have is that the advertisements seem more prominent than before — but I’m sure ad blindness will kick in soon enough!

I’m hearing some reports that there are little spacing issues with either theme on particularly small screens, and some strangeness occurring when the window is resized from very small to wider.

Of course, this is a preview, and it’s “step one of a monster series of upgrades over the next few months” according to Jason Cornwell, who is a Googler working on the project.

After the limited launch of Google+ and updates to the designs of other Google products, Gmail had started to look rather dated (heck, I’d thought so before the new Google look started popping up), so this is a welcome development — one I’ll be adopting today.