Brands are on the lookout for existing apps that can help their business. Some of these brands may want to have their own app built just to suit their needs. Designing and developing custom apps for them costs more as opposed to getting hold of existing ones that are also pretty good. However, there are few details that designers and developers have to adhere to if they decide to build a custom app.

According to statistics on mobile app development, there is immense room and potential for growth. People have seen how big brands like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Google have been successful with their apps. This has inspired other businesses and individuals to have this sort of success.

If you want to build your own mobile app or if you want some company to do it for you, there are several important things that you will need to follow closely in order to end up with a product that is built as desired.

Below are 7 seven qualities your mobile app developer will need to take care of in order to produce exactly what you want.

1. Functionality

When you draft out your expectations in your documentation, you will create an impression. This expert approach will establish what all must be done in order to build and complete your app. Based on the documentation you create, your developer will be guided through the process and will be able to work largely unrestricted.

Every bit of your required mobile app development functionality will be worked on, without anything being left out. The whole idea of working on the functionality will include understanding precisely what is required. Once you see all the requirements and know what to do, you can get to work.

With an ambitious scope of work, you might want to discuss and negotiate few things. You Sometimes may be given details of requirements that cannot be achieved easily, and you may need to consult an experienced developer. However, there will be a certain amount of work that can be managed single-handedly. If you need help, you can always get in touch with a mentor or someone who you have worked with who can offer you advice and even pitch in.

You will need to match your programming language with your platform and also pay close attention to designing your app so that it reflects specialization in a couple of things.

2. Value

The value you offer will be synonymous to the quality and content your app offers. Your app must, however, give your users something that they come to rely on or at least find interesting on a daily basis. You need an idea first, and then target an audience that will easily receive your idea. Once you do this, you can design and develop your app according to their needs and desires.

3. Design

How you package your app will be a crucial factor in gaining and retaining followers. Make sure you have a solid user experience designer to construct a logical progression for your brand. Also, your cosmetics must be used intelligently in order to create the right impact and not overdo it. To capture a wide audience, your designs must meet the needs of users who have different screen sizes.

4. User-Friendliness

Your users want ease when using your app, and only a decent user-friendly experience can draw your visitors closer. Remember, this is crucial because users stop by just to try an app, and then move on if they don’t like what they see. Your menu display must be easily noticeable and navigable, and all content must be uncomplicated.

5. Performance

Your app’s performance must be smooth and not have any hurdles for your users otherwise your users will simply stop using it. Quick loading is crucial because that’s exactly what users want. If your app is built for cross platform performance, make sure you test it thoroughly before you launch it.

6. Uniqueness

No plagiarism allowed. You can create something similar, but make sure you have a different angle. Your users want a unique experience and not something that they have used before. Therefore, make sure you take time to think and plan your concept. There is no point rushing because that can only mean disaster.

7. Offline Capabilities

Most apps may function well when network signals are strong. Make sure you avoid letting your phone getting slow, and you can do this by storing information from your smart phone locally. The Android and the iOS let you store things in a local database, which means you do not have to worry about your loading speed and performance.

Pay attention to details such as user-friendliness, usefulness, local storage, uniqueness, functionality, and performance, and you will learn about your app being used more widely. With all these elements in place, you will need a marketing strategy that targets your market intelligently. Given that the average US smartphone user has approximately 26 apps installed, you have a fair chance of success with your app.

Sani is Managing Director of VeztekUSA a well known Web and Mobile App Development Company based in Los Angeles, California. He has extensive experience in building and leading innovative and collaborative software development teams to deliver major software applications. He always up to date with latest trends in Mobile App Development and loves contributing on different technology Blog. Follow him on twitter @VezTekUSA

The post 7 Tips for Successful Mobile App Development first appeared on GilsMethod.com.

Developers have worked with psychologists, therapists and other types of currants, and have built efficient apps. The impressive results show once more that the app development market is able to contribute to all aspects of human life.

Here is a list with the best apps for eliminating daily stress and tension.

1. Calm

This app is meant to help users block all the sounds around them and only focus on breathing. Its goal is to determine people eliminate all distracting thoughts and find their way to peace and calm. Furthermore, through this technique you will be able to clear your mind and find the right path to walk in life.

The app’s design is simple and elegant, with a clear interface. It is really easy to use it and make the most out of its features. The product contains nature scenes and sounds, for example, an image with the sunset at the sea side accompanied by waves’ noise.

Android

iTunes

2. Pacifica

This particular app is well built and role-based. Its design is simplistic and relaxing, meant to transmit calm. Developers did a good job not overcharging the interface with tons of buttons and features.

The daily mood tracker allows users to input moods and to save the records for observing possible patterns. The relaxation and mindfulness audio tools consist on multiple lessons for deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and so on. The thought analyzer is for recording disturbing ideas and associating them with certain states of mind.

The daily challenges are there to help you make a change and take a step at a time towards a better life. The daily health tracker is for detecting bad habits that bring stress and anxiety into your daily life

Android

iTunes

3. Headspace

This app is all about creativity! Developers had made a brilliant job by building an adult dedicated app with an interface resembling games for kids. Due to this feature, the product stands out from the rest of the similar app in the store and attracts a larger audience. Next, it also includes high quality content that really helps users improve their lives. Because of this, people are actually willing to pay for its full features! All in all, it represents a successful app, an example for all mobile developers out there!

Android

iTunes

4. White Noise

This app combines multiple features like white sounds for relaxation and sleep, digital clock for the night and alarms for waking up. The product becomes practical due to one particular option – a timer for the white noise. Users can schedule the app to stop the noise after a certain period of time, so they can fall asleep carefree. All apps of this kind should have this useful feature!

Android

iTunes

5. Happier

This app is dedicated to those who need support and inspiration from real people, as it is based on an online community.

The design is pretty colorful and cheerful. It perfectly fits the whole atmosphere from the app, meant to uplift spirits and to determine people stress less about problems and appreciate more the beautiful things around them.

Android

iTunes

6. Happify

Developers of this app have taken into account all aspects that determine stress and have decided to try different ways of eliminating it. They have collaborated with the VIA Institute on Character in order to build a scientifically efficient product. This app represents the future of modern alternative medicine, boosted and shared via technology.

It is the first app of this kind to contain activities and games meant to improve emotional states of mind and elevate happiness.

Android

iTunes

7. Tao mix

The design of this app is more than simple – it is basically minimalist. But guess what? It attracts the target audience like a magnet. People who are just looking for a qualitative mix of natural sounds are highly appreciating this product. The app is a model of smart work – minimal investment in looks and maximum investment in content.

Android

iTunes

8. Fabulous: Motivate Me

This app is especially created for those who only succeed at making a change in their lives if everything looks like a challenge. Developers have really exceeded with this product – colorful, dynamic, motivational, attractive, emotional oriented, and why not, addictive! It makes you want to succeed at everything and reach more goals.

This stress reliving app works on many levels – a better sleep, boosted energy, meditation, healthier food diets, morning rituals, weight losing, focusing and so on. Actually, it is a whole journey towards a better, more fulfilling life.

Android

9. Nature Sounds Relax and Sleep

This app comes along with beautiful nature scenes and sounds. It is great both for relaxing at work and for falling asleep at night.

Its features include a timer that automatically stops the player after a certain period of time. Next, the app allows users to set the sounds as ringtones or even alarms. Indeed, these waking up alarms are really peaceful and benefic for the brain!

Android

iTunes

10. Relax Melodies: Sleep Zen Sounds & White Noise

This app has a nice interface, resembling baby games. And talking about babies, it can be used to put little children to sleep, too! It comes with a large variety of sounds and combinations, for various activities: relaxing, focusing, falling asleep, meditating, yoga and so on.

Previous users have testified that they managed to fight insomnia by regularly using this product.

Android

iTunes

In conclusion, every single app mentioned above has two amazing features: it efficiently eliminates stress and it is a model of uniqueness for every mobile app developer. As a result, they can be used both by consumers, to improve their state of mind; and by developers, to learn some techniques in developing appealing mobile apps and steal some brilliant ideas.

Shahid Abbasi is an avid writer for mobile apps, design, startups and technology topics. He likes to research, write and publish his content. You can read the informative blogs regularly on his Technology Blog. Find on Twitter.

The post 10 Best Apps for Coping with Daily Stress first appeared on GilsMethod.com.

One of the most frequent questions asked by the computer users is how to improve computer performance? Even though it is inevitable to avoid factors that can slow down our desktops, we can still check out various approaches that can quickly fix these errors without hampering our everyday efficiency. This blog attempts to list down ways to swiftly speed-up computer performance to enhance PC life.

Our PCs have become a digital junk box, which is full of unimportant and cluttered files. We keep on holding these documents until the computer’s memory is totally exhausted. So, the question is how to speed up your PC without incurring heavy expenditures on its hardware and software maintenance.

Step 1: Maintain Your System Free of Junk Files – As a general practice, most of the users fill-up their hard disk drives with junk and unwanted files and folders. This is one of the major factors that act as a hindrance in your system’s speed. It is, therefore, advisable to regularly delete unused files by using a reliable registry tool.

Step 2: Check Your System for Viruses & Malware – Often our computers get infected with the virus/malware/spyware intrusions. In this light, both businesses and individuals need to seek professional help from a third party service provider having advanced Antivirus tools to regularly check and remove these nasty viruses.

Step 3: Defragment Your Hard Disk Drive – Many-a-times users endeavor to clean their desktops by collecting all the data/information scattered over their hard drives and consolidating this information together. The files spread all over the computer can slow down the PC rebooting time while conflicting with other processes and functions. By using disk defragmentation software, users can easily clean-up their hard drives, which in turn, enhance computer’s speed and performance.

Step 4: Regular Computer Maintenance: To optimize computer performance for prolonged periods, it is critically important to consistently maintain machines by either seeking online support or visiting a brick-and-mortar showroom. For instance, outdated software programs as well as high heat and temperature can turtle the pace of your machine due to which you may experience poor system performance. Service providers have skilled and trained inhouse staff proficient at promptly addressing these issues in seconds.

By adequately following the above mentioned steps, users can prolong the life of their computers just the way they bought it from the showrooms.

The post How to Improve Computer Performance in Seconds first appeared on GilsMethod.com.

But along with the pleasure associated with our mobile wireless connectivity, there have also come many unwelcome guests; hackers, viruses and other dangerous security concerns. Although the impact of wireless security breaches are still beginning to be felt, they will likely reach the same numbers associated with our old desktop computers. One in twenty of our towers are either infected with some type of virus, malware or other annoying infestation, and 15% of all online traffic is said to contain some kind of active cyberattack mechanism or program.

While these statistics are alarming, it might be of some solace to know that most of the time, the average consumer isn’t the ultimate victim being sought, attacked only 3% of the time. Hackers real targets are much bigger, aimed more at big governments, industry and finance. But don’t be fooled either, these cyber scum are also sneaking into less expected places like schools and news organizations.

BIG BUSINESS

Even though 90% of hackers are considered amateurs, they are still very good at what they do, costing the United States an estimated $70 billion dollars a year. A couple of industry giants that have admitted to mobile or wireless security breaches in the past few years are:

• In June of 2014, AT&T admitted that a few employees from one of their vendors had accessed an undisclosed amount of customer data.

• One account suggested that TJX had weak encryption on a wireless transfer that exposed 94 million credit card numbers.

There are dozens of examples of huge security breaches that were caused by everything from human error to outright theft of intellectual property that cost billions of dollars worldwide. Mobile wireless connectivity creates new avenues for the skilled hacker to enter into our personal lives through our hand-held devices.

SMALL STEPS

So how can we protect ourselves and our mobile data from online cybercriminals and internet pirates? These answers are not surprisingly similar to those that should have already been implemented on our old desktop models.

• Better Password Protection: Use more effective passwords and don’t continuously use the same passcode, update and change them often. Rather than have a simple word or set of numbers, use upper and lowercase characters along with numbers and special symbols like ! and $ or *. Stay away from @ and # for obvious reasons.

• Personal Information Protection: Please, please, please don’t have a file called “passwords” on your device and moreover, don’t store any personal information on your device, whatsoever, period. There is no reason to have your driver’s license, social security, credit card or other sensitive numbers listed there.

• Better App Management & Protection: Check the reviews and number of downloads before you get the newest App. And think about it, do you really need to divulge your location or other personal information just to play a game?

Cyber security is important to everyone, from small businesses to large corporations, individuals and governments should all be on the lookout for an impending attack.

The post The Mobile Security Infestation: Are You Prepared? first appeared on GilsMethod.com.

I could not get Mavericks to install on my 2011 MBP. I had already cleaned out the drive in an attempt to start fresh and was SOL.

I’ve been following several threads on Apple Support forums about this same issue and found a single post (thank you Jonathan) that outlined a very simple solution to this problem…your Mac’s time.

Apparently when the software is being downloaded, part of the verification is date and time, so make sure to check your machine’s date and time to see if it’s off.

I simply ran the date command in terminal and saw that my MBP was showing January of 2001…weird.

I then ran the same command with today’s date, see below…

date 102613152013

After running the command I closed Terminal and attempted to run the Mavericks install again…here I am typing from that same machine two hours later.

I hope this resolves the issue for most of you experiencing it. If there are other solutions please feel free to share with others in the comments below.

Note: This workaround may resolve the following error, “This copy of the Install OS X Mavericks application can’t be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading.”

The post How to Resolve “This copy of the Install OS X Mavericks application can’t be verified.” Error first appeared on GilsMethod.com.

This is a great convenience, but it’s also not very secure in that anyone with physical access to your iPhone can turn on AirPlane mode and or mess with some of your phone’s settings.

To prevent this from happening you can head into Settings to disable this feature or limit when it is accessible. Follow the instructions below to learn how to disable and/or enable Control Center in iOS7.

1. Tap Settings on your device’s Home screen.

2. Swipe down the Settings page and tap Control Center.

You will notice that in the Control Center settings page you will have two options:

3. Access on Lock Screen: This option gives you convenient access to Control Center even if your iPhone or iPad is locked. However if you want to prevent someone from turning off your iPhone’s radios or adding random alarms to your iPhone…you may want to disable this feature by swiping the toggle to the left.

4. Access Within Apps: Like the first option, the second option is also very convenient. However you may run into issues if you’re playing video games on your iPhone or iPad and inadvertently activate the Control Center when all you were trying to do was play the video game. This is a great option to disable whenever you find yourself playing video games on your device.

To disable, simply swipe the toggle to the left.

If you have any comments or questions about this feature or other iOS 7 features, please feel free to comment below.

The post How to Disable Control Center in iOS 7 first appeared on GilsMethod.com.

Many small business owners and larger business managers with mobile or regionally based employees have found that much work can be accomplished with free or inexpensive mobile software applications, or “apps”.

These business apps can provide simple calendar synching or allow users to grab data from their business computer for viewing, editing and storing text and data. Business apps can help users make the most of their time and technology while away from their office for business or pleasure.

If you own an iPhone or smartphone and are not using business apps, you are missing out. Check out a few of these potentially useful apps, listed below. Some may be especially useful for your business needs!

Quickoffice Pro

Most business use some form of office software that bundles together word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software. Additionally, these documents are used for collaboration and communication between employees and outside consultants. Often, if a Microsoft Word document is involved, you can receive and view it by email on your mobile phone, but cannot edit it.

A small investment in Quickoffice Pro for iPhone overcomes this shortcoming by allowing editing of Microsoft Word and Excel documents. These documents can be easily exchanged for editing or can be used to provide the latest sales pitch, prices or sales numbers for a sales presentation.

Download Quickoffice Pro from iTunes.

mbPointer

An application designed for business presentations, mbPointer is compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint (2003/2007/Mac 2008) and serves as a remote pointer during presentation of any slide show. This app can help navigate a sales pitch to a client, go through a company’s outlook for investors or help you outline company goals with your staff.

The mbPointer app uses a Wi-Fi connection to any presentation computer on which the included receiver software application has been installed. With mbPointer your phone can act as a PowerPoint remote a virtual pad to completely navigate through your slide show.

Download mbPointer from iTunes.

Google Analytics

For many businesses, the beginning of any daily task is accessing and analyzing traffic data on websites and blogs crucial to business success. The best available tool for this purpose is Google Analytics.

With your iPhone or smartphone and the Analytics App, your Google Analytics account is available almost anywhere and anytime with access to all your sites.

Check different Google Analytics accounts by changing the login info and view the data over thirty available reports including data checks for today or over the last 30 days. Access overview, visitor, traffic, content and event tracking pages to find out what keywords, search engines and websites are sending you traffic with custom reports from multiple accounts to determine your RIOs.

Download Analytics App from iTunes.



eBay Mobile

Whether you are just an occasional eBay buyer or seller or full time e-bay entrepreneur, this app is an indispensable tool for auction tracking to keep on top of bids and new items when away from your business computer.

Developed by eBay, this app has the excellent compatibility and stability you will need during those crucial last minutes of the bidding process. However, if you win an auction, you will have to pay from your computer.

Download eBay Mobile from iTunes.



Evernote

Evernote is an app that serves the individual by taking notes of your ideas and meeting reminders for your personal use and for the businessman this app features sharing options for collaboration with employees and clients.

Moreover, Evernote adds your iPhone items and notes to the Evernote’s Web version and your PC or Mac for harmonious synchronization.

Download Evernote from iTunes.

This article was written by Karl Stockton for the team at Compare Insurance Quotes. If you want to learn more about the cheapest car insurance cover, apply online.

The post Most Useful Business Apps for 2012-2013 first appeared on GilsMethod.com.

This article lists the eleven essential steps necessary to develop successful custom iPhone applications. This list is not all inclusive, but stick to these general guidelines and your understanding of app development should be clearer.

Come what may, there will always be an increasing demand for custom iPhone applications in the market; the reason behind this demand is the fact that the iPhone users want better and innovative apps for their devices each time they visit the App Store.

Thus, it is crucial that iPhone developers and designers must take care of certain steps that are essential for building custom apps for their end-users. Let us take a look at some of these steps:

1. Analysis of Project Brief

Developers and designers are briefed about the project by their clients’, which essentially is the start of the process of design and development. As can be imagined, the project brief is of utmost importance and they must understand it well to make a wireframe of the app they will be developing.

This calls for a thorough analysis of the project brief, which gives them a clear and well-defined understanding of the project and the demands that it has placed on them.

2. Feasibility Study

This step of the project determines whether the project is technically feasible; and if it is feasible, then what will be the resources required. This in turn allows the determination of the estimated cost of the project and also the delivery timeframe.

The feasibility study also determines whether the concept of the project will be able to offer the kind of benefits that the client wants. If the team finds that the project lacks feasibility, they offer suggestions to improve its feasibility.

This step also includes an overview of the existing system and the proposed system, its problems and the goals that need to be achieved. The whole idea behind doing a feasibility study is to ensure the viability of the project and in case a few aspects of the project aren’t viable, to find an alternative that can be implemented as a part of the project master plan.

3. Risk Assessment

A project development process will be incomplete without assessing the risks involved. Risk assessment consists of identifying the potential risks and the corresponding preventive measures.

There are plenty of problems that may occur during the course of project development. If these problems are identified before the process actually begins, the development team will be better prepared should they arise.

These risks may be related to the scheduling of the project or more often than not are of technical variety. Some of these risks can include:

• Failure to identify the complex functionalities associated with the iPhone
• Coding errors
• Potential failures during module integration and many others

Risk assessment allows the project to be on track for on-time submission and also makes sure that the project doesn’t exceed the budget.

4. Requirement Gathering

The next step of the iPhone application development process is requirements gathering. This is the stage where the developers must take into consideration both the client and user perspective and identify the tools and technologies, which will be utilized in developing the app.

For this purpose, it is essential that they must keep both client requirements and user expectation in mind while zeroing in on the tools and technologies that can best satisfy their demands.

5. Planning

The entire planning process consists of identifying the actual tasks that will be performed by developers and the methodology that will be employed to optimally complete tasks.

Essentially, it breaks down the entire project into smaller, manageable parts. Defining the resources and tasks, making a schedule and are some of the important considerations while planning the project.

6. Resource Allocation

A company has resources in terms of its tools, technologies, infrastructure and manpower. As and when the planning stage is complete, these resources can be allotted as per the needs of the project and the tasks involved in it.

7. Clearly Defining and Assigning Roles

Clearly defining the roles helps assign responsibilities to the right people, who have the right talent to perform a particular task. This can be done by assessing the expertise and experience of the professionals, relevant to the current project.

For instance, the roles can be that of a Project Manager, Project Leader, Team Leader, Developer, Analyst, and Designer etc. When such roles are defined in the beginning of the project, there are less chances of conflict at the later stages.

8. Design and Development

During the design phase, designers will collaborate with developers and analysts to assemble an app designed per the app’s concept. This stage includes the creation of a detailed design document supported by a mock-up to illustrate various user interface elements, and the actual design of the app itself. This is accomplished with regular feedback from the developer.

After this, the developers will manage the database and generate the code to build the app how the designer envisioned it.

9. Control

Basically, the project control process is all about supervising the project in an effective manner. It involves evaluation of the progress, tracking the changes or deviations from the plan.

Additionally, control is also about managing the unexpected delays effectively so that project deadlines are met and also ensuring that the budget allocated by the client for the project is not exceeded.

10. Testing

During the test phase, all aspects of the app are tested one by one for their functionality and performance. It involves bug tracking in the code, checking the proper functioning of the features and integrations, and whether the system meets the designated quality standards or not.

A system can be tested any number of times – during the coding phase and after the coding phase (checking the beta version of the software) so that product flaws are minimized prior to submission.

11. Submission

Submitting the finished project – an iPhone app in this case, is the last and final step. The developers themselves can submit the app on the iTunes Store and wait for Apple to approve it.

However, no one knows for sure, on what grounds Apple will reject the App and thus, it is mandatory that developers stick to the iOS guidelines right from the beginning of the project until the end. Also, they should try to make the app absolutely bug-free since correcting bugs after an app is submitted, can be time consuming and cause the app to receive unnecessary negative reviews on the App Store.

Carlos is an expert in iPhone application development with MyFirstMobileApp.com who loves facing challenges of all sorts. This explains his love for adventure sports. He’s a passionate writer as well and shares his write-ups on different guest-blogging sites with other like-minded people.

The post 11 Essential Steps to Develop Custom iPhone Applications first appeared on GilsMethod.com.

Many casual and “power users” want their mobile phone to act more like a desktop PC, not the other way around. No matter how convenient or even ubiquitous mobile phones become, they are unlikely to replace desktop PCs until they experience quantum leaps in usability. Why is this the case?

Why aren’t more people rushing to embrace the concept of distributed computing and collaboration via mobile phone?

Reliability

Whatever might be said in praise of the wireless Internet, no one can claim it is as reliable as a hardwired connection. This isn’t the only area of a standard smartphone where we have grown accustomed to expecting much lower performance than we would expect from PCs, but it is perhaps the most obvious one.

Reliability is an issue that creeps into every area of a technology’s profile. Mobile devices like Droid smartphones are notoriously sensitive and difficult to diagnose, troubleshoot and debug. This makes it more difficult for end users to keep them in working condition and renders the tech community hogtied.

Safety

This is another area where mobile devices suffer from their association with Wi-Fi. Even computer novices are coming to the conclusion it’s much easier to hack a smartphone than an ordinary computer. Sensitive financial and personal information transmitted over wireless connections may be stolen practically at will.

Combine this with the safety hazards inherent in an expensive, portable device that may be discreetly removed from the owner’s possession and you have a serious double whammy. If a phone or tablet is lost, untold damage could be done before service is cut off and sensitive data can be recovered or secured — if even possible.

Portability Isn’t Always Important

Droid phones and devices like them sell heavily on the idea that portability is a necessary virtue for any computer of the future. Truth be told, though, it’s not always important that computing power — or even data itself — be portable. Although there is a segment of the business community that relies heavily on portability, it is not as important to the average user that a phone be a complete PC replacement.

Rather than portability, many users are concerned with usability — each of these factors can easily be sacrificed in favor of the other, but few devices offer a good balance of both. The smaller screens, touchpads, and keyboards inherent in portable devices make them harder to use, especially among people with poor eyesight or low thumb dexterity. If a device is unusable, it doesn’t even matter how convenient it is!

What This All Translates To

Integration is the Way to Go Maybe PCs shouldn’t become more like mobile phones, but Microsoft has one thing right: Integration between devices is key. Despite the general enthusiasm for mobile devices, they have limitations — simply within the nature of what they are and can do — that they may never be able to overcome.

Ensuring that devices work effectively together means users won’t have to settle for “one (small) size fits all” solutions to their needs.

This article was written by Karl Stockton for the team at Center Networks. Click http://www.centernetworks.com/godaddy-review/ for their godaddy review.

The post Are Android Phones the Future of Computing? first appeared on GilsMethod.com.

It happens quite a bit, but with practice and the tips below you will be getting the right results in no time.The Internet is its own universe and thankfully Google does a good job of indexing. As an Internet user it is your job to learn how to search smart and get the information you are looking for.

The following is a list of few search tricks that will save you lots of time searching with Google.

1. Location Specific Information

Today we all live in a global environment. We have friends, family members and clients that live in different parts of the world. If you want to know the time in a particular city, just type “time in” and hit the return key.

You will immediately get the time in that particular city in big bold font before any relevant search results. This is not only restricted to time but can also be used for other vital information like weather, population, etc. The same can be done using the name of a particular country.

2. Measurement and Currency Conversion

There are multiple units of measurement used around the world. Though most of us were made to memorize the conversions during school, we may not always remember the exact equation to convert celsius to fahrenheit and vice versa, luckily Google can help us with this and more.

Head over to Google and enter “unit1 in unit2″ and you get the exact conversion. Same applies to currencies. No need to pull out (or open) a calculator and convert currencies. Just write “50 USD into pounds” and you see the answer right away.

You not only get the conversion factor but the exact calculated value as a result.

3. Calculate Almost Anything

Speaking of conversions and calculations, Google Search also does a great job of calculating numbers when you perform a search.

It can do basic calculations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, square, square root, etc. You can either use function names or mathematical symbols to do the calculations. Decimal numbers can also be used.

4. Define Words

With Google Search you can eliminate the need for your hardcopy of Merriam-Webster’s dictionary. If you need to find the definition for any word simply enter define: term in the search box, hit enter and you will be presented with the definition of the word you entered.

5. Narrow Search to Specific Words

If you search any word or phrase with quotation marks, you see those websites in the search results that have the word on phrase in their website content. This ensures that the website is relevant and sometimes results in more efficient search results.

This is also a good search option if you are monitoring a brand or doing some research on a very specific topic. Again, if you are looking for a famous poem or prose, you can write some words from it on quotation marks, and get the remainder as a link in the search results.

6. Search Only Specific Sites

Do you want to narrow your search results to a specific website, say About.com or Mashable.com?

Google gives you the option to search within a specific website when you preface the search term(s) with site: This is a great feature if you can’t remember the title of an article but know what it’s about and where you read it.

7. Search for Files Online

If you want a presentation or a workbook for a very specific task, you can ask Google to filter your search results accordingly. To use this filter you can either use the Advanced search options or you can enter the keywords, then Filetype: and then the extension for the file you are searching for (example below).

If you need a presentation(.PPT or .PPTX) on the topic of search tips and tricks, you would enter searching tips and tricks filetype:ppt. The results should only list presentations related to the keywords you entered.

8. Find Instant Answers to Common Information

If you want to know about a disease or the schedule of your favorite sport, you can quickly find this information using Google.

Not all queries will provide you with relevant answers right away, but most related to movies, diseases, sports, news, weather and other commonly sought information will be summarize above the search results.

One has to use trial and error for searches like this. Just don’t be formal while searching. Be as naive as a child asking questions and Google will most likely get you the answers you seek. Like all things, the more you use it, the better you will become in using Google to search for information on the web.

About the author: Alia Haley is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and autos. Beside this she is fond of cars and fancy dresses. Recently an article on birdman net worth attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on LG optimus 3d price.

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