Recently I have been attracted toward Google+ more than Facebook. Though I don’t think that Google+ is going to replace Facebook, but still you cannot ignore it. Not unless you stop using all of the Google services.

Now Google+ is new for most of the internet user. So here is the useful article by Google team to increase your followers in Google+. Hope you find it useful.

10 ways to grow your audience on Google+

1. Before you start sharing with your audience, followers, or community members, select a great profile photo - this is the number one way people will recognize you on Google+. In addition,make sure to add five scrapbook photos, complete the ‘About’ section, and add links to other destinations where you can be found across the web.

2. Decide on a tone for your page, and stay consistent in your messaging so that your posts feel personal and authentic. It’s also good to let people know who’s contributing to your Google+ page by linking their personal Google+ profiles in the ‘About’ section.

3. Use circles to segment your visitors, customers, and even internal teams so you can share the right information with the right people.

4. Create a posting schedule, and post at least once a day to make sure you are sharing new and interesting content that sparks genuine conversation. Remember to +mention others on Google+ who you may add to your post so they feel the love and share your post with more people. The best times to post are from 10am to 1pm.

5. Share exclusive photos and videos with your fans and followers. You can even share animated GIF photos – a great way to draw attention to your page!

6. Engage your audience by posting questions and asking for feedback. Make sure to respond actively to your followers through comments and +1′ing and credit your most active followers by +mentioning them in a post.

7. Regularly host hangouts to have real face-to-face conversations with your fans and followers from all over the world. Give your audience a behind-the-scenes tour, collaborate with members of your community on a new project or simply say thank you to your supporters for all those +1s.

8. Spread the word about your Google+ page by sharing your page with people from your personal Google+ profile, your email contacts, and by posting a link to your page on relevant blogs, websites, and other social destinations.

9. Including a Google+ Badge on your site allows people to +1 and add you to their circles directly from your website. It also connects +1′s from your homepage with +1′s on your Google+ page and ads (using AdWords Social Extensions), increasing the number of recommendations for your site.

10. Place an author tag on your online materials - which means your authorized photo and name appear next to search results for stuff you’ve created, like your official website, blog posts, or videos. This way, people who search for you know what content was created by you.

You can also read this as a PDF

10 Ways to Grow Your Audience on Google+ is a post from: Azad Shaikh

Here are 5 technologies that I think will generate buzz, attract developers and investors, and get end users to open their wallets in 2011 and beyond.

Gesture recognition for hands-free convenience

Gesture recognition has been a research curiosity for years, with a lot of admirable work languishing in the lab despite the seemingly obvious appeal of hands-free operation. Now PrimeSense Ltd.’s design win in Project Natal, which resulted in the Kinect hands-free controller for the Xbox 360, may have yielded the killer app the field needed. The accelerometer- and gyroscope-based Wii baton piqued the public’s interest in more innovative user interfaces.

But moving the recognition hardware into the console, leaving the user’s hands free, is (pardon the pun) a game changer. The perceived success of hands-free interfaces like Kinect will motivate companies like Canesta (recently acquired by Microsoft), Hillcrest Labs and Movea to begin offering hands-free interfaces for such other platforms as TVs and notebook computers. In fact, the next best step might be the development of a standard lexicon of “gestures for control.”

Touchscreen tabs advance ‘consume only’ model

Electronic devices designed exclusively to consume, rather than both consume and create, began with Apple’s iPod music player, which only Microsoft’s Zune has effectively challenged. Following the debut of Apple iPad, however, every major electronics producer is taking on Apple. Makers of laptops, netbooks, smartphones and, yes, even music players will all be marketing competing touchscreen tablets in 2011. Almost all will try to emulate the trend-setting iPad while adding some differentiator; Dell’s Streak, for example, also lets you make phone calls.

Only a few vendors will try to build an ecosystem that goes head-to-head with Apple’s. One is Samsung, whose Galaxy Tab matches the iPad’s features, right down to a companion phone with a similar name (as the iPhone is to the iPad, the Galaxy S is to the Galaxy Tab).
Others will aim for underserved markets. Hewlett-Packard’s business-oriented Slate, for example, features a stylus input, suiting it for corporate clientele, such as the insurance companies that have put Slates in the hands of their adjusters in the field. Research in Motion’s PlayBook, meanwhile, banks on the BlackBerry phone’s reputation for superior security compared with the iPhone. Tethering the iPad-like PlayBook to a BlackBerry phone lets RIM users keep pace with iPad owners without sacrificing
security.

Automotive radar coming to cheaper cars

Radar Technology has registered on automakers’ own radar  for more than a decade, though the car manufacturers have proceeded with their typical caution in adopting what has been  a costly technology with safety implications. But as silicon sensor costs come down and as the technology gains traction in luxury models, radar systems will begin to trickle down over the next few years to midpriced autos. Lower silicon and system prices will also encourage more governments to mandate automotive radar.

Going into 2011, automotive radar already offers collision avoidance and mitigation in the forward-facing direction, as well as blind-spot monitoring and parking support via rear-facing radar. Beyond 2011, the technology will eventually enable driverless freeway motoring, with smart algorithms using forward- and rear-facing radar, as well as lane detection systems, to control drive-by-wire steering, acceleration and braking systems.

Energy storage media sought

Many exotic technologies loom as long-term prospects for efficient energy storage, but
to date none poses a commercially feasible alternative to lithium-ion batteries, and recent refinements to lithium-ion technology will keep it in the lead for the short haul.

A123 Systems, a developer and manufacturer of advanced Li-ion batteries based on nanoscale materials that were conceived at MIT, was recently selected to develop battery packs for a 2012-model-year electric passenger car from Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., the largest automaker in China. A123 has also signed a deal to sell 44 megawatts’ worth of its batteries to AES Energy Storage, in a step toward putting solar and wind farms on the grid.

While lithium-ion today is the poster child for energy storage, the technology has inherent limits in energy density and readily available raw materials. Those restrictions, in turn, could limit the production of electric vehicles if a commercially feasible alternative to lithium-ion batteries is not found soon.

Augmented reality: Geotagging the real world

Augmented reality, or the overlay of information on live images via a device display, has already been proved in military applications such as heads-up windscreen displays in fighter aircraft. Now consumer AR is coming to GPS-enabled camera phones.

In 2011, Apple, Google and a dozen startups plan to offer apps and systems that will relay commercial information—such as what’s on sale at the various stores in the mall you’re visiting—AR-style. Even Intel Capital is looking to cash in on the craze by investing in Layar (Amsterdam, Netherlands), an AR platform company that offers online tools for the development community.

But social networking may be the killer AR app. Sekai Camera, for instance, lets users leave their own AR posts at points of interest. A visitor to an ice cream shop, for instance, could aim a phone’s camera at the front of the shop and type a message recommending the soft-serve pistachio. Other Sekai Camera users would see the pistachio fan’s posting when they aimed a camera phone at the shop.

Source: EE Times

Top 5 Technologies to Watch in 2011 is a post from: Azad Shaikh

I’ve been reading a lot of new material lately and I came across something cool I just had to share with you, because it’s so simple – yet super powerful.

These two words are really the KEY to finding success with your business, blog or website:

Affect Many

The more people you can affect or the more lives you can impact in one way or another, the more success you will have, and the more money you will make.

To help you remember and apply this to what you do, think to yourself:

I AM

or…I Affect Many.

When you think about it, any successful business, athlete, product, invention, entertainer, blogger, etc. has had an effect on many.

Get your name, your product, blog or business in front of many, and you will find success.

How? Well, that’s another entire email or blog post, but just think about I AM and you’ll make the right choices to find success.

Thanks Pat for awesome emails. You can subscribe to his newsletter and it’s highly recommended by me.

These Two Words Scream SUCCESS is a post from: Azad Shaikh

Here we go:

• How-To: Create a WordPress Theme in 5 minutes

• Developing a WordPress Theme

• Dissection of a WordPress theme

• Mastering Your WordPress Theme Hacks and Techniques

• Turning a web template into a WordPress theme: a video tutorial

Did you find any of these tutorials helpful? Let me know if you have any links to other great WordPress guides that you’d like to share!

5 Most Wanted WordPress Theme Development Tutorials is a post from: Azad Shaikh