Digital Tech Gadgets

General Tips and Tricks for City Ville Addicts

2011-08-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

City Ville has hooked me for some time now around 6 months or so. In these 6 months I have learnt many tricks which I am going to share now with you all. Before you read this post if you haven't started playing City Ville I would recommend not to start.
In case you have already started this post will let you play city Ville the smartest possible way. I am goint to include very simple and effective tricks to play City Ville:

Clever and smart ways to add backlinks without showing intention of Spamming?

2011-08-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

SEO business still runs around backlinks. The most important thing after Good quality content is adding backlinks of your blog or website on others blogs. One of the best ways of doing that is adding comments to others blog.

Just recently I got a very nice comment for one of my articles and I even published it. But I was very suspicious of that comment the moment I saw it. Yet I didn't bother to investigate further but then I though lets do some investigation. I will tell about this later, first lets focus on back links and comments.

There are basically following reasons why you are prompted to comment on others articles:
You are wanting to ask some query to the author.You really want to thank and appreciate the author of the article.You really want to criticize the author or point out some mistake.You want to add a back link (This is very bad if you do just for the sake of it).Benefits of adding back links:
You get some incoming traffic from other websites. You might get a Google Page Rank because of it thus gaining more visitors from organic traffic.Myths about adding back links:
The more back links you add the better the Google PR: Well these days are gone Google gives credit to only quality back links. What that means is back links from higher PR blogs or websites within your niche.You are not doing any harm to your website by adding any irreverent comments: Again a very common mistake. Look most of the blogs are having comments which are moderated. If you add comments which are irrelevant to the article your blog and comments might be included in spam category. Once that happens all the comments will be auto spammed. At least Google has that mechanism.Link exchange is the safest way of adding back links: Well it depends with whom you are exchanging the links. If the website with which you exchanged links is a spam website chances are you will also be declared as spam website and you might be removed from search engine index.Clever and smart ways to add back links (Do's and Don'ts) :
Do Genuine comments: By clever I do not mean fool the author. Always read the article and then leave a relevent comment which indicates that you have read the article.Do Constructive Criticism: You can criticize the author only if you have relevant data or genuine point. Don't use harsh language. Your comment will be for sure deleted.Do Genuine appreciation: If you likes an article and it really helped you or you enjoyed it pass a natural comment. This approach is best and also the author is more than happy to accept your comment with your back link. Don't Write Common Generic Comments: Some people fool blog authors by using generic common comments which are very appreciative in nature and the commentator hides his back link in his name. These work some times but back fires in most cases. This is what I was mentioning at the start of this article. Check out the below comment and search for first sentence in Google "Simply wish to say your article is as surprising". You will find all articles having same comment with different back links. SEO experts use these to add back links to any articles as it suites any article. I highly recommend you all not to fool others please. This way of getting success is not long term and not at all recommended.ABC says:Simply wish to say your article is as surprising. The clarity in your post is just excellent and i could assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please continue the enjoyable work.
Moral of the story:

Adding back links is not a bad practice only thing is it should be done with utmost genuineness and every comment should be unique.

Is Facebook $100 Billion IPO a little overpriced?

2011-08-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

Facebook is preparing for an Initial Public Offering of around $100 billion. Many people including me feel its way too overpriced. Now you must be wondering why I feel that way? Well there are many reasons for that.
A driving factor for any industry is the growth factor. As far as growth goes Facebook already had 500 million users. Recent trends suggest that Social media is already overcrowded and there is less scope for tremendous growth and now soon the consolidation phase would begin.

With consolidation I mean a period when growth either slows down or starts reducing. One example I can give is of the telecom industry in India. In very few years Indian cell phone industry saw a tremendous growth. From few millions to 800 plus million users.

The moment that happened the telecom industry in India saw a consolidation phase. Now due to MNP (Mobile number Portability) cell phone companies are trying to eat each others market. But their share values are at an all time low if not lowest.

Facebook is entering the market when the growth is already tremendous. But the problem with Facebook is its monopoly. There are many things in Facebook which even annoy users like recently introduced photo viewer, increasing privacy breaches and also potential privacy threats. But users are ignoring them due to lack of awareness or negigence. The day awareness would creep in people would start searching for alternatives.

In 2004 Google also had launched on IPO with $24 Billion one of the biggest at their time. But the difference between then and today is Facebook is already big and the hunger to grow is not that high which Google had at that time.

If Facebook IPO does get a good response initially and start seeing a downward trend it should not surprise people. I am not suggesting that growth is the only thing which is of great concern, the hunger for innovation and bring something new periodically should also be there. In case of Facebook I feel they are already at the peak and from the peak one can stay at the top or come back down.

Google success story is mainly because they give everything for free plus they give opportunity to earn money to millions of content publishers in many ways. With Facebook I feel its not such a simple case. May be in future Facebook will have to start thinking in those lines to stay in business.

May be this article is a bit ahead of time or completely irrelevant for many. I also like Facebook but I am a firm believer of Karma and Hindu mythology i.e. "Any thing that starts comes to an end". Facebook is cool today how long it stays cool only time will tell.

Improve WordPress Page Load Time by Compressing the JS and CSS Files

2011-08-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

Being a blogger, we always try to find ways on how to improve the page loading time of our blogs especially when we are not yet into premium hosting where there are provisions for it. You can improve the page loading time of your wordpress blogs to a certain extend using WP Minify plugin. It uses the Minify engine to combine and compress JS and CSS files of your wordpress blog to reduce the blog load time.

How WP Minify Works?

WP Minify grabs JS and CSS files in your generated wordpress pages and passes that list to the Minify engine. The Minify engine then returns a consolidated, minified, and compressed script or style for WP Minify to reference in the wordpress header. Just go through the features and give a try!

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Google experiments with changes to its Ad Sense appearance.

2011-08-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

Google's Ad blocks were many times criticized for not being able to blend in web content effectively. Google has done a slight correction in this regards and now the Google Ad blocks look more similar related links rather than prominent Ad units.
Though this change is minor its a huge change in Google's policy of displaying Ads. Many webmasters use to do various unethical tricks to display Google Ads to make them appear more as a part of content rather than prominent Ad units.

What experimental change has Google really done?
Google has simply removed its name from the Ads Earlier Google used to show Ads by Google in some Ad units. This change is not applicable to the Ad units of 468 X 15 or one line Ad units. This change is applicable only to square or rectangular Ads blocks (my observation). The new Ad block is exactly similar to previous one except for this change and the Google name is replaced by a triangle which is accompanied by AdChoices word.

New WordPress 3.2 is out with a Refreshed Dashboard Design and Full Screen Editor

2011-08-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

WordPress 3.2 (Gershwin) is released with more better features especially the feature which I wanted badly – “Open link in a new window/tab” in HTML view

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How to find your ideal body Weight and BMI?

2011-08-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

I have gained at least 7 kilos in last 6 months. Its a very dangerous situation and I need to tackle it with proper planning and goals. Incase you need to find if your are over weight or under weight here is a simple trick for you.

I came across this wonderful calculator which gives you an ideal weight figure for your height and age and gender. It also calculates your BMI (Body Mass Index) and tells you the ideal BMI for the category you belong to. You can easily find if your BMI is in normal levels or not.

Download the New Yahoo Messenger 11 Final

2011-08-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Yahoo Messenger 11 final was released last week with much awaited features like facebook chat, multiple social network status updates, great gaming experience with online buddies and so on. This new version incorporates many bug fixes with improved general stability. You can download this new Yahoo Messenger 11 from their website here.

Features of Yahoo Messenger 11:Invite your friend to play a game : In addition to IM, text messages, voice and video calls, you can now play popular social games such as Mafia Wars and Fishville right within the new Yahoo Messenger.Keep up with friends wherever they are : View, comment on and like updates from Yahoo Pulse, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and more.Multiple social networks status update

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Get Free Google+ WordPress Theme – WP Plus

2011-08-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

HomeContactSubmit Guest Post BloggerBloggingCool SitesCool SoftwaresDesignMake Money OnlineMobileSocial MediaTech NewsWindowsWordpress Get Free Google

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How Can Spies Enter Indian Finance Ministers Office?

2011-08-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

There are unconfirmed reports that Indian Finance Ministers office was bugged i.e. recording was done without permission of Government. That means a secret recording instrument was placed in his office which is the size if a Mobile Phone Battery.

The act of placing a Bug in someones house or office is called bugging. I am sure and hope these reports are not true considering the level of security in Indian Government offices. But the kind of technology available today to spy on people it has become a piece of cake to invade others privacy.

These bugs are available in various shapes and sizes from a size of a Mobile phone Battery to size of a medium sized coin. They are available from $650 to $4000. The smaller the bug more the price. Just checkout the video below how easy it is to spy on people now a days.

Backup Gmail, Twitter, Facebook Online for Free using Backupify

2011-08-16T01:53:00.000-07:00

Our online ‘life’ includes contacts, blogs, emails and social media accounts. We feel very safe and secure online when there is a backup of some of these important accounts online. You may either manually download the backup or archives of your accounts if available or use third party services from sites like Backupify.

Backupify is the popular online backup provider for cloud based data, offering an all-in-one archiving, search and restore service for the most popular online services including Gmail, Twitter, Facebook(profile and fan pages), Google Apps and more. With one account you get centralized access to all of your information, stored securely, easily searchable, and ready for restoration or transfer.

Under their Free 1GB plan, you can backup a maximum of 3 accounts from the list given below. To learn more about Google Apps backup, you can download Backupify White Paper from here.

Backup ListFacebook(profile and fan pages)GmailGoogle DocsGoogle SitesGoogle CalendarGoogle ContactsPicasaFlickrBloggerZohoLinkedInBackupify Backup ProcessConfigure and Backup your selected accountsBrowse your Backupify archivesDownload or restore any data you wantAccount Screenshot

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Free Google Plus Blogger Template

2011-08-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

look through an awesome blogger theme designed by CreativeBloggingIdeas. The theme is designed almost like Google plus with similar navigation, sidebars and color combinations. It looks like we are really on a Google Plus page!

Screenshot

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Great NEWS: Latest Tech Tips now has a Google PageRank 2

2011-08-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

Today is a very Happy day in my blogging life. Latest Tech Tips finally has a Google PR 2. After more than a year of hard work on this blog finally I got a Google PR. Having a PR is every bloggers dream. I was waiting for this since a long time almost a year.

Its a huge motivation for me to continue Blogging. This is a great example for people who enter the world of blogging and get disappointed not getting a Google PR. I will share some of my experiences and some of the things I did which may have resulted in www.latest-techtips.com getting a PR 2.

Finding the Right Web Host through Real and Honest Web Hosting Reviews

2011-08-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

We always visit several web hosting reviews sites to evaluate some of the web hosting companies known or unknown to us. But most of these reviews are said to be untrustworthy since there will be no source or the website address of the users posting the reviews. Anyone can post a good(excellent) or bad(worst) review about a web host if they are allowed to post without any valid source. Furthermore, some of these reviewing websites focus on just few web hosting companies and put them on the top of the ‘Top Ten‘ list regardless of bad reviews on other similar sites. This confuses the readers looking out for a good web host. It is quite difficult to get real and honest web hosting reviews these days!

Recently I came across WhoisHostingThis.com from Google when I trying how to detect the web host of a website. WhoisHostingThis.com has got a separate web hosting reviews section where they claim that the reviews are honest and from ‘real’ people. You can read more about their reviews here. I think it is pretty cool site for reading some honest reviews since they are strict in approving the reviews and provide a valid source of the review like links of the users. Moreover you can use WhoisHostingThis.com to check user’s web host!

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How Important Is It To have a Google plusone button?

2011-08-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

Google introduced a new feature plusone some time back to allow people to recommend webpages to their friends. If you think that this is not very important and its okay if you do not have Google plusone button for your website then think again.

Google has currently not started using plusone numbers for giving priorities to webpage in its search results, but the chances of it starting to use this data is to give priority is very evident.Many bloggers are taking it seriously as nobody knows when will Google modify its algorithm to start taking into account these numbers.

Today Google even introduced a new section in its webmaster tools. The moment something comes up in webmaster tools section it definitely has something to so with SEO. Google has recently extended its plusone functionality in many countries in Google search, earlier it was in very handful countries which included USA of course.

Abercrombie PowerPoint

2011-08-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

I love reading Footnoted and I knew I had to share this post, the moment I read it.

Lots of eye candy in …

We counted no fewer than 13 slides that featured shirtless dudes baring their pecs. That’s nearly 20% of the slides in the 67-slide deck. The PowerPoint was part of the company’s Investors Day earlier this week. The presentation seems to have gone well, judging by this brief WSJ article that notes that Abercrombie stock climbed over 8% on Tuesday, in part, it seems, based on the bullish projections made during the presentation. So there was some substance in between the eye-candy slides.

…

we’re not sure that cutting and pasting a bunch of shirtless guys into a PowerPoint is the best way to go about this. Even if it does cause the stock to climb 8% in one day.

Posted byDeepak Sharmaat12:40 PM

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Crystal Ball 2.0: The State of Retail Demand Forecasting, Benchmark 2011

2011-08-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

RSR Research's latest report, "," RSR’s first annual benchmark on the topic, finds that retailers believe demand forecasting capabilities to be critical to their operations but struggle to incorporate demand forecasting insights deeper into their businesses.

These findings are based on a survey of 83 retailers between January-April 2011.

"Retailers have made significant investments in optimization technologies, particularly around price and labor, and demand forecasts come hand-in-hand with those capabilities,” said Brian Kilcourse, Managing Partner at RSR and a co-author of the report. “But the forecasting engines that create those inputs into optimization tools can often be completely different in terms of assumptions, time horizons, models. It adds sophistication to retailers’ capabilities, but also creates some challenging complications - building up internal siloes instead of knocking them down.”

"With more channels to manage and more leading indicators to demand, such as social media and consumer intent, retailers need all the help they can get in forecasting and managing demand," adds Nikki Baird, the report’s co-author. "The challenge isn’t that the crystal ball is cloudy but retailers just have too many forecast engines, each with a slightly different prediction than the next. Companies have yet to figure out how to reconcile them all."

"" contains analysis of the business drivers, opportunities, and organizational constraints surrounding demand forecasts, as well as recommendations for creating successful demand forecasting capabilities. The report is part of RSR Research's ongoing efforts to provide market intelligence on retail technology trends, and can be downloaded here:

http://www.retailsystemsresearch.com/_document/summary/1280

Posted byDeepak Sharmaat11:32 AM

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Top 10 Pop Singers on Twitter with their Twitter Ids and official Websites

2011-08-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

Twitter is a revolution and a boon for Fans of celebrities. Fans follow their favorite celebrities and they give them daily updates. Now a days having most followers on twitter has become a matter of great pride for many celebrities.

I thought of putting out a list of top 10 most followed celebrity pop singers on twitter. You will find following information about these pop singers about whom people are really crazy.
Official verified twitter IDTotal followers till todayOfficial website or something which would help you connect with them.The Total Twitter Followers mentioned are recorded on 4th July 2011.

# Name (Twitter ID) !

Official website / YouTube Channel Followers 1 Lady Gaga (

Struggles of Indian Grocers

2011-08-15T01:53:00.000-07:00

Stark Reality check for Indian Mom & Pop (called Kirana) stores.

Why Indian grocers' biggest worry isn't the Walmarts

The problem of traditional retail is not competition. The challenges lie at home, within their business model. Though footfalls and phone calls haven't lessened much, profitability of mom-and-pop stores is hit by rising operating costs. They pay higher rent and wages but profit margins on various products have either shrunk or remain stable.
Hoping for a surge in sales is unrealistic. Mom-and-pops target customers close to their location. This number is largely stable over five to ten years. Limited by capital, few can offer an exclusive deal or inventory that compels customers to drive long distances to shop at their store.

Posted byDeepak Sharmaat12:42 PM

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Amazon edges out Walmart as the most-valuable retail brand

2011-08-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

Amazon is now the most-valuable retail brand in the world, according to Millward Brown's 2011 BrandZ study of the most-valuable global brands. Amazon edged out Walmart to attain this feat.

Amazon edged out Walmart as the most-valuable retail brand by Millward Brown's accounting, with its brand value rising 37% to $37.6 billion as Walmart's fell 5% to $37.3 billion. Walmart parent Wal-Mart Stores still has more than 10 times the sales and more than five times the market capitalization of Amazon. But BrandZ's calculation subtracts tangible assets from market value to help estimate brand value. Amazon, with no physical stores, fares well in that process. The Walmart brand value also doesn't include Sam's Club or other overseas affiliates with different brand names owned by Wal-Mart Stores.

Even so, Amazon's rise, combined with declines in brand value not only for Walmart but also for other top global retailers Tesco and Carrefour last year, marks the shift toward e-commerce.

"Amazon benefits incredibly by having user reviews integrated into its site," said Eileen Campbell, global CEO of Millward Brown. "Everybody does that now, but Amazon was the first, so it's done an incredibly good job of building trust."

Posted byDeepak Sharmaat8:51 PM

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Classic Windows 98 Crash Video with Bill Gates.

2011-08-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

Many years ago there was a Mocrosoft Press release which was probably the launch of Microsoft Windows 98. It was very funny to see how the presenter and Bill Gates were embarresed to see Microsoft Windows 98 crash in front of so many people.

Bill Gates even went on to say that "That's why we are not shipping Windows 98". The crowd just applauded the crash and the Bluse Screen of death took all over.

The server crash in the video is called as the "Blue Screen of Death". Tear this article to get more details on the "Blue Screen of Death".

Nordstrom Deploys 6,000 Mobile POS Devices

2011-08-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title

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Top 5 Reasons for less CPC in Google AdSesnse

2011-08-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

Many times it so happens that you get many visitors to your website, the visitors also click on those Ads you placed in your website but the earnings you get is very less than your expectation After loads of research I found out few main reason for low CPC.

There are many factors which really decide your CPC. The exact calculation algorithm (which click gets how much money) are only with Google but here are certain reasons why you might see 1 click getting 0.5$ and other getting 0.01$.

If you are getting very less CPC (Cost Per Click) on a consistent basis then here could be the Top 5 reasons.

1. Niche:
This is something very important and very critical. Niche means a particular area of business related to which you write content on. Some Niches pay handsomely and some pay very less. For example Forex, Loans and Mortgages etc are amongst top paying niches and Web Development, BPO etc pay fairly less. To get an idea of various niches and their estimated incomes read this.

2. Market Situation:
This is very subjective yet important if economy is not doing well there are very few bidders and the demand for good ad keywords is less and hence you might end up getting paid less. Economic situation plays a key role but search for information is in demand today and will remain so for ever, so internet will remain a fairly good source of income even in future.

3. Location:
This is my personal experience that Ads clicked by people from the West especially USA and UK get you more $ than other Asian countries like India, Pakistan etc. Possible reason for this could be that the Ads shown are from those regions and the Advertisers in those regions might not be willing to shell out huge amounts of money. One advantage of Asian traffic is the volume its just tremendous so it eventually evens out. Many people even write content which attract potentially high paying readers there is nothing wrong in it its a kind of Business after all.

4. Ads Placement and Content:
Well if you clutter your website more with Ads and less with content chances of your Ads getting clicked is also very less because the user might get a bad impression of your blog looking at the quantity of Ads. Try to place your ads in a manner which would look more like related links rather than prominent Ads. Google gives you options to blend your Ads with content. The Ads units just below post title and at the bottom are very fruitful also if you have a Ad unit which compliments the side bar also can generate fair amount of clicks.

Well content is King I must have said it 100 times before and its so important. Good content is liked by readers and unique content is loved by the Search Engines. If you have quality content which makes your readers coming back again and again certainly increase your chances of getting very good organic as well as direct traffic and also more and more quality clicks.

5. Google AdSense Policy violation:

Many foolish people click on their own Ads, ask readers to click on Ads, ask people and friends to click on ads and many such stupid things, they think Google is a fool. Remember Google is in this business for more than a decade and that too on top. They have highly smart algorithms to detect invalid clicks so if you are involved in such activity just stop it right away. Read the Google AdSense Program Policies in case you are not yet clear.

If your blog falls into any of the above mentioned categories then here is a chance to reassess your strategy. Generate smart cool content get more readers and take your blog seriously and earn serious money.

Weis Markets deploys Retalix's Demand-Driven Replenishment solution

2011-08-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Retail Technology Blog: Weis Markets deploys Retalix's Demand-Driven Replenishment solution.wf-inactive body, .wf-calibri-n4-loading body, .wf-calibri-n4-inactive body

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My Store Is Too Big – What Do I Do With The Extra Space?

2011-08-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

Retail Technology Blog: My Store Is Too Big – What Do I Do With The Extra Space?.wf-inactive body, .wf-calibri-n4-loading body, .wf-calibri-n4-inactive body

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