Google has disabled invites to Google+ but it seems there’s still loophole allowing you to give your friends access to the social network. If you have access and want to invite your friends follow the steps below.

• Add the person to one of your Circle’s using their Gmail address (or Google Account email).
• Head on over to your Stream and start to write a new post. Here you’ll be able to choose who you share this post with. Type in the persons email address and they will be sent your post via email.
• In the email notification, the user can read your post and click on a link that will take them to Google+.
• They will now have full access to the Google+.

Seems to be an odd way to go about it, but the people I’ve tried it with so far now have full access, even without previously signing up for access with Google. Good luck!

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The obvious reason behind this would be to entice you into clicking through to their website to read the full article. But why?

If I’m on a mobile device and you take me to an desktop website, I’ll leave.

If the article isn’t as interesting as I first thought, I won’t bother reading the rest anyway.

If you’re trying to drive traffic to your site to make money from advertising, just advertise in your feed.

If you want to get me to your site so I may stay a while and read something else, insert links to similar posts into your feed.

At the end of the day, if the article is worth reading, why make it difficult for people to read it. Who knows, they may even decide to visit your site.

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It’s a rarity that we see these two men involved in something destined to fail, but is that what Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch are doing with The Daily?

Ok, so it might not be that long since we’ve heard about a Murdoch failure (MySpace), bet when it comes to the media game, he is a genius. The one area he is yet to gain success however, is Digital Media (Times UK pay wall). But now Mr Murdoch has Steve Jobs in his corner. Together, they plan to launch the first iPad only daily newspaper, aptly named The Daily.

The Daily
The Daily will be a paid app for iPad only. And that really does mean iPad only. It is believed that there will be no web based version of the newspaper let alone a physical dead tree version. It will apparently cost as little as 99c per day in the USA. Despite it’s relatively cheap price and it’s very successful creators, I can’t see this being a success in the normal sense of the word. I do however see this as being another step forward for print media moving to a digital platform.

Realtime news anyone?
Despite moving to a platform that allows the one thing print doesn’t, initial reports state that the paper will be updated once every evening with the next days news. Umm, why? There will always be the challenge to convince people to pay for news they could receive for free. The challenge is made more difficult when you take it to a platform that gives you a competitive advantage (ie real time news updates), and not actually take advantage of it. Is it because real time news would mean giving people more than a days worth of articles for their 99c?

Social
One of the reasons people enjoy reading news online is because they can share it with others, comment and be more involved. As soon as a pay wall is put up for news, it immediately means you won’t be able to share your articles on social platforms or with friends.

Benefit of being iPad only
Is there one? The only one I can find is that it will be easier for the content and functionality of that content to be specialised. We’ve seen quite a few magazines and newspapers move onto the iPad. What we’re yet to see is one of these print sources really take advantage of the iPad and truly revolutionise the way we consume news in a digital form. Constraining the newspaper to the iPad means that hopefully we will get a better product. This brings me to my next point…

Why pay?
I refuse to believe that somehow the news in this paper will be better than other print and digital, paid and unpaid news sources. So why pay for something that limits me to one device and will probably offer me less than a newspaper for almost the same price. Unless we really do get a revolutionary new way to consume news on the iPad, I just can’t see how this is going to be a success, as other digital benefits such as realtime news and social integration have been overlooked.

Conclusion
The only thing raising doubt in my mind that The Daily will be anything but a failure is that Steve Jobs is involved. As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, it’s rare we see this man fail and I doubt very much he will like to see such a big move towards newspapers embracing the iPad fail. Whether it be a success or failure, the one thing we can hope for is that we will get an innovative new way to consume news on a digital platform, which in turn inspires more development in traditional news adapting to an online medium.

UPDATE
Another leak now states a possible launch date of 9th Dec. Steve Job’s involvement seems like it will be the launch of subscriptions for apps sold in the app store.

What others have to say…
Mashable | TechCrunch | NY Times | Wordyard

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Calendar World Cup 2010 & Google Calendar
First thing’s first. You need to know when the games are on. Calendar World Cup 2010 offers a great visualisation of when the games are on, however you will have to convert the time zone yourself. The shared Google Calendar is great if you already use Google Calendar. It will also mean the time of the games are automatically converted to match your calendar.

Twitter Buzz
See who’s being spoken about most on Twitter. CNN’s Twitter Buzz offers a great way to see what teams, players and topics are being discussed most on Twitter in real-time. Great visualisation!

Castrol Football
Castrol are major sponsors of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and they have some great stats on the tournament. Find player ratings, team ratings and what the chances are of your team making to various stages of the competition. Not sure who will win the next match? Check out the match predictor to see what your teams chance is of winning. They have also launched an iPhone app with similar features, but not as nicely finished as the site.

Twitter
Twitter has dedicated a page to the world cup that automatically streams tweets for the world cup and specific teams. To get involved simply use the #worldcup hashtag along with the hashtag for the teams you are tweeting about.

Total Football 2010 – $3.99 AU
An app that looks at the details of each match, giving you specific stats for the game including passes, shots etc. Quite a lot of information to present on a little screen, but well worth the purchase if you’re into the nitty-gritty. iTunes link.

LivePitch – FREE
A free app for the iPad only. Follow along with player ratings and stats being played out in a very well presented app. The app does have it’s limitations, in that you can’t look back at past matches. I have also found that at times it has been delayed quite significantly. iTunes link.

South Africa Tracker 2010 – FREE
One of the best free iPhone apps to keep you up to date with the fixtures and results for the World Cup.

Optus
If you’re an Optus customer (Australia only), you can watch the World Cup live on your 3G compatible phone by simply texting ‘world cup’ to 966. Stream quality is actually quite good, and there’s nothing like being able to watch the football when you’re out and about. There aren’t any catches and you don’t have to sign up to anything. I’m pretty sure however, that streaming will count towards your data allowance, so be sure to check your plan and usage.

Mashable
Mashable has put together an article with 7 World Cup resources (some mentioned in this article). Check it out for some others that might interest you.

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There aren’t many big organisations out there that can release one failing product after another and not only survive, but continue to grow. I speak of the almighty Google.

So maybe I’m being a little harsh, Google has certainly made an everlasting impact on the Internet. One that will not soon be forgotten. But it is their core search and advertising business that ensures their continuing success. They have so far released an iPhone killer, Twitter killer and email killer. All of which have yet to pose any threat to their potential victims, despite recieving a huge amount of buzz… pun intended.

Google Wave aka Email Killer
It has been a while now since the release of Google Wave. Remember that wiki/email/chat thing that no one uses anymore? Yeah, that’s the one, the email killer. If anything, it made us realise just how good email is.

Something to take note here is that it wasn’t the product alone at fault for its lack of success, but the manner in which Google released Wave to the public. How can you use the program effectively if no one else you know has access to it? Instead of taking advantage of all the anticipation they had created, Google decided to do a gradual, invite only rollout. Google Wave can only be used with other people who have access to Google Wave, which didn’t make for a very exciting user experience when you logged on for the first time and realised no one else you knew had access.

When Wave did eventually spread to a larger group, it was too late, and although it may be too soon to call it a failure yet, it’s at the very least dormant.

Google Buzz aka Twitter Killer
It doesn’t take much to recall the buzz about Google Buzz… again, pun intended. An almost Twitter like feed integrated into your Gmail account. I was enticed by the idea of being able to check all my feeds in the one place, but Buzz made me realise I don’t want everything centralised.

What’s the point of syncing with my Twitter feed if it doesn’t post to my Buzz until hours later? There’s no real need to sync with Google Reader either, as my shared items are already shared with my followers whenever they check their reader. Google have really just tried to re-create FriendFeed, relying on their already large base of Gmail users. I now only check my Buzz because I have an OCD about unread counts.

Google Android aka iPhone Killer
Ok, so Google Android may not necessarily be a failure, but there have been several iPhone OS killers to come out of the woodworks and the iPhone has remained unmarked. The Palm Pre and Windows Phone updates had almost no impact, leaving Android a tough task. Google has a lot going for it, but venturing into a new market is going to be tough. If Wave and Buzz are finding it tough, and they’re web based tools using Google’s strengths, Android may take a while to be a success, let alone compete with the iPhone.

Conclusion
Google is still very much the leader of search and has revolutionised Internet advertising via AdWords. So why don’t they stick to what they do best? Because what they do best is innovate. If it wasn’t for this thirst for innovation we would be without so many things we take for granted. Google search, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Analytics, Google Reader and Gmail to name a few. Did I also mention that these are all free? So even though there are a few speedbumps along the way, you never know when they’ll hit their next home run… after all, Chrome is still building their web browser market share…

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Just because Google Analytics is free, it doesn’t mean it lacks some handy features that make it more than powerful enough to compete with the big guns. Here are five tips to help you get more out of Google Analytics.

1. Filters – Make sure you are not skewing your results
2. Trends not numbers – Are you measuring your results correctly?
3. Annotations – Keep notes on spikes in results
4. URL Tagging – Keep track of your online marketing campaigns
5. Event Tracking – Get statistics on specific page elements

1. Filters
   When doing any sort of measurement and analysis, it’s important not to skew the numbers. You can start by filtering out visits from certain IP addresses and domains. You don’t want yours or your agency’s visits skewing figures such as visits, pageviews and time on site.

   How
   To activate, simply go to your account page and select Filter Manager on the bottom right of the page. You will be taken to a page where you can filter by IP address, Domain and Sub-directories.

2. Trends not numbers
   Now that you’ve ensured you’re not skewing the results, it’s important to know what you’re looking for in performing your analysis. If you’ve had the opportunity to use a variety of analytics tools, you’ll notice that the numbers very rarely match up due to the different ways the tools measure their results. This is why it is important that you look at trends in your analysis, not exact numbers.

   How
   Visits have increased by 12% compared to last month.
   NOT
   Visits have increased by 5,023 compared to last month.

3. Annotations
   A relatively new feature to Google Analytics, annotations make it easier to make notes for particular results, especially useful if you are reporting for a client or sharing results. It is also quite useful for your personal analysis to keep track of why spikes in results are occurring.

   How
   To create an annotation, simply click on a date in a graph or on the arrow drop down button at the bottom of the graph, which will expand to let you add your comment.

4. URL Tagging
   This is one of the most useful analytics tools and yet one that is most forgotten. If you send out an e-newsletter with links to content on your website, wouldn’t you like to know what links users clicked on in your email? Yes, most email marketing tools will show you the number of clicks, but what happens when they get to your site?

   You can add a tracking code to the end of the URL’s you used in your email that let Google Analytics know what campaign the users have come from, what link they clicked and what they did on your site. It works in a similar way to a Google AdWords campaign and can be used for all your online marketing campaigns, not just email.

   How
   You can tag all external links to your site so you get a better understanding of which links are bringing in the most traffic. You will find your results in the Content area of your analytics account, under Campaigns. To make it easy for you, Google have provided a tool that builds tags for you.

Your URL will look something like this:
http://yoursite.com/?utm_source=Monthly&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Comp

5. Event Tracking
   Lets say you have a Google Map integrated into your page and you want to know whether users are using the map. This is something that can’t be tracked via your traditional pageviews or content statistics. Event tracking lets you track specific elements on your page such as maps and videos, and allows you to see what functions within these elements the users are interacting with.

   How
   This requires a little more technical integration than the previous tips. You can find some specific instructions for event tracking here.

These tips should hopefully get you on the way to more accurate website analysis. There is a lot more you can do with the Google Analytics tool that I haven’t included here, but feel free to share your tips in the comments below.

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You had to be in a dark cave somewhere to not have heard about Apple’s launch of the iPad. You’ve also probably read a countless number of posts of people’s opinions on it, so I’ll keep this short and sweet.

At first glance, you might think the iPad is going to be a flop. It has a number of limitations and may appear to some to be nothing more than a big iPod touch, but that’s where Apple is very clever.

They didn’t make a piece of hardware for a tech enthusiast or highly computer literate user. If they had done this, they would simply be undercutting their MacBook sales. No, what Apple did was ingenious. They targeted a device directly to the casual user.

This is where my mum (and possibly yours) comes in. Whereas as you and I may see the lack of multi-tasking and flash as a limitation, I doubt you’ll get the same response from your mum. It is an easy to use touch screen that lets you do the basics.

So yes mum, I shall get an iPad, and for once, you’ll be able to appreciate one of my tech gadgets.

> The iPad Is For Everyone But Us
> Why My Mom’s Next Computer Is Going To Be An iPad
> The Apple iPad, explained to geeks

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Twitter gives you the option of enabling Geotagging in your account settings (see image below). Once enabled, third party applications will add a link to your location along with your tweets. (Note that these will only be visible on third party applications and not on the Twitter website).

Now whenever you post a tweet from Tweetie, TweetDeck or a number of other applications on your mobile device, users will be able to see where you were when you made your tweet.

Another cool little feature is that you can track your tweets on Google Maps. All you need to do is go to Google Maps and type in your Twitter feed address, which will look something like this: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/yesterdayshero.rss (you can see an example of this here).

Bing Maps Beta offers quite a nice Twitter specific service, however it does involve you installing Silverlight (ahh Microsoft). You can see an example of the results here.

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For some time now Firefox has held majority share in the browser market, with most recent figures showing 47% of people use Firefox. The closest rival is Internet Explorer (versions 6, 7 & 8) with 37.7%, you can see a breakdown of the remainder of market share in the table below.

In looking at the usage statistics, it is important to remember that Google Chrome has only launched a Mac version of their browser this month. It was at this time that extensions for the Windows version of the browser also went live, soon to be launched for the Mac version. For those who can’t wait, there is already a way for Mac users to start using extensions here.

The problem some users may find after installing several add-ons to the Firefox browser, is that it tends to slow the browser down significantly. Google Chrome is already a faster browser than Firefox, so when extensions inevitably slow the browser down, it should still perform better than its rival. If the number and quality of the extensions available on Chrome match those of Firefox in the near future, I know which browser I’m choosing.

Why haven’t I mentioned Internet Explorer in all this. I guess this is because I see Chrome directly targeting Firefox users. Let’s face it, there are too many organisations using IE, let alone your average internet user who simply doesn’t care what browser they use, they just want to ‘surf the web’. The fact that the number of IE6 users grew (yes, you read correctly) from October to November this year exemplifies this. These aren’t generally the people that are going to be swayed by slight advantages in browser speed and add-ons, at least not yet.

Firefox seems to already be showing some nerves, suggesting Firefox users change search engines, from the Firefox default Google, to Bing. This arising after Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, made some concerning comments on internet privacy.

It may still be too early to tell, but if you look at the table above, in the last month Firefox lost a small amount of market share which seems to have gone directly to Chrome. It will be quite interesting to see how this trend progresses in the coming months.

You can take a look at an ad created by Google UK to promote Google Chrome below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC-2VGBHFQI

UPDATE: Google Chrome seems to be increasing its advertising efforts with a wraparound ad in London’s METRO. They have also launched a site where you are able to send Chrome as a Christmas gift to your friends and family.

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LinkedIn has recently opened it’s platform for compatibility with third party applications as well as launching Twitter integration. Is all this turning a professional network into a social one?

You can now link your Twitter account with LinkedIn, allowing you to syndicate your tweets with your LinkedIn status. I’m not sure that many of us would want our personal tweets going to a professional networking site. Luckily this is something that LinkedIn had considered, giving you the option to only syndicate tweets that include a #in tag.

TweetDeck, a popular social media dashboard, has just integrated LinkedIn. Meaning you can now send status updates to LinkedIn directly from TweetDeck, as well as receiving updates from your network. Just be careful not to post that Tweet or Facebook message to LinkedIn by mistake. Download the latest TweeDeck release here.

All of this does show some great innovation from the professional network. They have recently reached 3 million users in the UK and receive a healthy level of site traffic around the world, ranking 19, 18 and 32 in the USA, UK and Australia respectively (stats from Alexa).

Opening it’s platform and integrating social media platforms such as Twitter is a step forward in gaining a larger user base, but will this blurring of the professional and social cause problems? It does offer users an easier way to access and update their LinkedIn profiles. Improving usability in this way will help ensure people not only set up their profile on LinkedIn, but use the site as a communication channel.

Let’s just see if they go as far as Facebook integration next…

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