Since Apple opened up the iPhone for developers to build applications on there have been hundreds of thousands built. They have opened up a whole new market for designers and developers to tap into. This has meant a slew of websites advertising these applications. I’m not sure which site was the first but there are some very clear conventions to be seen throughout this showcase. Have a look for yourself.

Mobile Roadie

ShakeItPhoto

Confessapp

Birdfeed

Dig Deep Fitness

Thermometer

Birdbrain

Paraply

Snow Reports

Kodu

Top Floor

Keypoint

Happy Dangy Diggy

Stone Skipper

I Said What?!

Outside

The Absolute App

June Cloud

Frenzic

If you like this post you may also want to look at:

Blue Website Showcase

Weekly Web Design Inspiration #36

Why not follow me on twitter: @atikusdesign
or to ensure you are updated with every D-Lists posts follow: @d_lists

Did you enjoy this post? If so please share and allow others to enjoy it:

Go to Source

Hitwise determined that Google controlled 71.57 percent of the search market in November.  Its report concerning December pegs the search giant’s market share at 72.25 percent, and if you didn’t notice, that’s starting to put it pretty close to the 75 percent-mark.

Yahoo, meanwhile, fell beneath the 15 percent-mark in December, moving from a market share of 15.39 percent to 14.83 percent on a month-over-month basis.  Which is not at all the sort of thing Carol Bartz probably hoped would happen during her first holiday season as CEO.

Finally, poor Bing didn’t do too well its first time out, either, slipping from 9.34 percent to 8.92 percent between November and December.

Still, there were some bright spots for all of these companies.  Hitwise’s release stated, "Google’s percentage of upstream traffic grew for the Automotive, Shopping and Travel categories.  Bing saw double-digit growth among all four categories [Automotive, Shopping, Travel, and Health] and Yahoo! Search saw double-digit growth in the Shopping category . . ."

Related Articles:

> Google Makes More Search Gains

> Google Phone Faces More Criticism Over Fee

> "Google" Declared Word Of The Decade

Go to Source

Here are the facts related to that first situation: Between November and December, comScore believes that Google’s market share increased from 65.6 percent to 65.7 percent.  Which would be fine, or even good, most months.

But both Nielsen and Hitwise thought Google did better in December (both in terms of month-over-month gains and overall market share), so that’s perhaps not the most positive news for the search giant.

As for Bing’s state of being, comScore stats indicate that the market share of Microsoft’s sites increased from 10.3 percent to 10.7 percent on a month-over-month basis.  Nielsen and Hitwise had it under 10.0 percent and losing share.

Finally, since Google and Bing went up according to comScore, something had to come down, and comScore placed that burden on Yahoo, along with AOL and Ask.  Yahoo’s share of the search market slipped from 17.5 percent to 17.3 percent.

Related Articles:

> Hitwise Puts Google Nearer To 75 Percent Market Share

> Google Makes More Search Gains

> "Google" Declared Word Of The Decade

Go to Source

David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, announced on its official blog last week, there is to be “a new approach to China”, which means, we want out. What the ultimate outcome of this furore will be is not yet clear, but according to sources China is said to have persuaded Google to stay on and announced that: “Beijing is trying to persuade Google to stay and give up plans to pull out its Chinese version from the country.”

On the same blog, Google said: “Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.” Therefore, we quit? That simple? Not quite.

China’s foreign ministry said last Thursday that: “China welcomed international internet companies to conduct business within the country according to the law”. Well, that’s all well and good if the Chinese authorities are protecting users from viewing porn and overt sedition but the assumption of the foreign Press has been that the hacker attacks were orchestrated by the Chinese government to carry out investigations against human rights activists.

That sort of practice is, of course, unacceptable to us in the West, but doesn’t it smack of hypocrisy? There’s something awkwardly deceiving about Google’s moral stance on China when its corporate motto “do no evil”, an anachronism now but perhaps a catchy shibboleth in its time, is an almost obscene declaration of double standards while it retains data mining to service ad revenues, coupled with surveillance, digital profiling and personal intrusion.

Getting ever more involved, the issue has now become politicised, with the US government saying it will lodge a formal complaint with Chinese officials to express its concern about cyber attacks on Google’s Gmail service in China after Google announced it will no longer censor its content.

In the spirit of appeasement, China Internet Network Information Center, another official agency, said on Saturday that the number of internet users had reached 384 million by the end of 2009, a 28% jump in one year. In January last year, China also issued 3G licenses to major telecom operators, resulting in a massive hike in internet users. Now, around 8% of all internet access in China is through mobile phones, and growing exponentially.

Google is also apparently in trouble for copyright theft of Chinese writers without obtaining permission. Add to this the valid criticism by censors for allowing its site to be used for the distribution of pornography: Google should know better than to let that type of content through in China.

According to Techcrunch last week, “Google has had more success in China than a lot of other big Valley names, but [it] isn’t and will likely never be the market leader…Valley elites erupted into applause on Twitter and blogs saying Google was showing more backbone than the US government and was a model of integrity for the world.” Moral integrity and Google? A non-sequitur if there ever was one, surely?

But perhaps there are other factors at play: Google was not making a lot of money in China and played second fiddle to Baidu; and it was never going to make any substantially increase in its market share. Maybe economics was at the forefront of its decision, as last year China accounted for just under 1-2% of Google’s US$21.8 billion revenue.

This is not just a Google issue though: all foreign media companies have found it very difficult to penetrate the Chinese internet market; they make only modest returns. What the backlash may be within the country and without is yet to be revealed, but media censorship is deeply unpopular, even with the Chinese people themselves, and some have suggested  that if Google goes ahead and pulls google.cn, the Chinese may yet stage protests against the government, citing Google as the catalyst.

One statement I read that came out of Google’s statement of intent was from Warren Cowan, CEO at Greenlight, a UK-based search engine marketing agency, who told TechNewsWorld: “China doesn’t need Google as much as Google needs China . China’s got the sophistication, the strength and the will to do whatever it wants.” Not so, methinks, or China would not have held out the olive branch this weekend; the “need” is perhaps better described as mutual.

But surely there must first be some resolution between Google and the Chinese authorities, as blocking access to sites such as Blogger, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and millions of other “undesirable” websites, is excessive use of their censorship “laws”. It was perhaps the hacking attack on Gmail that was the last straw.

The Chinese are still very sensitive about images of Tiananmen Square, the footage of Chinese police beating up Tibetan monks and the social unrest in Qinghai. It was these scenes that prompted the shutdown of foreign social-networking sites. Also, the scare of the footage on Twitter about the Iranian election protests saw them further retreat into their protective shells.

All this, together with the political overtures of President Barack Obama’s sharp slap on the wrist in his thinly-veiled criticism of Chinese internet censorship during his recent visit, and that the US is to receive the Dalai Lama and to sell arms to Taiwan, doesn’t exactly aid Google’s cause.

Of course, there is also the argument that whether or not Google leaves China, the Chinese have become adept at circumventing these Orwellian blocks to foreign websites with the installation of “virtual private network” software.

But let’s look at some social and economic perceptions of the international press: it has recently taken up the mantle of China’s economic ascendancy on the world stage and of its future dominance. But there are negatives in this narrative. First, intransigence was China’s hallmark during the recent climate change talks in Copenhagen which turned to condemnation; and there has been an international outcry about the jailing of a human-rights activist and the execution of a mentally disturbed British drug-smuggler.

China’s strongest asset, its booming economy, has also been damned by many a reliable source, with one describing it as “Dubai times 1,000, or worse”. According to the Economist, “China’s smooth ascent is exploding because its economic miracle has proved partly illusory. In fact, China’s government may be right to see the economic gloom as in part wishful thinking from outsiders repelled by its repressive political system… China is no Goldilocks economy. Bank lending is growing too fast, which may be fine if it is flowing into useful investments, but not if it is fuelling asset prices. The risk of bubbles and excess capacity will grow unless policy is tightened soon.”

Analyses have drawn a mixed crowd: there are those that think Google is morally right to withdraw from repression; others view it as financial suicide; others still see China’s ascendancy on the world stage as an entity it simply must engage with at whatever cost.

But let’s look at a few excerpts of Will Hutton’s “China, the West and the Credit Crunch”, regarding this new utopia: His lecture reversed some common expectations that the 21st century belongs to China and asserted that its extraordinary growth has been taken out of context. He contends that China’s growth offers no new paradigm for development, and its success is based solely on high savings and low-tech manufacture, having come about as a consequence of its One Child Policy, which effected a phenomenally high savings rate of around 40% as means to ensure old age financial support.

The other point to mention here is Chinese businesses mask pervasive state control. According to Mr Hutton: “Of the 1,105 enterprises floated on the stock exchange, 81% are actually state controlled; of the 6,000 restructured state-owned enterprises, the members of communist party committees have become non-executive directors in 70%.” These figures go a long way to explain Google’s and other multinationals’ treatment by the state.

And talking of economic growth and what the board of google.cn might have realised is, as Mr Hutton states: “…economic growth requires an educated and productive workforce, discerning consumers, property rights and the capacity to innovate. A telling statistic is that China currently accounts for only 0.1% of international patents.”

To conclude, this appears to be a Mexican standoff, with reports that Google’s China operations may be “officially terminated” in February, leading the Chinese government to block the company’s main site, according to Credit Suisse Group. But their decision to withdraw should rather be a precursor in raising a meaningful dialogue with the Chinese authorities. If not, who else is to contribute in becoming a “key enabler of a better-informed world” in China?

The West has a lot to learn from the Chinese and vice-versa, but it will not be an easy task while the Right continue to hold political and economic sway in the country. Although Google will hold more talks with Chinese authorities “in the coming days”, it would also do well to remember its own fuzzy logic: don’t be evil; in other words, be up-front about what personal data you collect. People in glass houses, and all that…

If it does eventually go sour, the biggest losers in this fiasco will be Google and China; both would lose face if the withdrawal proves to be true, with China deprived of Google’s innovation, international visibility and respect and Google’s visible global hand will be impaired.

————————–

John Sylvester is the media director of V9 Design & Build (http://www.v9designbuild.com) and an expert in search engine optimization and web marketing strategies.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Google squirts water-pistol at China’s Great Firewall amidst hypocrisy

Go to Source

If you’re still in the market for a standalone PMP, then you might find Aluratek’s new Cinepal PMP really tempting. The device comes with a slate tablet-style appearance, with a sharp bezel and a wide 8.9-inch display. Aluratek has been a leader in digital picture frames and has also dabbled in internet radios and even NAS devices, but this is their first PMP attempt.

(…)
Read the rest of Aluratek Shows Off PMP [Cinepal PMP To Sport 720p, 8.9-inch screen, DivX]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2010. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Go to Source

Zillow, one of the world’s largest real estate websites, could opt for an IPO as early as next year. It’s a dramatic change from a year ago, when the recession pushed venture capital and technology IPOs to their lowest levels in years.

In an interview with BusinessWeek, Zillow COO Spencer Rascoff stated that Zillow is looking not only to go public in 2011, but is seeking ways to improve its valuation by courting new investors and solidifying itself as the world’s “fastest-growing real estate site.”

Zillow still faces a major challenge though: It’s still not profitable. Still, we expect Zillow to do well in IPO. It has a recognized and fast-growing brand that keeps innovating. Zillow’s IPO performance could be a strong indicator for how other Internet companies will fare in the recovering market, most notably Facebook.

Tags: business, ipo, market, stock market, zillow

Go to Source

Originally posted at Relevant Results

Go to Source

Originally posted at The Digital Home

Go to Source

The veteran disk drive executive is signing on as chief executive of Bridgelux, a well-funded startup that is entering the market for solid-state lighting devices–using the increasingly ubiquitous technology known as light-emitting diodes. LEDs, as they are widely known, are a chip-related technology that is extremely energy-efficient compared to conventional incandescent bulbs. They are finding a broad array of applications, including backlighting for LCD-TVs and computer displays.

It may sound like a tough business, with entrenched players such as Philips Electronics, Cree, Toyoda Gosei, Osram (known as Sylvania in the U.S.) and Nichia. Giant General Electric is also developing technology in the field.

But Watkins says the revenue potential is so vast– he puts it at about $100 billion annually from all forms of lighting, compared to roughly $35 billion for the disk-drive market–that he just couldn’t pass it up. “I looked at this as probably the last opportunity I’m going to have in my life to go after such a large market,” he says.

Also, Watkins argues that makers of existing lighting products have a financial disincentive to aggressively push a technology that could take revenues from their main business. “We don’t have to defend nothing,” he says, with a phrasing that evokes his Texas upbringing.

Bridgelux, now based in Sunnyvale, Calif., has raised about $70 million already and is just announcing another funding round of $50 million, led by VantagePoint Venture Partners. The company plans to set up a new factory for making LEDs in Livermore, to the east of Silicon Valley. Watkins succeeds Mark Swoboda, who will remain president.

Mark van den Berg, a VantagePoint managing director, estimates that LEDs are roughly ten times more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs. They are also, unfortunately, much more expensive. Van den Berg says a consumer can buy an ordinary bulb for as little as two for fifty cents, where a decent fluorescent bulb for home use is $12.99 or so (low-quality versions are quite a bit cheaper, he allows), and an LED light is now $30.

“But it’s on its way to ten bucks” within 12 months, he says, with companies like Bridgelux helping to improve the technology. That’s when things get really interesting, Watkins adds.

Go to Source

RIM may have a larger market share, LG, Motorola and HTC may have a lot more models, but it’s Apple (at least in the US) who has the #1 handset. Of course, we’re talking about the iPhone. A sleek and powerful device, good for both business and personal use, the iPhone is far from being perfect, hence why everyone dreams of a 4th generation model that would be packed with goodies, attracting even the worst skeptics.

(…)
Read the rest of New iPhone Release Date Rumored for April [iPhone 4G (4th Gen) to Feature OLED, Dual-Core CPU & Removable Battery]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2010. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Last week HP introduced six new notebooks aimed at the professional market. The ProBook and EliteBook aren’t any sort of netbook or ultraportable – instead, they’re good old fashioned full-sized, fully powered notebooks for the business market.

(…)
Read the rest of HP ProBook, EliteBook Notebooks Refreshed [HP Adding Core i7, USB 3.0]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2010. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Google’s well-known corporate motto of “don’t be evil” has become a bit of a punchline in recent times. No longer the innocent David against the ruthless Goliath (Microsoft), many have taken a more watchful eye towards the search giant, its vast ambitions, and the seemingly infinite amount of data it seeks to collect about us.

This afternoon though, by standing up to censorship in China, Google reclaimed some of the mystique that once made it so special. In the growth market that everyone is after (and Google still trails significantly in), the company is putting principles ahead of profit.

Writing on the Google blog today, the company’s Senior Vice President David Drummond said, “we launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results,” a position that was met with plenty of criticism at the time.

However, now that it’s seen the breadth of Chinese censorship by way of implied state sponsored attacks and surveillance of Google products, the company has been prompted to action, declaring in as straight forward a way as possible that “we have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn.”

Mind you, if Google’s ultimately successful, they do stand to gain plenty –- a search engine operating in a free and open market is more profitable than one in a closed and censored one. But we think it’s unlikely that China will essentially reverse course on some of its fundamental values in a matter of weeks, and as such, Google will likely feel pain to its bottom line in the short-term, especially if competitors like Baidu, Microsoft, and Yahoo don’t take a similar position.

It’s too soon to give Google a standing ovation – we’ll wait and see what kind of agreement, if any, they’re able to strike with the Chinese government before full adulation. But at least for a day or two, we can once again think of Google as a company that stands for more than a never ending quest for market share and profit.

Tags: china, Google, Political

Go to Source

Motorola is rumored to have a new model in the works, specifically built for the South Korean market. Similar with the new XT701 that recently saw light on China Unicom, the new Motorola XT720 is expected to be released on SK Telecom (the country’s largest mobile operator) as the carrier’s first Android-powered mobile phone.
(…)
Read the rest of Motorola XT720 to Debut in South Korea [Android-powered Motorola XT720 Release Date Rumored]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2010. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

eBook Readers have suddenly become very popular in the tech marketplace, with lots of new devices hitting the market – many of the similar to one another and otherwise unremarkable. Spring Design’s Alex eReader hopes to stand above the background noise with some discernible features.

(…)
Read the rest of Alex eReader Shown Off At CES [New eReader Features Color, Google Content]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2010. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Apple is right now working on their “Tablet” technology and Microsoft is all up in their “Surface” technology. Could it be that Nokia is working on their Nano Technology? Well, even though I don’t foresee this Nanotech phone dropping on the market anytime soon I still have high hopes about it’s arrival. Especially when I saw a keynote by Microsoft where Stever Balmer at the end of the show demoed a piece of Nanotech interactive paper. I wanted to insert a clip here from the keynote but wasn’t able to find that particular clip. If anyone knows where it is then please share it with the rest of us.

Nokia’s new and cool Nanotech approach “Morph” will truly revolutionize the cell phone business and will make our phones beyond smart. The fact that you can change the color of the phone, slap it around your wrist, bend it, fold it and even put it into water is just some of the amazing and ultimately cool features. The clip got released a little less than a year ago so Nokia should have come a little bit further in their hopes of creating the next generation cell phones. Question is, will it become reality and when will we see it on the market. Any suggestions?

Go to Source

The Hearst Corporation-owned Skiff e-reading service has officially revealed the Skiff Reader, the largest e-reader on the market.  This thin, touchscreen e-reader features an 11.5-inch screen, a considerable jump in size over the current market leader, the Amazon Kindle DX.

(…)
Read the rest of Skiff Reader Revealed As Largest E-Reader [Skiff Reader Beats Amazon Kindle DX As Largest On The Market]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2010. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Syabas is aiming for the mainstream with their new Popbox Digital Media set-top box. The popbox is cheaper than most other digital boxes on the market, and features Netflix support and a great user interface, making it dangerous in the digital streaming market.

(…)
Read the rest of Syabas Popbox Revealed [New Low-Cost, High-Quality Media Streaming Box Coming At CES]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2010. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

There’s no question about it any longer: The Apple App Store is a big market. It’s not as big as, say, the soft drinks market, but it’s big enough to be taken very seriously.

Developers have created 100,000 iPhone applications — some of them are raking in seven figures per month — and users have now downloaded more than three billion applications from the App Store.

The App Store is also a market that expands quickly. Exactly one year ago, 500 million applications had been downloaded from the store. Back then, Apple celebrated the milestone with a huge banner. Now, it’s just a short announcement, with the inevitable self praise. Quoth Steve Jobs:

“Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months—this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before. The revolutionary App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users an experience unlike anything else available on other mobile devices, and we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.”

I’m rarely one for hyperbole, but this one is spot-on. The competition is far, far behind, and the iPhone and the iPod touch are the mobile software platforms of choice, for users and developers alike.

Tags: app store, apple, iphone, iPod Touch

Go to Source

If it seems like everybody and their second cousin is making an eReader device, it’s because they pretty much are. Beyond the industry-leading Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader, a veritable troupe of newcomers are taking the stage to challenge the digital reading device market: the Barnes & Noble Nook, Plastic Logic Que, Spring Design Alex, LG’s solar eReader and more will be vying for a share of the digital book market along with the now official Skiff Reader from Hearst.

In partnership with Sprint, who will supply 3G connectivity to the device, The Skiff Reader plans to come out swinging with a large 11.5-inch size and a high 1200 x 1600 pixel screen resolution. It will also be on the svelte side at just over a quarter-inch thick and just over a pound — the thinnest eReader on the market to date.

The Skiff Reader is also notable for using an entirely new technology to power its display. Unlike the glass screens that are the hall marks of the current generation of eReader devices, the Skiff uses a flexible display based on a thin sheet of stainless-steel foil. LG is the manufacturer behind the new screens, which help the Skiff stay slim and carry less risk of breakage.

Like Barnes & Noble with their Nook, Hearst wants to control its own distribution chain with a dedicated device. They’ll have their own digital storefront to sell content for the Skiff, and we know they’re also very interested in if not actively working on developing a Hulu for magazines as well. In other words, publishers are stepping up to the plate as they try and take back the control that Amazon and Apple currently wield in the still nascent digital publishing space.

Unfortunately, there are no pricing or release date details yet for the Skiff, but it will be on display at CES this week so we’ll be able to take a look very soon. Check out some new photos of the Skiff Reader below and let us know what you think. How does this device stack up against its competitors in the increasingly crowded eReader space?

The Skiff Reader

Tags: 3g, CES, ereaders, hearst, skiff, sprint, the skiff reader

Go to Source

Get their products or services out in print format is more challenging and difficult for any company.

Here, you’ll find 36 examples of Best Creative and Some Clever Print Ads

Go to Source

If you’ve been paying attention to Mashable, you got an early heads-up on this in mid-December: Google’s Chrome browser overtook Apple’s Safari in the final month of 2009 to become the 3rd place browser behind Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Our first set of stats covered the week of Dec. 6-12, during which Google launched Chrome for Mac — a rush of downloads was to be expected. Now web metrics provider Net Applications has released its full month of December stats, confirming that Chrome had 4.63% of the browser market that month, versus 4.46% for Apple’s Safari.

The Net Applications stats aren’t all bad for Apple: the iPhone saw its biggest jump in the mobile operating system market in December, climbing 20% over its November numbers to 0.43% of the market. On the desktop, Apple’s growth is slow, however: OS X usage grew to 5.11% of the OS market at the end of 2009 from 4.71% at the start.

Have you switched to Google Chrome? Let us know in the comments.

[image courtesy TheAppleBlog]

Tags: google chrome, safari

Go to Source

Acer had added another new, cheap, Pine Trail netbook to the market, adding to the already plentiful selection of netbooks for consumers. The new Acer Aspire 532h is Acer’s first entry into the Pine Trail market place (while some like Samsung already have three Pine Trail netbooks out).

(…)
Read the rest of Acer Aspire 532h Netbook Revealed [Acer Shows Off New Netbook Design, Pine Trail-powered, 250GB HDD]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2009. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Succeeding in China will be no easy feat (assuming it’s even achievable).  Google’s got a head start in China, and of course Google’s been able to fight off Microsoft in the U.S. for years.  Plus, if by some chance Microsoft’s able to defeat Google, Baidu – which currently has a market share of around 64 percent – will stand in its way.

Still, a Microsoft representative told Reuters, "Microsoft is committed to the China market and the search market in China is the most important strategic market for Microsoft."

Microsoft’s not planning to just translate its existing tech into Chinese and hope for the best, either.  The representative continued, "We specially set the search technology center in China to get a deeper understanding of what Chinese users need, to be able to deliver the best product to them."

Unfortunately, Microsoft didn’t share any details about what it’s learned or when the Chinese version of Bing might come out of beta.

Related Articles:

> Nielsen Also Puts Bing Up In November

> Yahoo, Bing Trade Market Share Again

> Microsoft Launches Twitter-Esque Service In China

Go to Source

Enter the Sheng T108, a Chinese netbook that features a slick (dare I say – Apple like?) brushed aluminum body. Since most netbooks in the market feature bland glossy plastic, something like this really stands out. Under the hood, the T108 is fairly regular, although it doesn’t appear to be shipping outside of China anytime soon.

(…)
Read the rest of Sheng T108 Netbook Revealed [New Chinese Netbook Sports Classy Brushed Aluminum Chassis, 2GB of RAM, 3G]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2009. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Whatever your topic, niche or passion sometimes learning from other market places can give you inspirational ideas. In fact if you will just walk around with your head up and your eyes wide open then you will see that opportunities are presenting themselves to you all the time.

These ideas will help stimulate some ideas for you:

# 1 Visit a local exhibition

Go to an organised show of any kind and take your camera. Shoot photos of exhibits that are attracting a crowd, and of the signs, booths and all types of exhibitors. Collect any handouts, marketing documents, price lists, future exhibition schedules, and anything else that pertains to working or exhibiting at trade shows.

Take a notebook and make general notes on your observations. Using the photos and material collected, begin a reference file of how to participate and create effective exhibits at trade shows.

#2 Go to your local car boot sale

Take your camera and wander round to find the niches that the various dealers have carved out for themselves. Look at what people are buying and take pictures of interesting exhibits. Speak to the sellers and get an insight into how passionate they are for their market.

Make a note of items that catch your eye: note how much they are being sold for, condition and any other key pieces of information. Then go back and search the items on eBay and see if they are being sold there and what for.

#3 Take a walk around your local large Maplins or PC World

Find the largest high tech retail store in your area, and spend a few hours there. Look closely at computer accessories, video cameras, and computer networking technology.

All of these technologies have a learning curve and they are things that you can develop “How To ” products around.

#4 Attend a Free Workshop

Find a one day training workshop on any subject that interests you. Attend and pay attention to how the workshop is organized.

Take photos of the stage, the registration desk, any signs, serving tables, product displays and collect copies of all the hand-outs and marketing materials used to promote and manage the event.

Keep a dossier of all that you collect, you may need this material at a later date as reference when you eventually produce your own training workshops.

#5 Go to your local Borders or WH Smith

Any place with an extensive magazine collection is ideal, and spend some time looking at the number of magazines that cover specific niches. Look for trends of increasing or decreasing magazine covering specific topics.

Find and buy magazines on subjects you know nothing about, but seem interesting to you. Read the magazines you buy, especially the letters to the editor and the ads. Look for opportunities to solve problems. Look for interesting technologies and topics that might be your future niche.

#6 Take lots of photographs

Go to your nearest big tourist destination and again take your camera. Pick up all the free brochures, flyers, maps, free newspapers, and other marketing material you can find for businesses and activities in the area.

File these for later use as reference material for product ideas and take photos of interesting businesses, signs, promotions, exhibits.

#7 Make A Video

Start with a topic that interests you and make a mini documentary about it. Have an objective for the documentary, then structure it so it has a beginning, middle and end. Shoot some video footage, import it, edit it, add titles and background music, and burn the results to a menu driven DVD.

Learn what tools you need to get the job completed, and get it done. Learning to produce interesting videos is a strong path to profitable product development.

Summary:

Carrying out these tasks will give you a good grasp on where you can source inspiration for new products. Plus, you’ll have conducted some market research, discovered that there are people all over the planet who are interested in buying and learning a whole bunch of stuff .

But more importantly, you’ll have built a great resource of images, documents and material to help you get started.

Further, you’ll have also practiced your skills in product development by making a short movie.

Now all you need to do is chose a topic that is interesting to you, and has market potential, that can hold your interest for at least 12 months!

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

7 Tips To Help Your Product Development Skills

Go to Source

Nick Crocker is MD of Native Digital and co-founder of We Are Hunted.

It seems as though the first era of digital music may have come to an end. Napster died, P2P lived in some black market twilight zone, streaming services on ad-supported revenue were suffocated by unsustainably high licensing fees, and subscription services sputtered along, never quite capturing the imaginations of music fans. 2009 ended in a flurry of acquisitions (LaLa, iLike), launches (Vevo) and shutdowns (iMeem), which dramatically rearranged the digital music landscape. When the dust finally settles, expect digital music to begin anew.

With that in mind, here are my five predictions for music in 2010.

1. Labels Will Get Smart

---

It’s been coming for more than a decade, but major labels are starting to grasp the digital opportunity. They’re licensing music on more sustainable terms, diversifying their business model, investing in new technology and, most critically, understanding more than ever what it means to be truly consumer-led.

As market leaders, major labels have the resources and the networks to profit most from the changes currently taking place. The move from physical to digital hasn’t been as fast as many people might have wished, but that’s because digital still doesn’t pay like physical does.

CDs, when they sell well, still mean big money. Digital isn’t like that. But that’s changing, and as major labels have shrunk, their capacity for change has increased. Expect 2010 to be the year that the bad press on the major labels starts becoming more favorable.

The promises of the digital age — deeper understanding of the music consumer, integrated ticketing and merchandise, direct-to-consumer sales, and fans as marketing teams — are all about to become a reality, and major labels will lead the charge.

2. Physical CD Sales Will Continue to Decline

---

To ensure at least one of my predictions comes true, I’m going to forecast that globally, sales of physical CDs will decline in 2010. That’s one thing you can definitely count on.

3. Release Strategies Will Evolve

---

The traditional model of building buzz through radio singles followed by a carefully timed album launch will still be the norm for commercial pop music. But at the edges, we’re going to start seeing a new model for releasing music that’s more attuned to the diverse community of music consumers.

The new model, pioneered by Topspin Media, will be the multi-tiered, staggered release. Artists will offer free, full streams and selected downloads early to the curious and the devoted, building their fanbase as they grow. Traditional release schedules will follow, in tandem with more innovative products, at more diverse prices, to more accurately segmented groups of fans.

Rather than just a plastic CD, we’ll start seeing multiple tiers of music product: free streams and low quality mp3s, simple digital and physical packages, enhanced audio and packaging on digital and physical releases, and then levels of premium products including vinyl, merchandise, and increased access to the artist.

We still think of music in its physical form as a CD on the shelf. Increasingly, we’re going to understand it as a suite of music products — T-Shirts, mugs, books, framed art, signed lyric sheets, USBs, and once-in-a-lifetime music experiences.

4. Music Will Live Legitimately in the Cloud

---

It’s been talked about for a number of years, but 2010 could be the year we start thinking of music less as a finite product and more as an infinite, on-demand reservoir to be accessed at any time for a fee.

This process will roll out in tandem with the evolution of music “products.” Even if music is universally accessible, it’s still key to people’s idenity. We still need something to put on a coffee table, something to pass to friends, something to put under the Christmas tree and something to signal to the world that “this music is part of me and I want you to know it.”

iTunes, as ever, is in the driver’s seat to make the most of this change. Its acquisition of LaLa could see them own the streaming market as it currently owns digital music.

Spotify’s buzz seems to have cooled, but it’s still the best-placed streaming service to take advantage of the cloud’s potential.

Grooveshark’s growth, if it continues, is going to make it a serious player in the streaming game.

MySpace, with iMeem and iLike in its back pocket may also consolidate its place in the land of the streaming.

And finally, Google –- who owns the bridge over the moat, digitally speaking –- could pull the rug from everyone and facilitate properly integrated music streaming into its search platform.

Whoever emerges at the front of this pack will be in new territory, providing access to the world’s music, anytime, anywhere on any device.

5. Who Knows?

---

There’s some as-yet untested consumer models building momentum.

Guvera is promising the world, not just to the music industry, but to advertisers as well. Whether consumers buy into its advertisement for content exchange remains to be seen.

Rdio, with serious pedigree and some big money backing it, hasn’t poked its head up completely yet, but you can be assured that whatever it offers isn’t going to be lightweight.

Lost in all the buzz is the fact that some legacy digital music companies — Last.FM, Pandora and MySpace to name a few — still have the established brands, the existing customer base, and the revenue streams that preserve their lives beyond the froth of the tech/music blogosphere.

And of course, there’s Facebook. The biggest country in the world (or soon to be), Facebook and music have always been awkward bedfellows. If Zuckerberg and Co. can figure a way to integrate music with the Facebook platform, the existing user base would guarantee a big chunk of the market overnight.

It all adds up to create a big void of uncertainty, one that will be filled in the way the web knows best — by its end-users. What those end-users decide they love will ultimately determine the winners and losers in the digital music economy. As a passionate music fan, I can’t wait for the competition to heat up. For those on the digital frontier, music really is better than it’s ever been.

More music resources from Mashable:

---

- Top 10 Facebook Applications for Music Lovers
- Social Music: Top 5 Sites to Build a Playlist
- 10 Ways to Share Music on Twitter
- Free Music Monday: Hip Hop Edition
- 18 of the Best Music Tumblelogs
- Social Music: Top 5 Recommendation Services

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alengo, enot-poloskun,cinek20

Tags: digital music, grooveshark, guvera, ilike, imeem, Lala, Last.FM, music, myspace, pandora, rdio, spotify, vevo

Go to Source

Real-time stock tips from the highest ranked Twitter stock market experts. Get the details on today’s most tweeted stocks, tags, and URLs.

http://topstocktweets.com

Go to Source

Remember when Steve Ballmer said that there’s “no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share?” Well, according to Nielsen, the iPhone 3G is currently the number one mobile phone in the U.S., holding 4 percent of the market. Not bad for a smartphone, eh, Steve?

The iPhone 3G is followed by RIM BlackBerry 8300 Series with 3.7 percent and the Motorola RAZR V3 series with 2.3 percent of the market, while the rest of the top ten list consists mainly of LG and RIM devices, with Samsung SPH-M540 snugged into the sixth place. Add the percentages of various LG or RIM devices up, and Apple is no longer number one; but Apple makes only one phone — the iPhone — and one can’t deny they’re doing mighty good.

Nielsen also lists the most popular websites accessed over mobile phones. Leading the pack, of course, is Google Search, but Google’s Gmail takes only the third place, behind Yahoo’s free mail service. The Weather Channel holds the fourth place, proving that many users still access the Internet over the phone only to find out if it’s going to rain, while the ubiquitous Facebook is in the fifth place.

As far as brands on mobiles go, Yahoo is the most popular brand, followed by Google and MSN/WindowsLive/Bing. AOL and the Weather Channel hold the fourth and the fifth place, while Facebook has to settle for being the sixth most popular brand on mobiles.

Check out the complete lists over at Nielsen’s blog.

Tags: blackberry, iphone, Mobile 2.0

Go to Source

Remember when Steve Ballmer said that there’s “no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share?” Well, according to Nielsen, the iPhone 3G is currently the number one mobile phone in the US, holding 4% of the market. Not bad for a smartphone, eh, Steve?

The iPhone 3G is followed by RIM BlackBerry 8300 Series with 3.7% and the Motorola RAZR V3 series with 2.3% of the market, while the rest of the top ten list consists mainly of LG and RIM devices, with Samsung SPH-M540 snugged into the 6th place. Add the percentages of various LG or RIM devices up, and Apple is no longer number one; but Apple makes only one phone – the iPhone – and one can’t deny they’re doing mighty good.

Nielsen also lists the most popular websites accessed over mobile phones: leading the pack, of course, is Google Search, but Google’s Gmail takes only the 3rd place, behind Yahoo’s free mail service. The Weather Channel holds the 4th place, proving that many users still access the internet over the phone only to find out if it’s going to rain, while the ubiquitous Facebook is in the 5th place.

As far as brands on mobiles go, Yahoo is the most popular brand, followed by Google and MSN/WindowsLive/Bing. AOL and the Weather Channel hold the 4th and the 5th place, while Facebook has to settle for being the 6th most popular brand on mobiles.

Check out the complete lists over at Nielsen’s blog.

Tags: blackberry, iphone

Go to Source

Do you remember Google’s Android mobile OS a year ago? Back then, it was just launching its app store and releasing the first phone powered by Android, the T-Mobile G1.

Fast-forward to today. Two days ago, Android surpassed 20,000 apps. Not only that, but the Droid by Google, Verizon, and Motorola has made a big impression. Oh, and don’t forget about the Nexus One, aka the much-hyped Google Phone.

It’s been quite an interesting year for the Google-made smartphone OS, but analytics firm comScore released some new numbers today that really illustrate just how far it has come.

Android: Still Small But Growing Fast

Let’s start with the most important number: market share. Android may be on the rise, but it isn’t anywhere near its main competitors. According to comScore, the Google OS doubled its market share in the past year. However, that only amounts to 3.5% of the market in October 2009. By comparison, Windows Mobile, the iPhone, the BlackBerry, and Symbian own magnitudes more of the market.

Still, look at the rate of growth from February to October, and it’s clear that Android is the fastest-growing mobile OS around:

The more telling stats are the ones that tell us what is going to happen over the next few months. Android is now recognized by 37% of mobile users, up from 22% in August. The reason, according to comScore? One hell of a memorable advertising campaign for the Verizon Droid.

The study also explored which phone consumers intend to buy in the next few months. comScore surveyed 2,300 people to answer this question. While the winner was BlackBerry with a whopping 49% across five devices, Android make a strong showing with 17%, led primarily by the Verizon Droid. 20% of individuals plan to buy an iPhone 3GS or 3G.

While BlackBerry is still king and the iPhone is still sexy, the Android platform is so hot right now that it could burn right through steel. The Nexus One and a wave of new Android smartphones coming out in 2010 will only serve to create an even bigger frenzy.

Is 2010 the year of Android? We want to know what you think in the comments.

Tags: ComScore, Google, Google Android, iphone, smartphone

Go to Source

CherryPal has gone for the low-low-end of the tech market, with their new netbook named ‘Africa’. The Africa has a very limited set of specs, and can’t even run a full version of Windows, and instead offers a Linux OS, or Windows CE.

(…)
Read the rest of CherryPal Africa is low-low-end laptop [$99 laptop released, 7" screen, smart phone processor]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2009. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Yes, Yahoo’s share of the search market shrunk from 18.0 percent in October to 17.5 percent in November, which counts as a sizable slip.  Yahoo’s biggest competitors, meanwhile, kept chugging along.

To take it from the top: Google’s lead remains more than safe as the company managed to increase its share from 65.4 percent to 65.6 percent.  At least at this point, there appears to be no stopping the search giant.

Also, in a pound-for-pound sense, third-place Bing made some even more impressive gains.  Bing passed the 10.0 percent mark (from 9.9 percent in October) to wind up with a market share of 10.3 percent.  This represents a two-year high for Microsoft (and possibly makes a partnership with Yahoo look much less appealing).

Finally, if you’re curious, November wasn’t a good month for the little guys, as Ask and AOL both lost 0.1 percent of market share on a month-over-month basis.

Related Articles:

> Yahoo Aims For Better Local Business Results

> Kaufman Bros. Analyst Upgrades Yahoo

> Yahoo Rolling Out Something Kind Of Like Real-Time Search

Go to Source

South Korea’s Ripple has released pictures and information on their new PC. The Ripple “Look” as it’s being called, is going to be launched in the Korean market sometime this month, and has a ‘Mini PC’ form factor, similar in size and shape to the Mac Mini.

(…)
Read the rest of Ripple Look Revealed [Ripple Small Box Format Desktop Shown, Dual Core Processor, 160GB]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2009. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Whilst falling way short of the number of Apps offered by Apple’s App Store (which offers over 100,000 Apps), Google’s Android Market is (oh so quietly) celebrating a milestone thanks to reportedly passing the 20,000 App count just over 5 months after it passed the 10,000 count.
(…)
Read the rest of Android Market App Copunt Hits 20,000 Mark [Android Market App Store Growing by Around 100 Apps Per Day]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2009. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

Originally posted at The Download Blog

Go to Source

Although the iPhone’s App Store is still king, the Android Market is growing fast. According to AndroLib, the online store has just reached the 20,000 mark, doubling in size in the last five months.

Google doesn’t disclose Android Market figures, but AndroLib and others track what apps are added and at what rate. Looking at the different statistics, it’s clear Android development is on the rise.

Given the success of the Droid, November was unsurprisingly the biggest month for both new apps in the English language Android Market, and also the biggest gain month over month.

Other interesting tidbits:

Games account for 15 percent of all applications in the Android Market. That’s pretty similar to the App Store’s own statistics, although the methodologies for categorizing application type might not necessarily be the same.

When it comes to app distribution, 30 percent of apps have been downloaded fewer than 50 times. Only a very small percentage of apps have been downloaded more than 250,000 times, which might indicate that creating a “hit” application for the Android Market requires more nuance than for the iPhone.

2010 is going to be a big year for Android, what with more handsets popping up — including the Nexus One — and a continued industry shift to mobile. Twenty thousand apps is a nice way to kick things off.

What are your favorite Android apps?

Tags: android, Android Market

Go to Source

You’ve been scouting out the android market (we’re talking about a human-like robot here, not the mobile OS) for a while now, but you never found one whose looks you like?

Those days are over: Japanese department store Sogo & Seibu plans to sell two Actroids which can be modeled after the buyer for a meager price of $225,000. If you weren’t scared off by the price, or the fact that having an android that looks just like you is super creepy, read on.

The Actroids (we’re not entirely sure, but it seems they’re only available in the female variety) can’t walk, but they can move their upper body and talk. Even better, you can provide your own voice, so the Actroids can look and sound exactly like you.

If you’re concerned about build quality, the actual androids will be created by Kokoro, a company that has a certain experience in android design. Still, $225,000? While it is that time of year when we like to pleasantly surprise ourselves by buying gadgetry we don’t need, being able to trick the neighbors/family into thinking you’re home while you’re actually out partying may not be worth the price.

Tags: actroid, gadgets, Robot

Go to Source

Here is the official video for the release

A fierce market

Unlike its web version, HootSuite comes with a price tag: €1,59 / $1,99 and this only until December 17th. According to the information available at the iTUNES store (ITunes link), this is a special price that includes a 30% discount.

If we think that HootSuite’s main competitor Tweetdeck gives its iPHONE app for free and has come to the iPHONE market months before HootSuite, the success of this new product will much depend on the loyalty the current web users have towards it.

In my opinion, one of the main obstacles for HootSuite is that it took way too much time to develop the iPHONE app thus opening a space for its web users to get used to others  when they are mobile. With so many Twitter applications for the iPHONE already established on the market  (some for free and some of them less expensive than HootSuite’s new product) it will be interesting to see if the Owl will sing victory on this one.

What do you think? Are you a HootSuite user? Will you go and buy HootSuite for the iPHONE? If not, why? Please let us know on the comments!

Go to Source

The company says it provides users with the same features as its non-mobile site. Visitors to the mobile site can access Whole Foods selection of over 2,000 recipes, store information including hours, driving directions, store specials and a calendar of events for their local store.

"Whether they are at home, work, or out and about, our customers can now easily access store information and what’s on sale at their local Whole Foods Market," said Bill Tolany, global coordinator of integrated media for Whole Foods Market.

"Shoppers can also use their handheld devices to create shopping lists and save their favorite recipes to ‘My Recipe Box,’ a popular feature on our website."

The mobile site also features a store locator where customers can use a ZIP code search to find the nearest Whole Foods Market store.
 

Related Articles:

> Ensuring Your Site is Indexed in Google’s Mobile Search

> 40 Million Reasons You Need A Mobile Web Presence

> Usage of Mobile Web and Apps Doubles in 2 Years

Go to Source

“Designed for the modern market with a classic European feel, these
mince sauces have flavour all over them. The range sold out across most
organic stores upon its first release.”

Go to Source

The first steps are to:

1. Identify your target market; start with geo targeting and work with the demographics from there
2. Decide how you want to be perceived by this target market and decide how you’ll foster this perception
3. Identify and refine your value proposition

Once you’ve done this, the next step is to develop and distribute your value proposition, making sure that your value proposition is perceived by your target market exactly as intended – in marketing, shaping consumer perception isn’t just the most important thing: it’s everything.

You have to start by positioning yourself to be perceived in a specific way; from here, you’ll need to maintain, develop, grow or alter this market position as you deem necessary.

The real challenge is putting these principles into action:

Driving Traffic

There are some important principles of traffic generation you need to understand in order to be successful at bringing visitors into your website.

There are both principles and rules of traffic generation; principles have to do with your approach to the task and the rules are the practical nuts and bolts of driving traffic. You need to have an understanding of the larger picture before you can successfully put the practical techniques into action.

What you’ll usually see a lot of is the techniques alone. While this is still valuable information, you probably won’t get far with these techniques if you aren’t versed in the underlying principles of traffic generation.

These are the most important principles of traffic generation:

• Traffic generation isn’t a black art – it’s something which largely relies on common sense and methods which can be replicated with consistent results.
• The reason people usually fail in their traffic generation efforts is that they don’t truly commit to making traffic generation techniques a fully integrated part of their business strategy.
• You need to create a plan for driving traffic. Think of it as a road map; follow it, but remember that it’s not carved in stone. Your plan can and should evolve to reflect your real life experience and results.
• Continually test and track the results of your traffic generation efforts – and adjust your plan accordingly.
• Set goals for yourself and as you meet them, raise the bar; traffic generation is a process, not a single objective.
• Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see results immediately.
• Remember that driving traffic begins with building your site – Why is this? Because your site should be built from the ground up with visitors in mind. Look at other sites in your industry to gain an understanding of patterns of visitor behavior.

See what these other sites are doing; don’t hesitate to take a page from your competition’s playbook if you see something which is working for them.

This is where things can become challenging; it’s something like standing in Grand Central Station at rush hour with a megaphone, trying to be heard above the noise of the crowd. The goal here is to get the attention of your target market and get them to come to your site.

All business is arbitrage. You’re taking something which is cheap (to you, at least) and exchanging it for something of higher value – buy low, sell high.

For example, SEO and other free traffic generation strategies essentially trade your time for traffic which is of higher value to you; this value may be measured directly in monetary terms or in other means (for instance, as signups to a list). The same is true of paid methods of driving traffic like PPC advertising; you’re paying what you deem to be a small amount for something else which you see as more valuable.

If you’ve been reading carefully so far, you may have noticed that I haven’t said a word about being indexed by the search engines; that’s because this falls under the heading of techniques, not the principles of traffic generation. While you do of course want to be indexed, this isn’t your primary objective – and it’s something which will happen naturally as you work to drive traffic using other strategies.

Don’t lose sleep over the search engine crawlers; they will come sooner or later. Remember that even once your site is indexed, it’s no guarantee that visitors will follow. Focusing on being indexed is losing sight of the forest for the trees. This will happen anyway as a side effect of using other traffic generation methods. What you should be focused on is getting targeted traffic to your site. For instance, if you exchange links with another site (or even a directory) relevant to your industry, the search engine crawlers will follow these links when indexing this other site and voila! Your site will be indexed.

What you need to do is to let the web know that your site is there while simultaneously driving targeted traffic. The best way to do so is to create links to your site from other sites; not only do these result in your site being indexed, but back links are great SEO and of course, they can generate traffic directly through visitor clicks.

Here are a few things you can do to start driving traffic almost immediately:

• Whenever you add new content to your site or blog, submit this content to the social bookmarking sites (Digg, Technorati, etc.). Make an effort to give your posts attention-getting titles so that people will be interested in reading your content.
• Post comments on blogs which have a similar audience to the one you’re trying to reach. Don’t post comment spam; write real, thoughtful comments and include a link back to your own site.
• Start contributing to forums and message boards relevant to your industry.
• Create an RSS feed for your site or blog and submit this feed to directories.
• Write articles on your niche topic and submit them to directories article directories.
• Join link exchanges
• Build a linkwheel; create blogs and pages on platforms like HubPages, Squidoo, Facebook, etc. and link them to each other in a web ring-style structure. This helps the search engines identify the topic of your site and will improve your page rank as well.

These techniques can start driving traffic to your site very quickly; if you implement all of these methods and follow the basic principles of traffic generation, you really can’t fail at bringing in targeted traffic.

So why do so many people fail at traffic generation? Because they don’t stick with it and follow through; far too many website owners give up after a few days or a few weeks, saying that it’s just too much work for too little result – instead of analyzing their efforts and figuring out what is and isn’t working for them.

So how about search engine optimization (SEO)? Here’s what you really need to know about

1. Focusing on search engines rather than your potential customers is always a losing bet. If you’re putting all of your energy towards keeping up with the search engines and their constantly evolving algorithms, you’re losing sight of your visitors.
2. Optimizing your site for very competitive (i.e. popular) keywords means fighting an uphill battle with no guarantee of success.
3. Generally speaking, you’ll do best with long tail keywords; these require far less work in terms of optimizing your content. Long tail keywords are also very effective at attracting targeted traffic. The effort you put into optimizing your content for long tail keywords will bring you much better results than the same amount of time and effort spent optimizing your site for popular keywords.
4. Offsite optimization is just as important (if not more so) than on site SEO. Back links can do wonders for your traffic; but remember to keep all of your efforts focused on visitors, not search engines whether you’re working on on-site or offsite SEO.
5. Base your traffic generation strategy on visitors and the search engines will follow.
6. As you develop and implement SEO techniques, always keep in mind how people actually look for information online – that’s why long tail keywords are so important. It’s a lot easier to rank high in the search results for long tail keywords. Being in the top 10 on Google for several long tail keywords will bring you a lot more traffic than being on the 10th page of results for a highly competitive keyword (which is where you’ll start out if you’re very lucky if you choose to go this route).

Remember that it’s a long way to the top; be patient and enjoy the view on your way up. Stick with it and you’ll eventually have more traffic than you know what to do with!

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Website Traffic Generation Planning and Methodologies

Go to Source

Thanks to phones like the Droid, more and more online services are taking an interest in developing mobile apps for Google’s Android platform. The latest company entering the Android pool is Yelp. Yelp already has mobile apps for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and WAP phones.

Yelp for Android determines your current location (either using built-in GPS or a Wi-Fi-based location) and then lets you search for nearby businesses, read reviews of establishments and access a moveable Google map that can help you easily redefine your search based on locale.

Yelp’s game plan for its mobile apps: Release an app that’s a useful, stable product first, and then add bells and whistles and other updates over time. Yelp says they plan to release more updates to the Android app before the new year, but wanted to make the app available so Yelp users could start taking advantage of the service now.

In addition to location-aware searches, Yelp for Android also lets users filter their search by “Price,” “Open Now,” “Special Offers” and “Hot on Yelp.”

Yelp for Android is available in the Android Market and works in all of Yelp’s markets (U.S., Canada, UK and Ireland). The app is free — just go to the Android Market on your handset and search for Yelp.

Tags: android, yelp, yelp mobile

Go to Source

Go to Source

In the olden days (and even now, in a lot of markets), Microsoft would of course just pair Internet Explorer with new versions of Windows.  But a lot of critics in Europe objected to this practice of bundling them together, and one nearly-agreed-upon approach drew objections based on a couple of tiny issues.

So now, as before, users will be asked to pick a browser after starting up a new Windows computer.  According to Matthew Newman, the trick is that Microsoft will present the names of the browsers in a random fashion (as opposed to alphabetical order).  Also, the whole ballot will appear in some sort of anonymous box, rather than an Internet Explorer frame.

This arrangement should keep Microsoft from incurring any more fines in the near future.  And as mentioned earlier, it may benefit the makers of some other browsers as a few folks decide to try something different.

Philip Lowe, the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition, confirmed the first notion, at least.  He told Newman, "We have addressed the issues raised in the market test and we think we now have the basis for quite a robust remedy."

Related Articles:

> Microsoft Sells Fast Search & Transfer Businesses

> Gates Foundation Gives $3.4 Million For Library Broadband

> Australia, Canada Approve Microsoft-Yahoo Deal

Go to Source

Successful marketing is all about establishing a relationship; and that is so much easier when they can see and hear you. You may be very comfortable online, but some people are still sceptical about doing business with you over the Internet and you need to persuade them to trust you before they will buy from you.

These are my top 12 direct marketing principles you can use to make sure your Internet marketing really works for you:

1. History.

People want to know you are not going to disappear overnight so if you’ve been in business for any length of time then this will add credibility to you and your offers.

2. Statistics.

Use genuine statistics to give you more credibility by listing number of customers served, money saved, profits made, and so on.

3. Testimonials

I can’t overestimate the importance of these so get them from your Customers and Clients saying how you and/or your products have helped them. Get experts in your market to validate and endorse your products and services and if appropriate get celebrities who you either ‘rent’ for your marketing, feature at your events or use by association.

4. Demonstrations.

With the use of online video and ‘how To’ DVDs it is very ease to show a demonstration of your product both on and offline. You can even demo an ebook by printing it out and talking through what it contains live on screen. Camtasia is free software that lets you make a screen capture video where you can demonstrate your website talking though the sales letter or giving a demo of how easy it is to download your ebook. If you are in a market that isn’t really familiar with online buying this works really well.

What better proof that your product or service works than by showing an example of before and after. Many markets and products lend themselves to this treatment and it is very effective.

In our own business we use video to show how to confirm emails when signing up to our email lists, when demonstrating how to use our Membership site and examples of results in a number of our ebook markets.

5. Credentials.

What credentials do you have in your market? They don’t have to be academic, but can awards, accomplishments, membership to organisations that are relevant to your market. Both I and Neil Travers my business partner are CIPD qualified which is a training qualification we attained while working at the Bank.

This is ‘proof’ of our ability to run workshops that are designed to aid the learning and intake and retaining of information by attendees and gives us increased credibility in their eyes.

6. Publicity.

Reprints of articles about you in the press, or your articles being published in the media that lend weight to your credibility as the expert or authority in your market are highly valuable to you. Show your market that you are in demand, and have status as an expert.

7. Celebrity Spokesperson.

To be used with caution. It can be effective but can also backfire when the market remembers the celebrity and the advert, but not what it was advertising.

8. Guarantee.

If you can’t guarantee the product you’re selling then find something else to sell that you can guarantee. To really make your potential customers feel safe to buy from you you need to offer an ironclad guarantee.

9. Accessibility.

On your website have your full contact detail if possible as this will give a big boost to your potential customer confidence in you and your company. Using just an email contact is the worst and an email, phone and address the best.

Never give a PO Box as your address as it immediately makes people suspicious.

10. The Personal Touch.

Being visible in the business to your customers is a confidence booster for them. Make it personal so you are a real individual, anecdotes about you and your business, pictures and videos all make your customer more comfortable as if they have already met you.

11. Make A Damaging Admission.

No matter how good your product is it will have a disadvantage somewhere. Admit it up front and honestly comment on this fact.

Answer Questions and objections up front and when a customer asks them via email or the phone. People can call our office throughout the week and email at any time with questions and that makes them feel safe to buy from us.

12. Excess.

Use a combination of as many of the examples above in your marketing! What may seem like overkill to you may not be enough to overcome some people’s scepticism!

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

12 Ways to Make Sure Your Internet Marketing Really Works

Go to Source

Although working intensively with phone manufacturers HTC, Samsung and LG, chip maker Qualcomm are trying to expand their market share in the high-end sector. Aiming for more future collaborations, “according to market sources” the company has been in talks with Apple to better the new iPhone which is supposedly going to use Qualcomm’s 3G solutions.

(…)
Read the rest of New Apple iPhone to Run on Qualcomm Processors [GSM/CDMA iPhone to Run on Qualcomm's New Hybrid Processors]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2009. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

If Baidu can get a solid mobile app in front of a lot of people right from the start, it’ll decrease the odds of them ever turning to Google.  Given how Baidu’s doing so well in terms of desktop market share, it might even win converts.

And Baidu Palm, as the application’s known, should be plenty useful.  Owen Fletcher reported that, even in beta, it "hooks users into its search, message board and question-and-answer online services.  It also has a new quick-upload feature for pictures taken with a phone."

Another point in Baidu’s favor: things are looking pretty good on the distribution side.  Although no deals have been announced, Baidu’s already known to have relationships with a number of communications companies, including China Telecom and China Unicom.

It seems that we’ll soon see another big salvo in the Google-Baidu war, then.  Don’t count on Google taking too long to respond.

Related Articles:

> Google’s Music Service In China Attracting Advertisers

> Google Search By Voice Learns Chinese (In Limited Fashion)

> Baidu Pummeled Following Low Forecast

Go to Source

Participation in many of these telesummits requires you to pay a registration fee, but the model I’ve been seeing a great deal recently is the “free for live” model in which registrants can participate in the “live” version of the program, but if they’re not able to be on the call live, the only way that they can access the content is to pay a registration fee for the audio file and PDF transcripts.

What I love about telesummits is that they are perfect for a downturned economy.  There’s no airline reservation to make, no hotel to book, no clothes to pack, no shuttle fees to pay, no bad hotel food to endure….it’s simply conducted from the convenience of your home, the home of your speakers, and the home of your participants.  You offer high value with low cost — a great combination!

In my opinion, this type of event is a genius way to turbocharge your business.

Here are 5 secrets to turbocharging your online business with a telesummit:

1. Grows your list fast.  Many telesummit hosts report that holding a telesummit has helped them grow their list from 2,000 to 10,000 or 15,000 or greater in a span of only a few weeks when the participants are required to give their name and email address to get the telesummit call-in information.  Best of all, the additions to the host’s email list are perfect leads for their target market. How did this happen?  Because the host carefully chose their speakers who market products and services to a similar target market and created a telesummit around an issue or theme important to their target market.  And, in an ideal world, the speaker has a large list and agrees to help market the telesummit to that list.
2. Establishes you as the preeminent expert. When you hold an event featuring well-known speakers, you suddenly become the authority, or the expert in the field.  After all, how else could you have attracted these experts if you were not an expert yourself?
3. Helps you open the door for valuable joint ventures (JVs) and strategic alliances.  Once you’ve invited someone to be a guest on your telesummit, you have provided a great service to them by introducing them to others who may not have previously heard of them. And, if you offered some healthy affiliate commissions for telesummit upgrades, they love you because you’ve helped them make money without a lot of effort. Assuming that your event was a success and there were no major hiccups in the process, this success has paved the way for future joint ventures and strategic alliances with this person.  This certainly beats cold-calling someone to try and speak to them to sell them on a JV proposal, doesn’t it?
4. Increases your credibility.  Another key factor in hosting a telesummit is that the notoriety of your speakers rubs off on you as the host.  One of the quickest ways to go from “no name” to “big name” in your industry is to invite the industry experts to speak at your telesummit. The fact that you now have a connection with the movers and shakers in your industry gives you a leg up boosting your own credibility and expertise in the industry.
5. Makes some cash in the process.  In addition to the advantages listed previously, there are a number of ways to make a little money in this free telesummit model.  First, you offer every participant the ability to “upgrade” to get all the recordings and transcripts of the telesummit. Creating a price increase deadline (before summit vs after summit pricing) may encourage more participants to buy. Secondly, once the telesummit is complete, you can go back to your speakers and offer to interview them a second time exclusively for members of their list.  The upsell in this second interview is the complete telesummit recordings and transcripts, on which you pay them a healthy commission on all packages sold.

Examine your business model and see how well a telesummit fits into the mix.  You’ll need to begin planning 8-10 weeks in advance, but once you see the results, you may want to make your telesummit an annual event.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

5 Secrets to Turbocharging Your Online Business with a Telesummit, Today!

Go to Source

“We were commissioned by 42 Below Vodka to create branding and packaging for their new bottled water, 420 Spring Water, aimed at the bar and club market. Our intention was to achieve a design that echoed the simplicity of water but simultaneously carried a uniqueness that distinguished it from other bottled waters on the market. Using the by-line “volcanic spring water”, we drew inspiration from the iconic lava lamp for the bottle shape and chose a green tint to mimic the look of glass, providing a differentiator from the blue colour commonly used for bottled water.”

Designed by The Wilderness.

Go to Source