Archive for March, 2009
BlackBerry App World now live
Published on March 31st, 2009.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Filed under: Cellphones
BlackBerry App World now live originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsFilled under latest news. No Comments.
Star Trek Sequel Already Planned
Published on March 31st, 2009.
bowman9991 writes "Paramount Pictures are so confident about the box office potential of the upcoming Star Trek reboot directed by J. J. Abrams that they're already working on a sequel. They've hired Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof to write the screenplay. We're looking at a possible 2011 release for the next Star Trek movie with the same cast. Now that they've committed themselves, let's hope it lives up to expectations."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Filled under latest news. No Comments.
Motion brings Verizon WWAN, SSD, other upgrades to C5 and F5 tablet PCs
Published on March 31st, 2009.
Continue reading Motion brings Verizon WWAN, SSD, other upgrades to C5 and F5 tablet PCs
Filed under: Tablet PCs
Motion brings Verizon WWAN, SSD, other upgrades to C5 and F5 tablet PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsFilled under latest news. No Comments.
Ecommerce – Are They Intrigued Enough to Care?
Published on March 31st, 2009.
You can’t do business alone – you will need groupies.
Imagine a rock band. They start out playing in a garage and eventually move to the high school dance circuit. They complete an indie album and open for someone vaguely remembered by some. Their music might be heard on an Internet station or the alternative rock station in the region on “Indie Music” night. At some point the band’s persistence develops a following. Their hard work endears fans. It is this fan base that provides the initial spark needed for this group to be recognized. Why? These fans are motivated to share their interest in the band with others. They will share their music and the band’s story. Others will be intrigues by the optimism.
Ecommerce can be a bit like that. It starts with you. As the ‘lead singer’ in this dream you will have to persistently take your message to virtually anyplace you can. It may start small like the proverbial garage or high school dance, but you must not be content to stay there. Keep pushing forward seeking out new placed and faces. Frequent boards and blogs, offer an advice column on a complimentary site, write expert articles for free article directories and keep ‘singing’.
Every successful band was established when the members continued to push on when the halls were silent and the requests weren’t phoned in. When it would have been easy to go home, lick their wounds and give up they stayed put. When family and friends questioned motive and talent they continued to work at their craft and in the end someone miraculously saw the diamond.
Business startups are always difficult. There can be the exception, but for the most part the individual developing the business will wage a friendly war with the world in an attempt to have enough people view them as a credible source for business that others provide some enthusiastic and much needed support.
Online networking remains the best way to pitch your idea and establish your presence. Are you credible? Authoritative? Enthusiastic? Honest? Does your idea come across as too good to be true or an empire built of plastic? Learn to present yourself well, be professional and welcome new friends to your ‘movement’.
You might consider standard social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Then add relevant forum boards. Establish a credible and highly focused blog. Make your presence known and keep growing your network. Develop a mailing list, maybe even an ezine. Keep in touch with the interested and enlist their help in sharing the cause.
Dale Carnegie once said, “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
It can be easy in today’s economic environment to want to give in and give up. Don’t do it. Don’t get wrapped up in pessimism. There are opportunities and there are individuals who want desperately to believe in quality, service and integrity. Give it to them. Provide a reason to trust you. Give them more than they expect. If you’re passionate enough about this then the consumer will be at the very least intrigued enough to take a second look at what you are offering.
Make A Website in minutes with the Website Builder at HighPowerSites.com. Start a HOME BUSINESS and Sell Ebooks at BooksWealth.com.
Filled under Internet. No Comments.
Quickplay to offer popular TV shows on BlackBerry
Published on March 31st, 2009.
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Privately-held QuickPlay Media Inc plans to deliver full length popular television shows to BlackBerry smartphone screens via Research In Motion's applications store after forging agreements with TV networks, including NBC, CBS Corp and MTV.Filled under latest news, technologyNews. No Comments.
NIF scientists set the controls for nuclear fusion
Published on March 31st, 2009.
Continue reading NIF scientists set the controls for nuclear fusion
Filed under: Science
NIF scientists set the controls for nuclear fusion originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsFilled under latest news. No Comments.
Update: HP may offer Android in netbooks over Windows
Published on March 31st, 2009.
Hewlett-Packard confirmed Tuesday that it is testing Google's Android operating system as a possible alternative to Windows in some of its netbook computers.
Analysts said the move would allow HP to develop a low-cost netbook optimized for wireless networks that provides access to Web-based services such as Google Docs, but others questioned whether the Google software is ready for such a task.
[ Technology has advanced to the point that netbooks now make sense for some business uses | Special report: All about Google Android. ]
"Right now Android is barely finished for phones," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. While it works well enough for T-Mobile's G1 smartphone, the software was released only last year and "the UI still feels half-finished," he said.
HP stressed that it was still only testing Android, an OS based on the open-source Linux kernel. It has assigned engineers to the task but has made no decision yet whether to offer Android in products, said HP spokeswoman Marlene Somsak. The news was first reported earlier Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal.
"We want to assess the capability it will have for the computing and communications industry," Somsak said. "We remain open to considering various OS options."
Netbooks are small, low-cost computers that are designed primarily for browsing the Web and doing basic computing tasks. The category has proved popular -- about 10 million netbooks shipped in 2008 and the number is expected to double this year, according to IDC.
Android was designed for mobile phones but has been seen by some others besides HP as a potential OS for netbooks. Some enthusiasts have been testing Android on netbooks such as Asustek's Eee PC, and chip makers such as Qualcomm and Freescale hope to bring Android to netbooks running on their Arm-based chips.
HP may have in mind a netbook optimized for use with Web-based services such as the Google Docs hosted applications suite and Google's online storage service, said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.
The fact that notebooks are designed to provide quick access to online services, often over wireless networks, makes them in some ways like oversized smartphones.
There are also no license fees for Android, which could allow hardware makers to offer lower-priced computers than those running Windows. However, consumers have been willing to pay extra in the past for netbooks running Windows, analysts noted.
HP already offers some PCs with a choice of Linux or Windows, and introducing another OS choice would come with some risk, said David Daoud, a research manager at IDC. Some end-users don't like Linux because they are unfamiliar with it, he said.
"We've seen a number of netbooks returned as a result of the Linux OS. Consumers are used to the Microsoft Windows world," Daoud said. Linux adoption remains weak on client computers, especially in mature markets like the U.S. and Western Europe, he noted.
Still, there may be an upside for Android if HP were to make it work in netbooks. HP's heft as the world's largest PC maker would widen Android's use, Daoud said. It could see success in emerging markets like India and China, where Linux adoption is growing.
But HP would need to deliver a consumer-friendly product that makes Linux easier to use in PCs, Daoud said.
Filled under latest news. No Comments.
Volunteers Simulate Mission To Mars
Published on March 31st, 2009.
Hugh Pickens writes "Six volunteers have climbed into a small metal capsule in Moscow as part of a three-month experiment meant to simulate a voyage to Mars. The crew — a German engineer, a French airline pilot, and four Russians — will spend the next 105 days living in a minimally furnished facility erected in a hangar on the outskirts of the Russian capital. The German said, 'I think we are going to learn a lot about each other.' A cosmonaut-in-training who will lead the mission was quoted: 'On the inside, we will have a lack of incoming information, so it's the science of sensory deprivation.' A similar experiment in Moscow virtually collapsed when a multinational team of men and women were allowed to drink alcohol on the eve of the millennium, and simmering tensions between Russian and non-Russian volunteers exploded in a fight for the affections of a female Canadian scientist. Only men are involved this time, and no alcohol. Scientists will keep a constant vigil on the team via cameras erected in each of the facility's three modules. Those who survive more than 100 days will earn a $20,000 reward. The current project is a warm-up for a much more ambitious experiment, scheduled for December, which will see another group of volunteers spending over 500 days in the same conditions. With current technology it is estimated that a return trip to Mars will take at least 18 months." The amazing thing is that 5,600 people applied to be part of the experiment.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Filled under latest news. No Comments.
Pay Per Click - Why Search Marketing Is No Longer Enough
Published on March 31st, 2009.
PPC Search marketing is a huge, and still growing, area, which grew by almost a third between 2006 and 2008, according to IAB estimates. Almost 60% of all online ad spend is spent in PPC search – with the vast majority paying for smoothies and massage chairs at Google HQ.
While PPC search remains one of the most cost-effective ways to gain conversions, the landscape is changing as the discipline begins to mature. Historically, any PPC search campaign – even one which was poorly organised – would still be likely to work well.
These days, due to increased competition, costs per click (CPC) prices are getting higher and higher, and PPC campaigns need to be a lot more competitive to succeed, particularly with non-branded keywords.
The integrated approach
Advertisers need to think more broadly to ensure that their online campaigns are up to scratch. As well as considering many more online advertising arenas, they must also leverage their interconnectedness.
While PPC marketing will aid a company’s ability to acquire new business and may generate a reasonable ROI on its own, its potential can be increased by using the best performing keywords as anchor text links when carrying out link building exercises. If search terms perform well in a paid search campaign, you would be well advised to improve your natural search listings for the same terms where possible.
Similarly, competitor and customer analysis can inform all areas of your thinking by giving an idea of where you stand in the wider market, and potentially gaining first person feedback from the very people you are targeting with your online marketing strategies.
A more connected online marketplace…
Here is a brief explanation of some of the areas businesses need to invest in to compete in today’s more connected online marketplace, and the reasons why they mustn’t be neglected. It’s important to remember that whilst each of the below is certainly a specialism unto itself – the real value is from a cohesive blend of them all seamlessly working together with common cause.
Social
In August 2008, Facebook reached the auspicious landmark of 100,000,000 users. Social spaces are booming, and anyone marketing their site needs to get on board. Social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Reddit, social networking such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, social tagging such as StumbleUpon or Flickr, blogs & online discussion forums that target your audience, all of these are important portals which, used correctly, can improve your presence online.
Online Advertising
New developments in technology are creating a world where online advertising can be increasingly targeted to relevant consumers. For example, as a result of behavioural advertising, it is now possible to target users according to their actual behaviour online, not only by what page they are looking at. Tracking this customer behaviour can once again inform your thinking in other areas of your campaign.
Tracking & Analytics
The tools now available to us to enable advanced tracking and analytics are like gold dust to savvy marketers. Not only is it fascinating on a human level to try and decipher the moods and habits of your cherished visitors, it is also crucial work if you want to leverage the information available to you.
Email & CRM
Gaining new business is always great, but it’s often a lot easier to sell to those customers you have already won. Opt-in email marketing and email newsletters are two useful methods of keeping the relationship you have with your customers fresh and up-to-date. It also allows for you to communicate with users on their own terms, allowing for a two way communication – rather than simply enforcing on them your generic, default marketing messages.
Natural SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is a term incorporating a huge range of activities, including link development, improving the code and content of a site and article and press release distribution. The importance of using these tried & tested methods to gain and maintain good rankings on the major search engines cannot be underestimated, as many a business is made or broken by their positions on the search engines.
Content
The written word is the lifeblood of the internet, so content is always a major part of an online marketing strategy. Using the keywords and phrases your target audience is already searching for when they are looking for your products or services in all areas of your campaign, as well as on site, will reduce bounce rates, increase targeted traffic and ensure the right people engage with your brand.
Usability
Once you’ve done all that hard work bringing in the right people to your site, it really would be a shame to put them off with poor usability. No matter how many visitors you get to your site, you may as well not bother unless the site itself is capable of gaining conversions. Therefore making sure the design is uncluttered, the navigation easy to understand and there is a clear path to checkout is vital.
Andrew Atalla is the founder of atom42, a London online marketing agency for companies wishing to improve their presence on the internet. atom42 employs a range of marketing fields to create an integrated online marketing strategy for each of its clients.
Filled under Internet. No Comments.
Digital Album: it’s a digiframe, just more capacious
Published on March 31st, 2009.
[Via ChipChick]
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays
Digital Album: it's a digiframe, just more capacious originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsFilled under latest news. No Comments.
Conficker activation passes quietly, but threat isn’t over
Published on March 31st, 2009.
An expected activation of the Conficker.c worm at midnight on April 1 passed without incident, despite sensationalized fears that the Internet itself might be affected, but security researchers said users aren't out of the woods yet.
"These guys have no designs, I think, on taking down the infrastructure, because that would separate them from their victims," said Paul Ferguson, a threat researcher at antivirus vendor Trend Micro, calling the technology and design of Conficker.c as "pretty much state of the art."
[ Learn how to secure your systems with Roger Grimes' Security Adviser blog and newsletter, both from InfoWorld. ]
"They want to keep the infrastructure up and in place to make it much harder for good guys to counter and mitigate what they've orchestrated," he said.
Conficker.c was programmed to establish a link from infected host computers with command-and-control servers at midnight GMT on April 1. To reach these control servers, Conficker.c generates a list of 50,000 domain names and then selects 500 domain names to contact. That process has started, researchers said.
Exactly how many computers are infected with Conficker.c is not yet known, but the estimated number of systems infected by all variants of the Conficker worm exceeds 10 million, making this one of the largest botnets ever seen.
While infected computers have started reaching out to command servers as expected, nothing untoward has happened.
"We have observed that Conficker is reaching out, but so far none of the servers they are trying to reach are serving any new malware or any new commands," said Toralv Dirro, a security strategist at McAfee Avert Labs, in Germany.
This may just mean the people who control Conficker are biding their time, waiting for researchers and IT managers to relax their guard and assume the worst is over.
"It would be pretty stupid for the guys running Conficker to use the first possible opportunity, when everybody is very excited about it and looking at it very carefully," Dirro said. "If something was going to happen, it would probably happen in a couple of days."
Time is not on Conficker's side. The worm can be easily detected and removed by users. For example, if a PC is unable to reach Web sites such as McAfee.com, Microsoft.com, or Trendmicro.com that is an indication that the computer may be infected.
In addition, IT managers can easily spot traffic coming from odd domain names and block access to the computers on their company networks. "The longer criminals wait, the less infected hosts they've got," Dirro said.
Additional help comes from a loose coalition of security vendors and others called the Conficker Working Group, which has banded together to block access to domains that Conficker is trying to communicate with. But it's not immediately clear whether those efforts, which have been successful at blocking earlier versions of the worm, will be effective against the activation of Conficker.c.
"We can't really say how successful the attempts at blocking them or not routing them are," Dirro said. "That's something we'll see when the first domain actually starts serving malware, if at least one starts doing that."
Despite the uneventful passing of the activation deadline, the threat presented by Conficker remains real.
"These guys are very sophisticated, very professional, very determined and very measured in how they implement and make changes to things," Ferguson said, adding that Conficker.c is better defended and more survivable than previous versions of the worm. "This activation on April 1 was probably just arbitrary and picked to cause hysteria."
At some point, the people behind Conficker.c could try to generate revenue from the botnet they've created or they could have other intentions.
"The big mystery is that there's this big loaded gun out there, this network of millions of machines that's under the control of persons unknown," Ferguson said. "They've given no indication of what their motives are other than toying with people."
Filled under latest news. No Comments.
Hitachi executive charged in LCD price-fixing case
Published on March 31st, 2009.
An executive at Hitachi Ltd.'s display subsidiary has been charged with involvement in a conspiracy to fix prices of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) panels sold to Dell Inc, the U.S. Department of Justice said.Filled under EETimes Latest News, latest news. No Comments.
Colossal open source mobile framework lets you write code once, run on many devices
Published on March 31st, 2009.
The claim is so impressive you might mistake it for an April Fool's prank, but this time it is true: Rhomobile have released version 1.0 of their open source mobile...Filled under Technology feature - Server, latest news. No Comments.
Don’t Get Scammed by Affiliate Marketing Instruction Websites
Published on March 31st, 2009.
The Promise of Affiliate Marketing Riches
You’ve seen people brag about how much money they’re making online from affiliate marketing and you’ve decided you want to start making money online too. The problem is there’s so much information about how to make money online through affiliate marketing you don’t know which information is true, who is out to scam you and what information is the best to follow. It absolutely kills you to get scammed. Let’s face it you need affiliate marketing instruction for newbies.
Don’t Believe The Hype
Unfortunately, the internet does not have a formal affiliate marketing school for newbies - which leaves the newbie, open to “gurus” who claim to be experts at internet marketing instruction. They ask you to pay anywhere from $97 to $497. Then after they hook you, you still don’t get internet marketing instruction from them. What you get are a lot of emails from them trying to sell you more things. So how do you go about finding reputable internet marketing schools on the internet?
Look Before You Leap - Watch Out For Gurus
Well, the easiest way is to put in quotes exactly what it is you are looking for. So for instance, you can type in quotes “affiliate marketing school for beginners” or “affiliate internet marketing instruction” or “beginners’ affiliate marketing school.” By putting the phrase in quotes, the search engines will give you exactly what you are looking for - people who are offering internet marketing instruction for the person who is a beginner. The next part gets tricky because you don’t know who is out to scam you and who is for real. My advice is to read each ad thoroughly. Don’t buy the first thing with bells and whistles. In fact, the more you keep reading various ads, the more you will get a feel for what it is you are looking for. But the best and least expensive thing to do is to buy an inexpensive affiliate marketing handbook (eBook) on the subject.
Affiliate Marketing Handbook
I’m a big advocate of affiliate marketing handbooks before investing in any sort of online internet marketing instruction for beginners program because eBooks tend to be very inexpensive. They can range anywhere from $1 to $9.95. My experience is that you don’t need to spend anywhere near the high end of the spectrum. In fact, when I was searching for an eBook that focused on affiliate marketing for newbies, I found one for dirt cheap on the web. It was the perfect beginning for me. It taught me how to become a successful affiliate marketer. It told me what to look for, and it literally took me by the hand. Now I’m not saying that all eBooks are quality, but what I am saying is you don’t have to start off investing $100s and $1,000s of dollars in online internet marketing instruction for beginners’ courses either.
If you’re looking for instructions for how to make money online through affiliate marketing, the best and least expensive way is to purchase an inexpensive eBook as your starting point. As you begin reading these eBooks you can then advance in confidence and start investing in the more expensive internet marketing instruction for newbies courses. Until then, play it safe and go with cheap eBooks!
Shalisha is a very successful affiliate marketer who coaches with Rosalind Gardner, who catapulted her to affiliate riches by following The Super Affiliate Handbook
Filled under Internet. No Comments.
Senators strike deal on patent reform
Published on March 31st, 2009.
Three U.S. senators struck a compromise deal on patent reform including the controversial issue of patent infringement damages, but whether the rest of Congress—and the industry--will back it remains to be seen.Filled under EETimes Latest News, latest news. No Comments.
Samsung unveils Mondi WiMax device for Clearwire
Published on March 31st, 2009.
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics on Tuesday unveiled Mondi, a mobile Internet device that it plans to sell through mobile service provider Clearwire in the second quarter.Filled under latest news, technologyNews. No Comments.
Microsoft, Lenovo win massive NSW netbooks schools deal
Published on March 31st, 2009.
Microsoft and Lenovo have won a massive deal worth hundreds of millions to supply sub-notebooks running Windows XP and Microsoft Office to 200,000 year 9 students in NSW state schools. The three year...Filled under Technology feature - Server, latest news. No Comments.
National Security Letters Reform Act Reintroduced
Published on March 31st, 2009.
eldavojohn writes "A bill introduced today, similar to one that died in 2007, would reform the plague of National Security Letters and greatly narrow their scope. On top of that, it would mandate the destruction of any wrongly obtained information discovered in audits by the Inspector General that uncovered widespread improprieties in NSLs."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Filled under latest news. No Comments.
Microsoft promises to release Windows 7, free
Published on March 31st, 2009.
In an exclusive, long sought after interview with Microsoft’s CEO and Lord of the Dance, Steve Ballmer, a startling revelation on the future of Windows has emerged, set to shock, surprise, delight...Filled under Fuzzy Logic - The gadget blog, latest news. No Comments.