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Saturday, January 29, 2011

10 killer tips for getting mobile subscribers for your blog

1. Make your feed easy to locate.

It should be at the top of the page, or very close. Pushing your feed to the bottom of the page means that fewer people will subscribe – and mobile users may not subscribe at all.

2. Shorten your feed URL.

Some blogs try to put keywords or even a description in their feed URL, which may be good for SEO, but it’s not nice to enter a long URL into your phone. For instance, ProBlogger’s blog feed is feeds.feedburner.com/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney – this is just too long for mobile users. If your feed URL is already long, you could use a URL shortener to make life easier for mobile subscribers.

3. Use heading styles.

I’ve banged on about this in several previous posts, but it really becomes obvious if you don’t use heading styles when browsing on a phone. Sometimes I do just bold the title of each tip at the start of the paragraph – other blogs may use bold text in a paragraph just before the body text – but this isn’t great on a phone. Use a heading style for everything that should be a header – it makes your posts so much easier to browse.

4. Use paragraphs – and keep them short.

I know some bloggers seem to avoid the use of paragraphs, instead preferring to write a huge block of text – and others may use very long paragraphs. On a phone, this is a nightmare. It’s tricky to determine how long a paragraph should be, as phones have smaller screens and each line of text will wrap much sooner than it would on a computer. Just try to avoid long paragraphs.

5. Write shorter posts.

If you don’t need to write an extra 100-200 words, just don’t. Better still, go back and edit out any unnecessary sections of your post if you’re basically saying the same thing 3 or 4 times over. For some reason my phone doesn’t always display the entire post in my feed, even though the feed itself contains the whole post. And there aren’t any page numbers.
If you have something really vital to say in a long post – say it at the start! This is a good rule anyway, as it grabs the attention of a potential reader and gets them to keep on reading.

6. Consider offering a mobile-only feed.

I’ve always believed in “full feeds” – i.e. showing the full post in the feed, instead of just an excerpt. But as I said in #5, on a phone this may not work as expected. As a mobile user I’d still like to see a full feed, but a summary would probably be OK. That way, I can click through if I want to read the entire post. Avoid title-only feeds though – they are pretty pointless. At least provide a short description on each post.

7. Don’t use feed ads.

When every post in a feed has the same annoying ad at the bottom, I see little reason to subscribe. These ads are bad enough in a feed reader. But on a phone, they are incredibly painful to deal with. Bottom line – mobile users won’t bother subscribing if you use feed ads.

8. Limit the use of images.

Don’t put images in your feed if they’ll take ages to download – anything above 100KB is too big. Don’t use images that are too tall, or too wide – this will cause horizontal scrolling on a phone. It may be easier just to omit the images from your feed – images can kill the mobile experience.

9. Don’t rely on third-party services.

If you must use images or buttons in your posts, at least host them yourself. Loading a website on a phone can take longer than on a computer, and the fewer external resources you link to, the better. Generally this shouldn’t be as much of an issue in your feed as on your site, but don’t make it a problem just because you want to throw loads of images into your feed.

10. Subscribe to your own blog.

I suggest this anyway, but I strongly recommend subscribing to your blog from your phone, as well as browsing your blog from your phone. If you find any weirdness, you can make changes accordingly. If you’ve never visited your blog from a phone, you’ll be in the dark, and you’ll never know if mobile users have a good time on your site – if it loads at all.

Friday, January 28, 2011

10 Smart Ways to Protect Your Computer against Viruses

Virus infection on your computer may cause a very serious damage and even loss on your business. You can just imagine it may wreck your system registry or your entire computer (with all your receivables data on it!) or all your HTML programs! It will come to total black out screen, it will not boot at all. But that is actually the worse scenario that may happen. Are you going to wait for this worse scenario in your life to happen? I guess NOT, right?
Here are the 10 smart ways that I personally do to protect my computers against viruses, malicious dialers and spywares.
(1)If you are using Windows XP, always turn on the firewall.
(2)Always run all necessary latest updates & service packs (all windows! including all your programs & software!---keep them updated)
(3)Run your anti-virus program everyday (some do it every week) There are many virus programs that you can get for free scanning.
(4)Run your anti-spyware/adaware once a week (I run Spybot Search & Destroy & Lavasoft Adware Personal --- they are shareware, meaning it's free!). What I do is that, I run the Lavasoft Adware first, then run the Spybot Search and Destroy (I also run it with "immunize" tool). These two tools are always on top of my desktop for easy access.
(5)Turn on the pop-up blocker - this feature is available on Windows XP (you can see this under tools>Internet Options >Privacy>click Block Pop Ups. In addition to this, I also download another pop up blocker, the Google Toolbar. I find their pop up blocker the most effective in blocking pop ups.
(6)Never open mails that are suspicious to you or not known to you. If they are in your bulk mail, send it back to your provider as "spam"! I never enable my bulk mail. I automatically delete emails from my bulk mail.
(7)When using messenger (IM) services, be very careful with files being sent through instant messenger. Rather choose to have it emailed it to you. Most of email services now has virus check and clears it if the file has virus or not.
(8)Be very careful when downloading files or any programs from the internet, pay attention on the instructions while downloading it. Downloading may sometimes cause error on the system registry or the entire computer system (one example, my nephew got his computer badly infected with viruses because of heavy downloading of games and music! - I guess!)
(9)Be careful with files that come from a floppy disk or any other external storage when you open it in your CD ROM of floppy drive. You should know its source, or better yet, when you insert it, have it scanned with your anti-virus program before you open the files.
(10)Run defragmentation, disk clean up, registry scanner at least once a week. You can find defragmentation by simply pointing your mouse on drive C: (which is usually the hard disk main logical drive)> right click the mouse>click on properties>click on tools>click on defragment now!
There are so many shareware on the internet that you can get for free! (that is the reason it is a shareware!). Keeping your computer healthy can make you more productive (if you have a business!) or it will make you enjoy more surfing and browsing the internet!

Top 10 Ways to Protect Your Computer from Hackers



 
Because computer use has become an integral part of modern-day living, IT security has naturally developed into one of the foremost worries we have in everyday life. Therefore, it's only natural for IT specialists to create practical methods that the average user can follow in order to protect his or her machine from the ravages of the information superhighway. At any rate, below are the top ten steps you can take to help safeguard your computer from digital destruction:
 
1.           Windows Updates: Let's face it; the many different iterations of the world's best-selling OS have all been targeted by hackers so often that it's become a given to provide continuous daily, weekly, or monthly updates to your Windows-based computer. It's important for you to keep your OS up to speed in order to minimize the possibility of having worms or viruses compromise your system.
 
2.           Software Updates: As with the above example, it's important for you to get the latest fixes or versions of your favorite applications in order to never let hackers find the opportunity to invade your virtual turf. Make sure that your web browsers and other web-based programs are given good upgrades or patches.
 
3.           Anti-Virus Software: Running your machine without an anti-virus software—especially if it's regularly connected to the Internet—is downright suicidal in these modern, computer-virus-ridden times. Get one as soon as you can, and always confirm if its virus definitions are regularly updated. There are many wonderful anti-virus suites available, and AVG is among the best of them because it's both effective and free.
 
4.           Anti-Spyware Software: Spyware remains to be a continuous threat to computer users everywhere, even though it's not as nightmarishly horrid as the days of Bonzi Buddy and CoolWebSearch. Thanks to anti-spyware luminaries like Ad-Aware, the formerly crippling spyware contagion had dwindled down throughout the years.
 
5.           Switch to Macintosh: Even though the Mac OS X has been listed in this very website as one of the least secure operating systems out there in terms of vulnerability volume, this fact only came about because fewer hackers bother to invade this platform in the first place. Otherwise, the Mac is as safe as can be. Therefore, even though no computer is foolproof against malware, the Macintosh gets a pass for the simple fact that it's not as commonly targeted as, say, Windows-based computers.
 
6.           Hacker-Controlled Websites: Common sense dictates that you should avoid going to bad neighborhoods, especially if you carry a lot of valuables. The same could be said in the wild, wild world of the worldwide web. Avoid getting snared by dubious sites dedicated to porn, free downloads, online games, and so on; this way, there are less chances for you to be hacked.
 
7.           Firewall: If you don't have a third-party firewall like ZoneAlarm Pro installed, then it's highly recommended for you to activate your Windows firewall (available on all Windows versions from XP and up). Firewalls help filter your traffic, and there are some products that even filter both incoming and outgoing data streams.
 
8.           Spam Email: Unsolicited messages should never be opened, and that goes double for unsolicited messages with file attachments. Fortunately, web-based email sites like Gmail have an extra layer of protection integrated in them (though it's still not recommended for you to overly rely on them like Sarah Palin did with her hijacked webmail). When in doubt, just delete the message.
 
9.           Data Backup: If you have critical data, work-related documents, or personal files, then you must back them up as often as possible, because you never know what will happen to your computer. From viruses to system crashes, these sensitive bits of information can be wiped clean from your hard drive in the blink of an eye, so it's best to always have a backup at hand.
 
10.      Password Policies: The passwords you pick could mean the difference between a breached computer and a safe computer. At any rate, the most common recommendations when it comes to picking a password includes not using the same password on every one of your accounts, using combinations of letters and numbers, and making sure that your password is as arcane as possible without necessarily making it too difficult for you to remember it.

10 ways blogging can help you get a job

I’ve seen plenty of news stories where bloggers have been shown as people who say too much and ultimately lose their jobs because of it. This post is much more positive – I’d like to look at how blogging can help you to get a job.

1. A link for your portfolio.

As with several of the points in this post, this is only going to be relevant to certain roles, such as web design or development. Many of these roles will ask for examples of previous work. It’s always better to include links that go further than “this is the last full-time job I did”.
If you’re not looking for jobs in web design or development, keep in mind that your employer may be able to find your blog anyway. It’s better to avoid posting anything that could harm your reputation than try and hide your blog from certain people.

2. Community involvement.

Are you someone who looks for ways to improve things? Do you help other bloggers with technical queries or general tips for how to build a better blog? Have you set up a group of like-minded bloggers or arranged any kind of events?
Depending on the role you’re going for, networking with other bloggers shows you care about others, and you work well in a team. It’s not a substitute for hands-on experience within the industry you’re looking for jobs in, but it is a good backup if you don’t have as much experience as you’d like.

3. Writing skills.

Posting on your blog will give potential employers a good idea of how you write. Therefore, accurate spelling and grammar is very important. Take the time to proof-read your posts, and edit them if you find any errors after a post is published. Most jobs look for strong writing skills, and blogging is actually a really good way to practise.

4. Some jobs want web-savvy, not just tech-savvy.

Employers have asked for basic PC skills for quite some time now. In fact, some jobs don’t even mention this anymore, and instead assume you will already have the skills you need to get started.
Now, some jobs are starting to put the focus on web skills, not just PC skills. Companies are becoming much more interested in blogging, web advertising, and Twitter. If you possess some knowledge in these areas, it can really help your application.

5. Managing multiple priorities.

We all have things that need doing. Cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, looking after the family, car maintenance, house repairs… all the usual stuff that goes on when you’re not at work.
For many people, having time to blog is a good reflection on your ability to manage multiple priorities. It gets you into a routine. If you run multiple blogs, even better.

6. Emerging as an authority.

If you build a blog that helps you to emerge as an authority on an area you’d like to work in, people will start to see that you’re out there, and possibly approach you.
I’ve been approached many times for advice, freelance projects and general feedback. Sometimes it’s as simple as a supportive comment, in other cases I’ve been presented with suggestions or contributions that will ultimately benefit my projects and the people who use them.
If I wanted to be a full-time freelancer, then I’d work harder to pursue leads. Even without actively asking people to give me coding projects, I do get small coding jobs simply by continuing to blog. Putting yourself out there is a good thing.

7. References.

If you’ve ever helped another blogger or worked with them on something, even if it’s just a small volunteer project (rather than a big commercial job), they might be willing to give you a reference. Don’t expect it – but if it’s someone who could potentially help you with a job application, do ask.
References don’t just come from the people you’ve sat next to at work. Currently, I have three very strong references who can each provide good feedback, but most importantly, they each have a very different perspective. In my view, references are best when each person can comment on a different aspect of your career, your personality, and how you work.

8. It’s an interest.

I’m not keen on listing my interests on a job application, but people do ask. Think of what happens if you list your interests as drinking, pubbing, clubbing… would you want that person to work for you? Would they roll in late every Monday morning?
Being able to list interests that are actually interesting can be a great talking point – and it may be a good icebreaker for interviews. Saying you watch TV and not much else isn’t going to set the pulses racing. But saying you actively update a blog about (insert your choice of topic here) shows you care enough to blog in the first place, and could generate some interest from an interviewer. Making a solid connection is important – you want to be memorable, not forgettable.

9. It might be a blogging job!

Well yes – if you’re going for a blogging job, previous experience as a blogger should help. But before you say “I don’t want to make money from my blog”, think of how many companies have blogs now. Honestly, I couldn’t give you a figure, but business blogging seems to be a lot more common than it used to be. Someone has to update that blog. What if you could do it, either as your main responsibility or as part of a larger job?

10. It shows that you have knowledge in what you do.

We’ve already looked at emerging as an authority on a topic. If you blog about the kind of work you do, as I do, then it doesn’t just help you to get noticed – it confirms that you know your stuff. You’re not just someone who says they have however many years experience in something. You’re showing that you have a deep understanding and appreciation of your career. This is what pushes you from being a good candidate to a great candidate – and who knows, it might land you a great job with a great salary.

10 Important Tips For Designing Your Blog

1. Use a decent theme.

Don’t use the theme that came preinstalled with the blog. Search for a better theme. Or at least change the header! If your blog looks like thousands of other blogs, nobody will remember it. Readers have a short attention span. I’ve already forgotten what I was talking about…

2. Don’t use a dark or “busy” background.

This is likely to be determined by the theme you use, but I strongly recommend that you only use black text on a white background, or a light background. A black background with white text can be very hard on the eyes.
If you want to use a background image, make sure your content is readable. You could put a simple background image around the edge of your site and display the content on a light background. Whatever you do, don’t use a photograph and put the text directly on top of it. This does not look good, even if it’s a great photo. You don’t write on a photo.

3. Keep ads and widgets to a minimum.

I have seen so many blogs with ads, widgets, games, awards and other assorted junk cluttering up their sidebars. It looks messy, and it slows everything down.
Don’t add “just one more widget” because someone wrote about it, or because other bloggers have loads of widgets. Many widgets serve no purpose whatsoever and just get in the way. If you want to try a few things out, try to limit yourself to a couple of new items at a time – don’t just add everything you can find.

4. Content should be the main focus.

Aside from keeping ads and widgets to a minimum, any bits and pieces you do put on your blog should not draw attention away from your content. Surrounding your posts is not a good idea. Make it easy for readers to find the content of your posts – don’t make them hunt around.

5. Don’t make the text too small.

Some “designers” think it’s “cool” to use ridiculously small text, with the excuse that you can always increase the size in your browser. This is crazy. Use a respectable font size as your default – don’t make your readers push their noses right up the screen to read your posts. It just leaves noseprints on the screen.

6. Use colours to distinguish between navigation and content.

Many blogs have one or two sidebars alongside the content, sometimes with a horizontal navigation bar across the top as well. It helps to use a subtle background colour for your navigation areas so it’s clear where the content starts and ends.
I have actually seen sites that blend the whole lot together, which causes a big problem when reading – some of the lines within each post actually run into the navigation links!

7. Beware of scrolling.

Except for a few special cases (Plurk is a good example) most sites should not have a horizontal scrollbar. The content runs from top to bottom, you expect to scroll down to read a long post, but you don’t want to scroll across the read the end of each line.
Even vertical scrolling can get annoying if it’s excessive. Don’t put too many posts on your front page, especially if you want to display the full text of each post. I prefer to use the “more” tag in WordPress so the first part of the post is shown on the front page, but the rest isn’t visible until you click to view the full post.

8. Avoid animated images, marquees, and blinking text.

At best, these are a minor distraction that just gets ignored. At worst, your readers won’t be able to concentrate on reading your content. Avoid them, or you might have readers who spend more time watching the animations than reading your posts.

9. Keep everything neat.

Some sites don’t make very good use of the available space. It seems like even a tiny box has huge spaces above and below it. The FeedBurner “subscribe by email” box is a good example of this.
Floating images so they appear side by side, instead of stacking them in a disorganised mess makes it look like you don’t care about your blog. Which is not what you want people to think…

10. Give your site an identity.

A logo, an icon, a photo of you, there are a few ways to give your site its own identity. Even if you use an existing theme, you can modify it to make it your own. This will help with establishing your site.

10 SEO mistakes that may harm your blog

SEO stands for search engine optimisation. Briefly, it’s an acronym that is used to group a number of techniques to improve a site’s position within search engine results.
As a developer of an open source content management system (now closed) and author of various blogs, I’ve made the effort to learn a lot about SEO while never claiming to be a specialist, let alone an expert.
So while I’m not the best person to tell you about SEO, I do know a thing or two – such as when SEO is being overused, or when poor techniques are implemented. This post lists 10 of the most common SEO mistakes that I’ve seen – these may harm your blog if you do them.

1. Allowing user experience to suffer.

I’ve seen far too many sites that think you can “do” some SEO and it’ll automatically give you great results. Well, guess what – if the user experience stinks, SEO won’t bring it up to scratch. Focus on making your site a joy to use first, with clear goals and a well-defined user journey (whether it’s a blog or a store – people need to know how to get around the site). SEO can be done at the same time, but it shouldn’t take precedence over user experience.

2. Bloated content due to SEO techniques.

Right, so you’ve got some content on your site, but it’s a bit too brief, and doesn’t mention any of your keywords. Instead of writing the content to include keywords in a subtle way, an alarming number of sites throw masses of keywords into the content – or they put a long list of keywords at the end of the page. This looks incredibly spammy and is a major turn-off. Not to mention, you may incur a search engine penalty.

3. Using every possible technique.

Just finished reading “The 101 SEO Techniques You MUST Use! No, Really! Honest Joe Knows All!” ? Feeling a bit embarrassed that you can’t really remember any of the tips, let alone why they might benefit your site? The answer is not to work through the list, ticking off the ones you’ve done, and noting the ones you haven’t. It’s not a contest to see who can implement every technique first.
Incidentally, if you do SEO for a living, and you come across a site that’s actually doing pretty well – don’t screw it up by polluting it with dodgy tactics that will turn the site into a link farm. If you’re worried about not being paid because there’s nothing left to do on the site, either find a site that actually needs your input, or add some other skills to your portfolio so you can cover yourself if your work runs dry.

4. Mixing up accessibility and SEO.

The alt attribute on an image allows you to include alternative text in case the image doesn’t show up. It’s not an SEO playground where you stuff a zillion keywords.

5. Link overload.

Navigational links, tag clouds, related posts and the like can enhance the user experience for visitors, when used appropriately. However, if these links just take you on a merry-go-round with a wide range of different link text taking you to the same six pages, it’s going to seriously piss people off.

6. Social media madness.

Want people to share a post or link to the site? Yeah, we’ll have a Twitter link, and a StumbleUpon link, Digg, Reddit, Facebook… hmm what else is there? Oh stuff it, let’s add them all – and why not add a “recent tweets” widget too…
With so much third party crap on a site, you may as well just write “Welcome to my homepage” at the top, and put various smilies, blinkies and marquees on there too. In other words – if this is a business site, lose the junk and keep it clean.

7. Putting everything on the homepage.

So, your site has a few pages of content, linked from a navigation bar at the top. Hey, what if someone only visits the homepage? We should tell them everything in case they don’t think to click anywhere else, then we’re sure to sell them something – right?
Wrong. Aside from the fact it’ll look like poo, some people may not even start at the homepage. Yes, your other pages can show up in search engines too. You’re far more likely to get people clicking around your site if you keep the navigation simple and the content organised nicely, instead of dumping the whole lot on the homepage and hoping it’ll make your homepage rank for lots of keywords. Which brings me nicely to the next point…

8. Failing to set sensible boundaries.

If you don’t know the niche you want to target, you may as well give up now. You have to start by targeting certain keywords – preferably a few – and work on others later. But if you have a 6 page business website, you’re not going to rank for every possible keyword. So don’t try to. Target a few – and consider adding a blog to your site if you want to target a few more. That said, you shouldn’t post about anything and everything – much like using every possible SEO technique, having too broad a focus for a blog means you’ll be a jack of all trades – and a master of none.

9. Abusing related links.

Right, you’ve got someone to your site, what can you do now? Push them in a totally different direction? A tourist who comes to your site for tourist information probably won’t benefit from a local service that only residents can apply for! It’s all about knowing your audience – why not show them some souvenirs instead? Simply showing the same links to everyone might seem like a clever way to get sales for the products you’re hoping to sell, but failing to tailor the results to a visitor’s preferences (which could be built up over time) means you’ll never quite reach your full potential.

10. Spending more time on SEO than anything else.

There comes a time when the time spent on optimisation far outweights the benefits. An SEO expert can make great inroads for your site if there are major issues to sort out, or missed opportunities that could yield great results without sacrificing the quality of the site. But endlessly tinkering with a site for negligible gain isn’t a worthwhile use of anyone’s time. Don’t be afraid to call time on search engine optimisation once you aren’t really seeing any difference.

Amazing Blogging Lessons from Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein has made many amazing contributions to the scientific world, including the theory of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the prediction of the deflection of light by gravity, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose–Einstein condensation … and finally he brings us 8 amazing blogging lessons.
Jokes apart, Einstein was perhaps the most influential scientists to ever live, and I would be strange if we could not find some blogging related principles among his ideas, right?

1. Persevere

“It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
Your blog won’t succeed overnight; success requires perseverance! There’s no such thing as an “overnight success.” What often appears to happen overnight is the result of many years of work.
This is what I call the “silent years” of success. If you can persevere through the “silent years,” then you will qualify to succeed.
Eddie Cantor said, “It takes twenty years to become an overnight success.”

2. Focus

“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”
I like to say, you can do anything, but not everything! To succeed in blogging you must give your blog the attention it deserves. If you want a part-time income, then you put in part-time hours, if you want a full-time income, …you’ll have to put in full-time hours.
Focus your efforts, if you want to succeed! Focused energy is power, and it’s the difference between success and failure.
If you never focus your efforts …you won’t have a future, just a longer today.

3. Create Value

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
Don’t waste your time trying to create a successful blog, dedicate your time creating a valuable blog. If your blog is valuable to others, it will succeed.
You create value for others by solving their problems. Your blog must solve people’s problems. You will only be rewarded in this lifetime for the problems that you solve for others.
Labor to be valuable and success will chase you down!

4. Be Curious

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
What you’re curious about is what other like-minded people are also curious about, so blog about things that pique your curiosity.
Don’t write about the mundane, and the obvious; explore your curiosity. Research the unknown and document what has never been documented before.
You have to “think bigger,” Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
You have to think differently, he said, “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.”

5. Make Mistakes

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
Make mistakes; mistakes make you better, smarter, faster, and more relevant. If you’re not making mistakes then you’re not making progress. Get rejected a few times, mess up a few projects, this is the pathway to success.
Want to succeed twice as fast, make twice as many mistakes, run into twice as many obstacles.
Frank Clark said, “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”

6. Don’t Be Insane

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
You can’t keep doing the same thing everyday and expect different results. In other words, if your blogging routine is the same from month-to-month, your results will be the same from month-to-month.
In order for your results to change, you must change your actions, to the degree that your actions change will be to the degree that your results change.

7. Expect Opposition

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
There will always be opposition. People will oppose your blog, your ideas, and the risk that you’re taking. Zig Ziglar said, “Little men, with little minds, and little imaginations, go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.” Never let “little men” stop you from achieving your dreams. Great spirits have always encountered great opposition.

8. Play Better

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
When it’s all said and done, your success will depend on how well you played the game. You must commit to play the game better than anyone else. If you can play the game “better,” you will succeed!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Getting your family on TV

find love capturing these precious moments by making tons of great little videos and taking even more photos. I no longer need any fancy equipment to do this – most smart-phones now take great photos and videos (I love my Nexus S, if you're interested.)
The best part is that we can all slump on the sofa and re-live the best moments on my TV whenever we want, because it's powered by Google TV. In the not-so-distant past, your family would only get on TV if they were (un)lucky enough to get onto a TV show. More recently, you would have to find the right lead, plug your high-end camera into your TV and navigate though impossible menus and settings.

Now, you don't need any fancy equipment to do this, either – the media player app can play most media files that are plugged into the device (on a thumb-drive, for example) or streamed across the local network from a DLNA device like a PC or smart-phone.
My preference is to do a little editing, then save the best photos and videos to a Picasa Web Album, which I can do straight from my phone. Using the Gallery app on my TV, which syncs to Picasa, I immediately have a slide-show on a 46" photo-frame right in the living room. We've had a lot of fun using Picnik to add silly effects to our photos, which can be done from TV, phone, or anywhere.

I tend to upload the very best videos to YouTube, so that the world can share my family inanity. Watching these in Leanback mode on TV makes it feel like we've almost got our own TV channel – it's even in HD, which is pretty incredible for something recorded on a phone.


Friday, January 21, 2011

News from any source

Best of Google TV Series

Television is stil the main source for the daily news in the home, according to PEW research. Until lately, print and web news content have been absent from the big screen. We’ve been working with developers to enhance your TV news experience, optimizing both traditional and innovative news sources for Google TV.

  • The New York Times offers daily TimesCast video-news updates alongside video blogs and featurettes.
  • USA Today has improved reading for the big screen: you can browse through the day in photos, stay up-to-date on sports news, and track the world of business.
  • The CNBC News App lets you watch the latest web videos in business news. Follow the markets as they happen and track your personal, customized stock portfolio.
  • The Huffington Post brings together the best of traditional news, the blogosphere and opinion reporting in their sleek News Glide web-app.
  • The Onion covers “the important stories lesser outlets fail to report” through their comedic style.
Video journalism has also proliferated across YouTube. On YouTube Leanback, viewers have access to rich content from channels like the Associated Press, Al-Jazeera English, and NPR. Alongside traditional news sources, YouTube has built a thriving community of citizen reporters. The News & Politics channel, CitizenTube, aggregates video news from across the YouTube community, providing raw footage from the scene of breaking news and unique perspectives from people and places around the world.

On Google TV you can get breaking news from many sources: cable broadcast, the web, blogs, and even citizen journalists.

Posted by Olivia Ma, YouTube News Manager, recently watched Google TV Entry - Stop Motion Animation

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Google TV On campus

(Cross-posted on the Google Student Blog)

Google TV has been popping up on college campuses across the country. We’re coordinating with the Google Student Ambassador Program and University Programs to share Google TV with students and faculty.

This initiative began last semester when Google Student Ambassadors hosted Google TV study breaks on over thirty campuses. The ambassadors had students compete to win Sony Internet TVs for their friends and school. They hosted pizza breaks, tech challenges, YouTube marathons and of course, college football viewing parties. The top seven most creative study breaks won two Sony Internet TVs to give back to their college as a reward for their school spirit and enthusiasm for Google TV.

The momentum from the Google TV study breaks has carried over into the classroom. Already, the web on TV has proven itself as a great platform for
for early education and reading skills with web apps like PBS Kids and Meegenius. However, professors have expressed interest in expanding these opportunities to all levels of learning.

That is why we are announcing Google TV for EDU, a seeding program to support university research. Google TV for EDU asks campuses around the country: how can educators enhance the Web on TV for the classroom. Specifically, we’re asking faculty how their research could:

  • Generate new interest in television engineering
  • Make computer science tangible for students
  • Help in the development of smart TV curricula and new educational tools
  • Contribute to in-classroom and distance learning over television
  • Reach a wide audience
We officially launched the program yesterday to select university faculty with experience and leadership in television. These select faculty will receive a Logitech Revue to carry out their research in the classroom. Over the next few months we’ll be posting outcomes of their research as well as information on new educational web-apps.

Posted by Miriam Schneider, Product Marketing Manager

Friday, January 7, 2011

Samsung and Google TV

Earlier this week, we shared that Vizio is working on several devices powered by Google TV. Today, Samsung also announced that they’re building a 3D Blu-ray player and companion box with Google TV. Check out their press release for more details. We look forward to working closely with all of our partners to bring Google TV powered devices to more consumers this year.

Posted by Mickey Kim, Google TV Partnerships Team

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Google TV: A new partner for the new year

We’re back from the holidays and ready to get crackin’ on 2011. Last year, we launched the first version of Google TV with our partners Sony and Logitech, and this year, we'll continue to make the product even better for you. As we shared last month, we’re constantly iterating on Google TV, adding new features and content, improving the user experience, and fixing bugs. We are in the early stages, and the future is bright.

Today I'm excited to share that we're kicking off the year with a new partner, Vizio, a leading TV maker in the U.S. Vizio is making a new line of TVs and a Blu-ray player incorporating Google TV that will hit shelves later this year.

Also in 2011, we plan to bring developers tools for building applications specifically for the TV and living room, and we plan to bring Android Market to Google TV, so consumers can download thousands of applications to their TVs. Check back in with us periodically to see the latest from our team and partners.

Posted by Rishi Chandra, Google TV Product Manager

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