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Tuesday 16 November 2010

Facebook Launches Email Addresses!

Facebook has just publicized the start of its own messaging service. Much more than just the simplistic Facebook chat that their users are familiar with, the new service will most significantly provide an '@facebook.com' email address.

Up until this period, we have watched a lot of email companies take center stage. The 90s experienced a large number of portal websites providing email addresses. The leading suppliers were Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL. It is really challenging to think about however at that time, email addresses suffered from fairly small data capacities. Even moving into the 2000s we saw continued caps on the sizes of mailboxes. Yet, Google, with the release of Gmail, promised almost endless inbox space. Paired with its fresh, uncluttered style and design it has emerged as one of the leading participants in the webmail industry. Its higher level service made other email suppliers develop their services and style.

Step forward, Facebook. The onlinee community has become the zeitgeist for the decade. Within only a number of years people have observed it go from a closed, exclusive social network for college and university students to an international sensation with more than 500 million customers and normally ranks inside of the top 2 popular sites for several countries. Facebook promised to give every single one of its users an '@facebook.com' email.

You may possibly think, so what? It is simply an email, just like so many others that exist. Nonetheless, this suggests a lot more. Facebook is now stepping beyond the social network industry and branching out directly into the world of communicating. This is very important. In the event that all 500 million members pick up a Facebook email address it will eventually end up being the most well known webmail supplier worldwide. And when text based communication is increasingly becoming more valuable than direct speech conversations, it is easy to observe how Facebook will quickly grow to be a lot more than just a site to chat to your family or spy on exes.

After this has been rolled out around the world, what next for? One of many key aspects of the net is the utility aspect - ways to make use of the web to make certain tasks simpler for you to finish. One of the biggest strengths with the Internet is being able to allow you to organize your time and energy and manage duties better. Facebook could undoubtedly make a further advance into this territory by offering people a personal homepage that they can use as their stating place onlinee. We have now seen, with Facebook Connect, Facebook's attempt at becoming a password manager. It could provide a separate free password manager program for sites which do not offer Facebook Connect still. Furthermore, as a personalized homepage it could possibly offer an onlinee bookmarking program allowing you to save bookmarks onlinee. It could actually even enter the Internet browser industry and launch a browser!

Tuesday 19 October 2010

When Enrolling for a New Service You Should Always Go Through the Fine Print

At the RSA Security Europe Conference in London, individual privacy was at the front of people's discussions. It has been debated that society and communication has changed irrevocably and that will have a negative impact on personal privacy levels. Decades ago, conversation was generally done face to face or on the phone. Now, lots of communication is carried out by email and websites. This will create a saved hard record of all communication.

Getting rid of an email will not necessarily get rid of it. The recipient or sender will still have a copy of the email on their account. Furthermore, huge data centres now make it really easy to record online conversation. It was argued that inexpensive technology costs and increasing memory capacities mean that saving and collecting data is now more possible than it was some years ago.

You may be wondering why it matters, but private data can result in money and having access to plenty of personal data can result in companies making more money. Everyday, this is often seen when signing up for something new, with those 'select here if you do not wish to have any communication from the company'; this happens offline as well. However, how many users read all of the privacy policies and terms of agreement for the computer applications we use or the websites that we use? It may well be shocking to examine a few of them and understand precisely what the software is allowed to do with your data.

Facebook has routinely been derided for the convoluted privacy policy and not being transparent with users. It is completely possible for you to read almost all the details on somebody's page if they haven't enabled certain privacy configurations. While the safety mindful amongst all of us will certainly be sure to set the privacy options accordingly, lots of users tend not to know they are even exposing themselves to prospective online crime and identity theft. It is not simply sufficient to claim that it is their mistake if their level of privacy becomes compromised. Additionally, companies should never desire to deceive users on purpose so as to facilitate easier data farming.

Google has recently been faced with a great deal of social and political criticism with regard to its gathering of private wi-fi data whilst gathering data as part of its StreetView service. Google essentially listened in to people's wi-fi connections and saved personal and private data. Google's blasé response upset lots of people and many national governments got drawn into the debate challenging the legality of Google's actions.

The more information an organization has on you, the more they can charge advertisers in order to target you. If an organization knows that you are female, aged between 30-40 and have two children, well then advertisers will pay more because they are able to target advertisements more efficiently. If an advert gets targeted at the proper consumer then the sellers will see more results. Advertisers are willing to pay a premium since then they could target with toy, home improvements and kitchen advertisements, compared to advertisements for weight lifting or extreme sports (although these are large generalizations).

Thus, it is crucial to always ensure you have read the terms of agreement accurately. Whenever you sign up for anything you are basically signing a contract. It would be terrible to imagine that one speedy sign up for something could result in anything bad many years later. Always read the terms well, it may be hackneyed but it just might save you. Additionally, you should also always have safe Internet safety practices. Owning a good password is a good first step but you might also want to try an online password manager that would increase your security by a lot! You can save passwords to a site and keep them safe and secure.

Where Exactly Did it Go wrong for Yahoo?

Yahoo appears to have been lost for the past couple of years. Since losing its footing in the Internet search marketplace, it has struggled in the wilderness, not fully confident where to go next or the way in which to boost profits. Latest news reports imply Yahoo is on the verge of being bought has raised share prices nevertheless in the event that the buyout plan does not get green lighted, just what may come to be of the previously dominating Internet giant?

Yahoo at this point owns a tiny proportion of queries done on the web. Google is undoubtedly the undisputed search engine utilized by gigantic amounts of people. In a field that was once slightly over loaded, Internet users are now largely left with a couple of dedicated search engines to choose from. Besides Google and Yahoo there are Bing (Microsoft's latest offering), Ask and AOL. Search engines from the past are now gathering dust. The fact is, Yahoo and Bing's merged share of the market continues to be dwarfed by Google.

Nonetheless, this is merely one facet of to Yahoo's issues. Yahoo was considered dominant on an Internet where no one functioned like Google. Google's search engine effectiveness relies upon the fact it is concentrated on simplicity. Google does search, and it does search exceptionally nicely. It additionally offers a lot of other features yet the search result webpages do not get cluttered with this. Yahoo still adopts a portal web site format similar to lots of its contemporaries that have also dropped by the way side. Customers now prefer simplified layouts and designs. Having said that, this isn't to say that they would like less features. As Google has evidently shown, there is a huge demand regarding plenty of diverse services such as news, galleries, email etc. But crucially precisely what Google has excelled at is supplying a variety of different features but remaining simple.

This is not to say that Yahoo is just about to shut. Competitiveness is beneficial for business and provided Yahoo is interested in the search sector then it will continue to get used. Yahoo needs to reflect on its company goals. It could possibly find that it needs to significantly reposition itself in the market to stay relevant. It might go after the desirable social network industry, despite the fact that it might be too difficult to topple Facebook. As an alternative, Yahoo might want to generate a new specialized niche.

Repositioning itself as a tool with several distinct features might possibly be being the way forward. Yahoo could choose to provide social bookmarking (to store all your favorites) and a password store (to save passwords). Combined with its My Yahoo website and search engine service, it would cement itself as an online tool and provide customers features not given by many sites. These could be the benefits that Yahoo must have to rise from the ashes.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Increase Your Net Security

Everyone loves the Internet. Over a billion people use it every day regarding entertainment, work and keeping in touch with family. In the last few years our world has long been altered. The way in which society, communities, work and news is sent out around the world has forever modified the way many people interact with and see the community.

Because the net has grown to be incorporated within a lot more areas of everyday life, its abilities and usages have multiplied greatly. Men and women can efficiently organize their life through the web. Anyone can shop online, bank online and even phone through the Internet. It is hard to consider jobs which haven't already been migrated over to the web.

However, with this dependency on the web comes an increased risk. With a lot more crucial information stored online than in the past, hackers are increasingly turning attention to online crime. To combat it, quite a few software programs, sites and technologies have been developed to guard consumers and Internet users. Anti-virus applications, anti-spyware applications, pop-up blockers and also password managers have all already been made with web safety in mind.

Having said that, great password security really should not be over looked. Possessing a robust password is an important, first line defence in the battle against online crime. There are actually many aspects to using a robust password. The first one is size: the longer your password, the more robust it is. A ten character password is going to take more time to crack than a five letter password. It is your choice just how lengthy you want it but having at least eight letters is the lowest suggested size for a reasonably strong password.

Additional important ideas are: not to make use of a word for the password, to not make use of typical sequences of characters (123 or abc), to make sure you include different sorts of characters (including upper and lower cased characters, numbers and special characters). It is a really good idea to use a random selection of characters that you make yourself to remember. Yet this is normally complicated to do. Particularly taking into account it is best practice also to use a unique password for each and every account that you own (this way, if one particular password is affected, it's a single case).

This is exactly why a password keeper is great. Online password managers remove much of the effort in using a secure password. By using a password management tool you can save all your passwords online to a program or website but by simply having one, you can also have a more stronger password. Since it removes the annoyance of trying to remember passwords, you can have any mix of characters for a password and never stress about forgetting them.

Password managers are an excellent way to increase your Internet safety. If you use a web-based password manager then you can log in from anywhere in the world and always be able to remember passwords. Even more so, many of them also feature auto login technology which let you to securely and safely log into accounts with just a single click of the mouse. This is fantastic since it will save you time but it also safeguards you from plenty of crime online.

Internet Television - Who Will Be Victorious?

With the new launch of the revived Apple TV and Sony's soon to be presented Google driven television, the fight for the Internet television area is merely starting. For quite a while now, television suppliers have been concentrating design and style initiatives on slim displays and crisper pictures. Large, flat screen televisions have now become reasonably priced and turning out to be progressively more typical in homes, overtaking the conventional CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) television sets. In fact, a lot of companies have actually totally finished creating CRT television sets as shopper interest has shrunk so much. Manufacturers continuously search for the next growing trend for people. Many of us have seen inbuilt DVD recorders, digital televisions as well as the extensive uptake of high definition TV.

As a result, television makers have already ventured into different systems to offer their items a profitable advantage. Internet television is at this moment the innovative over hyped system. A number of brands have made plays inside the discipline, with a few simply being more effective than some. Yet, no company is currently taking over the field and analysts can merely predict the eventual successor of Internet television economy.

There are actually two methods of having Internet television. The first is through making use of an individual, stand alone set-top box. A lot of these are usually plugged straight into your pre-existing television set and enable you to then access the Internet and connect to sites and various functions. The second type of connection is by television sets constructed with integrated Internet connectivity. These types of televisions do not need a different piece of apparatus to connect online. Research indicates the fact that most individuals replace their television sets every handful of years. This may imply that in the short term, Internet set-top boxes could be many people's gateway into Internet television. Which has been witnessed before as seen in the use of digital TV set-top boxes at this moment being entirely succeeded with televisions with digital technologies as standard.

Therefore, the potential of broadcasting certainly can be found in the realms of online television. In fact, a number of television broadcasters now offer you online viewing features (frequently in the form of re-runs in case viewers have missed a program). Despite the fact that they will be quite bandwidth heavy for the providers. The issue remains to be resolved yet, why would any of us make use of the net on the TV? And arguably more importantly, will anyone use the Internet via a TV?

The reply is in all likelihood yes. A trend in technology presently is the growing convergence of systems. Cell phones no longer just make and receive telephone calls but now also take pictures, record video clips and audio clips, play games and connect online. Mobile net browsing is now more popular in comparison with computer web surfing in a few regions of the world. Therefore, it is simple to see the way in which TVs will incorporate the web.

Separate from being able to stream television live and obtain television programs that you missed, the ability to connect to the web will open far more usability for people. People will have the capacity to logon to social networking sites, emails and favorite websites while watching a TV show. Watching the television is, for most of the time, an isolating activity - the most you can easily share watching TV is with someone else in the room. People can't conveniently watch a TV program with someone someplace else. You also require access to a different gadget, for example a computer or cell phone, so that you can connect with other people. Even so, think about being able to communicate with your friends whilst you are watching the same television show? This will make television a great deal more social and interactive than it had been previously. It also decreases the requirement for some other communication product.

Eventually, the net on televisions has to make itself needed. Which is to say, if there is no need for it then people will certainly not try it. Arguably, Internet TV has to distinguish itself by increasingly being customer focused. Think about being able to handle your daily life by the TV? It is not too far fetched to envision. Televisions need to offer consumers the chance of organizing their life from a single place - something which the net is so excellent at doing. The ability to shop online, manage your passwords with a password management tool, bookmark all your favorite websites with a social bookmarking service and so on. Picture having the ability to temporarily stop your television show, select one of several things on the screen and get taken to a retailer selling the item. This functionality is what will make Internet television jump out from the typical options.

Monday 11 October 2010

The Future is Multi-Functional Technology

Multi-functionality is certainly one of the key areas of electronic advancement recently. Most people have observed gadgets handle a growing number of features and functions as companies compete in the money-making digital market place. Television sets can now connect to the Internet; in fact, even cars and trucks can get connected to a remote server for GPS and navigation assistance. Laptops now arrive integrated with mics and web cameras. Handheld game gadgets now have wifi connectivity so that you can download additional content or have fun with users all over the world. Products with multiple capabilities are most certainly the way the marketplace is advancing.

The primary example of this development is the poor cellphone. They were once huge, requiring people to haul it with a handle over their shoulder. Gradually over time as technology progressed and technology costs lowered, the size of phones reduced and designers were finally able to include new features. In the beginning they were features which are taken granted for now. Colored displays, music players, cameras. In the past customers could only send one text message at a time and were only allowed to use a maximum of 160 characters. In spite of this, people are able to now easily send longer text messages as a string of more than just one message (although it is not counted as only one message by the suppliers - if you go over 160 characters you will subsequently be billed for 2 messages and so on).

Now, cell phones are lean, mean, multi-functional machines. People are able to send e-mails, capture sound and video, play video games, write blog articles on them and so much more. It is tough to think about a task that the mobile phone actually cannot do! They now even have significant memory capacity and some are capable of having a memory card. Lots of people prefer the usefulness and straightforwardness of having one product in contrast to several. And since mobile phones are little and compact, they are commonly the ideal size for the many purposes they have begun to include.

It is without a doubt simple to see the way technology convergence will go on to be the catalyst of technology improvements. Several products within and out of the home are today really smart and additionally feature exceptionally developed engineering, generally enabling them to interact with other products in the home or online. You can now tweet with the kettle and listen to music with your fridge. It is merely a matter of time before more systems are converged into one.

This brings up the challenge of where then is technology able to go to next? First, the growing level of popularity of tablet computers and touch screen interfaces definitely will have an important part in the development of technology. Eliminating the need of control keys, mice and keyboards suggests that a lot more products will have the ability to facilitate brand new technologies. Thus, if a product offers a smooth area then people will at some point be able to interact with it. The futuristic product models seen in many early science fiction shows are presently coming to being. Thankfully the clothing predictions were not accurate.

Nonetheless, it is entirely probable that Internet technologies will also continue converging. All of us have seen a growth in multi-functional computer software and Internet sites. Consumers no longer always need to get individual software programs for various functions, several programs can smartly operate well together. Additionally, online websites also provide a range of functions. People can sign up for websites which will definitely sort out your Internet time for you: allowing you to import all your bookmarks, saving them allowing you to access them from everywhere. Manage all your passwords online with one protected, safe online password manager and then immediately log into websites no matter where you are.

Electronics companies will certainly converge several online and offline solutions so irrespective of which device you use and where you will be, you will be able to access all your files at any time. Bookmarks, passwords, songs, films, emails, work documents and so forth. As well as the net and web sites.

Has Technology Become Too Design Focused?

Undoubtedly one of the major aspects of innovations in devices is actually not engineering developments but style and design. Whilst anyone could assert that design and technology improvements go in hand, it is additionally quick to see exactly how design dominates consumer habits. Many men and women decide to purchase things that are not always better technology-wise or possess helpful features but simply because they look great or are buyable in specific colors. This has actually been the case for a long time because mass-production enabled producers to create cheaper products with the onus on design instead of functionality. E.g., the paper dresses of the 1960s were cheap and of a bad standard yet for many fashionable consumers they were must have wardrobe items.

This process carries on today. Mobile phone manufacturers continually play with the dichotomy of functionality vs design. Many designers choose understated designs and instead rely on feature development. Many others choose to offer less features but instead focus on the design, at times working with fashion designers.

With this attention given to design instead of function, it is easy to think of products solely as aesthetic but it is also good to remember that such products are meant to have useful benefits as well. When you are making your choice of what product to buy there tends to be three elements that you have to think about - features, cost and design. Sometimes you may wish to spend more on features and at other times for design. At other times they are merged together. Apple's design ethos is an awesome example of design meeting technology.

If you always buy products based on their design then you should really start to think about the functional factor as well. While it may be desirable to buy the coolest design, it might very well not be the most robust. You ought to always check the functionality of the product and how you will use it. There is no point buying a really flash laptop if all you will be doing is writing emails with it or browsing the Internet.

Thus, whenever you are buying new products, always think about how you will use it or why you need it. A good example is e-book readers, such as the Amazon Kindle. They have practical uses in real life. For instance, a lot of airlines are now limiting passengers to only one piece of hand luggage. A Kindle is a lot smaller than an average book and you are able to take a lot more books with you when you go on holiday than you might otherwise be able to.

Mobile phones have also greatly improved their technology features. You can take your cell phone for all your multi-media needs. Lots of phones now come with large amounts of memory letting youenabling you to save music, videos and pictures on there. phones now also have digital cameras as well, meaning you don't need to buy a separate, costly camera. The Internet is no different. Plenty of websites have been created with usability and functionality as the focus. You can find sites which were made to allow you to organize online time better. They vary from a bookmark organizer, password manager and personalized homepage.

An online bookmark manager can save time and can alter your work process. Sadly, lots of them have a functional design. It will be interesting to watch how they evolve over time as more and more people come to expect functionality that is shown in a well designed product.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Why Live Spaces Failed

With a lot of media attention, Microsoft announced the closure of Windows Live Spaces. The remaining users will get migrated to the Wordpress platform. It was a surprising development to Microsoft and the Live brand. In recent times, they have made attempts to become part of the lucrative social networking sector. MSN messenger, which is a hugely famous messaging piece of software, got renamed as Live Messenger and continually gets developed. The latest installment includes loads more features than just simple IM messaging. Live Spaces was a continuation of Microsoft's play in this field but sadly for Microsoft, user levels failed to match the usage numbers of Windows Live Messenger and they pulled the plug.

You have to wonder why such a big company would be motivated such a decision. Live Spaces, although bulky in design, was a straightforward way to blog for many users, particularly people who were more comfortable with other Microsoft applications. It was integrated with Windows Live Messenger. Additionally, it supplied online advertising space (in a similar way to how advertising works on Google's Blogspot). HoweverSurprisingly, Microsoft decided to simplydecided simply to close itshut it down and provide current users a totally different service. Which is perhaps a good choice for people that take blogs seriously (as Wordpress is a dedicated blogging platform), yet for people which are not familiar with blogging platforms, the integration with Windows Live Messenger was welcomed.

If you accept recent data, the user numbers of Live Spaces was smaller than Microsoft previously stated. But, this signifies another thing that is very important. Particularly, what then are users using instead?

One belief is that blog writing is on the decrease and micro-blogging and social networks have superseded a lot of the motivation to blog. But, this is a common wrong belief. The blog is still strong. Indeed, blogging websites make up some of the most used sites on the net. Thousands of blogs are built every single day. Perhaps then, Microsoft just designed Windows Live Spaces wrong.

It is a curious website: part community site, part blog, part instant messenger, part profile page, part online storage. Perhaps, Microsoft did not understand what its customers wanted. Arguably, they might have preferred a more straightforward application, not necessarily connected to another account. Maybe Microsoft could have provided a streamlined, focused service taking out the social network feature and replacing it with more functional services. Microsoft is regarded as the leading manufacturerworld leader in office based software. Lots of people are used to using Microsoft Office applications
at work, college or whilst at home. Thus, it would be much more innovative to see Microsoft work with the things its most respected for, along with possibly a social bookmarking service or password storage.

Technology is increasingly being driven by converging technologies: a single program that has lots of different features and uses. Lots of Internet sites are also multi-functional, providing many innovative functions. Microsoft should acknowledge its unique selling point as a utility compared withas opposed to something frivolous. Designing a more streamlined Live Spaces will mean Microsoft can compete with more new web browsers (as Internet Explorer user numbers continues to decrease). By providing features such as an online bookmark manager or secure password manager, Microsoft can reposition themselves and create their own niche in an otherwise over populated sector.

Friday 1 October 2010

Cheap Tips for Online Advertising for New Companies

Start-ups are challenging and tough to deal with. Particularly so in the present economic climate. Start-ups provide loads of distinct unique challenges which are tough to deal with whilst not in financial uncertainty. Designing a business model, generating financial backing and creating sales are all areas that need careful planning and continual management. Marketing can play a huge role in the success of your start-up. Depending on the sector of your company, there may be options out there precisely to assist you. For example, if you have a food store you can offer open nights where you invite critics and/or residents and sign up for different review websites to help generate business.

One of the areas that many new entrepreneurs fail to utilize is the world of online marketing. Online advertising is a fantastic way of building business (although it may be more helpful depending on the type of business you have). Loads of users now use the web for more and more; by having an online presence you will certainly enhance brand interest and possible income if you enter the retail industry.

Having said that, new businesses are usually tight on money and so you might have to undertake web based marketing on a limited budget. Fortunately there are actually several tasks you can do which tend not to cost you a lot of money whatsoever. Naturally, they may need a bit of commitment and you may feel as though you want to spend time on other areas. Nonetheless, if you can sacrifice a bit of time for some of these ideas then it might be worthwhile.

To begin with, selecting a good domain name is important. You may presume that it's just as straightforward as ordering a domain that is the same as the company name. This is often perfectly adequate but if you are able to fit in some keywords into the domain then that might help a lot for web traffic. If your business is titled Starline, and it sells fishing equipment, a terrific example for a web address might be something along the lines of "www.starline-fishing.com". This can help search engines, like Google, find and understand your website better.

Also, it is critical to have a higher search ranking. Most of the clicks by search engines come from the top few results. Not a lot of traffic arrives from the lower web pages. To be able to do this, search engines implement complicated and impressive calculations to decide how suitable and useful your website is to the Internet search. Among the list of most critical factors of this is the number of inbound back links.

You can get incoming back links in different ways. This takes place as time passes as webmasters begin to link to your website more. However you may accelerate this process with a few methods. To begin with you can create articles or blog posts and then distribute them to article directory sites. You will be able to receive two or three hyperlinks back to your site using suitable key phrases. Taking the example previously mentioned, the keywords could be 'fresh water angling' or 'fishing rods'. Linking to the site using these words will consequently mean that as soon as search engines find the links, you are then additionally a lot more likely to appear in queries for these keywords.

Another method that search engines decide exactly how relevant your website is is by the level of the back links you have. Page rank, although debated as being irrelevant, is a valuable indicator of how 'good' a site actually is. The better the page ranking, the greater the benefit a link from there will be. For instance, if you can get a back link from a page rank 10 website (most likely impossible) then your own website's page rank will also improve and then search engines will rank you higher as well. You can achieve this in a couple of ways: asking for links, paying for links (although this is largely frowned upon), submitting your website to social bookmarking websites and web directories. Save all your favorites and websites online and you will normally get a high page rank link back to your site. Some of these also let you to import all your bookmarks so you can create links very quickly.

These tips are just a few of the ideas that you can do. At the end of the day, naturally creating links to your website, will, over time, increase the online presence and thus increase user connectivity and the quantity of potential users. If you have the money, feel free to pay for web marketing with PPC campaigns (pay per click advertising). Nonetheless, if you try and follow some of the suggestions given above then you should eventually see an increase in website traffic.

Thursday 30 September 2010

Multitasking Online

Loads of people multitask. The saying says that women tend to be considerably better at it as compared to men yet new studies into multitasking demonstrates that younger multitask with a lot of their time. This is specifically a direct result of the manner in which modern modern culture and technology has continued to evolve. Many things are now available at the same time: listening to your favourite music whilst doing work, chatting on the phone while cooking and so forth. It really should be considered that some people believe that multitasking is detrimental and it ends in tasks not finished with the highest final results. In fact, scientists claim that it is actually not possible to totally concentrate on two things at the same time. This is the reason many people regularly do not provide their full attention if you attempt to talk to them whilst they are doing something else. Although this may feel rude or obnoxious, it is a perfectly natural component of being a human.

Yet, all this will never negate the fact present day society is becoming more and more stressful and people are undertaking more and more commitments. Every person now has family responsibilities to juggle with job responsibilities and also try to fit time in for themselves. It is no wonder that most people multitask even more as a result. The latest research has shown multitaskers effectively obtain extra time out of their day. They achieve this by performing a couple of things at a time (for instance, watching television programs whilst surfing the net).

The phrase "multitask" comes from computing. Technology created the word when referring to the process in which computers manage to run more than just one job at any time and it has now spread to everyday language. Nevertheless, people can still examine multitasking relative to computers, and specifically the communication of person and computer.

More and more activities need to be completed online and with computers. There are man work environments are trying to reduce the quantity of un-recycled waste and some even follow a print free rule. It is now feasible to work totally with a computer or through the Internet. People may not even have to necessarily have a permanent office to work in - why not buy a laptop or tablet computer and work remotely from anyplace you want? As technology has continued to advance and been adopted to complete even more, most people are expected to use computers to complete simultaneous tasks simultaneously.

Multitasking on a computer is actually rather simple. You can produce a document whilst browsing online. Nevertheless, as you are restricted by computer screen size you may find that you can only view so much. Using more than just one screen will significantly help this. Using a pair of screens significantly improves work efficiency, but when having anymore than this there is minimal change and you might want to save some money.

Graphical user interfaces (the visual way you interact with computer systems and operating systems compared to line commands in DOS) have become highly developed around multitasking. With lots of computers have a task bar at the bottom with all the open applications and programs. You can switch between them with just one click of your mouse or by using keyboard shortcuts. Furthermore, browsers are now allowing you to multitask effectively. Rather than having several windows open when you have to browse more than one site, you can now use tab browsing to efficiently go between different pages.

Furthermore, there are sites that you can use to multitask with the net more effectively. Bookmark managers (allowing you to import your bookmarks online and store all your favorite bookmarks), password managers (allowing you to save your passwords online) and personalized homepages (allowing you to deal with your online life more efficiently). There are many examples of such tools but there are fewer examples of tools which allow you to do them all simultaneously. Making use of a service that does allows you to multitask and organize your online life all via one location. Furthermore, as they are online you can access them from anywhere in the world and at any time.

Monday 27 September 2010

Can We Predict the Fall of Facebook?

It truly is tough to think the world's most well known social network would ever fall from grace. Facebook possesses sufficient users to make it one of the biggest countries on the planet. Nevertheless, could it possibly be on its way out? Facebook continues to be incredibly popular, but huge businesses have crashed before.

Among the list of issues with Facebook is the fact it truly is everywhere. Having a Facebook page has become as popular as having a phone number or email address. When you encounter anyone who doesn't own a Facebook account, you want to know the reason why? Facebook has fast become the site to throw away almost all your leisure time. Facebook has come some way since its simple origins of social networking for students. It is now offered to anyone to try and just about every country in the world. It has made it possible for friends and families to search for each other again and brought together relationships. Facebook's status will be documented in history with the release of a new movie regarding its rise to prominence.

Nonetheless, Facebook is certainly not without controversies. It is continually making the news for issues with privacy and online safety fears for members. Faced by public protest, it was forced to shorten its privacy settings and settings allowing users to comprehend the privacy configurations a lot easier. Facebook is commonly criticized with regard to having the security settings so complicated meaning members usually do not realize the best way to control his or her personal information appropriately. On top of that, Facebook often gets criticized for not shielding its members appropriately - especially the young members. There are lots of instances of when Facebook has been in the public eye for less than favourable reasons. In addition, many user leave it because they spend an excessive amount of their spare time on it and they find they are missing face-to-face communication.

Lots of people are currently looking towards the future - what would take the place of Facebook? An obvious response is an alternative website. It was not so long ago when MySpace was the most popular social network but it has already started to experience a decrease in its numbers of users. Thus, Facebook will constantly be mindful of competition. In fact, whilst it dominates numerous geographies, presently there are nations where there has been very little traction comparatively. Soon to be launched online social network Diaspora has put user privacy at the heart of the brand identity.

Even so, another prediction is a multi-functional program. Although Facebook provides a lot of fantastic features, there are also a lot of features which it does not have. Blogging, book marking online, personal homepages, a password store, and so on. Although you can argue that some people prefer individual functioning websites, the growth in multi-functional products suggest otherwise. You merely need to take a look at the modest cell phone to see how many people like proceeding to just one location for all of their wants. This saves them time, means they have to perform less and people frequently favor that. A site where you could communicate with family, get a personalized home page and also social book marking and password management would be a one stop shop for the most popular Internet uses.

Furthermore, if a product could combine every one of these features and allows access to them via a mobile gadget, such as a tablet PC or cell phone, then it may transform the field. Everyone could effectively get all the enjoyment and work from one place.

The Best Kept Secret on the Net? Why You Should Be Using a Password Manager

Password management services are possibly one of the best kept secrets on the Internet. If you are a tech-savvy geek then you will probably already make use of one yet many more Internet users do not know about them or the advantages. If you don't know what an online password manager is yet then you should read this article.

Everyone is continually putting much more info online or on the Internet. It can be anything from our home address when shopping online, our financial information whilst online banking or personal information we post on social networks. Advances in web technology have meant that plenty of information is now only available online. Everyone should be much more careful of their accounts; just one account compromised may have much bigger repercussions.

Most people take passwords seriously. Most people knows the rules for good passwords, unfortunately many people are too lazy to be as secure as possible online. Many people use one password that is easy to remember but not very safe. To have a super safe password it should feature upper and lower cased characters, numerical characters and special characters. Many people use words from the dictionary as their password, something which is particularly not secure. Password security is your first line of defence for your online security.

Password software eliminate a lot of the hassle passwords offer whilst providing increased levels of online security. Password managers can be computer software or websites that will store all username and password information securely. You can download a toolbar and then it sits in your toolbar and will manage your passwords, or you can register for a website that provides the same functions. Many password managers will also enter your username and password details with auto-fill technology.

There are many advantages for making use of online password managers. Firstly, they remove a lot of the stress and hassle of passwords. Pretty much everyone has forgotten a password at some point and everyone knows just how time consuming and annoying it is to have to register for a new account or have a new password sent to you. Using a password manager will mean you never have such a problem again. They save you a lot of time as you do not have to constantly type your account information into websites.

Nevertheless, the online safety benefits really make online password managers important for modern living. You will no longer need to use one password for all your sites or easy to remember passwords since you cannot remember numerous different complicated ones. Online password managers store your passwords online, safely and securely meaning you will not have to worry about remembering them yourself - you will always know where they are. Furthermore, because your username and passwords get managed for you, you can use different passwords for each website that you visit. This will vastly improve online security.

How Customization has Made the Internet Popular

Most people are excellent Internet users. Children are now born into a world where they will always have the Internet. It truly has changed modern living. From the way we work to socializing with peers. There are pluses and minuses to the web. Many people see the changes to society with a certain level of trepidation and respect. Nonetheless, the advantages of the Internet are happily welcomed by loads of users.

One of the reasons why the Internet has become this popular is the element of personalization. The net effectively allows you to create a whole different avatar should you wish to. However, if you do this, it can be somewhat controversial and lots of users will react less than favorable. Nevertheless, for the majority of Internet users, the choice to customize content and customize your browsing is really enjoyable.

There are lots of different ways to present your personality on the net. Firstly you are free to sign-up for social networks. There are plenty of social networks to choose and each one has advantages and disadvantages. You can find social networks related to singers, reading, films, crafting, shopping, health and fitness and so on. There really is an endless number of social networks you are able to become a member of. When you sign up you will get given a profile and can add details about you and then you can talk with other users. There are message boards you can register for which will let you communicate with members although they do not normally feature such a customizable profile page.

Social book marking is a great example of customization affecting the net. Social book marking tools are amongst the most popular websites on the web. They work by allowing you to save your bookmarks or articles that you like, comment on them or comment on other users' choices. They work like a bigger conscience with Internet users coming together to share interesting pages.

Blogs are a good example of customizing on the Internet. Although the rate of new blogs has slowed down a bit with the increasing popularity of micro-blogging and social networking websites, blogs continue to play a relevant role online. With a blog, you can design a personalized and then write about anything you want. They can be a great way to share thoughts with friends or relieve stress. What's fantastic about the net is that it facilitates social communication so people will reply to your posts and you can feel part of a community.

Customized homepages are a great example of just how popular personalization and customization is on the Internet. You can create homepages about anything. Homepages are perfect for showing the world your personality. You can post images and videos and whether you share the information with the world or just your family, homepages are a great hobby to maintain.

Setting up a homepage is really easy but there are different choices. Firstly you can build your homepage from scratch learning html or using a WYSIWYG site builder. This can bea bit time consuming but you might be able to get the page exactly how you want it to be (although you will normally need to purchase a domain, hosting and any other resources). If you feel like you are not ready to take on that challenge then why not opt for a free personalized homepage? You can create homepages with galleries, text, videos, images, links and so on. Once the website is live, email a link to your family and say: "check out my homepage!"

Good Suggestions for Starting a Blog

Writing some sort of blog is an excellent hobby to have. Whether you publish it for fun and amusement or if you would love to pursue a job in writing, creating a blog offers lots of benefits. Although it can appear as though everyone owns a blog and you might not know how to start, setting up a blog is usually really simple and self-explanatory!

First you really have to consider is whether or not you would prefer to have a blog hosted for free or host it yourself. There are pluses and minuses for both options. A free blog suggests you don't need to pay for it but you have not as much freedom to customize the design and style and not as much memory space to save pictures and documents on the web. Hosting the blog yourself requires additional work and you have to buy an Internet domain and some hosting but it might be worth it if you would like personalize your blog with more creative freedom. Many bloggers get started with free sites and then move to hosting it themselves. This is actually a fantastic strategy to discover what blogging is about and if you enjoy writing before being required to part with any cash.

The next thing to do is think about what you would like to write about. This could look like a trivial concern but it really is important and will have a large impact on the way your blog evolves over time. If it is a personal blog then you will likely just write about life and what you do etc. These are generally interesting to read yet they might also sometimes be tricky to become popular because most people online are looking for something specific. Generally, a good rule to stick to though is to have your blog inside a specific subject and adhere to that topic. This can be on anything - television shows, movies, music, sports, traveling, cooking, learning, business, health, fitness and so on. What is important is to select a topic that you are interested in and you are sure that you can maintain a level of interest. Picking a topic helps on three different levels. Firstly, readers will know what to expect when they get to the site. Furthermore, you should find that your site has a place in a network of blogs that will give you a greater feeling of community. Additionally, this can also help your website get picked up by search engines as they will be able to understand your blog better if you have a strong blog identity. This in turn will mean you get more traffic.

You then need to consider is how you are going to write entries. Will they be humorous, informative or personal? You may want to write each post differently and really show your personality or stick to a specific style, the choice is up to you. It is important to show some personality - this is what makes people like your posts and visit your blog again. Other things to consider are images, sound clips and videos. These can add depth to your website. If you are reviewing a movie, why not include a clip? Furthermore, if you are discussing a place you been to, take some photos and include them in the blog. It will help to make your site much more interesting.

An additional step you may want to consider is getting traffic for the website. This may be done with many different strategies. Overtime, your site should slowly but surely find a rise in page views if you find a way to publish consistently with good content. However, there are numerous ways to get more visitors. You can buy advertising on websites and search engines or try to position your website higher in search engines. This is referred to as SEO (or Search Engine Optimization). Search engines have complex algorithms to assess how pertinent your site is for specific searches. The more relevant your website, the higher the position you will get in search results. One of the most significant ways search engines rank websites is by the number of high quality, in-bound, one-way links your website has. You can acquire these by creating content for article websites, presenting your site to Internet directories and making use of a social book marking tool to get links. You are also able to target specific key phrases within these links to have more benefit.

It is also important to be a part of the blogosphere. Creating a blog is far more pleasant when you feel that you are part of a community and can engage with others. It is also good to leave replies and send messages to other blog owners. It's also a good idea to bookmark the blogs you visit frequently. Store your bookmarks with an online bookmark manager and you will be able to navigate the blogosphere more easily.

Using the Internet as a Mommy

Regrettably there's never been a guidebook for bringing up children and modern society places ever more demands on moms. We all have got to take care of the home, look after our families and many are expected to get a job at the same time. For mothers, the web is becoming useful for a lot of different tasks. If you are not yet using it to make motherhood somewhat easier to manage, below are a few ideas that you might want to have a look at.

For a mom, at times it is difficult to get precious time for yourself. Every single day is devoted to your children. Although we adore them, even when they pester us for fun and treats, it is always great to get time for ourselves. In addition, several of our good friends might not have their own kids and it can sometimes feel that we get put aside for social events. However, the Internet is a fantastic way to keep in touch with friends who have different work schedules whilst also making new friends.

Absolutely everyone is aware of the extremely famous social networks but there are loads targeted at moms. There are lots of discussion boards where you will be able to register and reply to threads and make new contacts. This is really a good way to meet new people. You may discuss ideas and look for other opinions if you may be unsure of anything related to babies.

If you have relatives that are in other countries, you can use the net to make free calls, create blog posts to let all the family know how your family are getting on and build online photo galleries to share pictures with your relatives. The web has made it so much easier to keep in contact with people. All this might seem like lots of work but if you get the kids involved then they will relish the chance to get creative and contribute to a memory for the whole family.

Motherhood is wrought with doubt and a lot of parents can become worried about the decisions we make. All the choices from what bottles to purchase, which buggy is best and which toys are the must haves. Having someone else to help make these choices is really helpful.

There are many websites that have reviews for lots of products taking out lots of the stress of picking the best. You can search for products and read reviews. Many will also have a rating system so you can see quickly whether other mothers have rated the product highly. Reviews are personal but other people's opinions are a great point of reference the Internet is to make use of online book marking websites. They allow you to save your favorite websites in a single place. This will save a lot of time as you will always have quick access to your most used sites. For example, if you visit ten websites every day, you might be wasting a couple of minutes here and there by always searching for the websites. If you bookmark the favorite websites then you will be able to access them with just a single click. Furthermore, a web based password manager is great at saving time. You will be able to save your online account information and automatically log you into your favorite websites without having to remember or write your username and password!

Sometimes it feels like parenthood just gets more stressful as children become increasingly savvy and modern. Children these days have so much more. This can sometimes appear too much but why not use some of the new technology to your advantage? It may seem alien or foreign but utilizing the technology and the net can make life a little easier!

Save Time on the Web

Plenty of time spent on the Internet is wasted for no good reason. Many times it is because you get distracted by videos or a link that you have been sent. What you may fail to realize is a lot of the time that is wasted is spent on the smaller tasks.

Firstly, obviously time can get wasted depending on your connection. If your connection is unstable and continually gets disconnected, this can mean a lot of time gets wasted waiting for websites. It might be down to your router playing up or because you live far from the exchange. Sometimes such things cannot get fixed and until broadband technology advances, many people will have to contend with routers disconnecting and slow connection speeds. Nonetheless, there are many strategies you can use to streamline your surfing experience and become a more effective at managing your time.

To start with, you have to analyze your Internet habits. Which websites do you visit the most? Which sites do you spend more time on? What tasks do you use the Internet for? When you have determined the answers to the above questions then you can structure your weekly schedule more efficiently. Everyone has highs and lows of energy during the day. This may also effect going online. For example, do you start browsing with a great deal of energy and be really proactive? Or do you start off slowly, check out some news websites before starting more difficult tasks you need to do. Once you have recognize the way that you work, you will then be able to better structure your schedule and re-focus your energy on what needs to be done at the right time.

Once you have completed this, you then need to consider if there may be anything you do that slows you down? Do you spend a lot of time on Facebook or emailing contacts when you should really be researching for work? Understanding your flaws will let you to turn them to advantages.

One way which many of us throw away time on the Internet is by looking for sites we visit each day. Instead of typing in the address or book marking the website to our favorites, most of us will instead look for it on Google or a search engine. This is grossly unproductive and you will waste a great deal of time. Firstly you will open your browser, look for the site in Google, wait for results to load, click the right result and wait for that to load. You can skip most of these steps by book marking the website or even setting it to be your home page. Instead of typing anything, you simply click the correct bookmark. This will save you plenty of time! It might not seem like much but you will definitely be surprised at how much faster and productive you surf the web.

Furthermore, the web is made of millions of websites and countless web pages. More than people can ever visit in a lifetime. More than we will ever find. Whilst browsing the web we are often bombarded with sites that aren't quite suitable. Keeping track of the relevant information and websites can become tricky sometimes. If you utilize bookmarks then you will be able to quickly save only the most relevant results so you can return to them later. Furthermore, you may able to even use online bookmarks which will save your favorite sites online. This is an excellent tip if you have to work from several sites or whilst you are out and about. Saving bookmarks on the web means you will never lose them again.

By using book marking websites you will save you a lot of time spent typing URLs or trying to find that website from the other day that you need again. However, that isn't the only technique to save time on the Internet. Another great strategy is to use password management software. Think of all the sites we all go to frequently and count exactly how many you need to log into. That's a lot of websites and plenty of passwords to remember and submit. You can make use of your web browser's store account information feature but this is quite unsafe and should only be utilized if your computer is inside a safe environment. Ideally it should still not be used as each time your computer logs onto to the web, it is vulnerable to web attacks. Therefore, online password managers were created offering a safe substitute. You can register with an online password manager, store your information and auto-fill your account information for websites that you visit. As with online book marking, you will be able to access your username and password information from anywhere in the world and never stress about forgetting it again.

These two tips, while small are still really handy at saving you time on the Internet and allowing you to be more productive. You only need to make a small amount of changes to see a substantial difference in your productivity. It might need a little time to get used to working with the Internet differently, but if you can make these small changes, you will find that you will be able to be waste less time.

Monday 13 September 2010

Ways to Remember Your Password

We are progressively growing to be dependent upon technology, the Internet and computers. Day after day, hundreds of millions of people browse the web for pleasure, work and entertainment. The time spent on the web is continually increasing for everyone as many more services become accessible. You can now sit back and watch episodes of our favorite programs on the Internet, order groceries and pay off bills. However, this means that most of us are now keeping more information on the web than previously. However, this means that sometimes all of us fail to remember our passwords, especially passwords which are sophisticated or are provided to us by webmasters.

In the event that you do forget your password, the essential thing to do is not to freak out or worry. This will happen frequently to everybody. If you forget your password, most sites will allow you to send a forgotten password ticket. This will allow you to register for a new password. This is typically be quite simple and automatic but it is frequently a pain. Sometimes a user might need to contact the administrator to ask for a new password. This creates more problems though, what happens if you forget the security answers and questions! Again, nobody should get worried as site owners are used to users forgetting their account details. You may have to email an administrator and prove the account belongs to you though.

What can you do if you keep forgetting account information? Well, prevention is often called the best cure. There are many ways to help. Firstly, many web browsers offer you the ability to save username and password details to your browser. This is good as you will not have to fill in the username and password information each time you visit the website. However, this is unsafe and should only be done if you are positive the information is definitely safe (i.e. do not utilize this feature if you share a computer or it is in a public place). Moreover, storing your username and password information to your web browser only helps you for a single computer. Should you use another computer and cannot remember your password, you will not be able to access the saved information from your personal computer.

An alternative to browsers storing your username and password information is to make use of an online password management service. These enable you to save your username and password details just like with your browser but instead you save them on a website. To do this, simply register for a password manager service and start saving password details there. You will then be able to always find your account information regardless of where you are and regardless of the time. Many websites also even have form filling functionality which submits your username and password details. This removes a lot of the hassle which may impact your Internet experience. Plenty of password management services also feature book marking services. You could use the same service to bookmark favorite sites online and then save your account information for them. This is a great tip at saving you hassle. You might find that you waste a lot of time spent on the web and by using these services you can make surfing the web less stressful.

Nonetheless, it should be noted that is very important to maintain safe password strategies. You should never tell anyone your passwords and you should make sure you have a safe password. A password should be at least 8 characters long and be created with a randomized selection of letters and numbers (to be even more safe then you should include lower and upper casing and special characters). However, the safer a password is, the harder it is to remember it which is why online password managers are useful. In conclusion, if you forget your password or you are worried your passwords are not robust enough then you should definitely try a password manager to manage your passwords for you.

Tuesday 7 September 2010

The C-Factor: China's Influence on the Technology Industry

China recently overtook the US to be the biggest automotive consumers. You might think, so what? China may be on the other side of the world but consumer habits there are beginning to effect designs from other areas of the world.

This is an emerging source of globalization. Commentators have coined the term 'C-Factor' for this new found influence.

Businesses from Japan and South Korea have been revered for their technological expertise and approach to business. The digital and technology market has been dominated by these companies creating everything from watches to computers. But in recent years, particularly in the personal computer industry, Western technology companies have achieved a large share of the market. Even more recently there has been the growth of two new East Asian countries in the tech market - Taiwan and China.

China manufactures the world's most popular, high-end technology devices. China is now also home to the 4th largest PC manufacturer in the world.

Although not quite as famous in global economies as China, Taiwanese technology companies continue to rapidly grow. Acer is now the second biggest computer manufacturer - jumping over Dell to reach the coveted spot. It is clear that the technology industry continually changes. It is interesting to imagine the effect of the C-Factor (and T-Factor) on industries such as food, health and so on.

In comparison, the Asian markets are often seen as difficult to break into by Western businesses. What is popular in East Asia may often be unheard of in the West. Western companies must offer different products and brands in order to appeal to an Asian demographic. This can simply be explained by cultural differences - aesthetics do not always translate. Asian countries are also definitely a game changer for online companies.

It is easy to think that the world is converging into a single homogenized, global culture. The globalization of brands, as well as the spread of English, further fuels this idea. However, with the Internet and technology there are still many key differences between cultures.

For example, SMS phone messaging is one of the most popular methods of communication amongst young people in Europe. In certain Asian countries, this technology is mostly unused and emails are used instead. Furthermore, whilst many people in the West view the desktop computer as being the main method to access the Internet, mobile phones and other devices may be more popular in Asian countries. This creates genuine problems for online companies - if the technology that is favored is different then you cannot merely translate a website and expect it to gain traction.

Online social networks are a good example of such differences. Facebook is arguably the most popular website in the Western world. The number of Facebook users would rank it the third biggest population behind China and India if it was a country. However, its usage is not as pervasive in some East Asian countries.. Facebook is only ranked 27th in the top 100 visited websites in Japan and it is not even inside the top 100 for China. Twitter, another popular online social networking website has a much lower user number in East Asian countries.

Furthermore, online bookmarking (allowing you to save your favorites online) is also not used as much. The majority of users are from English speaking countries whilst the number of users from East Asian countries is a lot lower. This may be down to language differences but there are other factors as well. Layout, design and content should all be tailored for specific cultures. This is largely the reason why there are few truly global brands.

You might be wondering what is popular in Asian countries. Blogs are very popular in Asian countries and are used much more prolifically compared to the West. Of course, blogging is popular all over the world but Asian cultures have taken it up a lot more vehemently. Many celebrities blog and groups of friends work together on shared blogs. Blogging platforms are specifically created for certain markets and have individual features and unique quirks. Personalized homepages are also popular and many people set up home pages which feature images, links, music and so on.

Looking at how the social network marketplace is fragmented according to geography speaks volumes on the cultural differences and struggles faced by marketers and international businesses. Combine the C-Factor and Asia's new immergence in the technology market, we may soon be analyzing the East's influence on the West. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see if these businesses can continue at the pace they are currently at and if they can stay ahead of the competition once they reach the top.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Going Back to School – Using the Internet as a Study Aid

The start of the new school year may have already started for you or be just around the corner. Going back to school can be an exciting time for many students. However, having homework and exams again can also be stressful. You should not feel like this though. Here are some simple tips to take out some of the worry and stress related to studying and school.

You should use the internet to do a lot of your research. You can find information on online encyclopedias and also wikis but this ought to merely be a starting point for doing research. Use these kinds of websites to get a general idea on a topic. You should then take this research and do more in depth study. You may be surprised at the amount of information there is beyond the most popular sites.

Making use of school department sites is a great way to find accurate and up-to-date information. Many college websites offer materials that everyone can access. You should then use this information within your own research. Your lecturers will be very impressed that you refer to information from respected sources. Many teachers look down on online resources and prefer the use of academic books or journals. However, online information from colleges is often regarded as being from a respected source.

Another important tip is to use the internet for the one thing that it is famous for - communicating and socializing. The internet can also facilitate communication with experts. Question and answer networks allow you to ask experts and members of the public for answers to specific questions. Be careful that a number of of the answers may be unhelpful. Nevertheless, there will be many people who will take your question seriously. There are websites that even allow you to contact a teacher or professor for help.

Moreover, there are also plenty of discussion boards and internet communities that you can use to speak to people who are already interested in your topic. For example, if you are writing an essay on the history of Spain, then you will be able to find forums and online communities for Spain, the Spanish language, history and so on.

One thing that is very important for studying and good study habits is consistency. If you start the year focused then you will naturally get into the habit of finishing work early and discover that you are less stressed come exam time. You ought to use different folders for every class you have and file your work separately. With computers and the internet it can effortlessly become difficult to organize files and resources. This means it is normally difficult to locate information you saved weeks ago come exam time.

For each class you take, create folders on your computer. If you want, you can create folders within this folders for every topic covered etc. When you finish an essay you can save to the proper folder (and not somewhere where you will forget it). Moreover, if you use the internet for research you should definitely use bookmarks and favorites to save resources. If you use an online bookmarking program then you will be able to save bookmarks. If you are working in school and then need to go home, favorite the website online and you will be able to access them from anywhere in the world. Furthermore, online bookmarking allows everyone to quickly share favorites between classmates. Online bookmarking is a fantastic way to work collaboratively and organize your resources better.

You can make use of personalized home pages to help with studying. You can use a personalized homepage to share links with classmates. If you create an account together then everyone can use it and work together to build a directory of information. There are many services out there that enable anyone to create wikis and resource sites. You will then be able to email your classmates: "hey, why not check out my homepage" and people will be able to look at your page and also use it as a resource. Working together is a great way to enjoy the work and have people motivate you.

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Friends team up to take on Google

myhomepage was founded by two well connected young entrepreneurs Massimo Agostinelli and Max Aengevelt who combine their work at myhomepage with their studies at the European School of Business of London and Cass Business school.

Quite a feat when you see how far their business has come in such a short space of time.

In just one year myhomepage have a highly developed password management system that has a applied for patent and online bookmarking system that is up and running on the internet.

myhomepage are operating in an emerging and intriguing space and the business is already a leading player in a sector in which heavy weights such as Google and Microsoft have already expressed an interest.

Massimo and Max have been close friends since meeting at Hurtwood House boarding school in Surrey England and the friends both have business in their blood. Both are heirs to well established and highly successful family businesses that make high value equity investments all over the world.

But family connections will not provide a free ride, the family businesses have provided the seed investment, but the founders are well aware that they are required to ensure the business is able to stand on its own two feet by winning further investment from external sources.

Massimo and Max set about achieving their vision for myhompage in early 2009 by assembling a team of exceptional technical experts, marketing guru’s and seasoned start-up executives. myhomepage aims to become a leading start page that allows user to save, manage and automatically log into their favourite bookmarks.

Key to the success so far has been the fact that the founders have extended the hand of friendship as well as camaraderie to all the members of their team.

The latest to join the team is the London web design agency MintTwist.

MintTwist were involved early on in the myhomepage story, having been contracted to improve the website design, look-and-feel and usability.

Having seen the tremendous value that exists within the business, MintTwist were delighted to agree on even closer ties, by becoming equity partners in the myhomepage business.

Massimo, Max, MintTwist and the rest of the fledgling team still have a long way to go. And they are under no illusions about the difficulties that lie ahead; first they must prove that there is traction in the product by significantly raising the number of active users that have taken up the myhomepage system.

In a latest twist to their story, the team have now been set the challenging goal of achieving 50,000 new users within just 6-months. Read more on the myhomepage marketing challenge.

But as ever the two enigmatic founders are un-phased – “We will do it”, they say.

For further information on myhomepage please contact Max Aengevelt (m.aengevelt@mhplive.com) or Massimo Agostinelli (m.agos@mhplive.com)

Thursday 26 August 2010

How to Organize Your Life with the Help of the World Wide Web

How to Organize Your Life with the Help of the World Wide Web
Every day lives are becoming progressively tasking. We have more and more duties as well as work obligations. Many people feel that it's difficult to leave the office or not work from home. The fact is this also means you have not as much time to spend on our families. Using the world wide web is actually an excellent strategy in order to save time. In this article are a small number of suggestions that may enable you to savea few treasured moments in your week for you.

A great way to manage time spent on the internet is to make use of online social bookmarking websites. They allow you to store all your most used websites to a free account. Plenty of time online is actually misused. Even though most of us have become good at multitasking, there are actually a lot of ways we all throw away treasured spare time. One of them is poorly using the internet. A alarming statistic is that the most popular search terms on search engines like Bing tend to be for the most popular websites. Directly entering the URL of a website may save a small amount of time in comparison to searching for it. It'll help you save a few clicks as well as a short time on load time based on how quick your net connection is. This might not appear to be a lot but we only have to decrease the number of keystrokes and mouse clicks by a small percentageto save several hours over the course of the year. It may not appear to be very much but it might just end up being the difference between seeing your friends or maybe watching a television show. If you times this by the amount of websites you visit often then you will be shocked at how unproductive you are being. Bookmarks are fantastic at saving time. Websites allow you to save bookmarks and then access them with a single click no matter where you are in the world. This means that you don't need to worry remembering a URL or only accessing your bookmarks at work or home. You can also share easily bookmarks with contacts or friends which is great when you are working on a joint project.

Another good tip which is related to the one above is to use an online customised homepage. It works quite similarly to online bookmarks. You can easily save your favorite websites in one easy to access place. However, they work in a slightly different way because they are not merely a record of favorites. You can create a homepage with links, thumbnails, news feeds or widgets which show lots of data. Numerous internet users choose personalised homepages while some people choose bookmarks. There are some sites that incorporate both which is an additional alternative that may be also useful for you.

As many as 70% of the most used websites have got an area where users can login or the site is only accessible by logging in. This results in lots of account details to remember! internet security should be a concern for all internet users and possessing a strong password and maintaining good password approaches is a necessity when we are increasingly becoming reliant on the net and storing information on the web. Two or three password tips are to have a long password, to include numbers and special characters and to use randomly selected letters. This often means having passwords that are tough to not forget. By using an online password manager is handy for a couple of points. Firstly, you can use a more secure password and use different passwords for each website you visit that is safer in comparison with using the same account details for everything. Second of all, excellent password managers can also enter your login details for you and log you in. This will save you tons of time! A great deal of time is spent trying to remembering passwords, entering passwords andlogging into sites. It is always annoying submitting remember password requests to administrators. Password managers stop the need for all of these and some work over various browsers or on various devices.

Now there are plenty of excellent websites for organizing. Another thing that will help you organize your time is to use an online calendar or one which is built into your email provider. It is an excellent method to organize your time as well as plan your month. It may be tempting to plan everything you have to do in advanced but some people prefer to be spontaneous. Unfortunately many people need to work even in their spare time time. Simply by making use of a diary you can plan what you need to do and when. After a while you will be able to determine how long tasks take and then plan even better. Calendars are also a great approach to schedule in some leisure time and also time for things you enjoy. It is always important to be able to turn off and rest from time to time and using an online calendar to help remind you just may be valuable.

In the current financial climate, money and funds seem to be at the the main thing on everyone's mind. Why not take out a bit of the strain by switching to online banking? You can save a lot of time since banks have notoriously long queues and many are not even open on Saturday or Sunday. Online banking is available 365 days a year. You can transfer funds, pay utility bills and lots more. It is even more eco friendly as no paper is being wasted. Internet banking is an excellent method to save time and you will not have to worry about visiting the bank in time. Setting up an account should be easy if you contact your bank.

As digital technology has improved it also seems as though lives have become increasingly more challenging. We are never more than being a few moments away from being online and as work starts to creep into our homes, it is common for many people to get stressed about work in modern society. With a couple of these suggestions you should be able to save a bit of time every day and that will hopefully mean less being less stressed!

Tuesday 24 August 2010

Best Student Guide for Using the Internet

The world wide web is fast growing to be a requirement for every profession. Irrespective of whether you are a pharmacist, a consultant or a business person you will benefit from the world wide web nearly every day for messages, study, drafting paperwork or anything else. For university students, the net is without a doubt priceless. The following are several ideas for using the net for students – tips for studying, socializing and also managing spare time. Whether you are a returning student or just starting your studies this Autumn, it is important to find out how to make use of the web to assist your studies.

To begin with, you should really learn how to manage your email messages properly. Emails are quickly turning into the favored method for just about all modes of communication and most lecturers will decide to email important information (like examination dates, due dates etc). Professors seem to be notoriously busy and routinely difficult to get in touch with. Arranging a tutorial via email is usually the simplest way. As you progress in your time at school and carry out considerably more study, you will find you are writing many more emails to contacts that you have made. It is a good idea to make folders and also organize your email efficiently. Why not create a folder for every lecture you are in enrolled in. Your college or university may use an unfamiliar email service provider but should definitely have IT support and tuition to assist you.

Furthermore, it is definitely important to make use of the net to organize your research. Essays and dissertations can be the bane for many students yet with efficient use of the internet you can make them a little less difficult to take care of. For starters, the world wide web is a great resource for journals and online books for carrying out research. Journals and articles are often considered as more useful as compared with books as they tend to be current and based upon recent research whilst books can quickly become dated. Moreover, although your college or university library will certainly be filled with literature specifically for all your modules, they may only have just one copy or they may be reference only. Which is why articles are more readily available. The vast majority of universities and colleges will offer you remote access for pupils to periodicals. Most modules will give you reading lists but journals also provide students the chance to find other relevant studies. Moreover, the internet also allows you to watch online videos or even listen to podcasts that might be related to an exam or dissertation question. These can offer you a much wider overview of the subject and you may just enjoy it more as well.

This raises yet another important technique to use the internet. You should use the net to bookmark all of the research that you do (all the articles that you find helpful or any websites with valuable information). Bookmark all of them and you will probably find your essays are a lot easier to finish and studying a piece of cake! If you use an online bookmark website, you can save bookmarks online and gain access to them from anyplace – the library, at home, on the move. Though it is essential to manage. You should definitely set up folders or tag all your bookmarks. Have a tag for each class, and then for each essay or dissertation that must be handed in. Bookmark all of your articles and online resources and you may find you are able to study for exams a lot less difficult. You could even use free personalized home pages to be able to better organize your time online – set up bookmarks to your school website, email program, online social network websites and online resources.

It is even more important never to forget that a fantastic reason to study at to university or college is about meeting new people. Your college or university should have activities clubs along with societies and they will definitely use the web to plan parties, socials and all sorts of trips. Feel free to sign up for user discussion forums and online communities and get to meet people outside of your course. One of the best things about university or college is that so many different people enroll everyone is bound to meet someone with similar passions. You may also use traditional online social networks to meet new friends as well as keep in contact with your old friends if/when you move away. And let's not forget all the student discounts that are available!

It is vital to have a healthy and well balanced life at university and college. Take it seriously enough to get something out of it but still relish your time there and meet lots of new people. By using the world wide web, you can manage your time better meaning you can do just that! Get the ideal balance between time spent studying and time spent having fun.

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Follow myhomepage.com on LinkedIn!

Myhomepage.com now has a company profile on LinkedIn. You can now followed us by checking out the Myhomepage.com LinkedIn profile. Or by clicking the little button to the right.

Friday 6 August 2010

Myhomepage Talks to Web Analytics World!

Myhomepage recently had the pleasure of speaking with Manoj Jasra
at Web Analytics World. Web Analytics World is a great website and we are very honoured to be showcased on there. Please check out the article here.

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Android Has Biggest Growth in Smartphone Market

The smartphone has become the new ubiquitous gadget that everyone seems to have. We have seen the casette player, the handheld video game console, the mp3 player and the humble, normal, mobile phone dominate the pockets of jackets and bags over the recent years. Step forward the smartphone. To be fair, the smartphone is just the next generation of mobile telephone devices but with advances in technology, you are now able to download music, video and games to your smartphone, browse the web, word process, send and receive emails and so much more. The phone has become a way to interact with the world not just one on one.

Perhaps the most famous smartphone is the iPhone 4 and its previous incarnations. However new research by Canalys suggests the iPhone is not as dominant as the media makes out. In fact, it is the third most popular smartphone device. And whilst it has seen a growth of over 60% from last year, it is dwarfed by Android's 886% increase in growth.

Google's Android is increasingly winning favour over Apple's iPhone platform for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it is available on many different devices from many different manufacturers, so there are lot more choices for consumers. Furthermore, the Android App Market has a strong community behind it and continues to grow. This is an amazing achievement for Android. It certainly hasn't been grabbing the headlines like Apple's offering but it is nice to see that there is still competition.

All smartphone providers have seen an increase in sales apart from Windows, although Windows 7 Mobile OS might change that. Interestingly, Symbian is still the undisputed market leader with more than double the share of its nearest rival. Symbian, however, looks like it is going to be phased out eventually by Nokia. Symbian is a relatively old smartphone OS and Nokia's stronghold in Africa, Asia and Europe accounts for the platform's success. However, it seems Nokia are aware that Symbian may not contend well with the latest smartphone OS platforms as it is continuing to show support for Linux based Maemo and Meego platforms.



Friday 30 July 2010

How to Avoid Twitter Embarrassment

Twitter is a social phenomenon. Millions of people use it daily, many constantly use it through the day - tweeting lots of times in an hour, in a minute and so on. Regardless of whether it has already reached its peak and users are jumping ship to micro-blogging with a bit more meat (Tumblr, Posterious, Soup etc.) or if it will continue to be a leading tool for social communication, it is not without its controversy and troubles.

A recent spat between nutritionist Gillian McKeith and good science advocate Ben Goldacre has made a few headlines in the UK. This reminded me of many other occasions where celebrities have got into some both because of throwaway tweets. It's important to remember that twitter is public. Unless you make your account private, anyone can see it. Not just your followers, not just other Twitter users but everyone with access to the Internet will be able to read it. Likewise, deleting your tweet might not also mean it's permenantly deleted. The web has a canny nack for caching and archiving itself.

There are a few things to keep in mind though when tweeting. Remember that unlike web forums or message boards, twitter can be linked back to you as a person. It is not so easy to be anonymous on Twitter. Thus, don't say something that you wouldn't be comfortable saying in public and if it's about someone/something in particular, don't say it if you would not say it to them in person. Even though you might not think they'll read it, they just might and then what will you do? There are many examples of people getting fired from jobs for posting things online that they shouldn't or professional relationships fall apart over things one party has said on Twitter.

Twitter, above all else, is a communication tool. Thus, someone is bound to read your tweet at one point or another so you must always be careful about what you say or post. Not just disparaging things, but don't post things that are too private. This cannot be stressed enough! I know for a lot of people, the Internet has become so ubiquitous that it is a part of everyday life and it is hard to see where online communication differs from offline communication. And in some respects I agree. In some respects online communication has many positives over offline communication but there are some negatives. Online communication is often with people you don't know well. Things you confide in them might not remain confidential.

Similarly, you have to be sure that the person you are talking to is actually the person you want to talk to. Many celebrities and famous people have opened Twitter accounts, many others have not. The person who you are following and think is your favorite singer or actor, might just actually be Average Joe from up the road. They don't even have to be famous, people may choose to fabricate an online persona or embellish the truth a little. Always be sure you trust the person 100% before revealing anything that you may regret telling in the future.

As much as Twitter is, it's always important to remember it is not a private IM conversation, it is very public and people just might bring you up on your tweets!

Thursday 29 July 2010

Average Global Internet Speeds

A new report by Akamai has revealed global Internet speeds. Surprisingly, the average global speed is only 1.7 Mbps, I think a lot of tech people would be beside themselves if they only had this speed. I remember when we first got the Internet at our home. Dialup at 256Kbps I think. The wonderful crackling sound of connecting - young people these days will have never heard that sound, they don't know what they're missing! I also remember visiting a relative who didn't have broadband yet a few years ago. It took about an hour to download MSN.

What is not surprising about the report is that South Korea, often regarded to have the most cutting-edge broadband technology, has the highest average Internet speed at 12Mbps but the fastest average speed for south Korea is 33Mbps! South Korea also has access to speeds of up to 100Mbps but they are too expensive.

The UK's average speed is a mere 3.8Mbps with the highest average speed by 12Mbps. The UK comes in at 27th out of 201 countries which is a pretty poor show if you ask me! I think generally, broadband speeds have plataued slightly in the UK and prices have not come down that drastically. However, there are cheaper broadband options but they are slower and better suit people's needs (I'm all for users paying for what they need, not paying too much for something they don't need).

Japan seems to be leading the way with coverage and supply though as more than half of the fastest 100 cities in the world being in Japan. Furthering the trend of Asian countries leading the broadband market, the top 3 average Internet speeds go to South Korea (12Mbps), Hong Kong (9Mbps) and Japan (7.8Mbps).

I would like to see the average Internet speed of the UK increased. Recently the UK government wanted to have a minimum broadband speed of 2Mbps for everyone (even in the remote areas of the country) but sadly this has been put on hold for the time being.