IE, if you didn’t know you do now!

Posted on November 10, 2011 by admin


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Siri, Siri ask Siri!

Posted on November 7, 2011 by admin
Siri seems to be a huge topic since the release of the iPhone 4S. What is Siri, how can siri help me? Should Google really be worried about Siri changing the search engines. 
Apple says:
Siri on iPhone 4S lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it.
UA Sites Web Master~

iPhone 4S users have been able to enjoy conversations with Siri. But owners of older iPhones have no Siri to talk to. Why?

Tearing down the iPhone 4S, the gurus at iFixit believe that Siri’s absence on older phones is connected to changes in the proximity sensor used in the new iPhone.

The proximity sensor judges when your face is near the phone so it can dim the display and disable the keyboard. In past model iPhones, it turns on only during a call and then turn offs when the call is completed.

But Siri also makes use of the proximity sensor since there’s a Raise to Speak option that activates the voice assistant when you bring the phone to your face.

To enable this feature, the proximity sensor in the new phone is now active all the time, not just during a call, says iFixit. This means that the sensor’s infrared LED is constantly shining, though it’s undetectable except through certain digital camers, which is how iFixit found and recorded it.

This finding initially led others, including 9to5Mac readers, to assume that iFixit was pinning the blame on an actual hardware change in the sensor for the iPhone, which prompted iFixit to respond with the following clarification:

“The IR LED definitely appears to be different on the 4S when compared to the iPhone 4, but we don’t think that the hardware change is causing the light to be continuously lit. That functionality is built into the software system, since it’s the software that tells the light when to turn on, and when to turn off.”

Still, some of the commenters on 9to5Mac seem dubious that the proximity sensor is the only reason why Siri won’t work on older iPhones. The Raise to Speak option is not necessary to use Siri, as several pointed out. Apple lets iPhone 4S users turn off that option, in which case Siri can be activated just by holding down the Home button.

Some reports have claimed that Siri requires the power of the dual-core A5 chip found in the iPhone 4S. But that same chip powers the iPad 2. Others have pointed to the quality of the microphone on the iPhone 4S as a factor.

I even asked Siri why she doesn’t support older iPhones, but she played dumb, instead displaying a page of definitions from Wolfram Alpha.

Whatever the reason, the future of Siri on older iPhones remains unclear. One recent report claimed that Apple was testing the feature on the iPhone 4 and other models. But another report said that Apple has no plans to support Siri on anything but the iPhone 4S.

Some developers and hackers have been striving to get the voice assistant to talk on older iPhone models as well other Apple devices.

Hacker Steven Troughton-Smith said that he was able to get Siri to work on an iPhone 4 and and iPod Touch, though with some limitations. Troughton-Smith also managed to coax Siri onto an iPhone 3GS but he conceded that the performance was not good.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on just why Siri isn’t supported on older iPhones.

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HOW DO I GET TRAFFIC TO MY SITE?

Posted on November 1, 2011 by admin


Many people think that having a good website is all you need to get tons of visitors. Wrong answer. Getting traffic to your site takes hard work and diligence and is not accomplished overnight. Think about it this way – how are people supposed to know where to find your site if you don’t tell them? You must advertise. Here are some proven ways to advertise your site without spending [much] money:

  1. Submit your site to as many search engines as you can. Here are some of the popular ones you can start with:

    Alexa AltaVista AllTheWeb AOL Ask
    DMOZ ExactSeek Excite GigaBlast Google
    What-U-Seek Kanoodle Live Lycos LookSmart
    MSN National Directory Yahoo Bing WebCrawler

  2. Use a favicon.ico – see below.
  3. If you have a Christian Website, be sure to submit it to all the Christian Directories. We have a list of about 50 of the most popular Christian Directories here. (sadly the list gets shorter by the month)
  4. Have Dynamic content on your site – Message Board, Links Directory, Guest Book, Online Search, Picture Gallery, Quote of the day, News items, Site Search, Links Engine … It all makes for a more enjoyable experience for your visitors … and interested visitors come back.
  5. Make sure you don’t have broken links on your site! There is nothing more annoying when one clicks a link and it does not work. There are hundreds of places you can go on the internet that will check your link validity. Use them.
  6. Make sure your META TAGS are done right. Learn how to do this here.
  7. Submit your site to as many privately run Link Directories/Search Engines as you can find. These will not generally boost your traffic in any major way but will help to maintain steady stream of qualified visitors.
  8. Use Banners with care. See below.
  9. Subscribe to the Usenet groups and advertise there. A good place to start is Google Groups
    • Be sure to submit your site in appropriate groups!
    • Be sure to signup with a backup email or you will get onto every spammers database!
    • Be sure you don’t SPAM — only submit a write up of your site once to any given group.
  10. Use social networking sites like Twitter, facebook, YouTube, Plaxo, Linkedin and others to get the word out.

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Verizon Wireless Sells Customers’ Information to Businesses

Posted on October 31, 2011 by admin
Yet again more of your personal info is being exploited. To be honest I am not surprised in the least bit. When do they get to decide if you want people to know what kind of treads you have to provide you with custom advertising. Come on why don’t we let them in our homes and give them a grand tour.This is no trick! Happy Halloween! 
UA Sites Web Master~

Your cell phone company knows a lot about you – where you live, what you surf on the web, and where you are.

Now, Verizon Wireless is the first mobile provider to publicly confirm that it’s selling its customers’ information directly to businesses.

Verizon Wireless is not alone, though. AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile also use your data to make extra cash. They say they make money by helping vendors target you with ads.

Original Post 

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Upstart Unthink wants to become the new anti-Facebook

Posted on October 26, 2011 by admin
I have high hopes that the social giant will be taken down. No I am not saying that i want someone to hack FaceBook and take them down.  I do not think that FaceBook should go away. I feel that it has become so consuming and overwhelming to families and relationships. There has been some good that has come from FaceBook but at the same time there has come a lot of bad. I think that there are other companies out there that could offer more options and be less invasive. I hope that with Unlink comes a lot of  increased security and also not plaster your personal info across the web. 

UA Sites Admin~

(Mashable) — The rumor that Facebook will suddenly start charging users to access the site has become one of the social media era’s perennial chain letters.

While Facebook prominently advertises that its service is “free and always will be” on its homepage, it hasn’t stopped false rumors of a pay scheme from going viral on numerous occasions, most recently in conjunction with the major profile redesign that the site announced earlier this month.

Given the ubiquity of these rumors, we thought it was worth exploring their origin — and why we can guarantee Facebook will never charge you to use its service.

A long history

Chain letters — which date back to the days of snail mail — have dogged nearly every online service that achieved critical mass. While they vary in the details, the general premise is that something negative will happen to your account unless you spread the message to your friends.

Facebook unveils ‘Timeline’ feature

Andy Samberg spoofs Mark Zuckerberg

On AIM, this took the form of IMs that needed to be shared with friends to avoid account deletion. On Friendster, rumors spread that the service was getting “too crowded” — and hence, they needed to determine which accounts were active and remove those that weren’t. On MySpace, word was that the service was getting so popular that the site would soon start charging members, and the only way to avoid the fees was to — you guessed it — forward the message to your friends.

Of course, none of these situations ever actually materialized, but it didn’t stop millions of users from passing the message along. Snopes has a detailed overview of these scams and others that have permeated the web over the years, going all the way back to the early days of Hotmail.

Facebook’s business model

The recent round of Facebook rumors suggest that the site will start charging for membership as a result of the upcoming new profiles. The new Facebook does indeed feature some dramatic changes, but you can rest assured that one of them isn’t that the site will start charging you.

Here’s why: For starters, it doesn’t need the money. Facebook is estimated to be on track to pull in around $4 billion in revenue in 2011, and has raised more than $2 billion in venture capital. It’s also on track to go public in 2012, a move that would bring in significantly more capital for the company and value it at between $80 billion and $100 billion.

More importantly, the company’s business model revolves around having as many users as possible. Remaining free is paramount to doing that. Facebook makes its money on highly targeted advertising that’s based on the plethora of data that its members share on the site. Restricting users’ ability to use the site would actually be detrimental to that model.

Facebook didn’t even introduce its ad platform until 2007 — because the company wanted to focus on adding users as quickly as possible.

That’s not to say social networking sites haven’t found success in charging members for some services. LinkedIn offers premium memberships with features such as enhanced search, direct messaging and seeing who has viewed your profile. Some dating sites, like Match.com and eHarmony charge users to message each other. Still, those services are appealing to a specific audience — Facebook’s goal is to connect everyone in the world. That can’t be done if you need a credit card to use the service.

Why it will never charge you

Of course, Facebook is in business to make money. Beyond advertising, it has found ways to profit directly from its users through Facebook Credits, a form of currency that can be used on the site in social games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars.

In the future, we expect Facebook to find additional ways to monetize. The company could grow its credit system to become a rival to PayPal. We could also see Facebook extending its ad platform beyond the social network itself and onto the wider Web — in order to compete with Google’s AdSense.

There’s also potential in e-commerce. Although Facebook’s Deals product fell flat, an increasing number of merchants are starting to sell their wares directly on the social networking site. Might Facebook one day provide its own tools for powering such activity? It’s certainly possible.

The one thing that all of these models have in common is that they need a critical mass of users to be successful. Facebook has that, and would never risk losing it by charging people for basic access to the tools that make its multi-billion dollar business work.

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New attack tool targets Web servers using secure connections

Posted on October 24, 2011 by admin
At least this info was released and made public. Now it needs to be addressed. Any think that is created by a human or human beings will be flawed. We are not perfect so how can anything we create be perfect. It is no possible and there will always be loops holes. The real question is are the ones who have the power to correct the problem going to do anything about it? We shall see.
Web Master~

Hackers have released a program they assert will allow a single computer to take down a Web server using a secure connection.

The THC-SSL-DOS tool, which was released today, purportedly exploits a flaw in Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) renegotiation protocol by overwhelming the system with multiple requests for secure connections. SSL renegotiation allows Web sites to create a new security key over an already established SSL connection.

A German group known as Hackers Choice said it released the exploit to bring attention to flaws in SSL, which allows sensitive data to flow between Web sites and an individual user’s computer without being intercepted.

“We are hoping that the fishy security in SSL does not go unnoticed,” an unidentified member of the group said in a blog post. “The industry should step in to fix the problem so that citizens are safe and secure again. SSL is using an aging method of protecting private data which is complex, unnecessary and not fit for the 21st century.”

The exploit also works on servers that don’t have SSL renegotiation enabled, the group said, but requires some modification and more computers. The group said the exploit will allow a single IBM laptop to take down the average server over a standard DSL connection.

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Long-Awaited Google+ Features Arriving Soon!

Posted on October 21, 2011 by admin
It is good to see that Google is trying to cater to issues Facebook hasn’t addressed. I am fully in support of Google Plus + having the upper hand on Facebook. Its also a good feeling to know that they are trying to keep things private for you. Also when it is setup by default it is not leaving you exposed to all kinds of security risks. I am excited to see the changes and I plan to be integrating them into the websites with a good API. How awesome would it be if you could manage the majority of your online accounts in one central location. I am working on it and hope to have something before next spring. Sign up for Google Plus + .
 
UA Sites Admin~ 

Google’s Google+ now has 40 million users. “Not bad for a first month,” said Vic Gundotra, Google’s vice president of engineering, on Wednesday.

“It exceeded our wildest expectations,” Gundotra said, as he and Sergey Brin appeared on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

Google+ logoAlthough Google has it fingers in any number of pies, interlocutor John Battelle focused mainly on the differences between Google+ and Facebook.

Brin and Gundotra said that over 3.4 billion photos have been uploaded to Google+, after Google “freed” them from the smartphone, he said. And pseudonyms are coming, after users complained about being forced to use real names, rather than nicknames or handles. Tying Google+ to Google Apps should be coming in a few days, Gundotra added. Brand pages are coming, not in days, but shortly, he said. A more coherent Google+ strategy should arrive by Christmas, Gundotra said.

Brin, who was intimately involved in the design of Google+, professed himself pleased with the progress. “I’m not a very social person myself; I have spent time on social networks, Friendster, or Orkut… or Facebook or Twitter,” Brin said. “I haven’t been active on many of them,” but he did so because of his job. “Google+ instantly felt compelling.”

“There is a reason that every thought in your head does not come out your mouth,” Gundotra said, when asked about the open graph and open sharing model that Facebook uses.

How can Google address the problem of attracting mainstream users? Gundotra said that Facebook has a huge advantage. But most users are actually on Google, and one day, every user might see an icon in the top right notifying them that their long-lost friend has joined the system.

“I completely agree with you that some of our products and services seem scattered over the past few years,” Brin said, insisting that the company is trying to clean them up.

“In some ways we’ve always run the company in letting a thousand flowers bloom. But once they do bloom, you want to pay together a coherent bouquet,” he said.

Batelle also asked Brin to respond to a comment by Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who claimed that Microsoft was “winning winning winning winning” over Google in online apps, like Office Live versus Google Apps. Over 4 million businesses use Google Apps, and when Brin asked for a show of hands, a large percentage of the audience said they used them.

Brin and Gundotra said the morale at Google is at a high, after Larry Page was named chief executive.

“There is something going on Google that’s hard to explain unless you’re there … when Mary Meeker put up her slide up on the Android momentum, there was an audible gasp. But the momentum is there,” Gundotra said.

Brin said he is actively working on the autonomous car project. “I’m optimistic that will happen,” he said of the chance that it will be brought to market.

Battelle also asked about the “platforms” memo that appeared on Google+. “I will be lying to you if I told you that wasn’t a bad thing,” Gundotra said. The employee didn’t work on the Google+ development team, but wasn’t fired.

“On the other hand, it gave the outside world a window in how we work at the team,” Gundotra said.

But Gundotra also said he would take a “cautious approach” to APIs. “When we release an API we want developers to have high confidence that they can depend on Google.”

“We’re working on it,” Gundotra said.

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Facebook power users ‘have gone to Google+ and Twitter’

Posted on October 20, 2011 by admin
This FaceBook security and lack of customization has been a big topic lately. I am very happy to see that the power users out there are climbing down off the ban wagon and actually looking for something that will work well for them. We can customize our desktops, our smart phones our webmail email accounts why cant we customize our FaceBook accounts? There is a new social media network coming out today called Chime.in. This social media website is supposed to be very customizable even more than Google +.
 
Web Master~
 

Facebook’s biggest threat is that its ‘power users’ have gone to Twitter or Google+, one of its founding investors and former president has said.

Sean Parker, a co-founder of original music file-sharing service Napster and a prominent Facebook shareholder, as well as, one time president of the site, has gone on the record saying that the social network’s biggest problem is not privacy – it’s the fact that some of its heaviest users have defected to other services because of a lack of decent set of controls.

Speaking at the annual Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Parker said: “The strategic threat to Facebook is that power users have gone to Twitter or to Google+.”

The technology entrepreneur, who is also now a Spotify investor, defined power users as those who contribute “tones of content to Facebook which is being consumed by everyone else” and called them “important networkers’ who prop the social network up. It his belief that some of these users have left Facebook for Twitter and Google+ because they have a lack of good controls over the information they see and who they share it with.

“I am trying to lean in the direction of giving these users more tools but not privacy tools,” Parker explained.

“I don’t think privacy is an issue. That may be controversial but I don’t think that’s Facebook’s biggest problem. I think Facebook’s biggest problem is the glut of information that Facebook’s power users are overwhelmed with… [Facebook] needs to address the need of power users to have more controls.

“They want to control what information they are seeing by basically organising their friends – and that should happen organically – you shouldn’t never have to go to some separate place to do so.”

He said Facebook’s recently released product, ‘smart lists’ – which helps people arrange their friends into different social groups with greater ease, was a “step in the right direction” and the first time “Facebook users have been given some degree of control over how to filter their experience” on the site.

“The next step is, once you have your friend network organised into some sensible lists…you can start selectively broadcasting to those lists,” Parker revealed.

Parker was quizzed on how Google+ could ever steal Facebook’s crown and become the social network of choice. He said that it would be tough as it is difficult to compete with “network effects” – as in getting all of a person’s friends, and their friends of friends onto a new network.

However, he conceded that obviously it could happen as the world saw with MySpace and Facebook. But in order for Google+ to become more popular than Facebook Parker said: “Facebook would have to screw up royally and Google would have to do something really smart.”

He added: “It can happen – it obviously happened with people switching from MySpace to Facebook – but it requires systematic consistent product execution over a long period of time; but it also requires the systematic failure on the part of the incumbent network.”

The investor, who was played by Justin Timberlake in the recent film The Social Network, was also asked about whether people were correct to be worried about how much information Facebook had stored about each of it 800 million users, and whether the social network should be viewed as “creepy” for having too much power.

He guardedly said that his role as a shareholder would not allow him to answer the question “satisfactorily”.

However, he quipped: “Look, I mean there’s good creepy and there’s bad creepy. And today’s creepy is tomorrow’s necessity.”

Parker, who is working on his own new start up called ‘Airtime’ – believed to be attempting to disrupt current TV on demand services, also defended Spotify’s recent tethering to Facebook.

“It gives Spotify access to Facebook’s roughly 800 million users and it enables music to go massively viral,” he explained.

He said the Swedish music service, which recently launched in America, was doing a good job in trying to finish what Parker had started with Napster: the attempt to create a frictionless social music sharing service, not controlled by the traditional gatekeepers of the music industry.

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Cloud: What is it really?

Posted on October 19, 2011 by admin
Some of you may have heard of this “Cloud” some of you may be using it. The word is used freely and openly but what about everyone who doesn’t know the “Cloud” from a cloud! I figured that some of you may find it important to know what it means and where you are sending all of your data. I found this article and I think you may find it useful.
 
Web Master~

Cloud computing is all the rage. “It’s become the phrase du jour,” says Gartner senior analyst Ben Pring, echoing many of his peers. The problem is that (as with Web 2.0) everyone seems to have a different definition.

As a metaphor for the Internet, “the cloud” is a familiar cliché, but when combined with “computing,” the meaning gets bigger and fuzzier. Some analysts and vendors define cloud computing narrowly as an updated version of utility computing: basically virtual servers available over the Internet. Others go very broad, arguing anything you consume outside the firewall is “in the cloud,” including conventional outsourcing.

Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT’s existing capabilities.

Cloud computing is at an early stage, with a motley crew of providers large and small delivering a slew of cloud-based services, from full-blown applications to storage services to spam filtering. Yes, utility-style infrastructure providers are part of the mix, but so are SaaS (software as a service) providers such as Salesforce.com. Today, for the most part, IT must plug into cloud-based services individually, but cloud computing aggregators and integrators are already emerging.

InfoWorld talked to dozens of vendors, analysts, and IT customers to tease out the various components of cloud computing. Based on those discussions, here’s a rough breakdown of what cloud computing is all about:

Posted in Breaking it Down | Leave a comment

Microsoft’s Build keynote: 5 key takeaways

Posted on October 18, 2011 by admin
I think this is awesome! I love that Microsoft is opening a development side of it. I see it as being good but then again i see it as being a security risk. I think this feature might really grab the attention of the software hackers.
Admin

Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's president of the Windows Division pitches attendees at the Build conference.Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft’s president of the Windows division, pitches attendees at the Build conference.

(Credit: Microsoft)

At its Build conference in Anaheim, Calif., Microsoft today gave developers a deep dive into Windows 8, the company’s upcoming operating system designed to run on desktops, notebooks, and touch-screen tablets.

The key takeaway is the software itself, which developers get their hands on this evening. Developers at the show will also walk away with what Microsoft is calling a “Developer PC.” It’s a Samsung slate with a developer preview version of Windows 8 meant for building and testing applications, including those made especially for tablets.

Microsoft spent the bulk of the presentation demonstrating Windows 8 itself, as well as well as demonstrating how to build applications that fit the new paradigm of an OS that can work as both a touch and tablet experience and Windows as its traditional desktop OS. The company also went over how the OS can fit into a variety of hardware, from old Netbooks to slates and bleeding-edge gaming rigs.

Here are five main things focused on in Microsoft’s presentation, which ran nearly two and a half hours:

1. Windows 7 is still going strong
Even though the day was about Windows 8, Microsoft announced it’s approaching 450 million copies of Windows 7 sold thus far, with Windows 7 “consumer usage” coming in greater than Windows XP.

2. Metro is here
Windows’ new trick is swapping between the traditional Windows interface, and the new “Metro” style that’s touch-friendly. While the new star of the show is the Metro look, Microsoft demonstrated that you can very quickly make apps that work with both interfaces, as well as using the Metro interface even if you don’t have a touch screen. We also got to see how Microsoft is managing to bring over some of its apps like its e-mail client, contacts, photos, Web browser, and calendaring tools to the newer style.

Windows 8's Metro look. Windows 8′s Metro look

(Credit: Microsoft)

3. Touch everything
Hand in hand with Metro is the use of touch, offering users on tablets a way to interact with Windows minus the stylus. Microsoft was keen to point out that Windows 8 users can continue to use a pen, or their finger, including variants on the operating system’s virtual keyboard that let users touch type keys, or write things out using Microsoft’s handwriting recognition technology.

4. Windows 8 is cloud-enabled
A key component of Windows 8 is integration with Microsoft’s cloud services. In today’s demo, that included a look at how Windows 8 can tap into SkyDrive to fetch files and make data available between multiple computers, even if they’re behind corporate firewalls. A demo that didn’t quite work aimed to show how SkyDrive could be used to simplify file sharing between Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7 devices.

5. Build with us
Of course the main reason to fully debut the software at a developer event is to get developers interested. Microsoft focused this message into the ease of development and deployment. Onstage demos included building Metro-style applications on the platform, then testing them out and posting them for sale on Microsoft’s upcoming Windows application store. The company also provided reference hardware to attendees, and a preview version of the software to get started.

For more on Windows 8, you can catch the rest of CNET’s coverage with the below

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Ballmer beats drum for Windows 8

Posted on October 17, 2011 by admin
I think that windows is being open about the OS {Operating System) and UI (User Interface). I think it is important to get feed back on such a big product before it is released. I think they will find that they get better feed back because of how open they are and maybe they will actually listen. I have said it before but I will say it again. I think that with the update being such a change (like Vista was for XP) that they need to make sure they double check when they Dot their I’s and cross their T’s. I am excited to get my hands on a copy of the new OS.
Website Administrator.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/CNET)

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer really wants to sell you on Windows 8, touting features ranging from a new lock screen that still shares updates to the benefits of the controversial Metro user interface.

In a demo and discussion of the new OS at the Dell World conference on Friday, Ballmer focused on four key features, according to a report from Information Week, though some of it was ground that’s already been covered.

 

A new lock screen that pops up when you’re away from your PC displays a “peaceful mountain view.” And though the OS is locked, you can still see prompts for incoming e-mail messages, social network posts, and other updates so you know what’s waiting for you when you log back into Windows.

The new Metro-based Start screen has already been demoed and appears in the Windows 8 Developer Preview, but Ballmer took time to once again highlight this new feature. The CEO showed how a user can rearrange the various tiles by dragging and dropping them around the screen. Of course, of all the new features destined for Windows 8, the Metro screen has probably aroused the greatest number of complaints and concerns from Windows users.

In a recent Building Windows 8 blog, Windows Live President Steven Sinofsky admitted that the company has received harsh criticism from people who just don’t like the new Metro UI Start screen. Some have criticized the new screen for not offering the flexibility and organization of the traditional Windows Start menu. Others have griped that the new touch-based Start menu may work fine on smartphones and tablets but has no home on a PC where people still use a keyboard and mouse.

In response, Microsoft reminded people that the Start menu seen in the Developer Preview is by no means the final version. The company said it has been tweaking the feature to address some of the concerns and questions among the user population.

At Dell World, Ballmer also showed the audience how to “extract” specific data from a news feed or stock market report to display such data in a separate tile that’s constantly updated. Microsoft has been touting the ability of the Metro Live Tiles to provide users with the latest information on a range of items without having to leave the Screen screen.

Finally, Ballmer turned his attention to Windows Server 8 by highlighting a live migration feature that will let IT administrators move a virtual machine to a physical server without any interruption to the business. Though that feature first appeared in Windows Server 2008, its implementation in the new server OS is “simpler and smoother,” according to the Information Week report.

Microsoft hasn’t been shy about showing off and discussing Windows 8, at least in the operating sytem’s current state. It released the Developer Preview edition a little more than a month ago at the same time that it demoed the OS at its Build conference.

The company has also been explaining several of the changes and new features in Windows 8 via its Building Windows 8 blog. And it’s invited and responded to feedback from users through that blog, even when that feedback has been less than positive.

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Another Website Tip!

Posted on October 14, 2011 by admin

Web, Success online is not easy. The information I have given you is true and will work. But its not that simple. There is a lot to master each individual step of the process. There are experts in every field. You are probably slightly confused from my posts because I do not give you deep information about anything other then a shallow part of a highly effective and highly profitable system.

• You probably still do not know what to do with all your data.

• You probably do not know how to set up your website

• You probably don’t know copywriting.

Its not possible to learn the success online from 5 emails and there is no magic success button. The only way to become successful is through knowledge and taking action. I can not help you to take action, but I can help you with the knowledge. The real secret to successful web design. I’ve been doing a lot of websites the last couple of years. I’ve only really made any money of it since November last year when I found veteran web design Ben Hunt. He had put together a course that would make even the most experienced web designers to rethink the way they design websites. I am one of those web designers and I’m giving you my real secret to success. Beeing a part of the Pro Web Design Alliance. Its not a course anymore – It’s a web design club consisting of some of the worlds best web designers. You are not only getting the opportunity to learn from the pros – you are getting invited into a web designers community that will help you with every aspect of online success. The course still exists and contains hundreds of training videos from photoshop designs to SEO and conversion to business development, web site reviews and high end experiments that you can watch at any time. There is NO magic button. What you get is pure, tested and real knowledge into the world of online marketing that you can use to achieve massive success. Using the knowledge provided from the alliance, you cannot fail as long as you keep the action. If you are a web designer, a business owner, a copywriter or a student looking to make money.

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Many Websites ‘leaking’ Personal Info to Other Firms

Posted on October 12, 2011 by admin

There are so many of these loop holes in the internet. I have said it before and i will say it again. If you do not want your info to be public knowledge then throw away your computer and cell phone, get rid of your vehicle if you have OnStar. Everything that is going on in the world today is being monitored. Remember the patriot act. Your electronic info is now public knowledge if the Government see’s fit. I know there are agency’s out there who say you are protected but when it comes down to it your not. They there are plenty of sites out there that do try to make an effort to keep your info private but over all most of them do not. Pay attention to where you are going and if you are transferring sensitive info make sure that the domain name in the address bar starts with “https:// not just http:// . The

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) with SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted …

~UA Sites Admin

Be Careful out there! Don’t get caught up in the crossfire.

Study: Many Websites ‘leaking’ Personal Info to Other Firms By Grant Gross, IDG News Many top websites share their visitors’ names, usernames or other personal information with their partners without telling users and, in some cases, without knowing they’re doing it, according to a new study from Stanford University. Similar Articles: Password Manager Internet Explorer IQ Story Called a Hoax Facebook Privacy Fail: Apps Leak Private Info, Report Facebook Backs Off Third-Party Data-Sharing Plan Porn Site Users Beware: LulzSec Posts Your E-mail Address Google’s ‘Me on the Web’ Tool Alerts You to Personal Data Leaks Study Casts Pirate Site Users in Good Light Many websites “leak” usernames to third-party advertising networks by including usernames in URLs that the ad networks can see in referrer headers, said the study, released Tuesday by Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society. While there’s a debate in legal circles whether usernames are personal information, there’s a growing consensus among computer scientists that Web-based companies can use usernames to identify their owners, said Jonathan Mayer, a Stanford graduate student who led the study. “The vast majority of usernames are unique,” he said. “Given the prevalence of social networking, often times, once you have a username for a social network, you then also have a person’s real name, possibly a photo, possibly more.” Other websites share first names, email addresses and other information with advertising or other partners, Mayer said at a privacy conference in Washington, D.C. Those identifiers “get associated not just with what you’re doing right now, but get associated with what you’ve done in the past, and what Web browsing activity you may have in the future,” he said. In many cases, the large websites appear to not inform users of the personal information they’re sharing, the Stanford study said. “From a legal perspective, identifying information leakage is a debacle,” the study said. “Many … websites make what would appear to be incorrect, or at minimum misleading, representations.” The Stanford researchers looked at 185 of the largest websites and found that 61 percent of them shared usernames or user IDs with third parties. The information went most often to Web analytics firms comScore and Google Analytics, advertising firms Quantcast and Google’s DoubleClick and to Facebook, the study said. At HomeDepot.com, viewing a local ad resulted in the user’s first name and email address being sent to 13 companies, the study said. Signing up at weather site Weather Underground sent the user’s email address to 22 companies, and interacting with Classmates.com sent the user’s first and last names to 22 companies, the study said. Popular photo-sharing site Photobucket sent the username to 31 other companies, the study said. Changing user settings on the video sharing site Metacafe sends the user’s first name, last name, birthday, email address, physical address and phone numbers to two other companies, the study said. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a tech-focused think tank, questioned the study’s assertion that it debunked the myth that digital data collection is anonymous. “Despite the hype, the report merely identified some known technical issues that websites can address to improve privacy,” said Daniel Castro, a senior analyst at ITIF. “The fact remains that the vast majority of organizations and businesses on the Internet do not abuse consumer data and have policies and practices in place to protect consumers.” Online advertising, including targeted advertising, is the foundation of the Internet economy and pays for free content and services online, Castro said. Websites are “working diligently to strengthen and improve online advertising self-regulation,” he added. “Sound public policy should be guided by thoughtful commentary, not hysteria and fear-mongering.” Targeted, or behavioral, advertising is a “sliver” of all online advertising, Mayer said. “It’s often talked about that getting rid of behavioral advertising is going to torpedo the entire Internet economy,” he said. “I think it is uncontroversial to say, for now, that’s definitely not the case.” Steve DelBianco, executive director of e-commerce trade group NetChoice, disagreed, saying a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology study found that nontargeted ads are 65 percent less effective than targeted ads. “Targeted ads are essential for general-audience websites that don’t have inherent interests,” DelBianco said. “A 65 percent loss in ad revenue for a general news or blog site is far more serious than a sliver.” If websites are sharing usernames or other information, they should be transparent about it, DelBianco added. “When a user creates a relationship with a website, they need to know whether that website intends to also read its cookie — including the username — when the user visits other sites. If a company reads its cookies without fully disclosing where and how, the [U.S. Federal Trade Commission] should be taking enforcement action for unfair and deceptive trade practices.” Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant’s e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com. Was this article useful? Yes 1 No 0 Sponsored Resource: Do-it-yourself guide to home networking. Sponsored Links Business Plan Only $399Not a DIY, Free Marketing Review & Adv Fast Low Price & Easy Pay Plan!www.BizCentralUSA.com Starting a Small BusinessSmall Business Admin Services. Business.com: 75,000,000 Users.www.Business.com Find Personal InformationSearch for personal information online. Get the dirt on anyone $6.99!www.detectivemagic.com Local Local JobsFind Local Jobs Near You. See Actual Customer Reviews!Local.com Comments Readers reply with their ideas and expertise. Subscribe to this discussion via email or RSS Leave a comment Submit Comment Once you click submit you will be asked to sign in or register an account if you are not already a member. blackwavecruiser posted Tue Oct 11 12:37:52 PDT 2011 Wow. So virtually every business on the web is probably involved in some sort of dodgy shenanigans yet they demand and expect our honesty. No wonder I use so many usernames and email addresses I can’t even keep up with them all. Ha. Buying Guide Routers and Wireless Adapters: Here’s how to choose the equipment you need. Read more. Business News Daily Get the latest technology news that’s important to you and your business, fresh seven days a week. Best Prices on Networking software Most Popular All Categories pcAnywhere v.12.5 Host & Remote $59.00 and up See All Prices Global VPN Client $37.00 and up See All Prices SharePoint Portal Server External Connector – License & Software Assurance $62050.00 and up See All Prices Windows Rights Management Services $55.00 and up See All Prices See all Best Prices on Networking software » See also: Latest in Business Center Blogs Net Work – October 10, 2011 3:04 PM Why the iPhone 3GS Is Apple’s Secret Weapon The unveiling and presale of the iPhone 4S have hogged the headlines, but the stalwart iPhone 3GS may end up being the big hero of the iPhone lineup. Net Work – October 10, 2011 12:48 PM Keep Track of Your Money with Quicken 2012 I’ve used Quicken for managing my personal and business finances for nearly 20 years. Intuit continues to improve and evolve the software with new features. Linux Line – October 10, 2011 10:58 AM Ubuntu 11.10 Is in the Wings: Three Days and Counting A wide array of new features promise big improvements for use on desktops and servers. Simply Business – October 10, 2011 8:00 AM Cold Office? Keep Your Mouse Hand Warm with the ValueRays Warm Mouse This $30 optical mouse pulls double duty as a mini toaster, heating up just enough to keep your paw warm while you work. Tech Audit – October 10, 2011 6:30 AM Quick Poll: How Do You Use Virtualization? Virtualization is taking hold in data centers for both servers and desktops, and even storage and networking. How far have you come? Take our poll for the chance of winning a $25 Amazon gift certificate. BizFeed – October 08, 2011 8:05 AM Hotmail’s ‘Graymail’ Filter Will Help Business New features in Windows Live Hotmail will help users reduce unwanted email, but what if your company’s messages are part of the mix? All Blogs » Featured Webcasts Top 10 Concerns of Buying a VoIP Business Phone System Type: whitepaper Company: CompareBusinessProducts.com Categories: VOIP Buying a Phone System? Compare the 94 Business Phone Systems in One Chart Type: whitepaper Company: CompareBusinessProducts.com Categories: VOIP More webcasts »

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Google Launches Dart as a JavaScript Killer

Posted on October 11, 2011 by admin
I think it is time to replace JS (JavaScript). If a programming language as powerful as JavaScript can not evolve into a more robust language. You can count on Google to launch something that works! It seems that with this change will come a lot of acceptable short cuts. Should be fun and exciting now we have HTML 5 and Dart to replace JavaScript and Adobe Edge!
Web Master

Google has launched a preview version of a new Web programming language, called Dart, which the company’s engineers hope will address some of the shortcomings of the widely used JavaScript language.

Google’s goals for Dart are to create “a structured yet flexible language for Web programming,” wrote Lars Bak, who is a software engineer for Google’s Dart team, in a blog post officially announcing the language Monday.

Although Bak did not mention JavaScript by name, Dart’s capabilities resemble those of JavaScript, though they also address some of the scalability and organizational issues that have been associated with JavaScript. In leaked memos, Google engineers have expressed frustration over “fundamental flaws that cannot be fixed by merely evolving” JavaScript.

Designed for building Web applications, Dart is an object oriented language, one designed to be used for both quickly cobbling together small projects, as well as for developing larger-scale Web applications. Dart allows the programmer to add variables without defining their data type — called dynamic typing — or to define their data types, called static typing. Dynamic typing is best for small projects that need to be ramped up quickly, while static typing will help secure and speed large-scale Web programs.

The preview version includes a compiler and a virtual machine, along with a set of basic libraries. In order to get their Dart creations to run on browsers, programmers can compile them to JavaScript using a tool included in the Dart package. Eventually Google would like each browser to include a native Dart virtual machine, upon which Dart programs can run. Now, not even Google’s own browser, Chrome, will support Dart. “We plan to explore this option,” Bak wrote.

Google will have a lot of campaigning to do, if it indeed wants Dart to replace JavaScript across the Web. In its latest monthly estimate of programming language popularity, Tiobe Software ranked JavaScript as the 10th most widely used language overall.

First developed by Netscape in 1995, JavaScript was designed as a scripting language for adding programming functionality to Web browsers. The following year, Netscape submitted it to ECMA International as a standard, resulting in the standardized version called ECMAScript. Adobe also uses a version of ECMAScript, called ActionScript, for developers to write for Adobe’s Flash player.

Dart is not Google’s first foray into creating a new programming language to address the shortcomings of older ones. In 2009, the company debuted Go, which the company’s engineers created as an alternative to the complexities of C++, Java and other traditional languages.

Bak plans to reveal more about Dart at the GoTo conference, being held this week in Aarhus, Denmark.

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How to make KILLER content

Posted on October 10, 2011 by admin

No one buy a product or a service. We always buy a solution to a problem. The problem may be practical or emotional but if we spend money on a product, its only because we believe it solves a our problem, emotional or practical.

If you give money to charity you solve an emotional problem. If you spend money on decoration you solve a emotional problem. If you buy a car you may solve both an emotional problem and a practical problem.

Your content needs to solve problems or inspire the visitor to buy your product to solve their problems.

Start by figuring out what the product may solve. If you sell shoes you may solve a practical problem such as “no more pain in your feet” or “run faster”, “walk longer distance and helps you get into shape”.

They may solve an emotional problem such as “Your friends will envy you…”, “center of attention”, “with these shoes, everyone is gonna love you”.

The reason we bought those shoes are not simply because “we need shoes”. We need benefits.

Whats in it for me?

Features are great but we never buy features. We buy what the feature does for us. We want the benefit of the feature.

“You do not need a drill – you need a hole.”

The drill is the product, the hole is what it does for me.
Your client may not need a website but they need online business. If you give them online business they are gonna love the benefit you provide. If you only give them a functional nice looking website, they haven’t got a benefit they only got a feature.

A simple way to convert features into benefits is the “which means that…” method.

Example
We provide businesses with great websites and CMS systems.
which means that… Our solution helps you make money online and you don’t need to spend money to maintain the website.

which means that… Communicate with your visitors through a website that works beautifully, turning visitors into customers. You can easily maintain the website on your own.

Notice how we are talking about the benefits for me. (as a client).
You are no longer talking about how great websites you can make but how great that website will help me in my business.

Always answer the visitors question “What’s in it for me?”.
You want to answer this very fast. Preferably in the main headline to keep the visitor reading.

Stay away from the hype!

People hate hypes. There is no tolerance in hype and you are likely to loose all of your prospects if you are doing a “hype”.

What’s a hype…?

A hype is an offer, a benefit, a proposition or result that you can not prove. If you claim your product is gonna make people run faster and do not prove it, then you are doing a hype.

You can prove it multiple ways.
Testimonials are probably the best way to do this but getting them is not always easy and takes a lot of time. If you are just starting out and haven’t even got customers then this is very tricky.

A much easier way is to prove it through illustrations, images of videos. This is time consuming and may cost money but its achievable in most cases and you do not have to overwhelm them with proof. Just enough proof to make it out of the hype.

The best solution is honesty. If you can not prove your product then market the product as a prototype to test. People can buy it really cheap in return of leaving some feedback to improve your product or as a testimonial on a finished product.

Make content shareable

You need visitors on your website and you need to convert those visitors. You don’t reallt need general visitors but targeted visitors that are looking for your solution. When they go onto your website they should already have an idea of what you have to offer.

The common internet marketing term for visitors is “traffic”. You get traffic from direct visits (those who write your domain name into their browsers), search engines like Google or referral sites that link to you.

Ranking on Google is very hard and personally I no longer work towards ranking. When I rank its either simply organic or with PPC traffic (Pay per click ads).

The easy way to get traffic is to make

  1. Great content
  2. Make that content easy to share

When people stumble upon content they like and may be logged into Facebook or Twitter then its a good chance of them sharing that content.

You really want the Facebook “like” button and twitters “tweet” button and even Googles “+1″ button.

If you make content that has information that benefit visitors you are quickly gonna have them share your content which will generate traffic and inbound links and will also make you rank in Google organic search.

The call to action

Every conversion has a process to it, for example

  1. Start on the home page
  2. Go into product page
  3. More info about product
  4. Contact page
  5. Send through a form

You need to design this conversion process. From the home page there needs to be a “Next step”. It can be anything but the next step needs to be obvious.
This is “the call to action”. Time to act. – Do what I want you to do.

People likes to be told what to do instead of trying to find their way. Make the call to action large, in a different color and at the end of the page.

The same process with a call to action at the end.

  1. Start on the home page > “Check out our products”
  2. Go into product page > “Find out the benefits of product X”
  3. More info about product > “Sign up and get started today”
  4. Sign up page > “Yes, sign me up!”
  5. Thank you for signing up.

Conclusion

We buy stuff that benefit us. We share stuff that we like. We always want to solve a problem when we buy stuff. We want proof before we buy.

Always have a conversion process. Always have a clear next step.

I suggest you write almost like you speak. People don’t want to talk to a website they want to know there are people behind it. Using a formal language is very common but no one likes to read a page that looks like its some legal document.

Giving people honest and personal information is the best way to create killer content and get the traffic for free.

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