Tech Review Blog

And the Academy Award goes to… a 3D printer

2010-03-08T02:15:00.000-08:00

This year at the 82nd annual Academy Awards (3/7), movie stars will be sharing the spotlight with breakthrough technology.

Avatar, nominated for best picture – along with art direction and visual effects – and Coraline, nominated for best animated feature film, were brought to the big screen thanks to innovative 3D printing (or rapid prototyping) technology by Objet Geometries.

For Avatar, James Cameron relied on Objet-created models to plan how his characters fit in Pandora’s lush environment. With 3D printing, the production company Legacy Effects made detailed figurines of each blue-skinned humanoid to test lighting for every camera shot in the movie. The company also used the technology to create a Transformer-like, walking battle armor complete with cockpit.

For Coraline, LAIKA productions used Objet to create thousands of models ranging from cars to doorknobs and food spreads. The technology helped the movie break new ground in stop-motion animation, allowing the character Coraline to exhibit well over 208,000 facial expressions – an extremely significant jump compared to the 800 possible expressions in one of the last stop-motion films to generate buzz, The Nightmare Before Christmas, created in 1993 by the same director.

A leader and innovator in the rapid prototyping industry, Objet printers are changing the way the films we love are made.

3D Printing for Melbourne Theatre Building

2010-02-03T05:03:00.001-08:00

Early 2009 saw the opening of the new building housing the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC). The building is somewhat of a visual extravaganza on the Melbourne Southbank Boulevard. You simply cannot miss its unique lines, design and impact on the area.

The architects responsible for the design were Ashton Raggatt McDougall (ARM) claim they could only have achieved such an architectural feat with the assistance of unique new 3D printing technology.

They selected ARRK to create a 3d model of the building. The company has been using the Objet Connex500 for some time and has become invaluable part of their process in deploying this most advanced 3D printing technology available to many of their architecture clients.

Mr. Raggatt from ARM was quoted, "The new technology allows us to print multiple materials simultaneously using the Objet Connex500™ 3D Printer. The design for the Melbourne theatre company building involved an optical illusion that relies on the contrast of materials; we can now reproduce the impact of this affect with rapid prototyping at a scale and level of detail otherwise impossible.

In the past architects would use their trusted pens and paper to create their designs and then wait weeks or months to receive their (often times expensive) 3D model of their design. Now it's possible to use Rapid Prototyping* technologies such as those offered by ARRK, to create instant 3D Prints of models from CAD systems in minutes.

Telecom Towers around the Globe

2010-01-18T02:55:00.000-08:00

Mer Telecom provides Wireless Turnkey Solutions at the cutting edge - from network planning, design, manufacture, to site construction, installation and maintenance. Mer telecom towers presents superior solutions, a combination of cost effectiveness,

short lead times, customer service excellence and breakthrough engineering techniques - delivered with a strong commitment to client satisfaction. Mer Telecom prides its strong global presence, particularaly in Africa, Asia, Central and South America and other regions.

Effective Marketing Israel

2010-01-07T04:19:00.000-08:00

EFFM - Effective Marketing Israel

Effective Marketing Specializes in Creating Measureable Marketing Strategies to reach International Markets Profitably. We develop effective strategies for businesses to ensure that in the fastest time possible eyeballs are identified, targeted and delivered to the new web asset. In line with our mission to work as partners with our clients we strive to develop online marketing tactics alongside the emergence of the new business and the development of the accompanying website.

New Social Network for CleanTech Launches: GreenGrassVC

2010-01-03T01:10:00.000-08:00

GreenGrassVC claims to be the first virtual community for the CleanTech Industry.

The CleanTech Social Network aims to bring together the smartest minds, most creative thinkers and innovative investors. GGVC is a social marketplace where the community can make the future happen with a clearer, cleaner and cost effective path.

LIMS News - STARLIMS acquired by Abbot

2009-12-30T03:21:00.000-08:00

In another sign of the upswing in prosperity, the American pharma giant Abbott Laboratories is acquiring Israeli software company Starlims, at a 47% premium over its market cap in Tel Aviv.

Starlims specializes in data management software for laboratories (LIMS). Abbott has agreed to buy it for $14 per share, reflecting a value of $123 million, which is 47% above Starlims' market cap on Nasdaq.

Superenalotto Jackpot

2009-12-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

Lottery fever is hitting the internet again. Italy's superenalotto has hit the €100 million jackpot mark means the lottery is again currently the biggest jackpot in Europe

The top prize is bigger than any other available prize in the world. The same as in August this year, weeks have passed without a winner which has pushed the jackpot ever higher. Tight now it Italy, lottery fever is threatening to take over country.

It was just a few months ago that we saw the jackpot rose above over €130 million last time. It was not just Italy but the entire world that went crazy for the jackpot as internet websites that have the technology to sell lotto tickets were rushed day and night for weeks as eager players tried their luck to become SuperEnalotto millionaires.

Natural Products Available Online

2009-09-30T03:13:00.000-07:00

AbesMarket.com carries a simply huge range of certified natural products direct from the seller. The range of products includes; body care, pet care and home care.

If you're looking for the best in authentic natural products and green, eco-friendly products, look no further. head to Abes Market today. It's easy to forget that the products we all use are made by real people. The website introduces visitors to a large range of natural products and the real people who make them.

Memory Games For Seniors Online

2009-09-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

The human mind is perhaps one of the most dynamic organs in the world whose capabilities are not yet fully explored. The sky is the limit for our memory and it can achieve the impossible also. All that it requires is a bit of training and conditioning to perform in a desired manner. Memory games are excellent tools which can not only condition our minds but also prove to be very entertaining.

Memory games for seniors are a great way to keep you busy and in the process also utilize your Grey cells. Online mind games like bricks breaking and code breaking are a great way to entertain the kids and ensure that their mind receives just the right conditioning.

עיצוב גרפי

2009-04-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

מעצבים גרפיים שלנו ליצור מוצרים שונה מ עיצוב גרפי של האינטרנט ואת אמצעי התקשורת החדשים, כדי מיתוג וחברות עיצוב לוגו, עיצוב גרפי כדי עבור החוברת, קטלוגים והדפסה העבודה, כדי ייעוץ ו הכוללת אסטרטגיית השיווק והפרסום. עיצוב גרפי

אם יש לך שאיפות עבור העסק שלך, להתקשר לברר כיצד אנו יכולים לסייע לך להשיג את מטרותיך. אנו מאמינים שיש לנו את זכות הגישה ממש להשפיע

ALERT: New Lottery Blog

2008-09-03T01:58:00.000-07:00

So I came accross a new blog devoted to all things Lottery. Its produced by the guys at theLotter who run (as I've just found out) a very cool website that lets you buy lottery tickets online for any lottery in the world.

They have a network of offices in every country so they go in person and buy your ticket according to the numbers you select. Its safe, secure and legal... now I can play the florida lottery when I live in London!

The lottery blog gives weekly updates, news hints and special offers... its bookmarked, its rss is subscribed to, now show me the money :-)Publish Post

Buy Online Lottery Tickets

2008-08-14T05:46:00.000-07:00

Buy lottery tickets for any international Lottery fast and secure at theLotter. Check the lottery numbers online and collect your lottery winnings easy, fast and fun.

All you need to do is buy a lottery ticket. Its easy to buy a lottery ticket online and check your numbers at theLotter. Our website service allows you to buy lottery tickets from any global lottery provider. Playing online lottery at a site such as theLotter is legal and an easy way to buy online lottery tickets for your favorite lotteries and to check lottery results. theLotter offers the easiest and most convenient way to check lottery results and buy tickets online.

A3 Premises for Sale in London

2008-07-27T00:01:00.001-07:00

My friend and i had a great idea to open a techy coffee shop, where internet cafe concept is taken to the next level. Free wireless access fun members evenings discussing the latest gadgets and applications in the world of IT.

We are hoping to open by December so keep your eyes peeled. We've instructed Gilmarc, a company specializing in A3 premises for sale to find us a cool location in London...

how exciting!

Top 7 Ways To Get Repeat Traffic

2008-06-29T03:26:00.000-07:00

Securing viral traffic to your website or blog is one of the most challenging tasks for a webmaster and SEO expert. Once you have some vistors, getting them to keep coming back is not only important, but critical to hope to achieve a viral effect and an a decent ROI.

After you have gone to the trouble of devising an Internet Marketing strategy such as PPC, video marketing, social networking, you need to ensure as many of those people come back once, twice, keep coming back and tell their friends about it. Word of mouth is your most powerful tool to icnreasing conversions and reducing ROI.

One of the great SEO Gurus, Mark Flavin has written an excellent post about the top 7 ways to get repeat traffic.

Learning a Language Online

2008-02-06T02:46:00.000-08:00

Live Language School has announced the launch of its new state of the art virtual language classroom giving students the opportunity to learn with a native teachers in either private or group classes using innovative technology and fun lesson plans.

The virtual classroom technology works in a similar way to a web conference with full interaction and study tools to keep the lesson structure flowing an fun.

Learning a Language Online is a cost effective and convenient way to learn a new language in the comfort of your own home. The language school also offers a great promtion to register for a trial lesson with no obligations.

Finding Friends on Facebook

2008-01-16T06:44:00.001-08:00

Facebook Friend Finder Facebook Application

Facebook is a phenomenon sweeping the world. Though its not so easy to meet new people using the network. Now you can. A new facebook application called 'Friend Finder' lets you choose the type of person and hook up online.

Image Conversion for the Web

2008-01-08T23:18:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered why its always so hard to convert pictures from your camera to decent web quality? Ever been stressed when pictures are often difficult to convert to the right format, size and resolution. I have!

A friend told me about Total Image Converter which is handy software which basically is an image converter for images of any formats. The greatest feature is the ability to convert format such (jpeg, gif, png etc) whilst resizing, rotating and cropping them when converting.

The tool i've used the most is the jpeg converter, which has the advantage of total simplicity - especially if like me you work with photos or images for myspace, facebook and blogger.

STD Awareness targets Facebook Users

2008-01-06T06:14:00.001-08:00

Facebook users are notoriously young, fun loving and enjoy biting each other (vampire apps)... now this viral concept has been grasped by SMO Interactive who have created an STD Awareness Application. Send Virtual Crabs or Syphilis to a friend whilst learning about STD's and how to prevent them. SMO Interactive are raising money for AIDS research

read more | digg story

STD Awareness targets Facebook Users

2008-01-06T06:08:00.001-08:00

Learn Hebrew Application on Facebook

2007-12-02T01:42:00.000-08:00

Leading Social Media Application developer ‘SMO Interactive’ today announces the release of its latest Facebook Application. Hebrew Word of the Day lets users learn a new language with friends at their own pace using innovating and fun memory games.

John Collins, Technical Manager at SMO Interactive says ’Learning a new language now has a new dimension. Not only can users install the application for free, but they can learn at their own pace’

John Collins added ‘First we delivered a Free Gift List on the facebook platform and today we announce a free language learning aid. Facebook lets developers create fun and free applications for users taking social media marketing to a different level’

Learn Word of the Day Online

SMO Interactive

Search Media Optimization

2007-11-13T06:41:00.000-08:00

Social media optimization (SMO) is a range of tactics for generating publicity through social networks, communities and web2.0 websites.

Stratecig SMO include adding creating Applications for Social Networks such as Facebook, Orkut, MySpace and LinkedIn. Once created and deployed the SMO strategy is to promote this directly inside the social network environment and through tratidional SEO and Web2.0 Activities.

Social media optimization is in many ways connected as a technique to viral marketing where word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. In a similar way the engagement with blogs achieves the same by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogsphere and special blog search engines such as Technorati.

Facebook Meets Gift Registry

2007-11-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

With the social network revolution, the world of gift buying just took a new course. Facebook Gift Registry lets people choose the gifts they want, add them to their wish list and then friends and family can buy direct.

I'm a big fan of facebook and all the facebook apps that users can add to profile pages. This online gift registry is a real gem. They seem to have a generic list and a limited edition christmas gift registry. I've already added all the gadgets and stuff i want :-)

Freebie Website

2007-11-05T03:05:00.000-08:00

It doesn't matter if its completely free, a simple discount coupon such as 10% Off at Store Wide Sale or a free gift to sign up. There is something intriguing and compelling about getting something for nothing, or something cheaper than your neighbor.

Which is why when a friend emailed me a list of links to freebie sites, one caught my eye. Simply because it had a great search mechanism for finding all my favorite retailers and more importantly i could search for the exact product i wanted and pick up a coupon to save money.
For example i searched for a new computer and found $425 Off on Inspiron notebook

If your a mere discount browser or of your looking for a discount pair of shoes, this is a good place to start.

Getting the Best MP3 Deal

2007-11-04T06:33:00.000-08:00

WidgetBucks - Trend Watch - WidgetBucks.com

Review of Online Gambling

2007-10-30T00:32:00.000-07:00

This years American legal assault on the online casino industry has lead many (though only small percentage) of sites to close down. Not being a gambler myself I asked a group of friends and collegues to give me their assessments of the Pacific Poker sites they use and whether the new laws have affected them

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, none of them were affected, as they say if there is a flow in the money, no obstacle can prevent it flowing. and all the big online casinos and online poker sites found alternative routes through the financial markets to channel money. Also many sites including MacPokerOnline (a favourite of all my design friends that use macs) offered additional pages to ensure uninterupped play, for example a page dedicated to Online Casino Bonuses

MacPokerOnline is a favourite becuase it focuses on a great nich market , mac poker Its loved in the mac world because it caters to this unique crowd, looks good and works well!

Advertising on Facebook

2007-10-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

The amazing growing popularity of Facebook is not an issue any more, the popular website dispelling fears that it wont last by signing up over 40 million users.

Facebook has now overtaken MySpace as the largest social network in the UK and now international marketers are realizing this is a viable commercial channel.

Facebook now offers a targeted advertising solution entitled Facebook Flyers which come in both basic and pro versions.

Facebook Flyer Basic operate on a pay per view basis while flyers pro work on the more popular pay per click

Anyone can create a flyer (ie an advertisement) and have it served to any segment of the Facebook membership based on geographical location, interests, gender, age and many other segmentation attributes.

Unfortunately the interface is not so developed and the minimum investment is $50 with limited statistics. This is promised to change with additional features and tools being added in coming months.

Free Online Polls Available Now

2007-10-18T01:51:00.000-07:00

Calling all web developers out there....? do you manage your own blog or website... always wondered how to add stickiness to your site but lack the tech skills to implement it... ?

One of the best ways is through online polls because original content drives traffic to websites, i found these guys at EFM Polls where you can create unlimited polls and post them on your website to gain feedback from your visitors instantly!

Some features of EFM Free Online Polls

Easy to manage, delete or edit

Unlimited polls.

Unlimited responses.

Dynamic interface.

Create surveys in multiple languages

Looking for Cheap SEO?

2007-07-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

Need to boost your Google rankings, or just want to increase business fast through PPC?

On Page Search Engine Optimization has been around the longest, since the begining of search engines. The industry is always evolving and its hard to keep on top of things. Search engines used simpler less sophisticated technology a few years ago, and the world wide web was alot smaller.

Top Rankings on All the Major Internet Search Engines! its time to focus on the search engines that matter, Google! which typically feed other portals and internet search and promotion services.

Need Broadband in London?

2007-07-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

Living in London like me and are just sooo confused over all the broadband suppliers and their huge range of confusing tarrifs...? No more, check this out, its a site where you can compare broadband.

Some are cheap broadband suppliers and others are just plain good service providers, all in the UK and all offer service to London. The simple jargon-free broadband provider guide lets you compare the latest ISP offers and find the best broadband supplier to suit your needs and budget.

Software License Manager Benefits

2007-05-16T22:30:00.001-07:00

Is it possible to bill the client according to his use of the software each month?
There are definitely sophisticated applications out there that can generate billing reports, and even charge the end-users directly using their credit card information.
License Manager Benefits

• Support both Hosted solutions (web services) and stand alone applications
• Codeless integration to the vendor’s software.
• Out-of-box tool set for flexible package designs based on time, users, usage and activations (on demand)
• Advanced billing and e-commerce options to allow the software publisher to publish, sell and charge for his software/service on line
• Hack proof licenses enforcement via web, phone and file
• 100% managed with native .NET support as well as Win32 applications
• Intermediary Partners Portal offering full visibility to vendor and channel for end user license usage actions.

Software Protection Systems for ISVs

2007-05-16T22:29:00.001-07:00

Secured Dimension Inc. develops and markets advance Software IP protection products and services. The company has customers both in Israel, Asia and the United States.

Protect, promote, license and monitor your software provisioning cycle.

Legal Unlocked Mobile Phone Store!

2007-05-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to get hold of a mobile phone unlocked and ready for use on ANY Netowork and in ANY Country...? wondered how to do this or where to get one..? or even how to unlock an old phone you already have... well these guys have hit the nail on the unlocked mobile phone antenna :-)

A huge commerce store specializing in all types of unlocked cell phones and cell phone accessories. With a standard range of approx 300 different phone models and a huge selection of 17,000 different accessories, everything you need is here and can be bought legally and securly.

Make Money For Life

2007-04-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

Once in a while an effective an online Get Rich Quick scheme grabs my eye. This one, is just that. A friend of mine emailed me the link with the subject 'this is not spam'.... my first thought, this is spam !

It took a few days to watch the free movie, and then i immediately signed up... it costs nothing to join and already i'm earning a few bucks...and i've not done a thing yet....

I'm saying nothing more, but you should watch this Get Rich Quick Movie yourself....

Hose Reel Innovation for the Summer

2007-04-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

Innovative hose reels powered only by water and nothing else have finally hit the market.

A company called Hydro have pioneered the NO-CRANK™ hose reel and claim they are the only lawn watering tool in the marketplace to offer complete automatic rewinding of your garden hose using only the power of water. All products are available in a variety of styles.

NO-CRANK hose reels remove one of the back breaking task of maintaining your lawn and garden.

Cheap UK Broadband is here

2007-03-31T22:36:00.000-07:00

Are you still searching for cheap broadband suppliers in the UK? Probably are since the confusion over price / quality never subsides. In which case i may be able to help you wade through the quagmire and point you in the direction start.

There is a range of sites that offfer 'how to' and 'where to' services... this jargon-free broadband guide is my favourite. Use it to compare the latest ISP offers and find the best broadband supplier to suit your needs and budget.

One of the best features on this guide is the consumer reviews that are fresh and up to date where you can find the best offer to suit your needs. They also have a great broadband comparison table that has the most popular deals available in the UK. Choosing your next and new broadband offer has just got a whole lot easier.

Mac Users Get Exclusive Online Poker

2007-03-31T22:23:00.000-07:00

I have a great many friends who like to flutter who constantly complain of the lack of 'workable' online mac applications for a whole array of web services. For PC / Windows users we have the free of almost every website and downloadable trial / full version. But Mac Users Suffer.

So i spend my time looking for free mac web services for my mates. The last few months they've been asking me to research with them for the best gaming site where they can get those free software tools to play online and offline. I satisfied their desires with Mac Poker Online and now i share this with you all.

This website and gaming service for Mac Users is an exclusive provider of information for all your online poker and casino desires just for for Macintosh, saving Mac users hours of time. Now my friends are happy and winning a few bucks at the same time!

Legalize Illegal Music

2007-03-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

I've seen many things over the years and many evolutions in technology to try and circumvent the music rights laws. From video / music sharing technology to torrent and p2p websites and services, but this one takes the prize for allowing artist copyright to be protected whilst artistic creativity promoted. Its called FlipTrack where you create your own media via your video / pics and their music.

Very cleverly, their patent pending video technology automatically matches images to the rhythm and beats of a song, making it easy to create “movie-quality” videos.

Note... this is not a way for consumers to legally create and share copyrighted material! this is perfect however for artists and bands to promote and share their work

Free Online Coupon City

2007-03-25T23:45:00.000-07:00

We all like freebies... everyone loves a special offer, discount or bargain, so why not make sure your always up to date with the best,newest and most appealing springtime coupons to your pocket.

You can save 20% at Wallmart or get massive savings at Home Depot depending on what you want and where your local branch is. (bear in mind most of these coupons can be redeemed online at the merchat stores.

So, the best thing is to find a quality online coupon website, register and be kept up to date with all thats new and great in deals and discounts. This is one of the things the internet is made for!

Online Dating Site Goes FREE

2007-03-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

There is a fantastic emerging trend among online service providers... going free! No longer do companies require their customers to pay for service, income can be earned in number of alternative channels. This is just the case with new dating service Plentyoffish which is a 100% free online dating website

Sign up for a free dating profile account and you are immediately ready to go. No need to hang around and start submitting credit card details or promises to pay in the future. Its fast, free and fun.

'Plenty of fish' from online community 'JustSayHi' is planning to revolutionize the online dating industry. No gimicks, no charges just honest free matchmaking and fun.

Segmenting Blogs for Adverts

2007-03-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

Making money with your single blog or network of blogs has never been easier. PayPerPost.com the pioneers in matchmaking bloggers with advertisers have taken their system to the next level.

On the one hand this means bloggers can now earn more. In short bloggers with high worth online assets are rewarded as such and can earn over $100 per sponsored post. Smaller blogs can still spread an advertisers word and help create a buzz but inevitably will earn less

This new advertising re-launch includes a segmentation system which basically awards bloggers with high traffic blogs.

If your an advertiser then PPP is really right up your street, PPP only charges a 35% service fee compared to other such as ReviewMe that charges a 100% markup. They are taking half your money for every post! You can get high paying opps more often and put more in your pocket with PPP.

At anyone time there is over 100 'opportunities' in the system. Ranging from opps for high PR blogs to blogs speciallizing in Hi-Tech or simply any blog that simply wants to help create a buzz....

The advertising word of blogs has just been re-born. Take advantage now.

Microsoft SecureLM

2007-03-01T03:49:00.001-08:00

Microsoft has been active again. Buying software protection and provisioning company SecuredDimensions. S ecureLM from Microsoft - Protect, License and Sell your software Online!

SecureLM is the first complete software provisioning system to allow software vendors or publishers, to protect applications or services, build dynamic software packages license and activate your software to end-users and then monitor your customer preferences and behavior.

Searchable Single Degree Of Separation

2007-02-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

The time has come for you to find the right people over the phone - Anytime, Anywhere. And It's Free.. It doesnt matter where you are or what you have on your mind. The concept is meeting people who are like minded (no matter what that might mean). Web2.0 and Social Networking has reached new levels.

There is no need to pay to join, no software to download and no personal details are shared with your new social circle. Your mobile phone becomes an extension to your soap box social life.

Meet new people to discuss middle east current affairs or just to chat on the little things that bring a smile to your face. The founder of Ccube calls it : Searchable Single Degree Of Separation

this is a sponsored post (disclosure policy)

Dating Service for Advertisers & Publishers

2007-02-27T22:37:00.000-08:00

The latest offering, aiming to match advertisers to website publishers has arrived. Called Dclick Ads its an innovative web based and completely automated sytem for both publishers and advertisers.

Easily buy and sell all types of ads, whether it be banners you have (or require) or more discrete text type ads to place strategically on your site.

Clever xml feed technology allows advertisers to make the most of their ad budget by being part of a rotating system while allowing publishers to keep their site fresh and exiting by rolling ads rather than mere static ones.

Its free to sign up and and payouts / charges are very competitive.

A New Online Auction inTown!

2007-02-26T22:31:00.000-08:00

I love web.20 websites that launch in beta and remain in beta forever:-) on the one hand I beleive thing should always be indevelopment and working to improve and on the other hand there is nothing more web2.0 than 'beta'

This new auction site is pretty smart, its called bassabids and basically the lowest unique bid wins the item.

The "lowest unique bidder" is the person who has bid the lowest amount that no other person has bid. A clever thing (or not) is that when two people place the same bid, that number is no longer unique. When a person has a unique bid but there are others that are lower, then it's not the lowest.

To win any of BassaBids online auctions, you must be the one with the lowest AND unique bid at the auction end - the "lowest unique bid". The site is free to try (i won an iPod for $85) !

Wall-Mart Sex Discrimination & Video Online

2007-02-07T05:09:00.001-08:00

Whilst in the middle of a chaotic time with 1.3 million women filing lawsuits for sexual discrimination, Wall-Mart have taken the great PR step of announcing trials of its upcoming video download service.

My view... taking the media heat of the impending law suit is one thing, but getting this highly profitable business launched may be the key to saving their corporate skins when they're forced to pay out some $3.2 billion in damages !

Google Poorly Developed Homepage

2007-02-07T05:05:00.001-08:00

Quite an amuzing story has been circulating about the number of html errors returned on the google.com homepage.

In a WebmasterWorld thread that the Google home page, does not validate fully. I ran a quick check at the very useful W3C validation and returned 66 errors, including a No DOCTYPE found. Should this matter? who knows, its just quite amuzing that the kingz of the web have html validation errors.

Free Podcast Hosting Has Arrived

2007-01-29T05:00:00.000-08:00

Its finally arrived the completely Free Podcast. Not just the realm of big media publishers or websites with paid hosting.

You can now get your own Free Podcast hosting account where you can record, upload and distribute your very own thought of the day. Stand up and have your opinions heard! This is taking blogging to the next audio generation.

A quick sign up and your ready to go. You can also subscribe to others podcasts so you can choose what you want to listen to.

Gadgets From Israel

2007-01-28T23:37:00.000-08:00

Its 2007 and the technology race is heating up. Israel tech stocks are rising as they continue to lead the way in design, development and all round innovation, (though maybe not marketing) of interesting and practical tech stuff.

Israel is now very often referred to as the Silicon Valley of the Mid East.

Israeli start-ups are now some of the market leaders in tech development, security products (both on and off line).

Not to mention the come of the most amazing security products; both IT and Physical. Israel continues to design customer focused products that drive markets and fulfill consumer desires.

This gadget site needs to be updated a little but still its clean and interesting

New Travel Blog Website Launches

2007-01-24T22:55:00.000-08:00

A new website has launched called TripsLog. Its a nice slant on traditional free blogs and communities out there as it focuses solely on the traveler / backpacker.

TripsLog lets you create a travel blog profile and add pictures (direct feed from Flickr) and then you can map your travels through the partnership with Google Maps.

Travelers can search and share experiences of places, hotels, restaurants so mistakes can be avoided and recommended hot spots can be sought.

Palestinian Cyber Terorrism

2007-01-22T23:40:00.001-08:00

Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, launched its first English language Web site on Wednesday. The group, which is responsible for dozens of suicide and rocket attacks against Israel, already has a Web site in Arabic www.alqassam.ps

Last week, current PLO Leaders 'Hamas' accused their brethren 'Fatah' of conspiring and planning attacks on its own Web sites,

Some of these sites closed down temporarily. Hamas leaders said the attack, which began on the morning of January 10 2007, was carried out by "Zionist groups and their local collaborators." In other words it was their brethren but they couldnt face the prospect of the Jews not being involved somehow!

In a statement, Hamas leaders claimed the attacks were a "criminal and illegal act of sabotage reflecting a mentality of terrorism."

Oh really !!

Search Engine Marketing Goes ETHICAL !

2007-01-22T23:24:00.001-08:00

Yes its true, there are some companies out there offering Ethical SEO services to businesses. See the Apogee guarantee for how they define and prove their ethical caliber

Search engine marketing (SEO) can be done yourself, you can spend hours reading the thousands of (and expensive) e-books on backlinks, pagerank and meta tags. Or you can pay the experts who with knowledge, skills and tools can not only deliver you proven results, but they can do this fast.

In the past the realm of SEO was the geek in his dark bedroom pouring over code and gleaning payment by PayPal. Now the suits and marble offices have given credibility to the science of driving qualified traffic to your website.

And SEO is not limited to organic search results, check out some outsourced PPC from a Google AdWords Qualified Company.

Give your online business a chance today.

Rubix Cube with MP3...wow !

2007-01-17T22:11:00.001-08:00

I love the rubiks cube... one of my greated childhood memories...and now things have stepped forward!

The new Memory Infinite if the newest of the the puzzle models. Inventor 'Yong' must have spent quite some time looking at the MobiBLU DAH-1500 and decided to work around a Rubik's Cube concept for this MP3 player.

The puzzle's layers are used to control music playback, and it is not possible to attempt vertical twists and turns unless you're hell bent on breaking it.

The Rubik's Cube MP3 player can only swivel horizontally, unlocking the player for use. Additional specifications are unknown, and we doubt it will ever materialize as a piece of consumer electronics - but we can wish, can't we?

New $100 Laptop on sale this year

2007-01-10T22:44:00.001-08:00

The backers of the One Laptop Per Child project are looking at the possibility of selling the machine to the public. One idea would be for customers to have to buy two laptops at once - with the second going to the developing world.

Five million of the laptops will be delivered to developing nations this summer, in one of the most ambitious educational exercises ever undertaken. Of plans to sell the machine, he said: "Many commercial schemes have been considered and proposed that may surface in 2008 or beyond, one of which is 'buy 2 and get 1'

The OLPC project is working with Google who will act as "the glue to bind all these kids together". Google will also help the children publish their work on the internet so that the world can observe the "fruits of their labour", said Mr Bletsas.

SanDisk takes on the Zune

2007-01-08T22:15:00.000-08:00

The world's second-biggest seller of MP3 players has unveiled a new product with the intention of directly competing with Microsoft's Zune. Reports last week indicated SanDisk's Sansa Connect features total Wi-Fi functionality

Priced at $249.00, very similary to the Zune. however the significant difference is that the player is flash-based ships with a measly 4GB. (we expect larger storage ability in later models)

What is lacking in storage the Sansa Connect makes up for in its Wi-Fi features.

Sandisk says the Sansa Connect will have the ability to connect to web based (including itunes) music services to stream songs without a PC. Mutual Sansa owners can share mp3s through those services.

Disclosure Policy

2007-01-08T22:10:00.000-08:00

This policy is valid from 9th January 2006

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

Produced for free with the help of Disclosure Policy Generator. To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Back from Mp3 Christmas Fun

2006-12-31T07:24:00.001-08:00

So it seems the Music Industry is further fighting back against the illegal or simply not so co-operative websites selling music.

AllofMP3.com based in Russia and offering 'legal' music for paid download is being sued left right and centre.

Seemingly they have found a nice little loophole that the music giants dont like and they're trying to plug it.

Meanwhile the site is live and the AllofMP3.com is fighting back with its own lawsuit. In the meantime i expect their download rate is going through the roof as the positive publicity is worth its weight in gold!

Pimp Your Diesal Truck

2006-12-17T22:23:00.000-08:00

Everyday diesel trucks such as Chevy Duramax, Dodge Cummins and Ford Powerstrokes arrive new with pretty acceptable power from the dealer. (acceptable to some!)

However if its more power and more 'chug' then you need to go get some performance modifications and pimp you ride!

In todays vehicular technology world, its quite standard to install or upgrade; diesel performance chips & tuners, exhaust systems to mention air intakes cylinders to enhanceDiesel Performance. My personal favourite (not that I would dare, but I like seeing / hearing them pass me on the freeway are propane and nitrous boosters!

You can easily pimp your trucks with 500-800hp with over 1500 ft/lbs of extra torque and still just about get yourself 20-25mpg on the highway with enhanced Ford diesel performance not bad for a daily runa round!

Dieselsmoke is one of the largest and most respected names in the diesel performance industry

YouTube Announces Fast Record & Upload

2006-12-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

Those clever guys at YouTube / Google have announced the latest feature available to all users, they call it Quick Capture.

The new function does more than make it easier to upload content. The system lets you to record video directly to YouTube. What does this mean?

Simply put, connect your web camera to your computer, log in to your YouTube account and begin recording uploading simultaneously. This eliminates the the need to record, store, edit and then upload your latest video.

Save time and disk space by recording straight to your (effectively) online media hard drive.

Clever YouTube... Clever Google !

Save money to spend on Gadgets

2006-12-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

Need financial aid? Visit FAFSA if you need help to arrange your finances to free up money to spend on gadgets? Check out FAFSA on the Web

Quite simply you just need to complete the FAFSA form and you'll get all the help, tips and info you need to sort out your budgeting.

We all need help sometimes to realize where we can better prioritize our income and expenditure (especially around Christmas time when we prefer to spend than save. Free up capital to spend on technology, yey ! check out FAFSA online and free your tech soul!

Nintendo Wii launches and stops...

2006-12-10T22:38:00.001-08:00

Nintendo has retracted a statement yesterday saying that they would guarantee shipping one million units to the United States by the end of the year in time for the Xmas sales.

Why o why do all three console makers never produce enough machines for their new launches. Are the guys in planning so naive and pessimistic that they believe they will only sell a few thousand units? I doubt it. What I believe is they know the publicity they will get when the news wires report instant sell-outs, all night queues and drastic plans to manufacture and ship more machines to meet a burgeoning demand.

There is never a need for the short supply, apart from in the minds of the marketing men. Come on guys, get your finger out and stopplaying with our souls !

Google and BSkyB Become Best Friends

2006-12-10T05:06:00.001-08:00

UK Satellite TV provider BSkyB has announced it will be developing online services for its coming Broadband offering with Google. Who wouldn't want to partner with the big search boys at Mountain View

With this agreement BSkyB will offer users a completely user-generated video service that will be based on Google's video content services Google Video.

Google recently expanded its Video and content offerings with the purchase of market leader and leading competitor YouTube for $1.65bn.

BitTorrent acquires µTorrent in a bid to go Legit

2006-12-10T04:55:00.001-08:00

BitTorrent has recently purchased competitor µTorrent, a similar torrent tecno-powered file-sharing system that actually uses BitTorrent's own software protocol. The two services have a combined user base of over 135 million.

No financial terms of the deal have been released. This new acquisition is yet another shift by BitTorrent in an attempt to avoid legal battles and eventually to make itself into completely legal competitor in the online content sphere.

In November, BitTorrent also announced free and fee-based content distribution contracts with 20th Century Fox and MTV Networks.

Bye Bye Google Answers

2006-12-09T23:33:00.001-08:00

There are very few times one can use the words Google and Failed in the same sentence... though here is one. Google Answers has Failed to make an impression.

Over 800 people were active participants in Google Answers over the last yearthis group were active and committed in helping general web surfers people find the information they need by the human touch, for four years they shared both their knowledge and their research skills with all people who submitted requests for answers.

Google are now not accepting any new questions or requests for answers, all archived questions and answers will remain available for the foreseeable future, and all current answers for existing requests will cease by the end of the year

So... bye bye Google Answers, good luck with future attempts...

Conference for Social Networking Websites

2006-12-03T22:58:00.001-08:00

At last the 21st century phenomenon is gathering itself together to understand where Social Networking is currently and where it may be heading. The likes of del.icio.us and Digg amongst others have led the field with what seems like an ever building community of social offerings joining the market every day.

From social videos, to social lifestyles, the budding web2.0 industry is brining together into one social networking conference a group of experts and professionals from the industry to present and discuss the current and future opportunities for web owners, affiliates and simply interested parties to hear and see where the web is taking us.

I'll be there for sure, sunning myself in Miami during January 15-17th whilst gleaning information about social networking websites how they and all of us can benefit in the next year.

A Cellphone is for Xmas not for Life

2006-11-27T07:44:00.000-08:00

This week we've been evaluating the 21st Centuries most popular Christmas Gift. The mobile cellular phone. Every year the carriers launch special holiday plans, the manufacturers launch both new models and discounts on old ones... whilst the dealer gets a pre-holiday headache trying to understand whats going on and what to recommend to their customers.

Cell phone shopping and comparison sites are the latest integration of the web / shopping and telephony. I've been evaluating both cellphone websites and phones themselves and have come to a couple of simple conclusions.

First, the phone I want for Christmas is the T-Mobile RAZRs which comes in a wide array of colors (black is my favorite)

Secondly, based on past experience and my checking out the latest tariffs, I will migrate to T-Mobile (no plug intended since you can check out the tariffs yourself)

Thirdly, blue tooth is the way forward. No matter what deal you get, I advise getting your blue tooth headset with your phone, it ensures compatibility and avoidance of the blame game when / if it doesn't work!

Merry Cellular Christmas

Getting Ready for a Trade Show

2006-11-22T22:40:00.000-08:00

Its the Christmas season approaching which means the number of exhibitions, fairs and events aimed at consumers is about to go a little bit crazy. If your a shop or wholesaler, how can you determine which event to exhibit at and more importantly how to exhibit.

The key to any exhibition success is drawing visitors to your booth, using trade show graphics is the first step, making your stand stand out against the competition. Many friends of mine from the commercial blogging sphere decide on their exhibition stands based on budget and what they want to achieve (sometimes a simple stand a couple of googd looking girls is enough)

Today there are online trade show booth supplier with electronic catalogues it can take you weeks to sort through, with something for every budget. After years of trade show expertise a quality supplier will be able to advise on anything from a table top model, a 20 ft. display or something in between, superior quality is a must as is customer service.

Blogs Fit for a King

2006-11-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

The world of blogging is developing and growing, the concept of the geek sat in his darkened bedroom spilling his mind onto the keyboard and releasing his soapbox thoughts to the world are a thing of the past.

Business blogs, expert blogs, political blogs, community and family blogs combined with the new generation blogs that support enterprise and consumer initiatives are all the rage. over 80,000 new blogs are created every day (many never get beyond the first post). How can you determine which blogs are worth subscribing to, which are the blog networks that have the most valuable content and which are those that can be trusted.

I always begin with Google Blog search and then move onto blog directories such a technorati that rate the quality of blogs for their inbound links as a measure of value and worth.

The key factor is the freshness and uniqueness. How many new post are submitted per week and how targeted is the content for my needs.

Online Christmas Jewelry Selector

2006-11-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

Cant think of a Christmas gift for your loved one ? Or do you want something special, luxurious and a little bit different? well now you can design Christmas Jewelry online and get something a little bit special for the one you love.

Whether its a diamond ring, earrings or if you just need some christmas gift ideas, the pain of going out into the cold is in the past. From the comfort of your own home you do all your Christmas shopping from the touch of a button. And with the eCommerce sphere becoming so so competitive, online discounts can always be found.

Google Adsense for Custom Search

2006-11-22T22:28:00.000-08:00

Google Adsense have recreated their affiliate and referral perspective by adding the facility for custom searches from your website. If you have a site with rich content, you can add a Google search facility for within the site.

What does this mean? quite simply, previously a Google search box would open new window with the search results displayed in a Google window. Now you can integrate search results into the theme of your own website!

All you need is a Google Adsense Account and some simple code to add to your web.

Innovative Exhibition Stands

2006-11-22T22:23:00.000-08:00

The world of exhibitions just got a whole lot more innovative with custom built trade show booths.

Now you can either select from standard built designs or have the most technically and design creative booths created specifically for your purpose, tailored to the theme of the exhibition. The days of unfashionable and monotonous trade show booths is behind us. Todays modern materials are lightweight, easy to transport and assemble in a snap.

Web Service to Spot Mortgage Fraud

2006-11-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

We've all had our horror stories of being conned and ripped off by mortgage brokers and agents. those disreputable fiends who overcharge for simply referring us to a mortgage provider.

Now you can access a online database with all the information to helps you fully understand the ins and outs of borrowing money with peace of mind. Once registered, all customer data is protected via SecureTrust, another great web service that guarantees FTC compliance, DoNotCall & Can Spam regulations and services.

What we consumers have demanded now exists, a full mortgage broker database and extensive mortgage directory to let you search the best deals while intuitive web forums let you identify the best and worst from other peoples experiences.

A decent and technically superior web service now exists to battle against any mortgage broker that feels his deviant ways are primed to siphon our hard earned cash... never again !

BBC set to Launch Internet Television

2006-11-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

At long last, the national UK broadcaster BBC is set to launch its Internet TV service. Aiming for an Xmas release, MyBBCPlayer will allow registered users to download premium programming and watch either streamed broadcasts or downloaded versions.

Internet technologies have been primed for a couple of years now for broadcast quality television, only viewers have had the frustration of being fixed to a landline television set to watch their favourite programs.

3rd Generation company 3 this week announced their relaunch of mobile broadband services allowing users to view media on the go. Content is now set to follow allowing people to watch episodes of Eastenders on their way home from work!

Cable and Satellite providers are now contemplating the concept of subscribers gaining online access to the same tv packages they enjoy at home anywhere on the web. Slingbox lookout !

MyEclipse Plugins - The last you'll ever need

2006-11-20T22:56:00.000-08:00

MyEclipse is a new full-featured software development solution for those of us who constantly bet our keyboards in frustration and the lack of features or system vulnaribilities of current software development tools.

If you understand the concept of SOA and SOBA then you probably understant what i'm talking about. Developing business / service orientated applications should be straightforward but rarely is. Now the Eclipse Plugin has arrived to offer plugins that sit on top of the Eclipse Platform to take your worries and grey hairs away. It is an system that could solve your developemnt efficiency issues in a pretty low cost manner. (MyEclipse costs only $30/yr)

Its worth a look to see if it the Eclipse Plugin features are compatible with your developement environement.

More info can be found at http://www.myeclipseide.com

3 - Third Generation re-Launches in the UK

2006-11-20T22:54:00.001-08:00

Monthly fixed fee mobile broadband has arrived in the UK

3Group yesterday announced the new "X-Series" -- flat-rate tariff for its mobile broadband, this time round after their initial failed launch 2 years ago have setup some interesting content partnerships with everyone from Google to Skype to Sling boxes to Orb.

I hope that this will drive a chain reaction flat-rate pricing will be sown like the seeds of grass across the planet, creating an open platform upon which innovation will be alowed to flourish and the 2 billion phones currently in use will be fully functioning personal
devices able to control communications, entertainment, office and home functionality.

People of Britain Unite.... this new revolution of the 3G Revolution may just be the answer to your decades old problem of British Telecom monopolizing the hi-tech arena.

Insure your Gadgets

2006-11-20T00:31:00.000-08:00

How many of us have a house or office filled with computers, electronics, gadgets and dont think about the level of insurance we have to cover them in the event of loss?

I for one have spent years knowingly under insuring my home, so yesterday I took the bold step of getting a range of Free Insurance Quotes and upgrading my policy.

Amongst others, Houston Insurance (the one I went for in the end) had the fastest and easiest online quote system where I could specify my items and quickly decide what was worth the premium and what wasnt.

Online systems are always a great plus point for dealing with anything financial, its quick and you dont have pushy salesmen telling you what you should spend your money on.

Technical Gadget for Smokers

2006-11-20T00:27:00.000-08:00

Okay so this is a bit of a fun post, but hey thats half my job to find interesting and useful (or sometimes just interesting) tech items to review.

For non smokers, the worst thing in the world is the smell of cigarette smoke hanging around in rooms or on their clean clothes after hanging around in a smoky environment. No more, now there is a solution to this age old nicotine problem, the Smokeless Ashtray. Interestingly (and i dont know why) its shaped like a car and costs a mere £8.95 its a cool USB-powered device that inhales whatever smoke is released when a fag is in the vacinity.

Lose the Race - Lose your Car

2006-11-20T00:19:00.000-08:00

Drag Racing fanatics, its time to get excited, drag racers, its time to race your car. Fear it or enjoy it this is a great bit of fun from the latest all day marathon of PINKS who will pick contestants in a best three-out-of-five format, with the loser handing over the title (pink slip) to his or her vehicle! what a laugh!

The season started in July (Check out the Drag Racing Clips). This is a sponsored paid ad by SpeedTV.com, and then revisit for the premiere of PINKS All Out on Speedtv on Nov 23rd

Firefox 2.0 is here and FREE

2006-11-18T23:01:00.001-08:00

Mozilla have launched Firefox version 2. It has now been available for 3 weeks and already is attracting huge downloads. There are a number of new features such as automatic system restore in the event of a crash (which does happen a little to frequently) and close tabs on each tab your working on.

There are also some incompatibilities with some extensions (now called add-ons), though since many of these are 3rd party apps they will be updated as time goes on.

Overall the new version is slick and fast and the new features add some nic functionality to an already top quality browsing experience. Look out Explorer, your competition is hot on your heals !

Users can download the latest version of Firefox here.

Google launches Private Label Homepages - FREE

2006-11-18T22:57:00.000-08:00

Google Apps for private domains has been updated to allows companies to create customized home pages in order to combine corporate branding and unique content with the original Google search and other free features such as, Gmail, calendars and GTalk.

Google is allowing and targeting large and small corporations not for profit organizations, as well as educational institutions to deploy their own Google applications to offer content that is relevant to thier own users.

A large number of organizations have already taken up this offer and launched their own customized Google home pages, companies include Arizona State University, Gateway Computers, as well as many small companies. Sign up is free and initially activation is by invite only (free regisrtation).

Visit visit www.google.com/a/ to sign up for free.

Track your Blog Links

2006-11-14T04:42:00.000-08:00

A great online (and free service) lets you track and report on all your outbound links you use in your blog. Instead of using the direct URL create an account with Bingr.com and create a redirect link. Every click is then tracked and can be reported at any time.

Checkout the one I created to this blogs homepage: Tech Review Blog HomePage

You can check the number of clicks per day and by location of the user. Location and number of clicks is analysed by IP address and cookies.

You can also choose to make the reporting public or private depending on the use of the redirect you want to track. Bingr is a totally free service, Bingr.com will track your link for 30 days - you get detailed reports about who's clicking your links. (After 30 days, your links will continue to redirect, but will not be tracked.)

With one free account you can track upto 50 URLS at any one time. (After the 30 days the links still work but tracking stops) so you can ultimately create and store hundreds of unique redirects so links you add to your blog will never expire.

Whilst the current Bingr.com is still in beta and I feel when it moves out into a full featured release it will have some great potential. I would certainly be prepared to pay a nominal few dollars a month to be able to track more than 50 urls and some additional information on traffic behavour would also be useful such as next page, time on site etc etc.

All in all though, another great freebie web service thats very useful for us bloggers. Link tracking just got a whole lot better.

Google Earth Goes 4D

2006-11-14T03:23:00.000-08:00

Those clever guys at Google have taken their Google Mapping Service (Google Earth) to the next generation.

Google Earth

Just like Google News Archiving. You can now scan images of our wanderous planet dating back to the 1700's Obviousy you cant expect such detail as for the modern day since satellite imagery was only in the imagination of sci-fi writers and the insane. The browsing interface has also been improved and Google Sketchup is now better integrated.

Current it is only in Beta Version but Google Earth Version 4 is set to become a better standard for PC based mapping. You still need to pay for the Pro version for all the advanced premium modules.

So thumbs up again to Google for their Version 4 release of Google Earth, keep it rockin!

Personalized USB Portable Storage Drives

2006-11-14T03:04:00.000-08:00

All the hype and development over USB storage devices, those little key-drives that nowadays can store gigabytes of data and are encrypted for ultimate security. Now a clever little company have taken this (now) everyday device a little further and offering free custom engraving with every purchase.

Pexagontech.com offers great deals on a custom flash drive with FREE laser engraving. You can just buy one drive engraved for your husband, wife or friend to carry around his work, music or private security documents.

The offer the complete range of sizes, from 512MB, 1GB, 2GB or 4GB of portable storage in tiny and very good looking Hi-Speed USB flash drive, aluminum casing and choice of five colours.

Every flash drive include hi tech security software to password protect your sensitive information.

Current online specials: 1GB Thumb Drive (any color) for $20.99 with FREE laser engraving & 2GB Thumb Drive (any color) for $38.99 with FREE laser engraving.

Sony PS3 - What went wrong?

2006-11-14T02:59:00.000-08:00

Last week Sony launched the new PS3 games system in Japan. The initial 500,000 units selling out within hours amidst the expected long overnight queues and people trampling crowds outside designated stores.

The rest of the world still has a few months to wait for global release so we have time to decide on the cheaper or more expensive system. The one great thing which stands this system aside from Xbox and Nintento is the backward compatibility of games. Something which we would expect to be a standard but only Sony appear to be aware of.

Initial reaction to the system is as expected, the feature rich premium version with built in wireless and 60Gb harddrive are set to set a standar in online gaming. The quality however of the Blu-Ray disc system and the stability of the IBM chip is yet to be seen. Over the next few weeks we will publish user views and opinions. Come back for regular updates.

New Internet TV Service

2006-11-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

A new Internet TV service has recently launched proving again evidence that the big media houses do not have the broadcasting world tied up. YourkindTV hosts its own tv shows for free view and a plethora of user generated content.

Get involved with the daily news and views from YourKindaTV, as they now presenting the 'British User Generated Awards 2007' – the first annual awards for user generated video. Showcasing the rise of citizen journalism and user generated content.

Fast registration and your watching innovative and fun broadcast TV quality content. One of my favourites (aside from The Daily Show) was the 'Queer eye' sketch by the guys from BB7.

Firefox 2 Versus Explorer 7

2006-11-13T04:11:00.000-08:00

Almost a month into both their debuts and the jury is still out on which browser evolution is better, faster and most feature rich. In short which one was worth the hype of the new version and will the new version actually make any difference to Market shares.

Depending on which reports you read, Firefox has done well, claiming an additional 10% share of the market, though how many of these new downloads will stay faithful as oppose to just trialling it before moving back to Explorer, only time will tell.

I'm a fond Firefox user and find the new version pretty slick, althouth it does tend to be less stable. Explorer 7 still lacks some crucial features like 'open in new tab'

The jury is out since we may need to wait for the bug fixes and updates over the next few months to really be sure of the winner.

Tablet PC's Which one is best

2006-11-13T04:04:00.000-08:00

At last I found a site that reviews them and and allows users to interact, this is a very good example of a website built on User Generated Content. The site has a wealth of Tablet PC Reviews and includes the best places to go find them. The site features multiple forums and an impressive PC database to search for all the tech specs and reviews to help you make a decision.

Personaly my two favourite sections are the coupon page (everyone loves a discount) and the rating scale for all models down the left hand side. Its simple striaghtforward and logical in its process. Now if your contemplating buying a tablet PC you dont need to spend hours reviewing hundreds of site, there is now a single Tablet PC Reviews website that has it all from trusted sources.

SEO Tips & Tricks

2006-11-13T03:59:00.000-08:00

Volumes have been written on this topic, how best to optimize your website, which features are the best and what software can do it all for me, not to mention the plethora of SEO companies offering to do it for you.

There are 5 basic SEO Tips essential for basic SEO'ing on your site:

- Ensure Meta tags are inserted and unique on each page
- Ensure all Images have Img Tags
- Ensure Header tags are relevant
- Ensure all links are text links using relevant keywords
- Ensure the page has over 200 words of content

Simply put there is no software that will do the job for you, but there are packages that will help, these include: SEOToolkit, WPG Gold, WebCEO

If you can afford a few thousand dollars a month it is well worth employing a company with software and skills to do it all for you, results will be quicker and more profesional.

Online Document Storage - Safe at Last !

2006-11-13T03:51:00.000-08:00

KeepYouSafe.com claims to be the the first truly secure Online Safe Deposit Box. Obvioulsy you cant store physical items like jewelry, but you can store all those important document details and account numbers.

The service also suggets scanning copies of all your important documents and uploading them as pdf/doc. This is intelligent and logical. Their website is a full features Online Safe Deposit Box and is littered with safe / secure logos and their levels of encryption seem quite impressive.

Security for this kind of Online Safe Deposit Box is obviously a big concern when divulging your details to anyone let alone an central repository, so you should check for yourself all their claims of security. I checked it and have opened a taster account which wont cost me a thing for the first year, after that it will cost $3 (or more dependant on size) per month.

The only question remains is how do you keep the password to this account safe !

Israel is the New Silicon Valley

2006-11-13T03:40:00.000-08:00

People often ask where the latest innovations are coming from, which countries are leading the way in medical, technological and scientific breakthroughs. The answer i always give is Israel. The tiny piece of land that gets so much news time for all the wrong reasons.

This country of less than 6 million people is the new silicon valley. Just ask Intel who have used the brains of the land to develop their last 3 generations of procesors, ask Microsoft who are ever expanding their operations there or even Google who this year added Israel to their exclusive list of countries where they have full office operations.

The start-up world is nowhere more productive than Israel, just ask Sandisk who are now delivering multi-gigabyte disks on keys or Amdocs who are the market leading document storage people.

Truly, invest in Israel for the future and learn about the real country rather than that thats crudly shown on the news.

PC Blade - Sharper Servers

2006-11-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Choosing a server is complicated. Unless your decision is easy because of the applications your running, its difficult, windows, linux, shared, dedicated, mac, pc. Well let make the job a little easier, check out the new Blade Server by ClearCube. These servers are full featured PC servers and all include the latest Intel technology.

Life just got a little simpler ! PC Blade Servers look as cool as they sound and claim to be as sharp as they imply. The website has all the information needed to view images and read spec sheets. Servers Just got Sharper.

New System Online to Pay Bloggers

2006-11-09T03:00:00.001-08:00

A revolutionary new marketing system has launched in recent months that matches publishers with advertisers

www.blogvertise.com is an invitation only service for publishers who can earn money by reviewing advertisers products / services on their blogs.

Their slogan says it all ''Blogsvertise! It's simple. Earn cash and generate extra income from your blog!''

Yummy and Google Life

2006-11-08T22:24:00.000-08:00

A very cool tool has come to market. For those of us who now live by social bookmarking, should check out Yummy

A freeware little tool thats very much still in alpha / beta mode that is effectively a front end del.icio.us search tool. It sits on the desktop and lets you search by user or topic. There are more and more web2.0 tools websites and interface tools hitting the internet, this is a very nice bit of integration. If you know any more, let me know and i'll review it on this blog.

I'm still waiting for the all encompasing, all interfacing tool for my web management, email, news, web clippings and home entertainment system control... I'm waiting for GoogleLife to launch. It seems they have all the components, they just need to package it into one log in web interface with a desktop app for offline use and hey presto i'll be happy and they can rename the internet: googlenet

Telecom Israel 2006.

2006-11-08T06:57:00.000-08:00

Israel, the hottest new Silicon Valley this week is showcasing its wares and flares (excuse the pun). Hundreds of start-ups through to multinationals that one wouldn't think are Israeli but are will be exhibiting in Tel Aviv.

The exhibition has become a central showpiece for the Telecoms world with many new technologies and think tanks in attendance showing their vision of the future of voice. This years key topics include:

Exhibition Topics

Basic and Value-Added Telecom Services
CDMA, GSM, GPRS, IVDO, UMTS
Billing Systems
Intelligent Network
IPTV
Micro-Wave Communications Systems and Equipment
Mobile Electronic Commerce
Mobile E-mail
Optical Fiber and Transmission Equipment
PDA
SDH Technology and Equipment
Telecom Security Services
Wireless Access Systems

MATIMOP (Israeli Industry Center for R&D) have endorsed an innovation pavillion, an initiative to recruiting premier innovative Israeli start-up companies to present in this unified location. New demonstrations offering a variety of services will be showcased to the public.

An exciting year ahead is planned for the industry if the brainboxes in Israel have any say in the matter!

Vodafone teams with Microsoft

2006-11-07T03:03:00.000-08:00

Vodafone, The world's largest mobile operator, has signed a deal with Microsoft to produce software for rollout of new services on all mobile handsets.

A Vodafone spokeman has said the new platform deal with MS will speed up the development of new apps and services for all its Windows Mobile devices,

In other news from Newbury, Samsung set to deliver the first handset using this new software on teh Vodafone network in the first half of 2007.

Vodafone have said that this deal does not mean that it will stop its deal with Blackberry or preclude its use on such handsets from Sony Ericsson, which doesn't use Symbian/S60.

We will wait to see how this pans out. The future's here and it may not be orange!

PlayStation 3 is almost here... check out the facts

2006-11-06T01:05:00.001-08:00

After plenty of gameplay the console is cool -- or at worst warm -- to the touch on every surface. In a side by side test with the Xbox 360, the console is comparably virtually silent, and the Blu-ray drive is significantly quieter than the 360's DVD drive.

USB keyboards and mice will be plug-n-play, no fuss at all. Who really wants to browse the web with a PlayStation controller anyway?
Bluetooth mice and keyboards will not work with the system at launch.
Any (A2DP) Bluetooth headset should theoretically work with the system, though Sony will have a recommended hardware list.
The EyeToy is the only USB webcam that will work with the system. The original PS2 EyeToy should still work with the PS3.
There are currently no plans for VGA out on the PlayStation3.
The system will not support more than seven controllers.
There are currently no plans for a cheaper, wired version of the SIXAXIS.
With its media playback software one can have in-game custom soundtracks, as with the Xbox 360, Wii, etc.
Sony insists the US is still officially targeted for a 400k unit launch; Japan is still set for a mere 80k. Sony execs are actually expecting an upturn in unit production before launch, so those numbers may actually go up.
Some titles have an option to install some amount of game data (in addition to saved data) to the drive. Genji can install 4GB worth of data to decrease load times (quoted to drop from 12-15 seconds down to 3-4); this game data can be removed at any time without affecting your saved games.
The drive can be upgraded, although not on any official basis (read: YMMV, do so at your own risk, you may void warranty, etc.).
You cannot leave voice or picture messages for other users on the PlayStation Network, only text.

Who needs Firefox - Mac users dont !

2006-11-06T01:04:00.001-08:00

I don't have a Mac, so I didn't know that Firefox - even in its latest incarnation - doesn't run all that well on them. Oh yes, it'll work - they designed it to be platform and processor ndependent after all - but it doesn't take advantage of the hardware and OS niceties that make Apple's products so efficiently addictive.

Enter, stage-left and grinning, Shiira, an open-source browser developed specifically for the Mac.

So what makes it so great?

Well, being specifically designed for OS X means it's fast - Expose-style viewing of all tabs renders in an instant, rather than crunching along slowly as Firefox does, bookmarks are dynamically updated from any other browser you have installed, so you always have an up-to-date set in Shiira.

Translucent sidebars show new RSS feeds and a "Page holder" for whatever site you're currently viewing, a kind of contents page with all the relevant links right there.

MySpace Goes to Japan

2006-11-06T01:02:00.001-08:00

News Corp. owner of Myspace launches the Japanese version of its service today.

MySpace has grown to be the most popular website on the English-language Internet, and is already accessible in countries including Australia, France, Germany, Ireland and the U.K. The Japanese version will be the be the sixth national service and and fourth different language version of the service.

MySpace Japan is a joint-venture between News Corp. and Softbank. Myspace Japan is competing against a number of competitors, primarily Mixi, which has over 6 million users.

Firefox & Explorer Go to War

2006-10-26T09:04:00.001-07:00

Its happened, they've launched, fists are being thrown, gauntlets are laid down and as we speak its neck and neck.

Who will win, nobody knows.

We all have our favourites, mine is Firefox (as is a growing portion of the web community). But Explorer 7 is hot on its heals. MS finally introduced tabbed browsing which for so long has been a core strength of Firefox. But now according to those using it, explorer is faster and more stable.

Personally, i've downloaded Firefox 2.0 and am quite happy.

You can get yours here - Mozilla Firefox

The SlingBox Revolution

2006-10-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

Sony's had the mobile rug pulled under it by Slingmedia yet again!

We'd just heard about LocationFree TV finding a new home on Sony Ericsson's phones, when news emerged of a new Slingplayer for phones running the Symbian operating system.

It's a move that pours cold water on Sony's mobile efforts, opening up the Slingbox's streaming software to a massive range of phones, including the P990 Sony's using as its latest LocationFree poster boy.

The new software means those toting Symbian on 3G or Wi-Fi phones are a short step from square-eyed nirvana. What are you waiting for? Grab your blower and go join Slingbox's now not so exclusive club!

Wi-Max Wireless Mobile Phone

2006-10-15T04:07:00.001-07:00

Its here, its hitting the market soon and its totally wireless.

Nokia have today announced at the global exhibition WiMAX conference in Bostonthat they are working on WiMAX (802.16e) mobile phones. Intel this week also introduced their 'system-on-a-chip' (SoC) named WiMAX Connection 2250 readers may know this device as its alias "Rosedale 2. Intel chips will be installed in a mobile radio device that also includes a broadband modem, the SoC will enables high-speed broadband handsets to connect to both fixed WiMAX networks, and mobile digital cellular systems. Meaning wherever you are you can connect, sometimes for free using Skype if you so desire.

Back to Nokia, where their plans are to have super high speed base stations starting at 2.5 GHz band by 2007 and up to 3.5 GHz bandwidth by 2008.

Nokia mobile announced its newhandsets will be on sale in 2008. However, for those of you with palms and handhelds, you can already use your device as a wireless freephone in areas (like home and office) where there are Wi Fi networks