Recently I wrote a blog entry about bloated software, and how much better Foxit PDF reader was than Adobe Reader. But I was using Adobe Reader 8. Little did I know how much superior version 9 would be.
For starters, version 8 was a 22 MB download. Version 9 is a mere 33 MB — a whole major version up, and not even twice as big. The default download includes a 19 MB eBay Desktop program, for all your “faster searching, smarter bidding” needs. So tempting … but I opted out.
On my cable connection, it took about 5 minutes to download, nicely allowing me enough time to brew a decent cup of coffee while I waited.
But it wasn’t just a simple, ordinary download. First Adobe told me to download a Firefox plugin. I assumed the plugin would help me read PDFs in my browser. But oh no, this was a special plugin, an Adobe Reader Download Manager (TM) — a plugin specially designed to help Firefox download Adobe’s powerful PDF viewer.
After the plugin was installed and Firefox restarted, the download began. I couldn’t wait to try Adobe’s MUCH FASTER and SMARTER product.
Download done, I double-clicked the installer. It spent a long time unpacking and validating the installer, which gave me warm fuzzies about Adobe’s good grasp of stability, security, and enterprisey robustness.
After the unpacking, the install process itself took 10 minutes. I could only thank Adobe’s engineers, presuming they were filling up my hard drive with yummy icons, tasty DLLs, and amazing 3D JavaScript add-ons. No matter — the 210 MB it required was there to be used.
I had just slurped down the dregs of my coffee when the installer finished. I was so thankful when it told me I needed to restart my computer, welcoming the extra time to drink coffee, as well as the pure delight I knew I’d get from starting all my applications again.
I could finally try out this new software. I was impressed. It started in a minuscule 13 seconds, plus the time it took me to skim their poetic and beneficent license agreement.
Ah, the joy of using a new product. Unlike Microsoft products, Adobe’s new, bigger Reader behaves exactly the same as the old one. In fact, it’s so compatible I can’t even tell the difference! Boy, I know good release management when I see it …
Thank you, Adobe, for version 9 of your free PDF Reader. You even thought to put a nice link to Acrobat.com on my Start Menu!
http://blog.brush.co.nz/
prowest
Saturday, 31 December 2011
5 Blogging Ideas that Spark Engagement
If you blog for business, you’ll know that every once in a while you run dry on ideas to share with your audience. I’m not the first to admit that it’s a shared challenge among professional bloggers as well as bloggers who are just getting started.
To help generate traffic and interest, here are five ideas to spark meaningful discussion and engagement on your blog.
Tell a meaningful story that people can identify with.
People follow blogs not just for their bullet points and fancy layouts. Tell a story that your audience can relate to and can tell that piece was written especially for them.
Share a personal experience that has a point.
Blogs do more than generate leads; they instill trust and loyalty among its readers. Share an emphatic story with personal convictions. It could be about customers, industry, or something that you observed over the weekend.
Respond to buzz and discussion in your industry.
Blogs are a great way for people to gain perspective on an industry. In a time when a person’s Twitter stream is filled with non-stop links and minimal conversation, author an informative and balanced perspective on recent news and events in your industry.
Engage your inactive readers with a unique contest.
A blog is a great place to host a contest because it gives you freedom to choose the purpose of the contest, qualifications and even more ideas to write about later. Consider asking people to share their feedback and award a contributor with a new iPad, gift card or other hot item that sparks interest from inactive subscribers.
Make a controversial point that begs others to think (and respond).
If you want to get attention (traffic), it doesn’t hurt to stir up some controversy. If it makes readers think, “Did they really say that?!” you’ll find yourself usually on the receiving end of a number of very passionate comments for (or against) your point. You don’t want to do this too often, otherwise your corporate blog could be dismissed as sensational and lose credibility.
These blogging ideas will help you be a more successful blogger. The point here is to share more of your personality, your views and be heard in your industry. Do you have any additional ideas to help bloggers generate more interest in their blogs? Suggest them in the comments below!
http://www.infusionblog.com/
To help generate traffic and interest, here are five ideas to spark meaningful discussion and engagement on your blog.
Tell a meaningful story that people can identify with.
People follow blogs not just for their bullet points and fancy layouts. Tell a story that your audience can relate to and can tell that piece was written especially for them.
Share a personal experience that has a point.
Blogs do more than generate leads; they instill trust and loyalty among its readers. Share an emphatic story with personal convictions. It could be about customers, industry, or something that you observed over the weekend.
Respond to buzz and discussion in your industry.
Blogs are a great way for people to gain perspective on an industry. In a time when a person’s Twitter stream is filled with non-stop links and minimal conversation, author an informative and balanced perspective on recent news and events in your industry.
Engage your inactive readers with a unique contest.
A blog is a great place to host a contest because it gives you freedom to choose the purpose of the contest, qualifications and even more ideas to write about later. Consider asking people to share their feedback and award a contributor with a new iPad, gift card or other hot item that sparks interest from inactive subscribers.
Make a controversial point that begs others to think (and respond).
If you want to get attention (traffic), it doesn’t hurt to stir up some controversy. If it makes readers think, “Did they really say that?!” you’ll find yourself usually on the receiving end of a number of very passionate comments for (or against) your point. You don’t want to do this too often, otherwise your corporate blog could be dismissed as sensational and lose credibility.
These blogging ideas will help you be a more successful blogger. The point here is to share more of your personality, your views and be heard in your industry. Do you have any additional ideas to help bloggers generate more interest in their blogs? Suggest them in the comments below!
http://www.infusionblog.com/
Useful Google Talk Bots That You Must Add as Friends
Online Certificate from Cornell Save 20% in January. Don't Wait!
You can do lot of interesting stuff with Google Talk like get alert notifications, save bookmarks to delicious, manage web calendars, set reminders, write blogs, and so much more.
Such features can be easily integrated into Google Talk through 'bots' which, in simple English, are like virtual friends who are online 24x7 and will always respond with a smile to your questions or requests.
Here are the eleven most useful 'bots' that transform Google Talk into a more useful program:
1. imfeeds@gmail.com - Add this IM Feeds bot as your Google Talk buddy and you'll be able to read any blog or website that syndicates content via RSS feeds.
To subscribe to a website in GTalk, simply send a new IM message that says "sub labnol.org" where labnol.org is the site address that you want to read inside Google Talk.
2. friendfeed@bot.im - This secret bot lets you post to FriendFeed from Google Talk. You may submit either hyperlinks or text messages.
3. imified@imified.com - This imified bot turns Google Talk into a real powerhouse.
You can post bookmarks to delicious, send messages to Twitter, submit blog entries to WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger, manage events in Google Calendar, shorten long URLs, run whois and so on.
4. inezhabot@gmail.com - Like IM Feeds, iNezha bot helps you read feeds inside Google Talk but this is slightly more versatile. For instance, you can simply say "digg" and it will show a list of all feeds that match that search term so you don't have to type (or copy-paste) feed addresses.
5. Translation - This is a free service from Google that helps you translate words from a foreign language into your native language. Just add the relevant bot (e.g. hi2en@bot.talk.google.com for Hindi to English or en2hi@bot.talk.google.com for English to Hindi) as your buddy, send him a message and it will get translated instantly.
6. Use Google Talk with Twitter - Invite twitter@twitter.com to become your friend in Google Talk and verify your account. Now whenever you IM this new friend, the message will automatically publish on your twitter account.
7. Set Task Reminders - If you need to remember something important, Google Talk can send you reminders for that event.
Just add timer to your Twitter friend's list and then add twitter@twitter.com to your buddy list in Gtalk. Now if you want to get a reminder after 50 minutes, send a direct message to twitter like "d timer 50 pick kids from school" and a reminder will automatically pop up in your Google Talk after 50 minutes.
8. Transliteration - If you want to chat in your mother tongue (like Hindi or Tamil) but feel more comfortable using the English keyboard, Google Transliteration bot will come in handy.
For instance, add en2hi.translit@bot.talk.google.com to you friend's list in GTalk and all messages you type in English will get transliterated in the language of your choice. Available only for a few Indian languages.
9. Xpenser - With xpenser, you can record travel expenses via email, SMS or even Google talk. Add xpenserbot@gmail.com as your buddy and send a message like "lunch 33.2 with Bill Gates" and that will be added as an expense to your online spreadsheet that can be accessed from anywhere.
10. Ping.fm - Like Imified, ping.fm is one of the most useful Google bots out there especially if you are a social networking or micro-blogging addict.
Add pingdotfm@gmail.com to Gtalk and you can communicate with twitter, jaiku, wordpress, identi.ca, facebook, myspace, bebo, friendfeed, linkedin, tumblr, plaxo, friendster, delicious and more.
11. Meshly - Add meshly@gmail.com as your friend and you'll be able to post web link to your Meshly account via Google Talk. You can also add tags, categories and description to your hyperlink via Gtalk itself.
http://www.labnol.org/
You can do lot of interesting stuff with Google Talk like get alert notifications, save bookmarks to delicious, manage web calendars, set reminders, write blogs, and so much more.
Such features can be easily integrated into Google Talk through 'bots' which, in simple English, are like virtual friends who are online 24x7 and will always respond with a smile to your questions or requests.
Here are the eleven most useful 'bots' that transform Google Talk into a more useful program:
1. imfeeds@gmail.com - Add this IM Feeds bot as your Google Talk buddy and you'll be able to read any blog or website that syndicates content via RSS feeds.
To subscribe to a website in GTalk, simply send a new IM message that says "sub labnol.org" where labnol.org is the site address that you want to read inside Google Talk.
2. friendfeed@bot.im - This secret bot lets you post to FriendFeed from Google Talk. You may submit either hyperlinks or text messages.
3. imified@imified.com - This imified bot turns Google Talk into a real powerhouse.
You can post bookmarks to delicious, send messages to Twitter, submit blog entries to WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger, manage events in Google Calendar, shorten long URLs, run whois and so on.
4. inezhabot@gmail.com - Like IM Feeds, iNezha bot helps you read feeds inside Google Talk but this is slightly more versatile. For instance, you can simply say "digg" and it will show a list of all feeds that match that search term so you don't have to type (or copy-paste) feed addresses.
5. Translation - This is a free service from Google that helps you translate words from a foreign language into your native language. Just add the relevant bot (e.g. hi2en@bot.talk.google.com for Hindi to English or en2hi@bot.talk.google.com for English to Hindi) as your buddy, send him a message and it will get translated instantly.
6. Use Google Talk with Twitter - Invite twitter@twitter.com to become your friend in Google Talk and verify your account. Now whenever you IM this new friend, the message will automatically publish on your twitter account.
7. Set Task Reminders - If you need to remember something important, Google Talk can send you reminders for that event.
Just add timer to your Twitter friend's list and then add twitter@twitter.com to your buddy list in Gtalk. Now if you want to get a reminder after 50 minutes, send a direct message to twitter like "d timer 50 pick kids from school" and a reminder will automatically pop up in your Google Talk after 50 minutes.
8. Transliteration - If you want to chat in your mother tongue (like Hindi or Tamil) but feel more comfortable using the English keyboard, Google Transliteration bot will come in handy.
For instance, add en2hi.translit@bot.talk.google.com to you friend's list in GTalk and all messages you type in English will get transliterated in the language of your choice. Available only for a few Indian languages.
9. Xpenser - With xpenser, you can record travel expenses via email, SMS or even Google talk. Add xpenserbot@gmail.com as your buddy and send a message like "lunch 33.2 with Bill Gates" and that will be added as an expense to your online spreadsheet that can be accessed from anywhere.
10. Ping.fm - Like Imified, ping.fm is one of the most useful Google bots out there especially if you are a social networking or micro-blogging addict.
Add pingdotfm@gmail.com to Gtalk and you can communicate with twitter, jaiku, wordpress, identi.ca, facebook, myspace, bebo, friendfeed, linkedin, tumblr, plaxo, friendster, delicious and more.
11. Meshly - Add meshly@gmail.com as your friend and you'll be able to post web link to your Meshly account via Google Talk. You can also add tags, categories and description to your hyperlink via Gtalk itself.
http://www.labnol.org/
Will Your Blog Be Big? Or Great?
This guest post is by Marjorie Clayman of Clayman Advertising.
Recently, it was announced that Richard Thompson was going to be awarded the OBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Your response, in any order, might be, “Who cares?” and “Who is Richard Thompson?”
Richard Thompson has a career in music that spans 40 years. He is a brilliant lyricist, but even more, he may be one of the best living guitarists out there. He was a member of folk rock super group Fairport Convention and he partnered with his ex-wife Linda in the 70s to make some fantastic albums. He wasn’t much of a vocalist back then, but now, even his vocal stylings are outstanding. And yet, Thompson plays small theatres and “intimate” concerts, and has a hard time enticing record labels to keep him on.
Richard Thompson is great, but he is not big.
Big? Or great?
Over the years, at any moment, Richard Thompson probably could have chucked his own particular style and his own particular skills out the window. He could have promised himself and his fans that it was for just one album, so that he could get his name out there. Then he’d come back to being himself.
So it is with blogging. You bring your own particular voice to your blog. You bring your own unique experiences and skills to your readers. But at any moment, you could say that honing your skills is not nearly as important as getting a lot of traffic. It’s so easy to think that aiming for “big” may be better than aiming for “great.”
Let’s face it—it’s probably easier to achieve “big” in comparison to becoming great in this competitive space. Write a few posts attacking big names, offer link bait, be controversial—you’ve seen all of those tricks in action. But are those bloggers great? Will you remember them in 40 years?
Aiming for greatness
If you want to aim for greatness instead of trying to be big, here are some tactics you could try.
Look at how you can improve. Richard Thompson probably realized that his vocal work needed improvement. Instead of resting on his laurels, he worked hard, and it paid off. Look at your posts from the last month. What would you do to improve each post just a little bit?
Blog outside your comfort zone. Stretch your limits. Attack new areas that will enrich your experience and that of your readers.
Look at the content of the comments you receive, not the number. Are people saying that you helped them out or helped them see things in a new perspective, or are they just saying, “nice post”?
Track your subscribers. Although this can be a metric for size as well, subscribing is an action people take when they are confident every post you write will be of interest to them (though they won’t read every single one). Are people placing that much confidence in you?
Become a cult classic. While Richard Thompson may not be “big,” his followers are about as loyal as they come. Look at your readers. Do you have people who are not just reading your posts but gushing about them to their followers and their community?
You can be big and great
This is not to say that everyone has to be like Richard Thompson, toiling away in the genius room while only the Queen of England cares. But becoming “big” is often a function of elements that are out of your control.
If folk rock had really become popular, Richard Thompson might well have become king of the world. The Beatles became as big as they did in part because they caught a new sound just as it was growing.
But aiming for great? That’s entirely under your control. It is defined by you, it is measured by you, and it is something you do from the heart. It’s important to remember that greatness can help pave the way for getting big. Getting big does not promise greatness.
Have you been concentrating on getting big lately or have you been working on honing your craft? Which do you value more? I’d love to discuss it with you in the comments section.
Marjorie Clayman is Director of Client Development at Clayman Advertising, a full service marketing communications firm located in Akron, OH.
http://www.problogger.net/
Recently, it was announced that Richard Thompson was going to be awarded the OBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Your response, in any order, might be, “Who cares?” and “Who is Richard Thompson?”
Richard Thompson has a career in music that spans 40 years. He is a brilliant lyricist, but even more, he may be one of the best living guitarists out there. He was a member of folk rock super group Fairport Convention and he partnered with his ex-wife Linda in the 70s to make some fantastic albums. He wasn’t much of a vocalist back then, but now, even his vocal stylings are outstanding. And yet, Thompson plays small theatres and “intimate” concerts, and has a hard time enticing record labels to keep him on.
Richard Thompson is great, but he is not big.
Big? Or great?
Over the years, at any moment, Richard Thompson probably could have chucked his own particular style and his own particular skills out the window. He could have promised himself and his fans that it was for just one album, so that he could get his name out there. Then he’d come back to being himself.
So it is with blogging. You bring your own particular voice to your blog. You bring your own unique experiences and skills to your readers. But at any moment, you could say that honing your skills is not nearly as important as getting a lot of traffic. It’s so easy to think that aiming for “big” may be better than aiming for “great.”
Let’s face it—it’s probably easier to achieve “big” in comparison to becoming great in this competitive space. Write a few posts attacking big names, offer link bait, be controversial—you’ve seen all of those tricks in action. But are those bloggers great? Will you remember them in 40 years?
Aiming for greatness
If you want to aim for greatness instead of trying to be big, here are some tactics you could try.
Look at how you can improve. Richard Thompson probably realized that his vocal work needed improvement. Instead of resting on his laurels, he worked hard, and it paid off. Look at your posts from the last month. What would you do to improve each post just a little bit?
Blog outside your comfort zone. Stretch your limits. Attack new areas that will enrich your experience and that of your readers.
Look at the content of the comments you receive, not the number. Are people saying that you helped them out or helped them see things in a new perspective, or are they just saying, “nice post”?
Track your subscribers. Although this can be a metric for size as well, subscribing is an action people take when they are confident every post you write will be of interest to them (though they won’t read every single one). Are people placing that much confidence in you?
Become a cult classic. While Richard Thompson may not be “big,” his followers are about as loyal as they come. Look at your readers. Do you have people who are not just reading your posts but gushing about them to their followers and their community?
You can be big and great
This is not to say that everyone has to be like Richard Thompson, toiling away in the genius room while only the Queen of England cares. But becoming “big” is often a function of elements that are out of your control.
If folk rock had really become popular, Richard Thompson might well have become king of the world. The Beatles became as big as they did in part because they caught a new sound just as it was growing.
But aiming for great? That’s entirely under your control. It is defined by you, it is measured by you, and it is something you do from the heart. It’s important to remember that greatness can help pave the way for getting big. Getting big does not promise greatness.
Have you been concentrating on getting big lately or have you been working on honing your craft? Which do you value more? I’d love to discuss it with you in the comments section.
Marjorie Clayman is Director of Client Development at Clayman Advertising, a full service marketing communications firm located in Akron, OH.
http://www.problogger.net/
Blog Tips
Hi guys i am most interested in blogging than any other activity i indulge in.I am not that good at chatting or interacting with a group of guys for a function or a meeting though am not afraid or shy.A day in office with lots of talking and meeting will be like a day under blazing sun.All i am comfortable is blogging.So i can give you some cool blogging tips.Try to follow this and make use of this tips for better blogging.
Simple and clean design : The first impression is the best.The look and feel of your theme will appeal the visitor to stay on your page.I always recommend white background with black contents and dont go for the alternate option of black background with white font.
Good Content : Content is king as i always say, write quality articles about topics that are expected by your visitors.As a blogger you need to have clear idea about what you are going to provide for your readers.You must be specific on any of the points listed below
* Try to solve their problems
* Educate readers with subject in which you are strong
* Entertain readers with your articles
Format your articles with sub headings : Sub headings are very important factor in an article as most users take a look at subheadings to get a clear idea about what you explained in detail.
Reduce your bounce rate : Try to figure out the reason for bounce rate on your blog.In a recent survey, most blog readers in America are aged old group retired from their work.They will easily move away from your blog even without taking a look at your content if your text is too small to read.Make your text visible to reduce bounce rate to good extend.Try this for better results.
Set your goal : Set in mind that nothing is going to stop you from blogging.Dont get disappointed that you are not getting money or visitors for your blog.There will be many stages you will certainly think of stop blogging.Dont even think of that,keep motivated and belive that you are a good blogger and move towards your goal.The road to success is not easy so keep working hard.
Blog commenting : Blog commenting is the best way to tell other bloggers that am also here along with you.Lets have a friendly match.Start posting meaningful comments and get more traffic and backlink to your blog.Dont worry much about pagerank in beginning stages.i will be writing an article on page rank soon.
Guest blogging : Show your potential as an author to gain more traffic to your blog by writing articles to other famous blogs.Many visitors and bloggers will find that article and knock your door to see what you have in stock for the world.So start writing good articles of diffrent niches.
Choosing the headline : The most important factor for a blogger to make an impression is through his headline.A good headline can easily get the attention of the visitor as well as communicate a short bio of your post to audience and makes the audience to read your post.
You can assign diffrent types of headlines to your post
* Direct headlines is what comes on your mind staright about your post
* Indirect headline takes a little clever approach by making the reader thinking a bit about your headline
* How to headline is something you can see a lot in many diffrent blogs.If you are providing a solution that solves your readers problem the use howto to frame a headline
* A Question headline can be used to ask a queation to the reader.Its a brilliant approach because an answer will be there in users mind before reading your article.
Post with readable headlines : The standout factor of your blog post needs to be your heading.There is no use in writing a attractive and meaningful heading in small size,make it clear and visible.I recommend using <h1> tag and use css to make it
look slightly smaller than normal <h1>.This heading will be clearly visible to visitor and search engines.For the above reason dont make it too big.
Do not publish content of poor quality : A post with poor content or selfish content without proper knowledge on subject will always help you in getting bad name.Always focus to write contents on topics that your reader wants or try to solve your readers problem with your contents.
Use quality images : A quality post with good images will make it a great post among your readers.You are better advised not using images than adding a bad image to your post.provide quality images whereever necessary through out your post and makesure you just published a post with good text ratio with images in the sense you dont used many images and make your post overloaded with images.
About Page : Visitors always wants to know about you as well as your blog so provide them with an about page.I strongly assure you that your about page will be with list of page on your analytics with lot of page views.About page always help you in reaching out more to users by saying them what you are providing and what to expect from you in coming days.
You wil be on your way..Happy blogging!!
http://demo.smartnetzone.com/
Simple and clean design : The first impression is the best.The look and feel of your theme will appeal the visitor to stay on your page.I always recommend white background with black contents and dont go for the alternate option of black background with white font.
Good Content : Content is king as i always say, write quality articles about topics that are expected by your visitors.As a blogger you need to have clear idea about what you are going to provide for your readers.You must be specific on any of the points listed below
* Try to solve their problems
* Educate readers with subject in which you are strong
* Entertain readers with your articles
Format your articles with sub headings : Sub headings are very important factor in an article as most users take a look at subheadings to get a clear idea about what you explained in detail.
Reduce your bounce rate : Try to figure out the reason for bounce rate on your blog.In a recent survey, most blog readers in America are aged old group retired from their work.They will easily move away from your blog even without taking a look at your content if your text is too small to read.Make your text visible to reduce bounce rate to good extend.Try this for better results.
Set your goal : Set in mind that nothing is going to stop you from blogging.Dont get disappointed that you are not getting money or visitors for your blog.There will be many stages you will certainly think of stop blogging.Dont even think of that,keep motivated and belive that you are a good blogger and move towards your goal.The road to success is not easy so keep working hard.
Blog commenting : Blog commenting is the best way to tell other bloggers that am also here along with you.Lets have a friendly match.Start posting meaningful comments and get more traffic and backlink to your blog.Dont worry much about pagerank in beginning stages.i will be writing an article on page rank soon.
Guest blogging : Show your potential as an author to gain more traffic to your blog by writing articles to other famous blogs.Many visitors and bloggers will find that article and knock your door to see what you have in stock for the world.So start writing good articles of diffrent niches.
Choosing the headline : The most important factor for a blogger to make an impression is through his headline.A good headline can easily get the attention of the visitor as well as communicate a short bio of your post to audience and makes the audience to read your post.
You can assign diffrent types of headlines to your post
* Direct headlines is what comes on your mind staright about your post
* Indirect headline takes a little clever approach by making the reader thinking a bit about your headline
* How to headline is something you can see a lot in many diffrent blogs.If you are providing a solution that solves your readers problem the use howto to frame a headline
* A Question headline can be used to ask a queation to the reader.Its a brilliant approach because an answer will be there in users mind before reading your article.
Post with readable headlines : The standout factor of your blog post needs to be your heading.There is no use in writing a attractive and meaningful heading in small size,make it clear and visible.I recommend using <h1> tag and use css to make it
look slightly smaller than normal <h1>.This heading will be clearly visible to visitor and search engines.For the above reason dont make it too big.
Do not publish content of poor quality : A post with poor content or selfish content without proper knowledge on subject will always help you in getting bad name.Always focus to write contents on topics that your reader wants or try to solve your readers problem with your contents.
Use quality images : A quality post with good images will make it a great post among your readers.You are better advised not using images than adding a bad image to your post.provide quality images whereever necessary through out your post and makesure you just published a post with good text ratio with images in the sense you dont used many images and make your post overloaded with images.
About Page : Visitors always wants to know about you as well as your blog so provide them with an about page.I strongly assure you that your about page will be with list of page on your analytics with lot of page views.About page always help you in reaching out more to users by saying them what you are providing and what to expect from you in coming days.
You wil be on your way..Happy blogging!!
http://demo.smartnetzone.com/
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