Archive for August, 2008

Apple introduces the new iPhone 3G

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

The new iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking, built-in GPS, and iPhone 2.0 software that supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs hundreds of third party applications built with the iPhone SDK. Available in 22 countries on July 11, iPhone 3G comes in two models: an 8GB model and a 16GB model.

With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips. And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one — a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser. iPhone 3G. It redefines what a mobile phone can do again.

Google Launches Trends for Websites

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Google launched Google Trends for Websites.

Google’s new Trends for Websites can help you create a lengthy list of relevant sites for link building effortlessly as well as a wealth of useful competitive information.

Barry Schwartz from Search Engine Land, makes a good point that :

Now, if you think like a link builder - you can use this tool to find sites that are within your “neighborhood” or industry. So if I want to find link partners for the Search Engine Roundtable, I enter in seroundtable.com, look at the related sites and ask all of them for links. Then I go to all of those sites and see who is related to them. You can, theoretically, keep expanding that list, as far is it makes sense.

This could change things drastically, personally like the price its FREE. If it is half as good as Google Analytics it will be a very helpful tool for SEO companies.

Google Improved Flash indexing!

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Google have developed a new algorithm for indexing textual content in flash files of all kinds. They have been working closely with Adobe so that the text within flash files can be indexed. Google can now index the textual content in flash files of all kinds, they can also crawl URLs embedded in Flash files as well! Google says:

“We’ve developed an algorithm that explores Flash files in the same way that a person would, by clicking buttons, entering input, and so on. Our algorithm remembers all of the text that it encounters along the way, and that content is then available to be indexed. We can’t tell you all of the proprietary details, but we can tell you that the algorithm’s effectiveness was improved by utilizing Adobe’s new Searchable SWF library.”

Google said there are 3 current technical limitations of Google’s ability to index Flash:

* Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript. So if your web page loads a Flash file via JavaScript, Google may not be aware of that Flash file, in which case it will not be indexed.
* We currently do not attach content from external resources that are loaded by your Flash files. If your Flash file loads an HTML file, an XML file, another SWF file, etc., Google will separately index that resource, but it will not yet be considered to be part of the content in your Flash file.
* While we are able to index Flash in almost all of the languages found on the web, currently there are difficulties with Flash content written in bidirectional languages. Until this is fixed, we will be unable to index Hebrew language or Arabic language content from Flash files

Effects of this to bloggers.

It means that a blogger can use a flash logo on his blog instead of a gif, jpeg or png file and not worry about losing some potential traffic. However, it should encourage an increase in flash advertisements. At the moment many advertisements have preferred images instead of flash as their keywords can get indexed via the alt tag in the banner. We may now see some advertisers and affiliate networks pushing more creative and dynamic advertising options to publishers.

The great thing about this new development is that website owners who use Flash do not have to do a thing. Google will not require any special action to make Flash files indexable, the algorithm will interact with the existing Flash file the same way a user would - by navigating through the file.

New Apple’s Transparent Laptops

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Everyone knows apple has the most amazing and the sexy looking lappys in the world. But this new series of transparent laptops just ROCKS!…

Microsoft Exec: No Plans for iPhone Clone

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Microsoft will keep focus on Windows Mobile and not worry about creating an iPhone clone.

Microsoft has mobile operating systems designed for mobile phones and the Zune MP3 player, but does not have any plans to roll both services into a Microsoft-branded phone any time soon.

Robbie Bach, Microsoft Entertainment and Devices division president

During an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Robbie Bach, Entertainment and Devices division president, said the company has no concrete plans to release an Apple iPhone clone in the future.

Microsoft has mobile operating systems designed for mobile phones and the Zune MP3 player, but does not have any plans to roll both services into a Microsoft-branded phone any time soon.

During an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Robbie Bach, Entertainment and Devices division president, said the company has no concrete plans to release an Apple iPhone clone in the future.

We don’t make phones ourselves“. We don’t have any plans to make phones ourselves. Our focus is on the belief that a phone is a very personal thing. Different people want different types of phones,” Bach said during the interview.

Microsoft will instead focus on Windows Mobile, which has shipped on 20 million mobile devices already. When asked about Steve Jobs’ announcement of the new 3G iPhone, Bach said Microsoft already ships “lots” of 3G phones that are powered by the Windows Mobile operating system.

Furthermore, Microsoft expects cell phones shipping with Windows Mobile will outsell the iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry smart phones, which use the OS X and a proprietary OS provided by RIM.

The demand for more interactive software will increase while the cell phone market, most notably smart phones, continues to rise.

“In general, what you are seeing in that phone space is tremendous growth in what people have called smart phones. (It’s) growing dramatically. That means more opportunity for us. There is more opportunity for services on top of those phones. There is more opportunity for a richer experience. It’s not just about the phone. It’s about browsing. It’s about music. It’s about video. It’s about e-mails, text messaging and photos.”

Keeping the Zune simply a multimedia device may seem risky since many music listeners internationally are listening to music using their cell phone, but Microsoft believes the MP3 player market is still big enough to justify making stand alone MP3 players. Software is becoming increasingly important for owners of MP3 players, as Zune owners can already play TV episodes and Microsoft may add movies to its portfolio in the future.

In the rest of the interview, Bach discusses Blu-ray and the Nintendo Wii’s international dominance and popularity.

Microsoft reached the 10 million consoles sold level before Nintendo or Sony, but the Wii is quickly catching up and is expected to overtake Microsoft in overall sales numbers shortly. But Microsoft understands that even though the consoles are competing in the same market.


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