Creating buzz is a “snap”!

The blog marketing arena has become crowded as more and more advertisers find it worthwhile to invest their money on blogs rather than following more conventional routes. Advertisers create buzz for their products through blogs that are relevant to the products and thus get visibility to a target audience.

SnapBomb, a relatively new entrant to the blog marketing scenario seems to have mastered the process of matching the advertisers to the right kind of bloggers/publishers who can create buzz for the product and more importantly (since am a blogger myself) helps the bloggers to maintain quality of their blogs by getting an opportunity for them that matches their blog content. Thus bloggers can continue doing what they love doing- blogging! Whats more, SnapBomb accepts any kind of blog, irrespective of its traffic, rank etc.

SnapBomb has a neat way of evaluating the value of every blog submitted to them and Advertisers can be rest assured that the price they are paying for review posts are accurate. And of course, the blogs are also “targeted” towards the advertisers’ products. A win-win for bloggers and the advertisers.

Blog marketing has truly become a “snap”!

How NOT to use Powerpoint!

This funny video shows how to make a good presentation with Powerpoint. Watch it, that guy is really funny!

Fennec, Firefox’s mobile variant enters Alpha

Mozilla has released the Alpha version of Fennec, the mobile version of its popular web browser Firefox. The Mozilla website claims that “this is an early developer release of the mobile version of Firefox, for testing purposes only” and  only runs on the Nokia N810 (and N800) tablet at the moment. But Windows, OS X or Linux users can download their corressponding versions and play around with it to get its feel.

A look at the browser ( I had to run it on Windows), shows how well it has been designed for use on mobiles, the touchscreen ones especially. It features a full-screen display with navigation set to the side. By dragging the screen to the left, we get the “Back”, “Forward” and “Favourites” controls along one for
“Settings” and a drag to the right reveals the opened tabs. Thats pretty slick, considering its usage on a touchscreen mobile.

The browser also features a lowered down version of Firefox 3’s Awesome Bar- though not as good as the one in Firefox, it does save a lot of typing! Near this is the “Reload” button, of course and also a button to view your bookmarks/favourites. Searching is done by typing the keyword on the bar and selecting the search provider from a bar at the bottom of the screen.

This version also contains a password manager that offers to save and autofill your logins. A very important feature, considering how hard it is to input text in any form of mobile keyboards. A look at the Settings page shows that Fennec no less mighty than Firefox when it comes to customization and add-ons. Firefox add-ons bring the uber-popular browser its character. It seems obvious that making the mobile version of Firefox extensible and customizable will allow it to get the same popularity that was bestowed on Firefox for pretty much the same reasons, and will threaten the dominance of Opera Mini and Opera Mobile in the mobile browser market. Being a Opera 9.65 user myself, I can clearly see how the interface of Fennec is much better than Opera’s. But the real test will be about how Fennec can handle prolonged browsing sessions and how well it can work on a variety of mobile platforms, especially the non-touchscreen ones.

Condo at a World Heritage Site!

Few weeks back I spoke about certain Indian cultural heritage sites and how their preservations are being carried out, especially with reference to the India Digital Heritage project. This time I’ll be talking about one of world’s most famous heritage sites- Casco Antiguo.

Panama City’s three hundred year old district, Casco Antiguo (aka Casco Viejo ), is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized World Heritage Site. This region is the epitome that demonstrates the co-existance of progress and historical preservation and is the role model for other tourism niches in Panama and elsewhere. With such historic background coupled with the ability to view two oceans (you know them rightt?) and other natural experiences, this region has become a tourist haven.

Now, after more than a decade as a World Heritage site and in addition to the tourism boom, Casco Antigua has become one of the hottest places to buy property in the city. Various historic buildings have been restored and are now home to some of the City’s finest homes, bars and restaurants.

One such hotel that is being restored here is Hotel Casco Antiguo, the Old City’s oldest hotel, which on restoration promises to be the HAPPENING place at Casco Antiguo. The Hotel will be a condominium-hotel and will boast of modern amenities in an Andalusian architecture- a combination that no ordinary hotel can offer! Getting a condo at this hotel is not just about owning a modern second home at a great location (It’s in Panama, do I have to say more?), its about “Owning A Piece of History”, like the Hotel’s website says.

With just 34 condos, this great place will be completed in 2009 and you can (and if you dont want to lose out, do so soon) Register for an eBrochure Here

Windows 7 will be called Windows 7

Microsoft has confirmed that the next version of its operating system, which has so far been code named Windows 7, will infact be called Windows 7. There have been a few cases at Microsoft when the codename of a product was used for the final release,  but this is the first time a Windows will be released withs its code name aas its final one.

To the unacquainted, Windows 7 has been given this name because, well its the 7th version of Windows 7 and it is now believed that the name has been chosen to keep it simple and have the final product do the talking, rather than its hyped name.  A lesson that Microsoft must have learned from Vista.

Many do point out that the release is not Microsoft’s seventh at all. The Redmond giant has released Windows, Windows 2, Windows 3.0, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. They argue that this new edition should therefore be Windows 8 if Windows XP is counted as a release. If Windows XP is not counted because it is Kernel 5.1, then ‘Windows 7′ should be Windows 6.1 (Vista being the 6 and  ”Windows 7″ being the result of refinement to the Windows Vista technology).

Anyway, judging by the speed Microsoft is developing Windows 7 and considering the new name it seems that Microsoft intends to close the Vista chapter as quickly as possible.  Windows 7 was originally scheduled to be released in 2010, but apparently has been pulled into H2 2009.

Open Office 3.0 is here, at last!

The 3.0 in its name was supposed to mean its version number, but it has taken the Open Office developers 3 long years to release the third version of Open Office, the open source alternative to Microsoft Office.

Okay, the highlights first. The new release  solves document incompatibility problems with the OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 file format and Office 2007 OOXML import filters and delivers new collaborative options that allow multiple users to edit documents at the same time. In addition to improved drawing and charting tools, XML support ahas also been updated.

OpenOffice 3 promises several enhancements across its suite of applications, along the reliability and performance fronts.  The most significant killer feature in this release is the ability to read documents saved with Microsoft Office 2007 or 2008 in .docx, .xlsx, .pptx or other new formats. OpenOffice 3.0 can also read and write documents in standardized OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2.

The new Start Centre now has some better icons and a  zoom control in the status bar. The Chart application has  received many subtle, but necessary improvements. Draw and Impress now have a much improved crop feature and Writer has a new notes feature and a built-in math solver component.

Another thing that has to be mentioned about 3.0 is that the Mac version has been made from the groundup and now runs and looks like a native Mac application and provides better performance and reliability.

Open Office 3.0 can be downloaded from here

Airtel now in your TV

Bharti Airtel, better known for its Mobile and Broadband services, has unveiled its new direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV service that will be available to customers  in 62 cities across India. Airtel is the new entrant in the fast growing Indian DTH segment, and Airtel will like aim to capitalize on its nationwide popularity to get customers to use their DTH in the crowded market.

Airtel digital TV will use the latest MPEG4 standard with DVB S2 technology. In addition to being HD  ready, this latest technology also enables delivery of more complex interactive content. The service provides interactive applications such as iMatinee (book cinema tickets), iTravel (browse and book travel packages), iShop (shop on TV for your favorite brands), iCity (get your city’s information) and Widgets (update yourself on latest stock news).  Airtel digital TV also boasts of a 20 percent larger dish antenna that offers better performance during rain.

Airtel will offer a universal remote for operationg both set top boxes and TVs. Also available are exclusive content including world radio, games and movie-on-demand. This move is seen as  a major step towards transforming Airtel from just a telecom brand to a lifestyle enabler.

The ads have started doing the rounds, and as is the case with other Airtel ads, its well shot involving the concept of AirtelTV bringing various celebrities direct into your home. The ad features A.R.Rahman, Madahavan and Vidya Balan, Saif and Kareena, to mention a few. The nicely done ad has surely made people to sit up and take notice!

Google 2001

As a way of celebrating their tenth birthday, Google has brought  Google 2001- a look at how the search engine was in January 2001.  Below an antiquated Google logo( the old logo has been brought in to give a undeveloped version feel, since by 2001 Google had started using the logo as we see it today-this can be verified by Archive.org’s WayBack machine) the input box invites you to search through “1,326,920,000 web pages”.

As 2001 was Google’s first year with a complete archived index,  it has chosen this year for its retropective into what it was,  rather than 1998, when the now search engine major began its operations.  Google states in their FAQ that “earlier versions of our index aren’t readily accessible … the January 2001 index is the best we can do.”

The FAQ also states that this index is not actually a perfect reproduction of the real 2001 index; the company says that it is a pretty good approximation. Some index entries have been removed as well, fro various reasons.  Google’s FAQ also adds that this special search engine won’t be live forever, but just for one month.

Google 2001 is a highly interesting trip to the past. You can get a feeling for what the web  was like back then, what topics were as of yet unknown or little talked about and what topics have ceased to exist.  Just try out “BitTorrent” to see what I mean.

Comment on any interesting search keywords that you find. Happy Searching throught the past.

India’s Mission to the Moon- Chandrayaan-I

With one of the emerging superpowers China conducting a spacewalk and proving the power of its space technology, the onus is now on the other emerging star India to make a mark in the exclusive Space Club and prove to the world that it really is shining.

Chandrayaan (meaning journey to the moon) is India’s ambitious unmanned mission to the moon and Chandrayaan I, India’s spacecraft which is to take off for the moon, is on its way to Sriharikota Range, to be integrated with its launch vehicle PSLV-C11. The 50-hour countdown to the launch of Chandrayaan will start on the night of October 19.

The main objective of Chandrayaan-I is studying and analyzing the various minerals and chemical elements constituting the surface of the moon and taking high-resolution three-dimensional mapping of the entire lunar surface.

Costing almost Rs400 crore, the project aims at establishing the mineral resources of Earth’s heavenly companion and look into the possibility of mining these resources. Many other countries are also looking at the possibility of mining the abundant mineral resources on the moon.

ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will launch Chandrayaan-I into a 240 km x 24,000 km earth orbit and then the spacecraft’s own propulsion system will be used to place it in a 100-km polar orbit around the moon. The satellite will weigh 1,304 kg and will be equipped with high-resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, soft and hard X-ray frequencies.

Chandrayaan I is considered as the precursor to an even more ambitious project – a manned mission to the Moon. Seems like a kind of US-USSR cold war like scenario has erupted involving India and China. Time will tell which country will be the first to spring a “Apollo 11″

RD widgets for edutainment!

The last few years have seen an explosion in social networking sites and other places to establish one’s own personal space on the web. There is rarely a computer user now who doesnt have his/her personal page on the internet. To make one’s personal page unique and more attractive to the visitors , there are umpteen number of widgets available to ornate these pages.

In such a populated arena comes ReadersDigest.com Widgets, a collection of widgets and toolbars that stand out from the crowd by being fun as well as informative and also lightweight.

First is Word Power, my personal favourite. Its a nice way to build your vocabulary and also to challenge your friends to see who beats who in the race to become vocabulary king! Daily Laughs is next which provides a collection of new jokes, cartoons, photos and videos from ReadersDigest.com. These are sure to tickle you and are a nice way to start the day.

Next one is for the social networker in you. Prop My Photo is a widget that can be used in your Facebook profile page and allows you to add various funny props to your pics and share them with friends. There’s also a funny photo contest at rd.com to encourage the more creative amongst you. Also get the the ReadersDigest.com toolbar (IE and Firefox compatible) and get easy access to latest RD articles and lots more.

As I said WordPower is my personal favourite and I have even added it to my blog here. Ready to challenge me? Am Ready for a game!

Visit RD Laughs Main to get a hint of the whats in store through the Daily Laughs widget.