Mobile World-27: "Universal Phone Charger"

In a move set to make one small aspect of modern life simpler, mobile phone companies are working on a one-size-fits-all charger for all new handsets. They are planning to introduce the device in response to growing pressure from European Union regulators.

EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said last week that with over 30 different kinds of chargers in use across the 27-nation European Union, his "patience is now at an end."

Handset-makers like Nokia had long resisted developing a universal charger in the past because of compatibility and legal problems. Introducing a one-size-fits-all charger would help them cut costs since in future new handsets would no longer necessarily need to be sold with a charger. It would also enable firms to bolster their green credentials since the planned new charger, which works using a micro USB socket in the handset, uses less electricity than current models. - AFP

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, February 17, 2009.

Grateful thanks to AFP and The Hindu.

Digital World-11: "BSNL to Launch IPTV"

BSNL Chennai is launching shortly IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). It will provide a package of 140 major news and entertainment channels of various languages to start with. This service would gradually be extended to other telecom circles.

IPTV is expected to transform the televiewing experience for broadband users. For instance, broadband users could enjoy much greater freedom, versatility and interactivity with IPTV compared to basic television.

An exciting prospect of IPTV is that the user would be able to use a PVR, an interactive electronic device to record television shows in a digital format for viewing later.

Based on the article "BSNL to launch IPTV in Chennai" by M.Dinesh Varma in The Hindu, Madurai, February 16, 2009.

Detailed Wikipedia article on "IPTV":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPTV

Grateful thanks to Mr.Dinesh Varma, The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Wearable Computing System

TED: MIT Students Turn Internet Into a Sixth Human Sense -- Video

How To-65: "How to Improve Search Engine Ranking"

How to Improve Search Engine Ranking

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Showing up on search engines is one of the most critical ways to increase website traffic and expose your content, product or service to people who might be interested in what you have to offer. Most of the major search engines utilize an algorithm to determine where a website ranks. The search engines have set up specific criteria that a website must meet to get to the top of the list. The criteria are different for every engine, but all engines share several commonalities. It all boils down to the type and amount of content provided on a given website, the level of optimization done on the site, and the popularity of the website (link popularity/PageRank). Tailoring your website for improved search engine rankings is also known widely as search engine optimization, or SEO.

Steps

1. Research the keywords. Decide what search queries you want to show up for. Do some research on how many people are actually searching for your site. Many times it is best to consult a "natural search engine optimization" professional during this process. There are several tools available from Google, Overture, and third party software developers that can make the keyword research process easier.
   
2. Think outside of the box. Don't just focus on your main keywords. The first thing to realize when targeting keywords is that it is not all about ranking for the most popular keyword. The most successful search engine marketing and optimization campaigns target the most relevant keywords. For example, if you are a realtor in a particular area, don’t just optimize your site for “real estate." Optimize your site for dentist, florist, movie theaters, etc. You would be amazed how many unique visitors will come through to your site when "outside of the box" thinking occurs.
   
3. Focus on the end user. If you spend too much time trying to please the Search Engine Spiders, you may forget about the end user. Think about what your target market needs to accomplish their goals, and then put it on your site so that they can find it. The phrase "content is king" was born about 6 years ago, and it still holds true today. If you want to be relevant for specific keywords, than you need superior or at least highly competitive content. Write about 225-300 words of copy for each keyword and plant it on your site each day. Grow, grow, and grow. On average, one can target between 3-5 like keyword phrases per page. Make it as natural as possible and the Search Engines will reward you with a first-page ranking.
   
4. Make sure that all the pages of the site have custom titles and descriptions. If your site is using the same tags for all the pages, you are not helping search engines figure out the subject or relevance of your individual pages. Regarding Meta Tags, there are 2 very important fields:
   
• Title Tag - arguably the most important SEO tag for any website. Google supports approx. 60 characters in the title, while Yahoo allows for up to 110 characters in the title. It is important to target the most critical keywords in the Title. Every page should have a unique Title.
  
• META Description Tag - also very important for every page on the site. Some engines do display the description defined, while others do not. All search engines do read the description tag, and do utilize the content found within in the ranking process. A good rule of thumb is to create descriptions that do not exceed 200-250 characters. The META keyword Tag is essentially useless in today's SEO market, but is oftentimes good to utilize as a placeholder for the keywords targeted.
  
5. Keep the structure, navigation and URL structure of your site simple enough for search engines to follow. Remember that search engines cannot parse your navigation if it's using flash or javascript. So try to stay close to standard HTML when it comes to Navigation. URLs with dynamic parameters (?, &, SIDs) usually do not perform when it comes to search engine rankings.
   
6. Create a site map that tells people where everything is on your site. You will get about a 1% click through rate to your site map. However, it will do wonders for those who know what site maps do, and the Search Engines will like it as well.
   
7. Build up your popularity. So now you have determined the right keywords on the right pages, you've created all of the necessary content, and you've optimized all of the content to the best of your capabilities. Congratulations - you're now in the top 80th percentile (from an optimization standpoint) of the websites listed for the keywords you're trying to target. So how do you get a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd page listing? The answer is quite simple: You have to be the most popular, too. That's right, it's a popularity contest. In other words, how many other websites know you (link to you), and how popular are they? This is typically referred to as link popularity, or called PageRank by Google. The more sites that link to your site the better, and the more popular the site linking to you the more value you will receive for your link popularity. The best types of "link building" are directory registration, text link advertising, and press release distribution. Try to offer valuable information or tools so that other people are motivated to link to your site. Well-linked sites (that don't use spamming) do better in search engines.

Tips

• Search engine algorithms assess the relevance of your page to any particular keyword by the content on your pages. For instance if you are selling "widgety widgets" on your site and you do not mention "widgety widgets" on your page text, search engines have very little to work with. Also make sure that you are not spamming search engines by using the same keyword over and over.
  
• Although not as important as they used to be, reciprocal links do still matter with Google. Reciprocate with similar websites and include keywords near the links on your site.
  
• If you want to optimize well for your city, state etc., make sure to sprinkle geographic search terms throughout. Include it in text as well as set apart. Search engines do not know where you are unless you tell them.
  
• Bold and italics can make your keywords stand out more with the search engines.
  
• Interior links within your site will improve SEO; Sitemaps are a great way to generate internal links and make your website better too!
  
• Correct broken links, search engines do not like dead ends.
  
• If you have over 30 keywords that mean business to you, then you might want to hire a Professional Search Engine Copywriting firm or outsource it to freelancers.
  
• Anyone who can go to google and type in "keyword research" will find very many tools that mixed with common sense should suffice quite well.
  
• Now when digging deeper to understand the traffic patterns of certain keywords use Wordtracker’s GTrends Tool. You can get an idea on the amount of competition on Google compared to the amount of searches. Now these numbers are far from accurate, BUTTT if you can kind of step back and take a broader look at things, don’t worry so much about the numbers but compare the trends since it shows the past history. See if its steady traffic, traffic that is going extinct, or traffic just starting to peak. By using this tool, you can many times find some golden opportunities.
  
• It really comes down to just using common sense. Just sit down and think, "What would other people search to find this? What would I search for to find this?" Try phrases in your keyword research tool to get new ideas and find the higher trafficked most targeted phrases. DO NOT look at the numbers spat back out at you by these programs as accurate numbers, they rarely are. You can still use these tools to get ideas on new keywords, search patterns of users, and many other things, that mixed with the information of trends in that area, can really help you.

Warnings

• If you are going to use freelancers, beware of duplicate content. Always make sure to check the content that you get by searching for the content on Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
  
• Never have hyperlinks like "click here", hyperlinks should always be keywords, long hyperlinks with multiple keywords are even better.
  
• Don't hide content.
  
• Don't create duplicate websites.
  
• Remember that if you use black-hat SEO techniques, you run the risk of getting penalized by the search engines and having your web site permanently removed from their index.

Related wikiHows

• How to Increase Website Traffic
  
• How to Create a Sitemap
  
• How to Get the Quickest and Most Accurate Results on Search Engines
  
• How to Create a Website
  
• How to Block a Website in Internet Explorer

Sources and Citations

• Keyword Research 101
  
• Keyword Discovery
  
• Link Building 101 :: The Key to Successful Link Building

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Improve Search Engine Ranking. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How To-64: "How to Get Your Blog to Appear at the Top of Searches"

How to Get Your Blog to Appear at the Top of Searches

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

How do you get your blog to appear at the top of search results on Google, Yahoo, Ask.com etc? It appears to be a simple question; the answer, however, isn't as easy as you'd like (if it was, everyone would be at the top of search results, and we know that's impossible). This is a list of 5 free tips for getting your blog to appear at the top of search results.

Steps

1. Update your blog – daily. So to begin - you must be serious about your blog. Update it at least 3-4 times a week, preferably once a day.
   
2. Write clean, precise, and accurately. This includes grammar, spelling, and punctuation. The next step is very important: write clean, precise, and accurate blogs. How do you do that? You learned this in junior high - use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation etc, but go beyond that - create your own voice, one that commands respect and one people will turn to for whatever it is that you provide.
   
3. Provide a consistent ‘product’ for your audience that they want to come back to. That leads me to the next step: provide something for your audience. It can be entertainment, advice, riddles, jokes, laughs, just about anything - but be consistent. If you're predominantly positive, then one day you spew negativity and rant about something, be aware that you might be turning off regular readers of your blog.
   
4. Promotion! How do you promote your blog? Link your blog to as many sites and blogs as you can. Search engines, like Google, track this networking through an always changing, mathematical algorithm. So it's simple, post comments on other sites and blogs and sign off with your blogs 'address'. Contact site administrators and ask to post a link to your blog on their site (this will happen more frequently if your blog is relevant, and useful!). Part of promotion is registering your site with search engines. It may take some time once you register for the search engine ‘people’ to review your site or blog, but once they have, you will start appearing on search results. They look for keywords, relevance, etc. The two biggest search engines are Google and Yahoo.
   
5. Keywords: use popular keywords that are relevant and can be used in the context of your article. Use them often in your article, and in the title of your blog! This is somewhat complicated because people use keywords to search for what they need differently. Some keywords are searched for more often than others. Only use keywords in the context of your article, and make sure they are relevant, or else you can be ‘black-listed’ by search engines for spamming. With that in mind, use the keywords frequently in your article. Let’s say my keyword is "How‿", use it about 10 times throughout the article you write, but again, use it only in context and not just to use it. How do keywords help? Search engines scan your article for these keywords. The more often you have used them, and the more relevant they are, the more they appear on searches. Remember, you appear at the top of search results because advertisers are willing to pay the search engine for advertising on your site. If it’s not relevant, or it’s a worthless laundry list of keywords, you’ll be spotted right away. And finally, use these keywords in the title of your blog entry!
   
6. Use photos! If someone is searching for a photo, and your blog has keywords from their search, your photo will come up in the search. If they are interested in the photo, they may click on it to enlarge it or get more information. If they do this, and if they are searching using Google or Yahoo, then they will get taken directly to your blog. Free promotion!

Warnings

• Remember this isn’t easy work – you must be serious about it, and your blog. Promoting will take the most time and effort, but that’s what helps the most. Theirs is only one wrong way to promoting and marketing – Not promoting or marketing. There is no right way, just do it the best you know how, and you’ll see a difference.
  
• Also, try not to post your URL on other people's blogs too much. Not only is it annoying, it also seems kind of desperate.

Related wikiHows

• How to Market Your Website
  
• How to Market Affiliate Products Online
  
• How to Increase Website Traffic
  
• How to Get Your Website Indexed in 7 Days or Less
  
• How to Improve Search Engine Ranking

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Get Your Blog to Appear at the Top of Searches. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How To-63: "How to Design an Effective Newspaper or Newsletter"

How to Design an Effective Newspaper or Newsletter

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

A basic overview about how to lay out a good-looking, well-structured page using desktop publishing software. A primer on information architecture, layering and all the other things that will help people read the words you put on the page. This is not a how-to on using desktop publishing software.

Steps

1. Open a desktop publishing program. Quark XPress and Adobe InDesign are the most popular. Much design is done on Macs, but that's not always the case. And now, with Boot Camp, that line is sure to get blurred even further. Anyway, Quark or InDesign are the most professional, most flexible publishing programs. Are you on a broadsheet or a tabloid? Or an 8 1/2 x 11? Good news is, design principles apply to every page size. There are some small differences, but not many.
   
2. Organize. Plan your content. What is the most important story? The next? The next after that?
   
3. Consider your "art."
   
4. Know -- and use -- a grid. 5 columns. 6 columns. 4 columns. Mind you, a 10 column grid is really a 5 column grid that allows for 1/2 columns, and a 12 column grid is 6 columns with 1/2 column slots. 1/2 columns can be useful for running information boxes, mug shots, etc.
   
5. Keep the design on the grid. What does this mean? For example, on a 6 column grid, run a story over 3 columns and another story over 2 and a story over 1.
   
6. Think about the centerpiece. What is the dominant story the grid -- either through rules (thin, usually .5pt black lines) or through images or logos or boxes. The centerpiece is an anchor.
   
7. Create a dominant headline. Consider 60pt, even 70pt, but probably no less than 52pt for the most important story. The hierarchy of story headlines should be at least 6pt difference. If the biggest story is 52pt, the next highest should be 48, 42, 36 and so on. Some consider 10pt, or 8pt to be preferable.
   
8. Back to the photos -- dominant vs. secondary. Hopefully, a photo editor will make that call, but if not, what photo advances the story the best? Look for emotion, dynamics and movement, unusual angles and intense or intimate moments. Then play them big. Don't be afraid of, say, 4 columns wide on a 6 column grid. Huge? Yes. Worth it? Yes.
   
9. If you have multiple photos, the second photo should not be greater than half the size of the dominant. If the main image is 4 columns wide, the secondary should be roughly 2. Maybe 2.5. Not 3. 1 Might be too small. Strong headline order + big photos = strong, basic page.
   
10. Add layering. What is layering? See tips.
    
11. Have someone else look at the page. A copy editor, for example, to proof the headlines and layers and body copy for, hopefully, minor errors like grammatical mistakes. You never know what factual errors may come up, and as a designer, its usually not your job to "proof" a story.
    
12. Send the page to press.

Tips

• You'll be given stories to lay out. While you may not be responsible for "proofreading" them for grammar, you had better be sure to read them. You will be able to add context and information -- your design will be more informed. This is critical: newspaper design is an architectural thing, not really a paint-pretty-pictures thing.
  
• Avoid lumping photos in the ubiquitous, non-descriptive "art" category. Consider "photos" and "graphics." But many editors etc. do call it all "art."
  
• Grids allow a mass of empty newsprint to take on an organizing form.
  
• Headline hierarchy is essential to a well-organized page. Without it, how will a reader know what is important and what's not?
  
• Research respected publications and compare how they do layout, Often a proven method is what readers expect - this is a great source for Daily Newspaper Covers
  
• To layer: Add subheds, or "decks," or "dropheds." These are two three or four lines of additional display type -- 20-24 pt -- that add context to the hedline. You can run them 1 column deep, or on the other extreme, you can strip them all the way across a page. They allow readers to get a better grasp of the story while doing a lot less work than reading the whole story.
  
• Add infoboxes. Pull information out of the story and bullet-point it; bold key numbers and explain WHY these numbers are so important. Readers want information quickly; breaking it out for them is simply doing your job.
  
• Mug shots are good for identifying who the players in a story are. Mugs are small, 5p-6p-7p sized headshots. Crop tightly. Add a sentence or two giving context about who the mug-ee is and why they are being featured. Mugs run this way function as additional layering -- information pulled out, brought forward, thrust in front of the eyes of your readers.

Warnings

• Photoshop cutouts can be awesome -- they add a powerful dynamic to a page. But be very, very, very careful about how and when you apply this technique. Photoshopitis is common.
  
• You only really need one headline font. One body copy font. One infobox font. Maybe another variant for cutlines. More fonts doesn't make anything better.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
  
• Patience
  
• Stories, photos

Related wikiHows

• How to Create a Professional Looking Newsletter
  
• How to Make a Company/Organization Newsletter Interesting Yet Still Professional
  
• How to Write a Newspaper
  
• How to Write a Newspaper Column

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Design an Effective Newspaper or Newsletter. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How To-62: "How to Start a Newsletter"

How to Start a Newsletter

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

There are several different topics about creating a professional newsletter or designing one. But what if you've never even started a newsletter before and need to just get off the ground? Here are some helpful things you can do to get started.

Steps

1. Define the goal of your newsletter. Are you doing it just for fun? To make money? To draw new visitors to your website? To advertise your products and services? To educate? To inform? The newsletter's purpose will influence how it's written and distributed.
   
2. Identify the content you intend to print. What topic are you addressing, and how broad will your coverage of it be? Since newsletters come in various forms, there is a variety of subjects you can cover. Online newsletters can apply to online communities or groups, and print newsletters can apply to a company or town or a school.
   
3. Identify the target audience. Who are they and what do they want to know? How will the newsletter serve them? If you are writing for teenagers, for example, make sure that your writing style is appropriate. If you are writing for a company, likewise, make sure your style is professional and applicable to the work environment.
   
4. Determine your production schedule. You need to know how long it will take to write and edit content and set it up in the newsletter.
   
5. Determine how many people you need to get started. At the onset, you probably won't have many people to help you. And in today's technologically-advanced world, you can probably handle most of it yourself. If your production schedule (from the previous step) is more frequent than every two weeks, you probably need at least 2-3 people to help you.
   
6. Determine how your newsletter will be published. If it is online, make sure you have an email mailing list or a website to post the content. If it is printed, determine if you are mailing the newsletter or placing in a public location. Printed newsletter also require a printer of some sort, whether its your laserjet at home or a professional printer.
   
7. Get working. The key to getting your newsletter off the ground is to actually get publishing. Whether online or in print, it's important that you stick to your production schedule. If you find that you have enough content and manpower to publish more frequently, make sure your readers understand the change up front.

Tips

• Desktop publishing software has improved in leaps and bounds and can set up a pretty fancy newsletter. More advanced software can create online and print version of the same newsletter as well.
  
• Human beings love to laugh. It's best to include some fun, if not light-hearted information, stories, or even comics.

Warnings

• Don't take yourself too seriously. A newsletter is a little different from a newspaper in that it doesn't have to follow various "unspoken" journalism rules nor does it require articles to be objective.
  
• It is never OK to take copyright material and republish it, even if you credit your original source. You must use copyrighted material with permission. That said, there are many public domain information firms out there that can give you interesting content for your newsletter.

Related wikiHows

• How to Create a Professional Looking Newsletter
  
• How to Design an Effective Newspaper or Newsletter
  
• How to Make a Company/Organization Newsletter Interesting Yet Still Professional
  
• How to Write a Christmas Newsletter
  
• How to Write
  
• How to Write Ads
  
• How to Write a Letter
  
• How to Write Articles
  
• How to Write an Outline

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Start a Newsletter. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Mobile World-26: "Mobile Phone Explodes & Kills"

The Daily Mail, UK, reports of the death of a shopworker in China following explosion of his mobile phone. The artery in his neck was severed.

Following this, Chinese media has published advice for mobile users:

1. Always use original batteries
2. Never modify your phone
3. Always use original battery chargers
4. Do not expose your mobile phone to high temperatures
5. Avoid exposing it to direct sunlight
6. Avoid long phone conversations
7. Do not make or answer calls when the phone is charging
8. Try to keep your phone in a bag instead of in a pocket
9. Do not use damaged batteries.

Mobile users world over would do well by following this useful advice.

Grateful thanks to The Daily Mail, UK (www.dailymail.co.uk).

Dotcom World-25: "Google India Internet Bus" in Tamilnadu

Google has been working to popularise the Internet in India through their products. Now they have launched a project called Google Internet Bus. Under this project, a mobile bus designed to showcase the benefits of the Internet to the people across the cities of Tamil Nadu. It is in Chennai yesterday and today. Tomorrow it will be in Vellore. Following is the schedule:

Feb 03-04 Chennai

Feb 05 Vellore

Feb 06 Krishnagiri

Feb 07 Salem

Feb 11 Erode

Feb 12 Tirupur

Feb 14 Coimbatore

Feb 18 Dindigul

Feb 19 Madurai

Feb 23 Nagercoil

Feb 27 Tuticorin

Mar 02 Pudukkottai

Mar 03 Tiruchirappalli

Mar 06 Thanjavur

Mar 08 Kumbakonam

Mar 10 Neyveli

Mar 12 Cudddalore

Mar 13 Tiruvannamalai

The project focuses on four themes of Education, Information, Communication and Entertainment and to this end, the bus has four booths devoted to each theme.

For updates visit the Internet Bus Project website at

http://www.google.co.in/internetbus

Courtesy: M/s.Prem Ramaswami & Srikanth Belwadi from the Official Google India Blog: http://googleindia.blogspot.com/2009/02/india-internet-bus-project-launches.html

and The Hindu, Madurai, Feb.4, 2009.

Grateful thanks to M/s.Prem Ramaswami, Srikanth, Google India and The Hindu.

Dotcom World-24: "SkyDrive"

SkyDrive is one of Microsoft's Windows online services. You can store and share files online and then access them from anywhere. All you need is a Windows Live ID. If you want you can keep your files private or share with others. Currently Microsoft offers 25 GB of free personal storage space. However, individual files should not exceed 50 MB. You can upload up to five files at a time.

I have opened a SkyDrive account for myself and have started uploading files. It is exciting. If you are interested, you can also give it a try.

Incidentally, Google is also trying to launch a similar service by name G-Drive.

For a detailed Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skydrive

Grateful thanks to Microsoft and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Computer World-18: "How Internet Search Engines Work"

This is a fascinating topic. For example, you feed the keyword in Google search engine and click, within fraction of a second, it indexes millions of links to the topic. If this sounds like magic and if you are curious to know how this miraculous task is performed, just click and read:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search-engine.htm