Let's watch this video to get more definition of an "Entrepreneur".
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Learn to be webmaster
I would like to share useful site for every one that are interesting web design/web development with PHP and Flash. It's free source code and videos tutorial with easy way to understand. It really complete all u need to be webmaster. Let's visit this site via the following image!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
10 Steps From Idea to Business
Some of the most important things in life don't come with instruction manuals: homes, spouses, kids, and start-ups are a few. That's why I created this start-up road map. Inspired by the lean approach often favored by today's tech entrepreneurs, the principles apply to any industry.
1. Come up with an idea. Pick an idea that fits your passions, goals, strengths, resources, and tolerance for risk. But keep in mind that your initial idea is just a hypothesis. Don't fall in love with it just yet.
2. Think through all angles. Evaluate the opportunity like an investor would—in an objective, thorough, analytical way. Who are the customers and what do they need? How big is the opportunity? Is the timing right? What will it take to execute? Is the payoff worth the risk? What's the business model? A rough business plan is a great way to make sure you've covered all your bases. Here's a free tool you can use to make sure yours is comprehensive.
3. Get feedback. Find people who know the market, the business model, the competitors and predecessors—people who have been there, done that, and can help you understand what works and what doesn't in the real world. Also, talk to customers—people in your core target market—and find out what they think about your hypothesis. You'll learn lots more once you get a product to market, but this initial research will increase your chances of starting out on the right path.
4. Respond to feedback. Make any necessary changes to your business plan, product, and go-to-market strategy. Run some numbers to get a sense of how much capital you'll need to reach key milestones. Develop an implementation plan with your most important goals over the next few months, and determine whom you need on your team to execute that plan.
5. Build a basic product. When you envision the product or service you ultimately want to offer, it probably has a slick design, and a full set of features. Keep that ultimate vision on the back burner for now. Instead, strip the concept down to the bare minimum offering to address the needs of your core customers. Build that basic product as quickly and inexpensively as you can.
6. Open shop. It's tempting to wait until your product is 'perfect' to start selling it. Instead, realize 'perfect is the enemy of good enough'. Until your product is out in the market, you're flying blind, spending time and money with a limited ability to learn how customers react. Make a core product and get it to market quickly.
7. Test what you've created. With products in market, you can figure out how to match your offerings with customer needs. To do that, test elements like pricing, branding, features, and customer experiences. Next, find a cost-effective, repeatable way to attract customers by experimenting with marketing messages, promotions, sales pitches, and distribution channels. Measure the results and draw conclusions.
8. Make adjustments. Once you learn which aspects of your product and marketing you got wrong, you'll want to fix them, of course. But hopefully you will have gotten some things right, too, and you'll want to leave those intact. To do both simultaneously, you'll tweak or 'pivot' your approach.
9. Get ready to grow. Revisit your business plan, and update your product, team, marketing, implementation, and finance strategies. Gather resources you'll need to expand. If you intend to raise capital, this is a good time. Your pitch to investors now sounds something like, 'We figured out how to get new customers for $x, and make 3$x from each one. With such and such amount of money, we can grow this big, this fast.' That's a winning pitch.
10. Stomp on the start-up accelerator. With a market-tested plan and resources in place, it's time to expand. Make sure your team knows and believes in where you're heading. Check that everyone understands what's expected and that they have what they need to get it done.
Source : Inc.com
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Summary of Facebook vs Google
Vs
Facebook is one of the largest websites in the world, with more than 500 million monthly users. The site was started in 2004 by founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg when he was an undergraduate student at Harvard.
Since September 2006, anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail address can join Facebook. Users can add "friends" and send them messages, post announcements, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.
The name of the service stems from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start of the academic year by university administrations in the US. The intention of the book is to help students to get to know each other better.
Contact:
Phone: 650-543-4800
Twitter: facebook
Address:
156 University Avenue
Palo Alto, California 94301-1605
USA
Company Ownership
Private
Categories
Internet
Internet
Sector
Social Networking
Statistics
Number of Employees: 1000+
Recent Valuation: $52.3-$53.1 billion
Revenue: aprox. $400 million
Revenue Year: 2009
Recent Valuation: $52.3-$53.1 billion
Revenue: aprox. $400 million
Revenue Year: 2009
7 Things The Best Entrepreneurs Do
In the beginning all businesses are just people playing out an idea. It’s never the other way around – there is no idea so big that it doesn’t need people to make it succeed.
Investors know this, hence the saying “Bet on the jockey, not the horse.” A great jockey is a great role model.
Like it or not, everyone looks to the entrepreneur as the jockey role model in a new business. Typically this energizes new start up founders, but some struggle trying to live up to their own, as well as everyone else’s expectations. In reality, nobody really expects anyone to be superhuman, but it can feel like that.
We certainly wouldn't expect superhuman behavior from the people looking to us for guidance, nor would we want them to expect flawless behavior from themselves. If not flawless behavior, what characteristics and actions do they look for? Here are some frequently mentioned ones:
- Demonstrate confidence and leadership. A good role model is someone who is always positive, calm, and confident in themselves. You don't want someone who is down or tries to bring you down. Everyone likes a person who is happy with how far they have come, but continues to strive for bigger and better objectives.
- Don’t be afraid to be unique. Whatever you choose to do with your life, be proud of the person you've become, even if that means accepting some ridicule. You want role models who won't pretend to be someone they are not, and won't be fake just to suit other people.
- Communicate and interact with everyone. Good communication means listening as well as talking. People are energized by leaders who explain why and where they are going. Great role models know they have to have a consistent message, and repeat it over and over again until everyone understands.
- Show respect and concern for others. You may be driven, successful, and smart but whether you choose to show respect or not speaks volumes about how other people see you. Everyone notices if you are taking people for granted, not showing gratitude, or stepping on others to get ahead.
- Be knowledgeable and well rounded. Great role models aren't just "teachers." They are constant learners, challenge themselves to get out of their comfort zones, and surround themselves with smarter people. When team members see that their role model can be many things, they will learn to stretch themselves in order to be successful.
- Have humility and willingness to admit mistakes. Nobody's perfect. When you make a bad choice, let those who are watching and learning from you know that you made a mistake and how you plan to correct it. By apologizing, admitting your mistake, and accepting accountability, you will be demonstrating an often overlooked part of being a role model.
- Do good things outside the job. People who do the work, yet find time for good causes outside of work, such as raising money for charity, saving lives, and helping people in need get extra credit. Commitment to a good cause implies a strong commitment to the business.
True role models are those who possess the qualities that we would like to have, and those who have affected us in a way that makes us want to be better people. They help us to advocate for ourselves and take a leadership position on the issues that we believe in.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Stay up to date with new technology
Now I would to share some websites to every one that have hobby reading information for new technology, downloading software, games, movies, or e-book, etc. Just click on the following image, will redirect to that website.
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| Update information in technology and download free software (or trial) |
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| Download full free E-book |
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| Download Movie, E-book, Game, and Software Application with crack (full version) |
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| Download Movie, Game and Software Application with crack (full version) |
Friday, July 15, 2011
UN sees Latin America growth but price bubbles 'a risk'
Economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean is set to be 4.7% this year, the UN's regional economic body, ECLAC, says.
The growth is being fuelled by strong domestic demand with more people in work and able to access credit.
But ECLAC warns that the region faces the risk of worsening inflation, and capital inflows could produce bubbles in financial and property markets.
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| Panama' s building boom is a visible sign of its economic growth |
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) forecasts that overall growth will be 4.7% for 2011.
That represents a rise of 3.6% in per capita GDP.
Countries set to see strong growth include Argentina on 8.3%, and Peru on 7.1%.
ECLAC forecasts that the two biggest economies, Brazil and Mexico, will grow by 4%.
The report points to good news about jobs and in reducing poverty.
Growth is being sustained largely by people being in a position to buy and consume more, while investment is on the rise.
The overall unemployment rate is expected to come down again in 2011, to between 6.7% and 7%.
ECLAC says the formal economy is becoming a bigger part of the employment market in several countries, indicating that the new jobs being created are of better quality.
Continued economic growth and jobs rising in both numbers and quality should help bring fresh gains in poverty reduction, the report says.
Money in, money out
But ECLAC highlights some risks.
The region could become more vulnerable to speculative capital movements that may create bubbles in financial and real estate markets.
In addition, "that capital can leave from one moment to the next, severely disrupting growth," the report says.
The region is facing inflationary pressure amid rising food and fuel prices, but interest rate rises to tackle this have led to currency appreciation.
Strong currencies could pose a problem by undermining the competitiveness of exports.
"The region's economic authorities should implement measures to contain currency appreciation," ECLAC says.
These measures should combine intervention in foreign exchange markets, checks on the inflow of money and financial regulation.
Source : BBC
Google profits beat expectations
Internet giant Google has reported a large rise in profits and revenue, well ahead of market expectations.
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| Google boss Larry Page said the company had "a great quarter" |
Net profit for the three months to June rose 36% on the same period last year to $2.5bn (£1.5bn), while revenues rose 32% to $9bn.
Last month, Google launched its social networking site Google+, in an attempt to take on Facebook.
The results were the first under chief executive Larry Page, who replaced Eric Schmidt in April.
Mr Schmidt had held the role for 10 years. Analysts said the decision for Google co-founder Mr Page to take over was made because he now carries more weight with investors and could re-energise the search giant.
The results will help reassure investors that the company is still thriving under his leadership.
"We had a great quarter," said Mr Page. "I'm super excited about the amazing response to Google+."
'Six-trick pony'
Shares in Google surged 11% in extended trading.
Jordan Rohan, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, said the results were "well beyond expectations from Wall Street".
"Clearly, the combination of mobile search, Android, ad exchange, YouTube, and the core search businesses, they're all doing well," he said.
"Google is no longer a one-trick pony. You might say six-trick pony if you count Google+."
Source: BBC
Source: BBC
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Times of Trouble: Can Christine Lagarde Lead the IMF Through its Toughest Period?
To most regular observers, the appointment of Christine Lagarde as IMF’s Managing Director came as no surprise. Lagarde had been seen as the overwhelming favourite to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn and was duly elected despite calls for a candidate from an emerging economy.
However, the challenges for Lagarde are great. While Lagarde may undoubtedly have the credentials to run one of the world’s most influential financial organisations, doubts will remain over her actual ability until she proves herself worthy of the role. Former IMF Chief Economist Raghuram Rajan believes that Lagarde arrives at a pivotal, but extremely challenging, period for the IMF wherein her success, or failure, may have a deep impact for the world economy.
Raghuram Rajan served as IMF’s Chief Economist from September 2003 to January 2007. In 2003, Rajan was the inaugural recipient of the Fischer Black Prize awarded by the American Finance Association for contributions to the theory and practice of finance by an economist under the age of 40. Rajan is currently the Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, and was voted by Economist readers as the economist with the most important ideas in the post-financial crisis world.CHICAGO – Now that the dust has settled over the selection of the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, the IMF can return to its core business of managing crises. Christine Lagarde, a competent and well-regarded technocrat, will have her hands full with three important challenges.
The first, and probably easiest, challenge is to restore the IMF’s public image. While the criminal case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual-assault charges now seems highly uncertain, the ensuing press focus on the IMF suggests an uncontrolled international bureaucracy with unlimited expense accounts, dominated by men with little sense of restraint.
Fortunately, the truth is more prosaic. Top IMF staff face strict limits on their allowable business expenses (no $3,000 per night hotel rooms, despite reports in the press), and are generally underpaid relative to private-sector executives with similar skills and experience.
Source : Economy Watch
Facebook Unveils Skype-Powered Video Calls
Facebook has revealed its "awesome" new feature and the rumors were spot on, it was indeed video calling powered by Skype. Facebook users around the world will now be able to have video conversations with each other, via the Skype network, but without having to sign up for Skype or install the client, everything happens on Facebook.
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| Video calls in Facebook |
"Video chat has been around for years now, but it's still not an everyday activity for most people," Philip Su, a Facebook engineer who worked on the video chat feature, explained.
"Sometimes it's too difficult to set up, or the friends you want to talk to are on different services," he said.
"So a few months ago, we started working with Skype to bring video calling to Facebook. We built it right into chat, so all your conversations start from the same place. To call your friend, just click the video call button at the top of your chat window," he announced.
The video chat feature will be rolling out to everyone in the next few weeks, Facebook is known for its slow roll-outs, a necessity perhaps for a service with 750 million users.
But if you want to start chatting right away, you can check out this dedicated page and enable the feature for your account ahead of the official roll-out.
Video calling is built into the existing chat feature, which also got a small revamp, all you have to do is click the small camera icon in the chat window to start a video call.
Alternatively, you can start a conversation from a friend's profile page by hitting the Call button next to Message and Poke.
The video chat feature is powered by Skype, but does not require a Skype account. In fact, all calls are anonymous since the Facebook IDs are encrypted within the Skype network.
Users need to install a plugin to use the video chat feature, but they don't need to have Skype installed. The plugin depends on the browser and operating system used. Facebook video calling works with Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Safari on Windows or Mac OS X.
Video calls have huge potential on Facebook and will likely be a very popular feature, if only because there are 750 million people on the site. That said, there is one big missing feature, no support for group video chat, a touted feature of the recently launched Google+ Hangouts.
Source : Softpedia
Sunday, July 10, 2011
The UK & The US: Same Problems, Different Results
The economic policies of the US and the UK have run parallel since the 1970s when Britain’s Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher decided to emulate the neo-liberal economic agenda of US President Ronald Reagan.
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| Cameron and Obama are struggling to get their derailed economies back on track |
Thatcher followed monetarist thinking and US economists such as Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek. Together with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Geoffrey Howe, she lowered direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes. She was also responsible for steering the British economy away from manufacturing towards a greater reliance on the financial sector.
Although the two British Prime Ministers who followed Thatcher were both from the supposedly left-wing Labour Party, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown followed similar economic agendas. Labour’s attitude to the economy was summed up by Peter Mandelson, the Trade and Industry Secretary, on a visit to Silicon Valley, in the US.
Mandelson was told by the dean of engineering at Stanford University that it was “just plain OK to get filthy rich” in the United States. Mr Mandelson replied that Labour was “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”.
Danny Dorling, professor of Geography at Sheffield University, and the author of So You Think You Know About Britain, said: “It’s often a mistake to think in terms of left and right. Political parties tend to follow the prevailing economic ideology of the time, and that is what Labour did when they took over from the Conservatives. It’s also true in the US, where both the Democrat and Republican parties can broadly be described as right-wing.
“The key thing is that in the late 1970s, economic policy in the US and UK went in one direction and it took another direction in the other affluent countries. The way the UK and US have been governed since then has made them very similar countries and it often makes sense to see the UK as another State in the US. “To give one important parallel, until recently the UK had the lowest public spending in Western Europe, but it was still higher than in the US. But President Obama is now spending far more than Bush, at the same time as the UK’s Conservative Government is cutting public services. The IMF says that by 2015, the UK will be spending a lower proportion of GDP than the US, so at some point soon we will be identical! It’s hard to find a country more similar to the UK."
The most important parallel between the two nations, Dorling argues, is growing inequality of income, which has been a direct result of monetarist policies.
“The US and UK have became progressively more unequal, whereas France, Germany, Japan, Scandinavia have not to the same extent,” said Dorling.
The CIA World Fact Book, which ranks countries in terms of equality of wealth distribution, ranks the US as the 42nd most unequal country in the world. This means it has worse levels of inequality than Tunisia, which is ranked 62nd, and Egypt, which has been ravaged by civil war, but comes in 90th place. The UK ranks 92nd, making it only slightly less unequal than Egypt.
Source : Economy Watch
The most important parallel between the two nations, Dorling argues, is growing inequality of income, which has been a direct result of monetarist policies.
“The US and UK have became progressively more unequal, whereas France, Germany, Japan, Scandinavia have not to the same extent,” said Dorling.
“Every year from the mid-1970s onwards the people who already had more have got even more, so that the top 1% have had the biggest increases in income and wealth, and the next 1% not quite as much and so on. In the US, 90% of people have had a drop of about 1% in real income since the 1970s. In the UK, we are seeing the first drops in real income now.”
Dorling’s views are backed up by data showing that the US is the most unequal of developed countries. The Gini coefficient, which measures the gap between rich and poor, is 0.38 in the US, well above the UK (0.34), Japan (0.33), Germany (0.30) France (0.29) and Denmark (0.26). What is more, inequality in the US has been increasing by an average of 0.5% per year since the mid-1980s.The CIA World Fact Book, which ranks countries in terms of equality of wealth distribution, ranks the US as the 42nd most unequal country in the world. This means it has worse levels of inequality than Tunisia, which is ranked 62nd, and Egypt, which has been ravaged by civil war, but comes in 90th place. The UK ranks 92nd, making it only slightly less unequal than Egypt.
Source : Economy Watch
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Firefox 6 Beta Available for Download Now
The first Beta development milestone for the next iteration of Mozilla’s open source browser is close to launch.
Earlier this week, Mozilla revealed that it was planning to make available Firefox 6 Beta to early adopters for testing today, July 8th, 2011.
Earlier this week, Mozilla revealed that it was planning to make available Firefox 6 Beta to early adopters for testing today, July 8th, 2011.
At the time of this article download of Firefox 6 Beta had yet to go live or to be officially announced by the open source browser vendor, but the Build is bound to be offered to testers soon enough.
Firefox 6 Beta preview releases have been handed off to the internal testing team at Mozilla since earlier this week. Provided that the internal testing goes well, and all quality standards for a release are met, Firefox 6 Beta will be made available today.
There’s also the possibility that the testing could flag some unresolved issues, in which Mozilla will postpone the release of the first Beta for Firefox 5’s successor until all problems are resolved.
Most likely, Firefox 6 Beta will land on Mozilla’s FTP server at a link such as this one ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/6.0b1/ (not live at the time of this article), so testers will be able to grab it a few hours before it’s announced on the Future of Firefox website.
For the time being, the closest thing to the actual Beta are the Firefox 6 Beta candidate releases, also on the company’s FTP servers.
In the meantime, early adopters can go ahead and download Firefox 7 Aurora and satisfy their thirst for testing. Firefox 7 Aurora was released yesterday, just as I told you it would.
Mozilla enumerated the latest changes in Firefox 7 Aurora:
“• Performance Enhancements: Faster startup time on Mac, Windows, and Linux
• Optimized Memory Use: ◦Improved memory management: For many users, memory use is reduced by 30 percent or more, responsiveness is enhanced
• The JavaScript garbage collector runs frequently to free up more memory when Firefox is idle
• Firefox Sync: Bookmarks and passwords now sync instantly
• Enhanced Font Rendering: Fonts are rendered clear and sharp.”
UPDATE: Download links now live for FF6 Beta.
Firefox 6 Beta, Firefox 7 Aurora and Firefox 5 for Windows are available for download here.
Firefox 6 Beta, Firefox 7 Aurora and Firefox 5 for Linux are available for download here.
Firefox 6 Beta, Firefox 7 Aurora and Firefox 5 for Mac are available for download here.
Source: Softpedia
Friday, July 8, 2011
The World Economy
World Economic Statistics at a Glance - 2011 Forecast
World GDP (PPP): $78.092 trillion
GDP Growth Rate: 3.3%
GDP Per Capita (PPP): $11,100
GDP By Sector: Services 63.4%, Industry 30.8%, Agriculture 5.8%
Growth In Trade Volume: 6.953%
Industrial Production Growth Rate: 4.6%
Population: 6.768 billion
Population Growth Rate: 1.133%
Urban Population: 50.5%
Urbanization Rate: 1.85% (125 million people move to cities every year)
The Poor (Income below $2 per day): Approx 3.25 billion (~ 50%)
Millionaires: Approx 10 million (~ 0.15%)
Labor Force: 3.232 billion
Inflation Rate - Developed Countries: 2.5%
Inflation Rate - Developing Countries: 5.6%
Unemployment Rate: 8.8%
Investment: 23.4% of GDP
Public Debt: 58.3% of GDP
GDP Growth Rate: 3.3%
GDP Per Capita (PPP): $11,100
GDP By Sector: Services 63.4%, Industry 30.8%, Agriculture 5.8%
Growth In Trade Volume: 6.953%
Industrial Production Growth Rate: 4.6%
Population: 6.768 billion
Population Growth Rate: 1.133%
Urban Population: 50.5%
Urbanization Rate: 1.85% (125 million people move to cities every year)
The Poor (Income below $2 per day): Approx 3.25 billion (~ 50%)
Millionaires: Approx 10 million (~ 0.15%)
Labor Force: 3.232 billion
Inflation Rate - Developed Countries: 2.5%
Inflation Rate - Developing Countries: 5.6%
Unemployment Rate: 8.8%
Investment: 23.4% of GDP
Public Debt: 58.3% of GDP
Market Value of Publicly Traded Companies: $48.85 trillion, or 62.6% of World GDP
Sources: EconomyWatch.com Economic Statistics Database, CIA World Factbook, IMF, World Bank
The World Economy in 2010 was worth $74.007 trillion in GDP terms, using the Purchasing Price Parity (PPP) method of valuation. This is expected to grow to $78.092 trillion in 2011.
The overall global economy averaged a 3.2 per cent growth rate between 2000 and 2007, suffering a slight dip in 2001 - 2002 thanks to the Dot Com Crash, but continuing to grow throughout that period. In fact 2004 - 2007 were boom years. The Emerging Markets, led by the giants of China, India, Russia and Brazil (the BRIC countries) had been posting 7 per cent - 10 per cent growth rates for years. Property and stock market booms had brought consistent growth in North America and Europe. Investment was bringing economic development to much of the Middle East and Africa, and even Japan was recovering from its deflationary 'Lost Years'.
Economic conditions within these countries play a major role in setting the economic atmosphere of less well-to-do nations and their economies. In many aspects, developing and less developed economies depend on the developed countries for their economic wellbeing.
Theories were even circulating that thanks to the growth of the developing world, we might enjoy years of unfettered growth, as new markets would go through successive growth spurts and counter the effects of slowing growth elsewhere. It was suggested that Asia was 'decoupling' from the US and able to grow under its own steam thanks to its two 'Awakening Giants'.
Sadly, that turned out to be hogwash, as deregulation allowed western banks to build up unsustainable levels of debt that brought the global economy to the brink of depression.
As the 'Sub-Prime' Crisis morphed into a fully fledged crash then global Financial Crisis, 2008 started to bomb and 2009 became the first year that the world recorded a loss in GDP since World War II. 2.031% was wiped out of the global economy - or $3.3 trillion of value.
Source: Economy Watch
5 ways Google+ could steal music fans from Facebook
Google's social network, Google+, is late. Facebook has a big lead, having ousted MySpace, which in turn deposed Friendster, the site that started us all on this path towards recreating our social fabric as a network of connected personal nodes.
Facebook is an excellent tool for sharing music -- usually in the form of Google's YouTube videos -- but even the developer of the top music app on Facebook says it doesn't do enough, musicwise.
And when we canvassed the top 20 Facebook music apps, we were shocked by what we found.
The list of the most popular music apps on this, the most popular social network, included werevertumorro and Shane Dawson TV, which aren't even music apps; they merely alert fans when one of those videobloggers throws up another video on YouTube.
Google+ may have a tough time making a dent in the popularity of Facebook. But on at least on the music front it can make a lot of inroads, fast.
Fact is that music apps on Facebook are lacking -- and this is a real opportunity for a quick win.
Evolver.fm contacted Google to try to talk about its music strategy for Google+, mentioning Facebook's apparent shortcomings in that area. A spokeswoman declined to comment -- in part, she said, because Music Beta by Google is still in, well, beta.
But even without discussing it with Google directly, we can spot five ways in which Google could become "besties" with music enthusiasts to Facebook's detriment.
1. Easy sharing
YouTube music videos, which make up many of the most popular videos on YouTube, are all over Facebook in the United States, and from what Google itself told us, the same is true for Spotify song links in Europe.
Facebook is reportedly planning to integrate more tightly with multiple music services, the way it recently did with MOG, but still has a ways to go on that front.
Meanwhile, Google has thousands of engineers, all of whose yearly bonuses will be tied to how "social" they can make its offerings. Clearly, Google+ could give Facebook a run for its money when it comes to sharing music from -- and across -- all of the music services (read: silos) upon which we depend.
The preponderance of YouTube music on Facebook is an indication that music fans want to use it to share music ... so why doesn't Facebook help us?
2. Group listening parties
If you haven't used Google Hangout yet, Google+'s online video chatroom that lets you know when your friends are hanging out, consider that my former colleague Jenna Wortham of the New York Times thinks it just might be Google's "killer app," which is really saying something, when you're talking about a company with as much to offer as Google does.
And if you've yet to sign in to group listening service Turntable.fm, consider how many music fans already love the way the recently-launched service lets them get together to spin music and talk about it.
By combining those two concepts -- with or without the video component -- to create real-time music listening parties with push notifications, Google+ could run "circles" around Facebook in the group listening department.
And music fans would start evangelizing Google+ in order to get their friends involved, the same way they are currently doing with Turntable.fm.
3. Live musicians plus live music
Google+'s Hangout feature could do something else, and surely this one has already occurred to Google engineers pining for that "social bonus."
Hangout could be a great way for stars to hold meet-and-greet sessions with their fans. Plenty of other ways exist for this sort of thing, of course, but Google has money and famous people make appearances in exchange for it. If Google doesn't do this, one has to wonder how else they're spending their money.
And, of course, the company could archive these talks on YouTube, creating valuable content that would still be of interest 20 years from now, in many cases, and which wouldn't appear on Vimeo or any other competitors.
Speaking of YouTube, it's been slowly edging into the live online music business. Clearly, those shows could find a place on Google+, with plenty of social-bonus-friendly features for talking about the show in real time.
4. Google music integration
Oh yeah, Google already has its own music storage solution for fans, unlike Facebook, which uploads photos and videos for easy sharing but ignores your music collection.
If Google+ doesn't do something interesting with the service still known as Music Beta by Google, its engineers don't just deserve to miss out on those bonuses; they should probably be fired.
There are many ways to go with this, but for starters, they could make your music collection visible and searchable on Google+, use it as a way to introduce people to each other, work on creating DMCA-compliant streams that would allow people to listen to each other's taste, and should probably use taste-combining algorithms to create stations out of multiple Music Beta by Google accounts too.
Just a thought.
5. Android apps for the win
Facebook doesn't have a popular smartphone operating system, and Google does.
I'm not an engineer, and have never even played one on TV, but Google's finest should be able to figure out how to use Android APIs for slicker integration between music apps and Google+ than Facebook can manage on mobile platforms it doesn't control.
Source: CNN Technology
Facebook adds Skype video chat feature
Facebook is encouraging its members to talk face to face -- over the computer.
Source: CNN Technology
The social networking giant introduced a video-calling feature on Wednesday in partnership with Skype, the popular Internet video-chat provider.
The product comes a week after Google launched a competing social network, called Google+, which also includes a video-chatting program.
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| Skype CEO Tony Bates listens Wednesday as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg describes his site's new video chat feature. |
Facebook's version will show up on the site as a "call" button at the top of users' profile pages. By clicking that or finding someone in a new "buddy list" bar on the right-hand side, Facebook users can talk to each other as long as they have webcams. The company began turning that service on for millions of users on Wednesday and will add it to more accounts over time, spokespeople said.
This is "the world's easiest one-click way" to chat over video, Facebook engineer Philip Su said at the news conference here. The Seattle programmer was Facebook's only full-time engineer working on its development along with Skype, a Facebook spokeswoman said.
Facebook on Wednesday also introduced a change to its instant-messaging service, which now allows people to create on-the-fly group conversations.
"This is their response to Google+ right now," said Ray Valdes, an Internet analyst at Gartner Research. "I think it's a little bit of catchup in terms of features."
Google bills its new network as a better way to communicate certain messages to subsections of friends. Google+ also has drawn praise for its ability, with a service called Hangouts, to let users video chat with several friends at a time.
Facebook's new video feature does not allow for group chats. However, Skype CEO Tony Bates noted that the union with Facebook leaves an opening to add new features later, such as group calling or paid features like calling to landlines.
What Facebook does have, however, is 750 million people actively using its service, said Mark Zuckerberg, the company's CEO. Google+ is nary a week old and only available to people who managed to procure an invite from a member of the media or a tech-savvy friend.
Zuckerberg took subtle jabs Wednesday at the new Google network, saying Facebook provides the best way for people to organize their friends into groups -- with minimal effort.
"If you think about it, it makes it so that your networking community can do the work of organizing your communities for you," Zuckerberg said of Facebook's grouping features. "You don't have to curate."
He described Google as part of a group of companies, which also includes video-streaming provider Netflix, that haven't traditionally integrated social networking into their software.
Google's do-it-alone approach to social networking -- as opposed to one that integrates with other tech companies -- is poised to fail, Zuckerberg said.
"We're doing this with Skype, and I think that this is kind of symbolic," Zuckerberg said. "Entrepreneurs who focus on a specific type of thing will always do better than a company trying to do a million things."
Skype, the Luxembourg communications firm, is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, a longtime Facebook partner. The day Microsoft announced its intentions, Skype executives met with Zuckerberg and his team, Bates said. Their talks had been going on long before then, however, and the Skype desktop software already integrates some of Facebook's utilities.
Defending the decision not to offer multi-person video-chat sessions like in Google+, Zuckerberg said: "The vast majority of video chat is one-on-one chat."
"I wouldn't rule anything out," he added. "But I wouldn't undersell the importance of what we're rolling out today."
In their presentation, Facebook engineers and Zuckerberg emphasized the simplicity of placing a video call. However, like with most video-chat services, users will need to install a plugin before they can use it.
Zuckerberg may have ginned up unrealistic expectations for Wednesday's event when he told reporters last week that the company would be announcing "something awesome." Some people following along on news sites' live blogs said they were underwhelmed by the news.
Source: CNN Technology
Google Map downloads cut the data cord
Google Maps has received a new experimental Labs add-on today that may simplify your life in areas with little to no Wi-Fi or data.
The "Download map area" add-on in the new Google Maps 5.7 for Android will store a map for a specific area you're trying to visit. You'll have to plan in advance with this tool, and downloading a map will take some time and storage space, but it beats lugging around a guide book, or worrying about getting enough signal in a trouble spot.
If you've got an Android phone running version 2.1 or higher, and the latest version of Maps 5.7, you can get started by opening the menu, tapping More, then Labs, and selecting the download feature. Later when you search for a Place, for instance, going into the More menu will show you an option for downloading the area map while you're still online.
Be forewarned that the feature won't show you directions, Places, satellite view, or 3D buildings.
Since you may not want downloaded maps sticking around too long, you can view or delete them from the cache settings (get to it from Menu, then More). After 30 days, Google will delete them by default.
After playing around with the map downloads, we like what we see so far. The real test will be seeing how easy or useful the feature is in areas that are truly data-starved.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
LG Optimus 3D Bundled with 3 Gameloft Games
LG has just introduced the Optimus 3D smartphone in South Korea, along with 3 free games developed by Gameloft.
All 3 stereoscopic 3D games are pre-loaded on the Korean version of the Optimus 3D, while 14 others can be purchased within the Android-based smartphone.
The free games include titles such as: Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance and Let’s Golf 2. Furthermore, hardcore gamers can purchase one of the 14 Gameloft titles that are available for download directly from the handset:
The free games include titles such as: Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance and Let’s Golf 2. Furthermore, hardcore gamers can purchase one of the 14 Gameloft titles that are available for download directly from the handset:
Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles, James Cameron’s Avatar, Ultimate Spider Man: Total Mayhem, GT Racing: Motor Academy, Shrek Kart, Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus, Real Football 2011, Star Battalion, N.O.V.A. 2 - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance, Dungeon Hunter 2, Fishing Kings, BackStab, Eternal Legacy and Shadow Guardian.
However, it appears that Gameloft and LG decided to offer these 14 titles at only half price for the first three months. In addition, another 3D game entirely produced by LG, and called Archer Craft, will also be available to Optimus 3D owners as a free download.
LG is trying to appease Android fans with exciting offers that include its Optimus 3D smartphone, as the company aims to sell 1.7 million units of the model by the end of the year.
For those not familiar with the Optimus 3D, the phone is equipped with a high-speed dual-core and dual channel 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, complemented by a PowerVR SGX540 GPU.
On the inside the phone packs 512 MB RAM, 8 GB of internal memory, as well as microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
According to LG, the Optimus 3D features dual-channel configuration, which means that data transfers take place simultaneously between the dual-core and dual-memory, resulting in consistently faster performance.
Another strong point of the device is the large 4.3-inch 3D LCD capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colors and 480 x 800 pixels resolution.
It is also worth mentioning that the Optimus 3D is delivered with the world's first 3D augmented reality (AR) browser developed in collaboration with AR pioneer Wikitude.
Source: Softpedia
Is China Looking to Invest in Facebook?
China’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp (CIC), could be on the verge of acquiring a stake in Facebook, if a report in Business Insider is to be believed.
According to Business Insider sources, financial firm Citibank has been trying to obtain as much as US$1.2 billion worth of Facebook stocks on behalf of two sovereign wealth funds - one from China and another from the Middle East.
The Business Insider article added that the news would go in line with recent comments made by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who expressed his desire for the company to enter the Chinese market.
Currently, Facebook is banned in China, though numerous copycat sites have sprung up including Renren and Lian Pu.
A purchase of Facebook stocks by the Chinese sovereign wealth fund could open up an avenue for the social networking giant to penetrate the market.
As Business Insider points out, “One big reason American firms stumble in China is that the government tends to favour locals when it comes to regulation. One way to make sure that doesn't happen is to allow the government to own a stake.”
However, rumours of the purchase have raised concern among netizens in regards to the sensitive and private information that Facebook currently stores on its site.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has also been reported to be “wary about the compromises Facebook would have to make to do business there (in China).”
However, Facebook’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer appears to be determined for Facebook to access the world’s largest online community. Zuckerberg visited China last December and will return again in September this year in order to push for Facebook’s approval in the country.
The Business Insider report also dismissed fears of any potential privacy infringement by the Chinese Government.
“There's little need for such concern. For one, even a billion dollar stake isn't a very big stake in Facebook, these days. The company is expected to IPO at a $100 billion valuation. For another, China would be buying non-voting stock and would have no say in Facebok's operations. And finally, it's not like shareholders in Facebook have some special privilege that allows them to see what users are doing or saying.
Importantly, sovereign wealth funds are pretty distinct from their governments.”
Source: Economy Watch
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
How Hackers Work
The term computer hacker first showed up in the mid-1960s. A hacker was a programmer -- someone who hacked out computer code. Hackers were visionaries who could see new ways to use computers, creating programs that no one else could conceive. They were the pioneers of the computer industry, building everything from small applications to operating systems. In this sense, people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were all hackers -- they saw the potential of what computers could do and created ways to achieve that potential.
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| Hackers from around the world gather at camps to practice their hobby and trade tips. |
As computers evolved, computer engineers began to network individual machines together into a system. Soon, the term hacker had a new meaning -- a person using computers to explore a network to which he or she didn't belong. Usually hackers didn't have any malicious intent. They just wanted to know how computer networks worked and saw any barrier between them and that knowledge as a challenge.
In fact, that's still the case today. While there are plenty of stories about malicious hackers sabotaging computer systems, infiltrating networks and spreading computer viruses, most hackers are just curious -- they want to know all the intricacies of the computer world. Some use their knowledge to help corporations and governments construct better security measures. Others might use their skills for more unethical endeavors.
The Hacker Toolbox
The main resource hackers rely upon, apart from their own ingenuity, is computer code. While there is a large community of hackers on the Internet, only a relatively small number of hackers actually program code. Many hackers seek out and download code written by other people. There are thousands of different programs hackers use to explore computers and networks. These programs give hackers a lot of power over innocent users and organizations -- once a skilled hacker knows how a system works, he can design programs that exploit it.
Malicious hackers use programs to:
- Log keystrokes: Some programs allow hackers to review every keystroke a computer user makes. Once installed on a victim's computer, the programs record each keystroke, giving the hacker everything he needs to infiltrate a system or even steal someone's identity.
- Hack passwords: There are many ways to hack someone's password, from educated guesses to simple algorithms that generate combinations of letters, numbers and symbols. The trial and error method of hacking passwords is called a brute force attack, meaning the hacker tries to generate every possible combination to gain access. Another way to hack passwords is to use a dictionary attack, a program that inserts common words into password fields.
- Infect a computer or system with a virus: Computer viruses are programs designed to duplicate themselves and cause problems ranging from crashing a computer to wiping out everything on a system's hard drive. A hacker might install a virus by infiltrating a system, but it's much more common for hackers to create simple viruses and send them out to potential victims via email, instant messages, Web sites with downloadable content or peer-to-peer networks.
- Gain backdoor access: Similar to hacking passwords, some hackers create programs that search for unprotected pathways into network systems and computers. In the early days of the Internet, many computer systems had limited security, making it possible for a hacker to find a pathway into the system without a username or password. Another way a hacker might gain backdoor access is to infect a computer or system with a Trojan horse.
- Create zombie computers: A zombie computer, or bot, is a computer that a hacker can use to send spam or commit Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. After a victim executes seemingly innocent code, a connection opens between his computer and the hacker's system. The hacker can secretly control the victim's computer, using it to commit crimes or spread spam.
- Spy on e-mail: Hackers have created code that lets them intercept and read e-mail messages -- the Internet's equivalent to wiretapping. Today, most e-mail programs use encryption formulas so complex that even if a hacker intercepts the message, he won't be able to read it.
Source: How Stuff Works
26 Young Rich Entrepreneur Under 30 Years Old
Do you know the successful young rich entrepreneur under 30 years old? Here is the list :
No.) Name | Website Name | Age | Annual Turnover
01) Mark Zuckerberg | Facebook | 23 years old | $700M
02) Andrew Gower | Runescape | 28 years old | $650M
03) Blake Ross and David Hyatt | Mozilla | 22 years old | $120M
04) Chad Hurley | Youtube | 30 years old | $85M
05) Angelo | Deviant ART | 26 years old | $75M
06) John Vechey | PopCap Games | 28 years old | $60M
07) Alexander Levin | WordPress | 23 years old | $57M
08) Jake Nickell | Threadless | 28 years old | $50M
09) Sean Belnick | Biz Chair | 20 years old | $42M
10) Kevin Rose | Digg | 30 years old | $31M
11) Ryan Block | Engadget | 25 years old | $20M
12) Aodhan Cullen | Stat Counter | 24 years old | $18M
13) Tom Fulp | Newgrounds | 29 years old | $15M
14) Rishi Kacker and Matt Pauker | Voltage | 24 years old | $12M
15) Markus Frind | Plenty of Fish | 29 years old | $10M
16) Catherine and David Cook | My Year Book | 17 & 19 years old | $10M
17) Fredrik Neij | The Pirate Bay | 28 years old | $10M
18) David Hauser & Siamak Taghaddos | GotvMail | 24 years old | $8M
19) Jermaine Griggs | Hear and Play | 23 years old | $5M
20) Jay Westerdal | Domain Tools | 29 years old | $5M
21) Ashley Qualls | What Ever Life | 17 years old | $3M
22) Mario Lavandeira | Perez Hilton | 29 years old | $3M
23) Ben Way | Rain Makers | 27 years old | $2.2M
24) Alex Tew | Million Dollar Homepage | 22 years old | $1.6M
25) Rob Benwell | Blogging to the Bank | 23 years old | $1.2M
26) Matt Wegrzyn | Bodis | 19 years old | $1M
Source : Blogging Secret
No.) Name | Website Name | Age | Annual Turnover
01) Mark Zuckerberg | Facebook | 23 years old | $700M
02) Andrew Gower | Runescape | 28 years old | $650M
03) Blake Ross and David Hyatt | Mozilla | 22 years old | $120M
04) Chad Hurley | Youtube | 30 years old | $85M
05) Angelo | Deviant ART | 26 years old | $75M
06) John Vechey | PopCap Games | 28 years old | $60M
07) Alexander Levin | WordPress | 23 years old | $57M
08) Jake Nickell | Threadless | 28 years old | $50M
09) Sean Belnick | Biz Chair | 20 years old | $42M
10) Kevin Rose | Digg | 30 years old | $31M
11) Ryan Block | Engadget | 25 years old | $20M
12) Aodhan Cullen | Stat Counter | 24 years old | $18M
13) Tom Fulp | Newgrounds | 29 years old | $15M
14) Rishi Kacker and Matt Pauker | Voltage | 24 years old | $12M
15) Markus Frind | Plenty of Fish | 29 years old | $10M
16) Catherine and David Cook | My Year Book | 17 & 19 years old | $10M
17) Fredrik Neij | The Pirate Bay | 28 years old | $10M
18) David Hauser & Siamak Taghaddos | GotvMail | 24 years old | $8M
19) Jermaine Griggs | Hear and Play | 23 years old | $5M
20) Jay Westerdal | Domain Tools | 29 years old | $5M
21) Ashley Qualls | What Ever Life | 17 years old | $3M
22) Mario Lavandeira | Perez Hilton | 29 years old | $3M
23) Ben Way | Rain Makers | 27 years old | $2.2M
24) Alex Tew | Million Dollar Homepage | 22 years old | $1.6M
25) Rob Benwell | Blogging to the Bank | 23 years old | $1.2M
26) Matt Wegrzyn | Bodis | 19 years old | $1M
Source : Blogging Secret
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