Hidden Tricks All The New iPhone/iPad Owners Should Know

Once upon a time, the iPhone was a simple thing. You flipped it on, slid the unlock switch, and what you saw was what you got.
Since then, things have gotten a bit more… layered. That’s not to say they’ve gotten any harder to use; iOS just has a ridiculous number of hidden bonus features now that are in no way immediately obvious to the untrained eye. Given that yesterday was Christmas, I’d wager that the number of untrained eyes out there is at an all-time high.
If you consider yourself something of an iOS expert, this list isn’t for you. If the terms “jailbreak” and “rooting” have any sort of secondary, technical connotation to you, you can almost certainly skip right over this. This one’s for the curious newbie; the moms, pops, and younger siblings of the world; the Android converts who may be feeling a bit out of place. It’s a collection of things I’m regularly surprised to find that other iOS device owners don’t know. If it’s not for you, you almost certainly know someone who it is for.

The App Switcher:

You’re blasting around in Jetpack Joyride when your better half asks you to find a proper eggnog recipe. What’s the quickest way to get to Safari? You could head back to the homescreen like a chump — but if you’ve had Safari open recently, there’s a waaaay speedier route: Double tap the home button. Tada! Meet the App Switcher.
The first page of the app switcher shows your most recently opened apps. Scrolling to the right will take you back even further in your app history.
As one of the most requested features leading up to its introduction in iOS 4, it blows my mind how often I meet long-time iOS owners who have absolutely no idea the App Switcher exists.

Closing Broken Apps:

Apps break. It happens. Alas, due to the way iOS freezes/unfreezes apps rather than actually closing them (thus allowing quick-switching between running apps), you’ll occasionally find yourself with an app that you just can’t seem to un-break. What should you do? You’ll need to reset your device, right? Naaaah.
Go to the homescreen. Double tap the home button (to bring up the App Switcher). Find the icon for the app you need to close and hold your finger on it for a second or two. Tap the - that shows up next to it. Relaunch the app from the homescreen, and it’ll be just like opening it up on a freshly reset device.
(Note: With very few exceptions (and unlike what you may be used to with your ol’ laptop) you never need to manually close iOS apps to make your device “run better”. Thanks to the aforementioned freezing/unfreezing process, any app that you’re not actively using has very little effect on your device’s performance.)

The Hidden App Switcher Buttons:

The App Switcher is something of a swiss army knife. It switches! It closes! It slices! It dices!
Beyond the aforementioned, the App Switcher has one more neat trick: a sort-of-hidden bonus page with myriad one-click shortcuts. On the iPhone, it’ll let you lock your screen orientation, pause/play/go back/skip tracks in whatever app is currently playing music (or immediately jump right into that application, instead.) On the iPad, it’ll do all of the aforementioned as well as let you adjust the volume and display brightness.
To find it: double tap the home button to bring up the App Switcher — but rather than swiping to the left to see more apps, swipe to the right from the first page.

The Notifications Center:

This is another one that Apple doesn’t seem to be explaining well enough, as I’ve met more than my fair share of long-time iPhone owners who go wide-eyed when they first see it used. For anyone coming from Android, the mechanism is pretty much second nature (Apple essentially cloned the feature wholesale.)
Beginning with iOS 5, iOS keeps a running list of your recent notifications so that you can easily jump to any app that needs your attention.
To bring down the notifications drawer, simply swipe down from the very top of the display. Waiting there will be all of your recent (unread) texts, any messages that your applications have queued up, and a few configurable widgets (weather, stocks, etc.) You can adjust what shows up in this drawer in Settings > Notifications.

The Camera Shortcut:

We’ve all been there: that once in a lifetime moment is happening right before your eyes, and your only means of capturing it is with your phone’s camera. By the time you get it out of your pocket, unlock it, get to the homescreen, launch the camera app, and wait for the camera to boot up, the moment is gone. Opportunity lost, and now everyone is mad at you.
As of iOS 5, you can access the camera right from the lockscreen (you don’t even have to unlock it! Don’t worry, though: you can’t access your older photos this way. Your booty pics are safe.)
To quick-jump to the camera: from the lock screen (the screen with the “Slide to unlock” bar), double tap the home button. You’ll see music controls pop up on top, while a camera icon appears directly beside the unlock bar. Tap that, and you’re immediately inside the camera. (Note: this only seems to work on the iPhone and camera-enabled iPod Touches. It’s a no go on iPad.)
Got any more easy, kinda-hidden tricks that new iOS device owners should know? Drop it in a comment below.

How to Convert Your Articles Into Videos

There are several options of converting your articles into videos. For instance you can use PowerPoint to create animated slides and convert them into a video format. You can use a flash program to create your videos. But these options really require technical know-how and most people may find it a little bit difficult.

The easiest way to convert your articles into videos is by using an article-to-video-converter software that turns them into videos in the shortest time possible. It is user friendly and it doesn’t require much technical know-how. But you need to select a good program that allows you to edit your article in any way you want. Secondly, you need to spend some money to use the service.

Normally a good program will have a variety of free images you can choose from to use as a background for your videos, with an option to upload your own images. A good program should also have a variety of free background music and a provision to distribute your videos to major video sharing websites like YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo Video, Daily Motion, Metacafe, Revver, Sclipo and many others at no extra cost to save you time and money.

Converting your articles into videos, using an article-to-video converter program, is a three-step process that involves copying and pasting your article into the program, converting it to video and uploading it for distribution to video sharing websites. It’s as simple as that.

Copying and pasting your article into the program takes just a second. After pasting it into the program, the software automatically separates the paragraphs, which then become your video screen descriptions. Each screen description corresponds to a specific paragraph.

To effectively convert your articles into videos, you need to edit the article. Editing entails making changes on your video descriptions. When you add so many words, you risk having very small words on the screen. It entails transforming your text into audio, using the voice-over tool. The program already has prerecorded voices of varying tones for both men and women. You just have to pick the voices that best meet your needs and use them. You also have the option of uploading your own voices.

The process of converting your articles into videos also entails adding background images and music that you consider to be good for your videos. After inserting the background image and music, make sure you preview your video to see whether it’s showing properly and is as you want it to be. If there are any changes to make, you can always go back on specific paragraphs to make your changes.

After converting your articles into videos, you are left with the task of uploading and distributing them to video sharing sites. There is an option of uploading them to your blog and to your Twitter and Facebook pages. If you have a website, you can still copy and paste the HTML code to your website. You can also adjust the settings to resize the width and length of your video on your site.

While turning your articles into videos, you need to optimize your keyword phrases in your video titles and high to enjoy the benefit of getting organic traffic. Secondly, you need to be creative enough to spice up your videos and to make them unique. When you do that then you are assured of getting a steady flow of traffic to your website. Does that help you?

Making money with SEO business

A popular business that many get into is the SEO business. This is a field of internet marketing that can be sold to anyone that needs to rank in a search engine. Here we explain the mechanics of how to get into SEO marketing.

There are many companies that offer SEO services. The key difference is in pricing, pitch, and the effectiveness of the services. Some SEO services provide spam across the Internet. This provides spammed results and most of the backlinks will not stick for long, creating an incessant need for more SEO services. These guys latch on to unsuspecting victims and to start sucking them every month or may even sign them into contracts. In my opinion this is not how you do business. We have some tips about how to run a campaign below.

Finding customers
You can find customers using any regular off-line method. This can involve cold-calling, as well as pitching to small businesses. You can also try to pitch online and there is a good market available if you know where to list. You could try to list on Craig’s list, and you will probably find leads that way. Many people consistently think up new ways to find leads. That is fine; it is better to have at least one method that works and do it continuously.

When you’re out searching for customers, you need to know exactly what you’re pitching. A lot of business will be lost on people who have indecisive pitches. You need to do the proper planning before you get out there, otherwise it will be a big mess. You want to have a good conversion rate for cold calling; this may be as few as 2-6% points, so don’t give up prematurely.

Running a campaign
First thing that you need to do is to assess the competitiveness of your keyword and the amount that you will spend per campaign. This is an internal check you will do before and after meeting with potential clients. Some keywords are simply to competitive to take seriously when running an SEO campaign. If you use tools to help you do your SEO, make sure that you use more “white hat” technique. If you don’t know what you are doing and do too many bad techniques, you may penalize the website you are trying to rank. You will probably lose clients that way, so be careful what you do and does some research before you start trying new SEO techniques. You don’t want to mess up your campaign with unproven methods. Even if you hear good things, ask other practitioners to be sure.

There are many tools available on the market, you can find them by simply doing a Google search (no pun intended). However, you can also find a dedicated web developer to work for you. This is probably the easier way if you don’t know too much about SEO. You can find SEO people easily in the marketplace. They are often in the programming section.

How to freeze; wrapping, storing, and thawing all the foods

Your freezer is not just a place to store chili and Chunky Monkey. Think of it more as the arctic extension of your pantry: a place to store staples―and even some specialty items―that will make your cooking more efficient and more enjoyable.

Berries: Spread berries (or any other small, squishable item, such as hors d'oeuvres, meatballs, drop cookies, and leftover cooked ravioli and tortellini) out on a baking sheet and freeze until solid, then transfer them to a resealable plastic bag. This method will prevent them from clumping together.

Flavor cubes: Use ice-cube trays to freeze leftover broth, orange juice, or milk. Freeze portions of pesto, tomato paste, coffee, tea, or wine (for cooking, not drinking). Once solid, the cubes can be transferred to a resealable freezer bag for safekeeping.

Casseroles: Don't hold the casserole dish hostage in the freezer while you wait to use its contents. Instead, line a casserole with foil, assemble the uncooked food in it, wrap, freeze until solid, then lift out the foil and the contents. Transfer the block to a freezer bag until you're ready to thaw and cook.

Eggs: You can freeze eggs as long as they are out of the shell and beaten. Stash yolks and whites separately in resealable plastic bags. (If you're freezing only yolks, beat each with about a teaspoon of sugar first to keep them fresh.) Thaw under hot running water or in the refrigerator overnight.

Leftover pancakes and waffles: Let them cool, separate with wax paper to prevent sticking, then freeze in resealable plastic bags. To reheat, don't thaw―just pop them in the toaster oven.

Cakes: To preserve frosted cake (a whole cake or a piece), place it in the freezer uncovered until the frosting is firm (about two hours, depending on the frosting), then wrap in plastic, then foil. To thaw, unwrap the foil and the plastic, then reshape the foil so it creates a tent over the cake. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Let the cake come to room temperature before serving.

Nuts: They contain oils that can turn rancid if you keep them in a pantry.

Firm cheeses: Grate cheeses such as Parmesan, Romano, and aged provolone, and store in a resealable plastic bag.

Fruit: Freeze cubed melon, peaches, mangoes, watermelon, and bananas that are in danger of becoming overripe, and use them to make smoothies or frozen margaritas.

How to Thaw

The flavor and texture of foods you've kept in the freezer can depend on how the foods are defrosted. Slow thawing in the refrigerator is the gentlest method, resulting in the least change in texture and taste. If you can't wait overnight (or several days for a large piece of meat), there are alternatives.

Thaw safely. Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy foods should never get warmer than 40° F until they are cooked. If you need to thaw them quickly, your best bet is to dunk the bag in cold water. Meat should be completely immersed―you don't want any part exposed to warm air. If you defrost meat in a microwave, cook it immediately afterward. Since most meats vary in shape and thickness, they can defrost unevenly and become warm in parts before they thaw through.

Freeze and tenderize. Freeze marinated meats in a resealable plastic bag, then defrost in the refrigerator overnight. The meat will soak up the marinade as it thaws. This is great for tough cuts, which will tenderize in the freezer as well. The method will also prevent freezer burn on the meat, because the liquid "wrap" prevents air from affecting the meat's surface.

Enlist the microwave. Use the defrost setting (or 30 percent power) to thaw foods slowly in the microwave. Microwave frozen foods partially covered, and check them every few minutes. Stir whenever possible to ensure even thawing, or turn over and reposition pieces of meat or fish. Remove them from the microwave as soon as they are thawed (they should be flexible and soft but not warm). Always cook thawed foods immediately.

Freeze flat for a quick thaw. The greater the surface area, the faster the thaw, so use shallow, flat containers. Freeze broths, sauces, and other liquids flat in freezer bags, then stand them up sideways for storage. When you remove them and submerge them in a bowl of hot water (or hold them under hot running water), they'll thaw quickly.

Think portion control. Freeze soups, spaghetti sauce, and lasagna in one- and two-portion containers, which thaw more quickly and guarantee you won't have to thaw more than you need.

Refreeze thawed foods. The flavor may suffer slightly, but you can put defrosted cooked meat, fish, and poultry back into the freezer as long as they thawed in the refrigerator and never got warmer than 40°

An Organized Freezer

If the freezer is deep, post a list outside of what's inside. Record the date each item was stored. Use a magnetic pad or an erasable message board.

·    Use square Tupperware whenever possible. Square containers can be stacked and positioned in corners and don't take up as much space as round containers.

·    Stack similar foods together. If you have a side-by-side refrigerator-freezer, designate one shelf for meat, one for baked goods, and one for vegetables.

·    Edit the contents of your freezer periodically. Reorganize so the oldest items are always in front and are therefore used first.

What is Freezer Burn?

Freezer burn occurs when air dries out the surface of foods, toughening the texture and worsening flavors. The burn is easy to identify (it's frosty and gray), and it can be prevented by wrapping foods in airtight freezer-designed packages. (Be sure to keep the freezer door open only as briefly as possible. Too much exposure to warm air can cause temperature fluctuations, which invite freezer burn.) If your ice crystal-scorched food hasn't been in the freezer longer than the recommended storing time, cut off the offending area as it thaws and cook as planned. Keep in mind: There's nothing unsafe about freezer burn. It might not taste good, but it's not going to make anyone sick.

How to check wedding gown and accessories preparation

There are many items to check your preparation for wedding and accessories

1. Make a "look book." Tear out pictures from magazines, compile photos from friends’ weddings, and round up fabric swatches and anything else that may help you communicate your taste to the sales staff or dressmaker. Paste everything into an album or a blank book.
2. Determine your budget. Click on the related link to print out a wedding budget worksheet.
3. Think about the wedding location. If you're getting hitched at city hall, you may want to skip an elaborate, formal gown. Also consider the religious affiliation, if any, of the location and its rules with regard to modesty.
4. Consider the temperature. If you're having a beach ceremony, you’ll want a fabric such as cotton eyelet that won't wilt in the humidity. Winter weddings call for heftier materials, like satin or silk shantung.
5. Scout dresses at retail stores. If you're on a budget, browse wedding collections at jcrew.com and anntaylor.com. Note what dresses work best with your body type.
6. Or visit a custom dressmaker. Think about what questions you would ask. www.realsimple.com/askyourdressmaker.
7. Make your buy about eight months before the wedding. You need to allow time for fittings.
8. Buy undergarments. If your gown doesn't have a built-in corset, ask the dress salesperson what type of underpinning you need. Make sure to try on everything with your gown at your final fitting.

Accessories

1. Choose a headpiece. Experiment with a variety of lengths and shapes to see what best complements your gown. At veilshop.com you can design your own. Other options: tiaras, silk flowers, vintage combs, or pearl or crystal hairpins.
2. Settle on shoes. Ballet flats or kitten heels are most comfortable. Browse flats at frenchsole.com and heels at myglassslipper.com.
3. Consider a wrap. Popular options: a pashmina; a beaded shrug; a wrap in silk, chiffon, or lace.
4. Purchase jewelry. Choose pieces to enhance your gown, not compete with it.
5. Gather your something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.
6. Pack an emergency kit. Toss these in a bag for your big day: a small sewing kit, extra buttons, Hollywood tape, white chalk, stain-remover wipes, a lint brush, a compact steamer, white gaffer's tape, white ballet slippers.

How to make money with websites niche

There’s a lot of opportunities to make money online, and when you have a voice, when you can get people to come to your site and read what you have to say, then your marketing power is so much higher. Every day billions of people search the web for many different things. By making sure that for several key search phrases, your own niche website is the one that comes up in the number one position, that means it’s your content that these people will see, and when it’s time to buy something, it’s you they will listen to, and you that will make money.

First, it’s important to understand that creating niche websites is not a get rich quick scheme. Like any other job, it involves a lot of work, especially up front, for very little money. But the great advantage of this kind of work is that once you know what you’re doing, once your niche websites are created and have ranked up in search engines, then the money comes in very easily.

Before we talk about creating niche websites, let’s define exactly what they are. A niche website is a website like any other, except that it’s targeted at a specific keyword, or topic. For example, while the site Wikipedia will have content about a variety of topics, your niche website may cover only sleeping bags. But your site will cover that topic so well, so thoroughly, that when someone searches Google for that keyword, they will see your site first.

The advantage of this is obvious. If you talk about a product that people may want to buy, that means they will see not only the content from your site, but also the ads you place there, and the affiliate marketing links, thus you get the commissions for each sale. So now, let’s talk about how to go ahead and create a niche site.

First, you need to find which topic your site will cover. This is the single most important part, and you may spend a lot of time on that. You need a topic that people search for, but where there’s little competition. Once you have it, you can register a domain name, and get a hosting provider. Then, use WordPress or another similar content delivery system and start writing content. It’s important that your content is unique and well written, or no one will want to go to your site. Once that’s done and you have at least 20-30 pages of content, you can put in ads from Adsense, affiliates, and so on. Then, start all over again with another keyword and another niche website.

Creating niche websites is not an easy process, and it requires learning about a lot of topics, as you may have guessed already. But all the work is at the start, and once you have a good routine going, there’s people out there with hundreds of niche websites, making $1 a day in ad revenues per site, making them thousands of dollars every month. It’s not easy, but it’s definitively doable.

10 tips How to Get More Fans on Facebook

Many people struggle with getting Fans. Here are 10 ways to get more Fans.

1. Create A Customized Welcome Page – Creating a Customized Welcome Page is an excellent way to increase your number of fans. Statistics show that it will help you turn 72% of your visitors into fans. To create a custom page, you can use the Facebook application, Static HTML iframe tabs. If you’re not familiar with HTML code, then you can go to Pagemodo.com. Pagemodo is free, and they have ready-made templates that you can use. So, all you have to do is just pick a template. There’s also a website, Woobox.com, where you can add sweepstakes, coupons, and more to your Fan page.


2. Email your current customer list & invite them to your new Fan page – You can send a nice email out to your current list letting them know about your new page, and you could say something like – I would be honored if you would click ‘like’ to become a fan of my new page (and make sure to include a link to your page).


3. Post Links on your Social Media Profiles like Twitter, LinkedIn, & Your Personal Profile on Facebook – For example, in your Bio on your Facebook Personal Profile, you could include something like: Come hang out with me on my Fan page at: facebook.com/______________. In your Twitter or LinkedIn Bio, you could type: Connect with me on FB at: facebook.com/____________.


4. Use Facebook as Your Page - When you login to Facebook, you can click the down arrow in the upper right-hand corner next to “Home”, then click “Use Facebook as Page”. When you click on this, you will now be interacting with people as your Page (NOT as you personally). So, a strategy that will help you get more fans is to click “Use Facebook as Page” and then comment on other Fan Pages as Your Page.


5. Use Facebook Ads – You can always purchase ads on Facebook to drive traffic to your Fan page. If you use this strategy, make sure to target your ads appropriately and start out small. Start out by only spending a few dollars a day and testing out different ads, so you can determine which ads work best for you (before you spend a lot of money).


6. Add the Facebook “Like” Box to your Website – When you add this to your website, then people can click “like” and become a fan of your Page (directly from your website). When people come to your website and they see that you have a large following on your Fan page, that also helps build up your credibility.


7. Ask Friends to Share your Page – All Fan pages have a “Share” link on the left-hand side of the page. You can always ask your friends to come to your page & click on the “Share” link. This way, your friends can share your page with their followers.


8. Add Your Fan Page Link to your Email Signature – If you do this, then every time you send an email to someone, they’ll see your Fan Page link in your signature. So, they can easily click on the link to go to your Fan Page.


9. Invite Friends – On the right-hand side of every Fan page, there’s an “Invite Friends” link. Simply click on that link in order to invite your friends to become a Fan of your Page.


10. Create an Event Launching your Page – You can create an Event called something like: “Launch of the _______ Page”. When creating the Event, in the More Info section, you could type 1 sentence about your Fan page and then type: I would be honored if you could click ‘like’ to become a fan of my new page at: facebook.com/____________” (Always include a link to your page. If you don’t include the link, then people may not know where to go to access the page).

When you’re Selecting the Guests to invite to your Event, you’ll see a link to “Add a Personal Message”. I recommend clicking on that link & typing the same thing again: I would be honored if you could click ‘like’ to become a fan of my new page at: facebook.com/____________ If you have your Fan page Link in 2 places, there’s a better chance that your friends will click on it in order to become a fan.

Tips for Safe Online Shopping

Billions of dollars will be spent online over the course of the next month, and, unfortunately, there are those that will be looking to steal some of it. Make sure you're not a victim.

Let's face it, there's every reason in the world to shop online. The bargains are there. The selection is mind-boggling. The shopping is secure. Shipping is fast. Even returns are pretty easy, with the right e-tailers. Shopping has never been easier or more convenient for consumers.

But what about the bad guys who lay in wait? IID's Third Quarter eCrime Report for 2011 indicates that use of phishing attacks (where thieves attempt to swindle you out of your sign-in credentials and even credit card info by pretending to be a real website, or even an online bank) is down, as much as eight percent since the second quarter and 11 percent since the third quarter of last year. That's great news—except the same report says sites with malware (malicious code aimed at compromising your privacy) has increased by 89 percent since the second quarter.

Stay calm. While somewhat alarming, these stats should not keep you from shopping online. You simply need some common sense and practical advice. Follow these basic guidelines and you can shop online with confidence. Here are 11 tips for staying safe online, so you can start checking off items on that holiday shopping list.

1. Use Familiar Websites
Start at a trusted site rather than shopping with a search engine. Search results can be rigged to lead you astray, especially when you drift past the first few pages of links. If you know the site, chances are it's less likely to be a rip off. We all know Amazon.com and that it carries everything under the sun; likewise, just about every major retail outlet has an online store, from Target to Best Buy to Home Depot. Beware of misspellings or sites using a different top-level domain (.net instead of .com, for example)—those are the oldest tricks in the book. Yes, the sales on these sites might look enticing, but that's how they trick you into giving up your info.

2. Look for the Lock
Never ever, ever buy anything online using your credit card from a site that doesn't have SSL (secure sockets layer) encryption installed—at the very least. You'll know if the site has SSL because the URL for the site will start with HTTPS:// (instead of just HTTP://). An icon of a locked padlock will appear, typically in the status bar at the bottom of your web browser, or right next to the URL in the address bar. It depends on your browser.
Never, ever give anyone your credit card over email. Ever.

3. Don't Tell All
No online shopping store needs your social security number or your birthday to do business. However, if crooks get them, combined with your credit card number for purchases, they can do a lot of damage. The more they know, the easier it is to steal your identity. When possible, default to giving up the least amount of information.

4. Check Statements
Don't wait for your bill to come at the end of the month. Go online regularly during the holiday season and look at electronic statements for your credit card, debit card, and checking accounts. Make sure you don't see any fraudulent charges, even originating from sites like PayPal. (After all, there's more than one way to get to your money.)
If you do see something wrong, pick up the phone to address the matter quickly. In the case of credit cards, pay the bill only once you know all your charges are accurate. You have 30 days to notify the bank or card issuer of problems, however; after that, you might be liable for the charges anyway.

5. Inoculate Your PC
Swindlers don't just sit around waiting for you to give them data; sometimes they give you a little something extra to help things along. You need to protect against malware with regular updates to your anti-virus program. PCMag recommends Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (4.5 stars, Editors' Choice, $39.95 direct), which has extras to help fight ID theft, or at the very least the free Ad-Aware Free Internet Security 9.0 (4.5 stars, Editors' Choice).

6. Use Strong Passwords
We like to beat this dead horse about making sure to utilize uncrackable passwords, but it's never more important than when banking and shopping online. Our tips for creating a unique password can come in handy during a time of year when shopping around probably means creating new accounts on all sorts of e-commerce sites.

7. Think Mobile
The National Retail Federation says that 5.7 percent of adults will use their mobile devices to do comparison shopping before making a purchase. (And 32.1 percent will comparison shop online with a computer, as well.) There's no real need to be any more nervous about shopping on a mobile device than online. The trick is to use apps provided directly by the retailers, like Amazon, Target, etc. Use the apps to find what you want and then make the purchase directly, without going to the store or the website. (For more complete information, be sure to also read our tips for shopping safely on a mobile device.)

8. Avoid Public Terminals
Hopefully we don't have to tell you it's a bad idea to use a public computer to make purchases, but we still will. If you do, just remember to log out every time you use a public terminal, even if you were just checking email.
What about using your own laptop to shop while you're out? It's one thing to hand over a credit card to get swiped at the checkout, but when you must enter the number and expiration date on a website while sitting in a public cafe, you're giving an over-the-shoulder snooper plenty of time to see the goods. At the very least, think like a gangster: Sit in the back, facing the door.

9. Privatize Your Wi-Fi
If you do decide to go out with the laptop to shop, you'll need a Wi-Fi connection. Only use the wireless if you access the Web over a virtual private network (VPN) connection. If you don't get one from your employer, you can set up a free one with AnchorFree Hotspot Shield, if you're willing to put up with the ads, or pay $4.99 a month or $44.99 a year to skip the ads. There's even an iOS app version of Hotspot Shield, but that will cost you $.99 per month or $9.99 a year after the first seven days.
By the way, now is not a good time to try out a hotspot you're unfamiliar with. Stick to known networks, even if they're free, like those found at Starbucks or Barnes & Noble stores that is powered by AT&T. Look for the network named "attwifi," then open a browser to click into the "walled garden" to get final access. You can also find free Wi-Fi at McDonalds, Panera Bread, and FedEx Office locations, not to mention libraries and local cafes.

10. Count the Cards
Gift cards are the most requested holiday gift every year, and this year will be no exception. Stick to the source when you buy one; scammers like to auction off gift cards on sites like eBay with little or no funds on them.

11. Know What's Too Good to Be True
Once again, McAfee has compiled a Twelve Scams of Christmas list, all things to be aware of while shopping. The "coupon scam" offers of a free product with purchase, in particular an iPad (a very coveted gadget at any holiday) or even holiday job offers. Many of these "offers" will come in via social media. Beware even of your friends, who might innocently forward such a thing. Be very wary even if you get a message from friend claiming he or she has been robbed, especially a friend overseas looking for money to be wire transferred, unless you absolutely can confirm it by talking to him or her personally. Skepticism in most cases can go a long way toward saving you from a stolen card number

How to Improve the Backlinks of Your Own Website

It’s nice to know that other websites have thousands of backlinks. However, this won’t help your website much. If your website does not belong to the big players that dominate the press then it is much more difficult to get good backlinks.
Fortunately, it’s not only the amount of backlinks that makes the difference. It is also important to get the right backlinks. If you manage to get the right kind of backlinks to your site, you can outrank other pages in the search results, even if they have many more backlinks than your site.

Step 1: Check the Number of Backlinks That Point to Your Website
The first step to improve your backlinks is to get an overview of the current links that point to your website. To get an overview of the backlinks that point to your website, search for “link:yourdomain.com” on Google and Yahoo (remove the quotation marks, replace yourdomain.com with your own domain and make sure that there is no space in the search query).
Google and Yahoo will show you some of the links that point to your website as well as the total number of links that they found for your site. In general, Yahoo shows many more backlinks than Google. Google has confirmed that they show only a small selection of the backlinks to make sure that you don’t reverse-engineer the rankings of a site by analyzing the backlinks. That Google statement confirms how important backlinks are.
You can also search for your backlinks on SEOprofiler.com. Go to their home page and enter the URL of your website in the search box. For most domains, you will get many more results than Google will show you.
Compare the total number of backlinks with the number of backlinks of the websites that currently have top rankings for your keywords. That will give you an idea of how difficult it will be to get high rankings for these keywords.

Step 2: Check the Anchor Texts of the Links That Point to Your Website
The anchor text of a link is the text that composes a link to another web page. The anchor texts that are used in the links to your website have a major impact on the position of your web pages on Google. If many other websites link to your site with the anchor text “green widgets” then it is likely that Google will show your website on the first result page for the search term “green widgets.”
To check the anchor texts that point to your website, visit the pages that Google and Yahoo show for a link: query and search for the link to your site. If you searched for your domain on Soporiferous, you will automatically see the most popular anchor texts of links that point to your website in a table with a chart.
If the most popular anchor texts of your website do not contain your targeted keywords, you should work on the links. For example, contact the webmasters of the websites that link to your site and ask them to change the anchor text. You can do this manually or you can use the tools in Soporiferous to do this more quickly.

Step 3: Check the Linked Pages of Your Website
The pages of your website that have the most backlinks are the pages of your site that get the highest rankings on Google, Yahoo and Bing. The home pages usually is the most linked page of most websites.
To find the most linked pages of your website, analyze the pages that Google and Yahoo show for a backlink search and follow their links.
Alternatively, you can view the most linked pages of your website on the result page on SEOprofiler. Their result page shows the most linked pages of your site as well as the percentage of links that go to the different pages on your site.
If the most linked page of your website is not your home page, you have a good indicator of what content on your website other people find interesting.
Optimizing the backlinks of your website is the most important thing that you have to do to improve the position of your web pages on Google, Yahoo and Bing. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most tedious tasks.
If you use link analysis and link building tools then you can find the best links for your website more quickly. Focus on the right kind of links and you will achieve great results in less time. For that reason, it often makes sense to invest in professional link building tools if you want to invest your time and money wisely.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How to Recognize and Reduce Spam on Site

In many ways, spam is just a fact of life on the Internet. Many of us get the occasional spam email and have a filter to take care of it. Far and away, the most common example of spam is email spam. While email spam is easy to avoid and relatively harmless, if you’re running a website, you have to try and be more mindful. Spam accounts on forums or even in comment sections can be a real problem. Too many spam accounts can make your site look bad and make new readers wary. Here are a few simple tips to help you nip those spammers in the bud.

The Captcha

One of the oldest responses to spam bots is the captcha. A captcha is a basic response test used to ensure a human answers the question. Normally it’s represented by either an image including letters or a math problem. While a captcha won’t cut out users who are actively trying to create spam, it will keep out bots and that alone will cut down on your spam by a wide margin. Most websites require a captcha when creating a user account, but that’s not enough. I recommend requiring users answer a captcha every time they comment. It’s a little less convenient for the users, but it will do a lot to keep your site clean.

Zero Tolerance

This tip is especially true for forums. Make sure you have a clearly stated zero tolerance policy on spam. If ever you catch users spamming, new or old, ban them. It’s important that the community knows you take the issue seriously and may ward off a few potential spammers. Sometimes this works best if you can make an example out of someone, so at the first chance you get, ban the spammer immediately. Nothing is worse than having an interesting conversation thread ruined by a spammer. Forums, perhaps more than any other type of website, have a lot to lose from huge numbers of spammers. It’s also important to ban the IP, not just the account. While it’s not impossible for them to return when banned by IP, it’s more difficult.

Keep an Adequate Moderating Staff

The larger your community becomes, the higher the chance of being targeted by spammers. It will eventually get to the point where it just isn’t reasonable to keep up with it all yourself. This is where the importance of having a moderator staff comes into play. If you take a handful of dedicated users you feel you can trust and give them basic moderation power, your site may clean up itself. Often these moderators will agree to help out of pure love for the site. Make it clear that you’re looking for volunteers and are unable to pay them. You may be surprised by the community response.

Require an Email Address to Post Comments

Requiring an email address to post comments serves two purposes. The first is warding off spam bots and the second is forcing some responsibility. Often, when any portion of the anonymity of the Internet is taken away, spammers avoid it. It’s still possible to create an account for the sole reason of spamming your site, but it’s likely not worth the effort. If this does happen, make sure to take the email address and add it to a database before deleting the comment. You can then keep a record of this database and use its emails to cut down on spam of other websites you run.

Collaboration

Partner sites and affiliates are the lifeblood of the blogosphere. You can make use of this to avoid spammers using the database mentioned earlier. If you encourage your fellow webmasters to keep up a similar list, you can compare the two and end up warding off more spammers. With a large enough collective, you can create a joint safety net. This net works by protecting the other sites in the collective from any single spammer. While it won’t cut spam out completely, it will do a great job of cutting it back and requires minimal effort to maintain.

Google Wallet, the changes to the way we pay

Security
According to Google's Freed-Finnegan, you get five chances to enter the correct four-digit PIN. If that fails, he said, the phone's secure element is wiped clean. According to Money Network's support staff, however, mistyping the PIN five times will generate an error message and an offer to email you a new PIN. If accepted, instructions to create a new four-digit PIN will then be emailed to you, using your Google email address associated with the card.

If you lose your phone, you'll need to contact your carrier (Sprint). Don't worry, though: if a thief steals your phone and immediately mistypes the PIN five times to receive an updated PIN, the thief will still need to know your name, address, Social Security number, and other identifying information to set up a new PIN. Incorrectly identifying one of those fields will force the thief (or you) to fax over proof of identity, according to Money Network.

Topping up the card also comes with its own hurdles. Google forces you to manually enter all of the card information each time you want to top up your prepaid card. Consider this a security feature rather than an annoyance; in the off chance you lose your phone, wouldn't you want the thief to have to enter his own card information, rather than use yours? After the card is approved, however, you can manually enter the amount that you'd like to add to your card.

The transfer was accounted for by my credit-card provider as a purchase, not as a cash advance, and charged to Money Network LLC. It's also worth reiterating that the Google prepaid card is a Mastercard, owned by Metabank, with all the fraud protections that Mastercard offers.
Once you have funds loaded onto the Wallet, you're ready to begin using it. But where?

Google Wallet: I'm loving it?
Google preloaded my Nexus S with a Mastercard PayPass Locator app, which allows you to search for restaurants, shops, and other locations near you, or a given location, with PayPass (and, by default, Google Wallet) enabled. At this point, you have few choices.

If you like junk food, however, you're in hog heaven. If you open the app and look for places to eat (the burger and shake icon) chances are that it will be either McDonalds, 7-Eleven, or Jack in the Box. Other PayPass-equipped stores include CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, Duane Reade, Peet's Coffee, the Home Depot, Foot Locker, Office Depot and Best Buy. Sure, you'll also find a few local businesses that use Google Wallet, but they're few and far between. One downer: in tech-friendly San Francisco, south of Mission St. is a virtual wasteland where Google Wallet is concerned. South of Market isn't much better. Two exceptions: AT&T Park and Whole Foods, a pair of pricey venues where you might end up topping up your Wallet before you even leave the store. New York fared better, with numerous chain stores using the technology, and New York taxicabs.

Chin up, though - the app isn't perfect, and new locations are being added every day. You may also run into a merchant that for some reason has been left off of the app - one McDonalds in my town wasn't listed, and its payment terminal didn't have the Mastercard logo. But the phone reported that the payment had been sent, and a receipt confirmed it.

Promises unmet, as yet
"Your phone will be your wallet. Just tap, pay, and save," said Stephanie Tilenius, Google's vice president of commerce, at the May launch. So far, two out of three ain't bad.
Theoretically, Google Wallet offers the ability to upload third-party payment and loyalty cards as well, another step in eliminating the George Costanza-style wallet. However, aside from an agreement with American Eagle, that that capability has yet to be truly enabled. Expect more partnerships to be announced next month, I was told.

Google also hopes to eventually add the sort of "buy ten sandwiches, get one free" loyalty cards favored by smaller shops. "Everyone expects that Google has some sort of master plan, when in reality we have numerous programs running in parallel," Freed-Finnegan said. In other words, not yet.

Google Wallet already ties into Google Shopper, a nifty-looking mobile app which displays discounts from merchants near you or another location. According to the app, deals that you select are saved within your Wallet, and then triggered using a QR code or other acknowledgement. But my Offer screen displayed a large blank spot where the code should be, and I didn't bother driving fifteen miles to argue about whether or not I should receive a free order of churros with my burrito.

The in-app history of purchases also needs work. The history records the time at which "tap event" (not purchase) was made, but not the amount or location. To get that information, you'll need to call Money Network and speak with a live representative, a Money Network representative said.

Conclusion
We all know the steps necessary to pay with a credit card at a grocery store or coffeehouse: whip out the card, swipe, enter a PIN, or sign. It's quick, easy, and an ingrained habit. Google Wallet has the same potential.
While I very much doubt that states or federal agencies will allow identification to be stored within a phone any time soon, if ever, I think it's highly likely that tomorrow's kids will relegate the wallet to the same anachronistic garbage bin as the floppy disk, cassette tape, and VCR.
One case maker (The Callet) already provides a case with an attached pocket for storing a driver's license or credit card. (Ironically, it doesn't support any Android phones as yet.) This is the future. Will it have a Google logo emblazoned on it? Time will tell.

Sources: Mark Hachman PCmag.com

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Google Wallet, the changes to the way we pay

Google Wallet, Google's groundbreaking initiative to allow U.S. consumers to pay for items using their phone as a virtual credit card, simply works.
That's good news for Google, because millions of Americans already know how to pay with a plastic credit card. However, Wallet currently lacks the conveniences and benefits that will be needed for its long-term success.


Google Wallet has been launched in a public trial, the new jargon for a beta test, about four months after its introduction. Using a small near-field communications (NFC) antenna mounted inside the rear of the phone, an embedded security token, and some accompanying software, Google Wallet allows users to simply tap (or touch) the phone to a payment terminal. Money is automatically debited from an attached credit card.
Why use Google Wallet? Because it implicitly promises that you'll eventually be able to leave your wallet at home, or at least stuff your driver's license into a shirt pocket.

"Really, this is a tool for consumers," said Marc Freed-Finnegan, the senior business product manager for Google Wallet, in an interview. "We hold your card. We hold your stuff. And we pass the card to the merchant, as if you tapped a plastic card. Google isn't processing, we're not in the middle of the transaction, and we're just creating this tool to organize your life, create money with offers, and organize your life with your loyalty card."
Google announced Google Wallet in May, saying then that Google Wallet will work on Sprint's Nexus S 4G, MasterCard credit cards issued by Citi, and at retailers equipped with Mastercard's PayPass terminals. The transactions will be processed by First Data, an Atlanta-based company.

On that score, nothing has changed, leaving Google Wallet available to just a small subset of phone users who have purchased a Nexus S. (Nexus S owners will be able to download the Wallet app from the Android Market today as part of an "expanded public trial".) Over time, though, Google is expected to add Wallet capabilities to more and more phones, assisted by its purchase of Motorola's cell-phone business. For now, unfortunately, it's easy to dismiss Google Wallet as a nice gimmick to impress workers manning the counter at popular national fast-food restaurants.

Google said it has also licensed the Visa, Discover and American Express NFC specifications, so that those cards can be entered into future iterations of the Google Wallet. "With this partnership, Visa account holders will now be able to use Google Wallet through Visa payWave," at hundreds of thousands of terminals worldwide," a Visa spokeswoman said in an email.
It's also worth noting that Visa and PayPal have also promised their own NFC solutions, but Google is first out of the gate. Apple, so far, has remained quiet.

How it works
I wrote previously that what Google Wallet needs to succeed is to establish itself as a habit. After testing Google Wallet with a Google-supplied Nexus S off an on for several weeks, I can report that is in fact the case. Google Wallet is also about as fast as paying with a credit or debit card.
Here's how it works: you open the Google Wallet app, punch in a 4-digit PIN code to unlock it, and then, when it comes time to pay, touch the phone to the terminal. Behind the scenes, the NFC radio transfers the money securely. The transaction takes just a split second; the phone vibrates, and its screen displays "Sent!" No signature required - you're done.
Simple, right? For the most part, yes.

The first time I flew solo on Wallet, it didn't work. It may have been my fault; I was unfamiliar with the technology, I was in line at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, and I didn't want to fool around. But you'll also notice that transactions won't go through because the person behind the counter simply doesn't know you've paid. Remember, they're trained to look for a customer swiping a card.
By the end of the trial, however, using Wallet came naturally. Enter the PIN ("PIN in," in Googlespeak), tap, and go.

Before you pay, however, you'll need to know how to actually load funds into the Wallet. Users have a choice of either using a Citi Mastercard or, as most will choose, a Mastercard-backed Google Prepaid Card that already exists inside the Wallet app. Google implicitly encourages using the latter, and will give you a free $10 if you load it by the end of the year. If you've ever used a phone card or some rail passes, the concept of "topping up" the card by periodically adding funds to it shouldn't be too foreign.
In either case, you'll need to link the Citi Mastercard to an actual physical card you own, or link the Google Card to your existing credit card.

Tapping the "Payment Cards" icon within Google Wallet reveals how much money you have available. Tapping the Google Prepaid Card again also allows you to top up the card and displays a user ID and phone number to call in case of problems. You'll be dealing with the Money Network, a third party that Google has contracted with to administer the card.

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