As per Google Android’s developer forum, Android 2.2 is indeed a minor platform release including user and developer features, API changes, and bug fixes. A reading on developer features and API changes can be had on Framework API section. Android 2.2 platform is available to developers as a downloadable component for the Android SDK and it includes a fully compliant Android library and system image, as well as a set of emulator skins and sample applications.

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Open Source Application

Skipfish is an open source scanner written in C language used to detect vulnerabilities in web applications. Users can compile the code and execute it for installation. Skipfish crawls through the web application, detects the security probes and generates a report for security assessments.

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Finally Google has arrived at the ‘Micro-blogging’ platform with a real ‘buzz’. On 9th February 2010, Google introduced ‘Buzz’, the new social networking application to embark on its battle to limit the popularity of Twitter. So, now there are lot of competitions going on in the Internet space. Google Vs Microsoft (Operating System & Enterprise Application Suits), Orkut (Owned by Google) Vs Facebook (Social Networking) Google vs Apple (Smart phone market). Before acquiring YouTube, they fought against them with Google Videos. So what we understand from all these competitions is that Google is not just targeting a niche or industry, rather it want to rule the entire IT Business.

At the first look, we may feel that Google Buzz is an integration of Facebook and Twitter, but it is beyond that. First and foremost advantage is that you don’t have to go to another web page to see the ‘buzz’, it’s there right below the inbox in  the Gmail. The conversation will go like an email thread which is the fascinating aspect of Buzz. You can post in the Buzz, which can be held as private or public. Also, you can connect your profiles in Flickr, Piccasa, Google Reader and Twitter to Buzz. That means you aren’t missing any of your friends and by start ‘Buzzing’, you are increasing your friend and professional network. See this wondeful Video of Buzz, to get more insights.

Now we can perhaps clearly say that it is now ‘Google Vs. Rest of the World’. Apple and Microsoft are companies that are worth more than  $ 100 billion each, Facebook and Twitter are the champs of their respective niche, though they are not monetizing it well. There is no doubt that the internet and enterprise software market will come under the reign of Google, which is not far away.

After months of anxiety and speculation Apple has finally launched their latest creation, the iPad Tablet. Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, unveiled the breakthrough product in a grand meet held at San Francisco on 27th Jan 2010. Apple’s iPad is developed for people on the go to ease their online usage and other PC related tasks.The iPad is neither an iPhone nor a PC but a gadget that bridges the gap between the two. With its small size and touch screen technology, Apple’s iPad  is all set to create a new era of Tablet Computing. Although the device lacks complex functionalities when compared to a PC, it is equipped with much desired functions like web browsing, delivering media, capsuling literature, video gaming etc.
The 9.7 inch device with half an inch thickness weighs just 1.5 pounds. It features a touch screen and is available in 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes of flash memory storage. (more…)

When Google announced its intentions to become a universal search engine in 2007, the very first step it took was to index all videos in the web. It seems, the web giant had predicted that video would be the pick of the world in search among all sources. Suranga Chandratillake took the same initiative when he started his video search website, Blinkx, which has today become the world’s largest single index of rich media content on the web and probably the best video search engine. Senior Analysts in eMarketer say that online video content is on a clear upward trajectory. The demographic range of the viewing population is expanding and the content mix is evolving from short, snack-type clips to long-form content such as TV shows and feature films.

The dominance of video has also made the web a great place for video advertisements. There are different advertising methods that are in existence. Let us explore them briefly.

Video Ad Methods

1.    In Stream Video Ads – The advertisement appears in the bottom or top of the video player when the video is streaming. Here is a sample.

In this sample, the advertisement is displayed on the top as the video streams.

2.    With Video Ads – Pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads constitute this method. The advertisements appear before, in the middle and after the streaming of the video respectively.

The sample below shows the advertisement being played in the entire section of the video player.

3.    Around Video Ads – This advertisement comes in video oriented sites in a variety of ad formats including standard text ads and image ads.

In the above sample, the publisher website Hulu has customized the surrounding areas of the video player for the advertisement that plays within the player.

Video Ad Production

Gone are the days when companies had to invest huge amount of money and time for video advertisements. Similar to the DIY (Do It Yourself) website creation tools, today we have DIY video ad creation tools. And these packages start from as low as $500. Few web companies provide huge database of already prepared advertising videos from which the customer can choose and customize.

There are also on-location ad production companies who come to the spot, shoot the video and do the customization. These methods are however complicated when compared with the DIY methods which specialize mostly in creating montages.

Video ads are short. The very lengthy ones could span to 60 seconds and they are very rarely made. Most of the ads are 15 to 30 seconds long.

Video Ad Distribution

When we think about video, the first picture that comes to our mind is television. So can we bring our web made advertisement into TV? If you have that question, the answer is yes. There are companies that function exclusively for this. The platform which they provide enables a customer to create a video ad, bid for TV spots and schedule airing time. Spotrunner was the company to pioneer this service. Soon to compete with them was Google. Now we have many companies which offer a similar platform and they distribute the video ad not only in TV but also in online TVs like Hulu, Veoh and various ad networks like YuMe, ScanScout and Right Media.

Video ads are also distributed in online advertising campaigns, business directory listings, Internet yellow pages, local search directories, online newspapers, video sharing sites, social networks, eCommerce sites, etc.

Are you a business owner finding difficulty in locating customers for your service? Maybe it’s time to invest in video ads.

Google comes up with so many innovative as well as user friendly ideas at reasonable price. When compared to Lotus notes or Microsoft Exchange, Google Apps provides tools at a very low price. Services provided by Google App engine makes it easier for an employee  to work smoothly and efficiently. What makes Google Apps special ?? . Answer to that question will be ” Google gives good quality services to any person or organization at affordable cost “.

Google Apps provides many services. Among them the most widely used and appreciated tools include

• GMail: Run your business, not your server
• Google Docs: Manage meetings online with Google calendar
• Google Calendar: Online docs with real time collaboration
• Google Sites: Create dynamic web pages in an easy way as creating a document
• Google Talk: Make calls and get your chat on
• Google Videos: Google hosted video. Saves you time and money

These itself could support the various levels of communication in an organization in a more simpler and more effective way. Adding cherry to the cake is the price. These Google App engine tools come at affordable prices and that too in different editions.

1. Premium edition ($50 per user per year)
2. Education/Non-profit edition (comes free to a limited number of users)
3. Standard edition (comes free to individual users)

You can compare the different editions:

1. Standard Vs Premium
2. Education/Non-profit Vs Premium

You can visit these links to get more information about Google Apps

http://www.google.com/apps/

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html#utm_medium=et&utm_source=catch_all

Google has made some pretty major improvements to the camera application in Android 2.0. This includes more control over white balance, focal length, flash settings, and effects. To complement this Motorola has smartly outfitted the DROID with a 5 megapixel camera coupled with an LED flash. However many initial users claim that the camera is painfully slow to focus and take a snap.

The system comes with a 1400 mAh removable battery which is not bad at all but we expect that it won’t deliver the rated 270 hours standby time or 6 hrs 25 min talktime, especially comparing it to the previous CLIQ. However Motorola has managed to provide a decent talktime of around 5 hrs 30 min, thanks to the somewhat ironic under-clocked CPU!

Since its launch about a year ago, Google Chrome has been in the limelight every now and then; and for good reasons too. The latest news has Chrome further zeroing in on its arch rival in a more creative fashion. On September 22, 2009, Google launched Google Chrome Frame “an open source plug-in that brings HTML5 and other open web technologies to Internet Explorer.”
According to Google, with GCF, you can: (more…)

Did you ever wish that keeping up with all your favorite websites was as easy as checking into your email? Or that somebody would keep an eye on the Internet for your sake, choosing interesting stuff and placing it where you can find them easily?

Too incredible to be true, right? But that’s exactly what Google Reader does.

Google Reader was introduced way back in 2005, graduating from beta status in 2007.

For anyone who is not yet familiar with Google Reader, and given that RSS feeds are more extensively used, let me explain……

Google Reader is a web-based aggregator that is capable of reading all RSS feeds that you have subscribed to, so that you can  access them all in one place. Google Reader lets you know each time your favorite websites are updated. You can then, if required, organize feeds into folders, label them, and share the most interesting posts with your friends.

Google Reader is located on the Web at reader.google.com. You can access Google Reader using your Google Account.

Let’s now take a quick look at some of the main features that Google Reader has to offer: (more…)

Identifying the right keywords to use is very important for any website’s search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. It is good to know how to come up with keywords to consider in the first place. Here are a few tips that will prove useful.

• Make an initial list of all the keywords you think people might find your website with

These keywords should be a short list of what your website is trying to promote and other words related to your industry. You need to use your imagination and think of words which people will search to find your business online.

• Request your customers to make a list of all the keywords they would try to find you with

The keywords generated from the perspective of a customer may be totally surprising as very often an average customer does not speak the same language that we do.

• Yet another great way to gather keywords is to see what words are being used by competitors

Type one of your keywords into the search box of the search engine of your choice to determine the sites with the top search engine placement for this word. View the source code of your competitor’s page and check their Meta Keywords tag. It is probably best that you check out the top five search engine results.

• It would also be good to identify the keywords that people used in search engines to access your site

To do so, check out the “Entrance Keywords” report in Google Analytics. I find this report very useful as it shows the keywords used by users to come directly to that page from a search engine.

• Once you have prepared an initial list, you’ll want to scan through your site to see how it has used the keywords that you have already chosen

You might even find ideas for additional keywords this way. You must look for specialized words or “phrases” that will deliver qualified traffic.

• After accumulating enough words and phrases, you will need to find out the popularity of each potential keyword

There are three main tools available online to assist you in doing the keyword research, Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery and the Google Search Based Keyword Tool.  To use these tools, type in the keyword that you want to research and the tools will display other relevant keywords. You can use these suggestions to add keywords to your list. Doubts prevail on the accuracy of the data presented by these tools.  However the data it offers is better than having no data at all.

• From the list of possible keywords, you need to identify the relevant words to the site

You would not want to choose a keyword which not many people search for. However, at the same time, you would not want to choose a keyword which is too competitive.

It would be wiser to avoid the generic keywords since it is going to be extremely difficult to optimize for them. Try to pick keywords that are specific. For example if you are a freelancer based in New Orleans, your ideal keywords would be freelancer New Orleans or web development services New Orleans. Going for the generic freelancer or web development keywords is not going to be beneficial.

After you have gone through your list and taken off words that are not relevant or that your website does not have sufficient content for, you should have a shorter and more relevant list of keywords. Place the keywords strategically in the title, meta tags and content of your website.

Most of the people do not do much research when coining keywords for their website. So just by doing the necessary keyword research and getting some insight into what keywords are being used by people online will help you go a long way in choosing the right keywords and matching your content with what people are looking for. It gives you a very definite advantage over those websites that have not done any optimization.