How Internet Monitoring Software Helps Safeguard Children

Internet monitoring software helps parents supervise their children’s online activities. There are various ranges of software available that limit access to inappropriate sites, control e-mail use, block chat rooms, and enforce access time. Similarly, schools and public libraries also make use of internet monitoring software.

After all, children are a significant part of society and their upbringing should be perfectly done so that society can prosper in the long run. Following is the range of most popular software for monitoring children’s internet activities:

Parental Control Bar

It is a free service. Parents can use this software to control the internet activities of their children. Along with its free public service, its installation procedure is really simple that consists of only three steps. Therefore, parents can install it even if they are not that used to computers.

If a website address is inserted by your child on the address bar of a browser, the Parental Control Bar compares the website with the settings you made. This way, it finds out whether the website needs to be blocked or allowed.

K9 Web Protection

It is an internet monitoring software that uses an advanced technology for filtering the Web. It is also used by governmental institutions and other organizations worldwide. It offers an interface that is user-friendly so that parents can easily make use of it at home. Its usage means that you will block content that is inappropriate for your children.

SocialShield

Besides tracking your child’s online activities, SocialShield has something more to offer for your child’s social safety. It identifies your child’s online friends. The software compares the names of your child’s friends to a set of databases to ensure that they have no association with unlawful online activities. If your child is involved in such activities, SocialShield sends you alerts so that you can take action.

It posts less threatening issues in the parent dashboard. Although it tracks all discussions your child has, it highlights only those issues that are important for your consideration. This way, you are not required to affect the privacy of your child. Moreover, you can use SocialShield to track pictures that were posted by your child. It will cost you $10 per month.

Big Mother

Big Mother safeguards your children by providing an interface that protects the password along with multifaceted features. By using these features, you can block access to things that tempt your children the most. For instance, some illicit online activities that it can block are to upload and download data, games, e-mail, chats, and websites.

If you think that giving your children limited access to the internet is fine, then you can develop different schedules in which you can allow internet access for some time.  Big Mother has an edge over many of its competitors, i.e. it enables you make restrictions on uploads and downloads according to their size.

NetNanny

NetNanny is considered to be the market leader in terms of internet monitoring software. It has been in the market for over 10 years. Due to its popularity, parents can download it instantly. It costs $39.95. Unlike others, NetNanny had a clear purpose before its development. It was developed with the help of child advocates, law enforcement, and parents. Furthermore, it helps you monitor and control access to the internet.

Although it is available with monitoring features that are set as default, you always have an option to customize your settings according to the unique needs of your family. NetNanny has integration with Safe Search options. It indicates that these options limit your children’s search on a search engine. These options are also found in famous search engines such as Yahoo, MSN, Google, AltaVista, Lycos, Dogpile, and AllTheWeb.

PC Pandora

Like other internet monitoring software, PC Pandora is reliable software that monitors your children’s online activities. Along with that, it sends you warning alerts so that potential problems can be avoided. PC Pandora tracks all those websites your child visited, chat interactions, keystrokes, and emails. Therefore, it lets you have access to all online activities of your child.

Additionally, it also provides you access to login IDs and their passwords. If you feel something wrong is going on, you can handle the problem immediately. This way, parents are always on track in terms of what their child in up to. PC Pandora will cost you $69.95. It is available from different retailers.

About the Author:
Sara Parker is a Freelance and Staff writer who writes informative & creative articles on Technology for various technology company. Her expertise are in writing articles related to internet providers, internet services in my area , Social media etc.

SEO Tactics for Local Search

People often believe SEO can’t serve them mainly because they have exposures in only few geographic locations as brick and mortar stores. Larger audiences of search engines are beyond their purview.
Do you keep such believe in your mind? Think harder. Search engines are eyeing local markets. Google, Yahoo, Bing and other reputed online and mobile search engines are increasingly targeting geo-location specific searches. From their eagerness it seems next search engine war will be fought on our backyards only.

Technically local searches are typically those with geographic modifiers. People do not only want to know what, how or why, but they are interested more into where. This makes local searches very lucrative in business sense.

Many SEO and search engine experts believe local searches are more transaction oriented. This is because people specifically ask for location to reach out to the service provider or product seller.
But what is there for you in these local search engines? After all, as we said, you just own a brick and mortar shop. Answer is more visibility. Near 93% people are checking local searches before making any transaction decision today. Whatever product or service you deal with local SEO you will enjoy better exposure to your target audience.
So, you must know useful SEO tricks to optimize different local search platforms in your favor.

Identify your target base
Any marketing and sales process starts with identification of prospects. Local SEO is no different. Get a clear idea on who will be interested in your product and services. What keywords and phrases they are using while searching for those products and services?
This is important because keywords are important search criteria even in local level too. Keywords you use will help search engines to rank and list your name on any search result page for any particular product or service query.

Contact details
Local search is more about reaching out to the sellers’ and service providers’ location. So your contact details and address must be visible discreetly on you webpage. Every page should have them in either header or footer or on both parts.
This will help your prospect to contact you as soon as they think on reaching you with least effort.

Directory and yellow pages listing
Directories and yellow pages are traditional avenues of location specific marketing. Check which directories and yellow pages doing well in your target locations. There must be many of them. But few common online directories are Yelp, Insider Pages, Citysuares.com and MojoPages.com.
Similarly, SuperPages.com, YellowPages, InfoSpace and Switchboard.com are dominant among online yellow pages. There are offline versions too and you cannot avoid them either.


Press releases
Newspapers with nationwide circulation are more visible no doubt. They cover wider varieties of stories too. But according to National Newspaper Association local newspapers are not lurking far behind too in terms of readership. Near 73% of people, in a survey, claimed that they at least once a week check local newspapers. That’s a huge base indeed. Many of those local newspapers have online versions too.
Use them in your local SEO. Release press updated on these newspapers. They will not only draw people’s attention but will work as a marketing content for your local SEO drive.

Use keywords in your page titles
Often people make the mistake and write plain vanilla page titles. Are you doing that? Don’t repeat from next time. Your page titles are first piece of information that people and search engines encounter. Use page specific keywords in your titles and don’t use any general title for pages.
Title should not contain only keywords because that sounds weird. Try to make them reader friendly too. In local search titles often drive traffic to your site. Often you see traffic coming on to only few pages. In that case you can channel that traffic to other pages with intelligent internal linking. That will boost up your overall website traffic.

Local search platforms


Google has Google Place for local business searches. Similarly Bing and Yahoo have their own local search pages. Try optimization skill on Google local business center, Yahoo local merchant, Ask business search and other search engines. Try both free listing and paid listings.

Connect lively
Add images and videos related to your business and location. They give your site a local flavor. You don’t need to spend huge on them. You need only decent looking video and images on what you do, how you do and where you do. These are simple basics that you can shoot with any decent digital camera and camcorder. Don’t try hard to make them viral. They need not be. These stuffs are for introducing your business to prospective visitors; they will have a basic idea on what they can expect before hitting the store.
This article is no list-all on local SEO of course. In fact, SEO is an art that depends more on nature of your business and market. But basic strategies that we have discussed here will give you some head start in the fiercely competitive local market.

About the author: Margaret is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on luxury. Beside this she is fond of gadgets. Recently an article on grand marnier attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on spark city.

How To Hold A Good Blog Contest

As a blogger you live and die by your traffic. It doesn't matter if you're in the travel niche, fashion, finance or sports, your traffic dictates your success. But the good news is that there are a number of ways to drive traffic to your blog, one such method being blog contests.

Blog contests are one of the best and fastest ways to drive traffic to your site, not too mention also a fun way. However there are a few guidelines which you can follow to help make your blog contest a roaring success, see details below.

Write Your Blog Post

The idea has entered your mind and you've decided you want to host a groovy contest on your blog. Now you need to come full circle with your idea and decide on the specifics such as the who, when, where and what. Do this via writing your blog post which will announce the contest to your readers and visitors. Be sure to mention what type of contest it is, the beginning and end dates, what awesome prize the winner gets, how many winners there will be (if multiple), how to enter and how and where the winner will be announced.

Once you write the blog post, schedule it so that it coincides with the beginning date of your contest.

Gather A List of Places You Will Promote Said Contest

What good is a giveaway if no one knows about it? This means you need to promote your contest on as many places and sites as possible and let all your blogger friends know as well. Email your list if you have one, send a tweet, link to it on your Facebook fan page and so on.

However one of the best ways to advertise your contest for FREE is via the numerous sites on the web solely exist to promote various contests. Sign up, send them an email or otherwise fill out their contact form and let them know of your upcoming blog contest.

3. Have A Good Prize

This is key and can make or break your contest. If you have a low cost or cheapish prize it will not stir up the excitement and eagerness you want in readers and visitors. You want people excited about your blog contest and not only that, you want them shouting it from the roof tops. You want them to tell their friends and their friends to tell their friends and so on. The only way this will happen is via a kick-butt super awesome prize. Think about the blog contests which you have entered? What made you fill out the form, tell others about it and most importantly - what compelled you to enter? Think about it for a minute then try to emulate this for your blog contest on your site.

If you have never run a blog contest on your site, now is as good a time as any. Follow our three tips above and then come back here and let us know how it went. We know that if you do indeed follow our tips above, you will have an excellent experience and raving fans all over the web - such as on Twitter and Facebook - promoting you and your site via your awesome contest.

Have you run a successful blog contest? If so, share your personal tips below on what and how you did it. We would love to heard your feedback.

Rachel writes for a car hire Brighton web company on the net and also covers various car hire topics in a variety of niches. She has run a variety of blog contests to promote her site and is partial to caption contests, which can be very rewarding and loads of fun to run.

Alternative Choices to the iPad

When Apple first released its iPad tablet computer a couple of years ago there were plenty of people who were quick to dismiss it as not really being relevant. Since then, however, it has gone on to become a massive bestseller and, as a result, all of the other manufacturers have gone out of their way to come up with an iPad killer of their own. While that means rich pickings for people who don’t want to go down the Apple route, deciding on the right model can be tricky…


The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 stands up as one of the main rivals to the Apple iPad and once you explore its inner workings, you soon find that this is a tablet that has star quality. The build, design and performance are all well up there in the high-end tablet stakes, while thanks to Android as an operating system you can supplement the built-in features with lots of apps too.

The Motorola Xoom 2 is an updated new tablet and continues on from where the old one left off. It’s got a 10.1-inch screen and also has the added advantage of MotoCast, which is a way of streaming video to the device. There are also plenty of options for music playback and the customised Android interface is quick and easy to use. Better than the first version, and keenly priced too.

The Asus Eee Transformer has been around for a while, but it doesn’t lose its appeal simply because this is a little bit different. You get a detachable keyboard, so it becomes almost like a traditional laptop. You can use the touchscreen if you prefer, but people who don’t get on with virtual keyboards will love it.

The HTC Flyer is an expensive bit of kit, but this Android-running tablet is certainly up there with the best of them. It looks really nice, rather like a bumper version of the one of the HTC smartphones. Meanwhile, the customised interface is as pleasing to look at and use as the Sense UI is on their handsets. Shop around though, rather than pay full price.

The Acer Ionia Tab 500 is a neat little 10-inch tablet that also comes running with Android and has styling that’s good on the eye too. There’s plenty of decent battery life, with about ten hours between charges, while it also has a full suite of multimedia toys on-board.


That’s really just the tip of the tablet iceberg though, because tablets are everywhere and they look set to become even more popular as 2012 rolls on. Whatever your thoughts on these mobile devices, there’s no escaping the fact that the tablet is here to stay. The only question remaining is; when will you be getting yours?

This guest post was contributed by Rob Clymo, from Broadbandgenie.co.uk. You can find more information on the tablets above as well as a netbook comparison of the latest models for 2012 on the website.

Secret world of hackers

The present day hackers are akin to those who used to assemble at coffee houses during the 17th century to exchange knowledge, ideas and values, irrespective of their social status. They became so popular that King Charles II was fairly disturbed by the fact that these hackers were intruding into the conduct of the court affairs. The scandalous lifestyle of the King and his court was a matter of discussion in the coffee houses, where gossip and secrets of the elite was conveyed to the emerging middle class. King Charles tried to suppress this social equality and intellectualism that was freely held at the coffee houses. These early hackers are mainly responsible for the various changes that took place which transformed the English society in the 17th century.

Who are the present day hackers?
The present day hackers are skilled in digital science which they refer to as being playful and creative way of solving problems. They are responsible for driving the global economies by building up things as they believe that it is better to attack rather than defend a system. However, there are those who build and those who destroy and are called crackers, as there are also the white hackers and the black hackers.

There is a clear distinction in the way these hackers operate, as some of the more adolescent hackers do it just to show off their skill even as they break things apart. They do this more for the idea of rebelling against the system and authority rather than bringing something constructive out of it.

The hacker community may be small but they are spread out across the globe and united theoretically due to their expertise and knowledge. These hackers have their own differing views as some of them think that the ethics behind hacking is all important, while some are only interested in the intellectual challenge to create or destroy. This is not to say that are no divisions within the hacking scene. Older hackers considered the younger lot as having nothing better to do than to exhibit their teenage stupidity. Most of these hackers grow out of it but the ones who remain can create havoc in the system, as they have very little concern for the community they live in.

The ones who create are responsible for launching many new world wide web and free operating systems, such as the Linux Kernal and the GNU project, not to leave out Facebook which started off as a hack initially.

Hackerspaces and rogue hackers
The hackers come from different background and from a diverse community, comprising amateurs, professionals like engineers, scientists and innovators who share with the world free new tools and solutions. There are also the rogue hackers who have become popularly known as the Anonymous and Lulzecs, who recently grabbed the world's attention by leaking information from the government, News International and Sony.

The hackerspaces on the other hand are not necessarily destroying things but attacking government systems, to create an alternative to the things they see as wrong. This is the case with Telecomix where the hackers have kept open the lines of communication in the Middle East countries, where the government has shut down the networks.

Among the largest hacker community, the Chaos Computer Club or CCC formed in 1981 is the world's oldest and believes in the rising importance of digital technology. The CCC hackers are into running their own businesses and are far more mature and older. Their main concept is not just about hacking but rather a political hub with its own base at Marienstrabe at Berlin. They are responsible for deciphering many technological flaws in the Smartphone, PIN and chip. They consult with the German government and hold conferences and also work with activists for major causes. The club has been so named as Chaos not because its intention is to create chaos but rather in relation to how the world actually works. They believe that the club is meant to adapt to the chaotic and non-deterministic world as the best solution.

Political hacking
Hacking can penetrate even into the political system of human lives apart from the technology aspect, as hackers believe that the ideals of hacking can be applied to every aspect of life. Politics is considered by the hackers as just another system in the human existence and therefore can be hacked and these spaces become real time experiments. They go beyond the computers only by encompassing things like industrial machines, sewing machines, power tools and even penetrate the kitchen termed as culinary hacking.
One such classic hackerspace is the Nosebridge of San Francisco, where the members have send water balloon probes to collect data and images, using digital cameras and GPS smartphones up to 70,000 ft in the sky, by creating an active space exploration program.

The political ideology of the hackerspace at Nosebridge is more libertarian, where everyone interested can contribute time, money or ideas which is based on mutual respect, solidarity and aid. This is almost an anarchist principle which is slightly different from the Chaos Computer Club, as here; it is focused on producing real social wealth and freeing the human mind from government, wealth and property.

Getting into the inside
Some of the successful and creative hackers can find themselves inside the system with their hands on power. This is the case with Bill Cates who seem to have this constant fear and insecurity that Microsoft will be destroyed by powerful forces such as the IBM. Even though Microsoft is the world's biggest IT and himself being one of the richest man in the world, the hacker mindset seem to have a subversive effect upon him, when it came to running such a multinational firm.

These successful hackers had scant regard for intellectual property in their youth but once they had the power, they make every effort to copyright their products with the help of lawyers and their draconian laws.
The hackers and crackers are basically very intelligent beings with a high degree of curiosity, coupled with anarchist or anti-authoritarian bent of mind. They believe that information on the internet should be free and consider it as their playground. All said and done, some of the best improvements on computer security system have come from hacker community, with a view towards keeping the users safe.

About the author: Margaret is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on design and technology. Beside this she is fond of books. She recently bought a  3d laptop. These days she is busy in writing an article on shu uemura.

HTML5 The Future of Web

Hi All

If you know about android, flash, lumia then you also must know about HTML 5. If you don’t know about any of the mentioned things then I am surprised that you are reading a tech blog. Well let me put this way for everyone to understand.

Nerds skip the following points and non geeks please continue:

• Android is a free Operating system for mobiles like iOS for iPhone and Symbian for Nokia.
• Flash is a technology for displaying multimedia on websites owned by Adobe and widely used.
• Lumia is Nokia’s latest Mobile.
• HTML5 is like something which will suppress Flash.

These are all the burning trends of market. There are many others like this and I apologize if I disregarded some technology for other.

So, the introduction is complete. But you might have questions about HTML 5. I will answer them all, one by one. Flash is a scripting language which is widely used over web, generally accepted by all the browsers to display multimedia i.e. videos, audio, slideshows, games and presentations or documentaries.

So, where do HTML 5 fix in all this. HTML 5 is also a type of scripting language which can be used to display multimedia i.e. videos, audio, slideshows, games and presentations or documentaries. Indeed, there is no difference between Flash and HTML5. However, why are people going to use HTML5 in presence of Flash? Adobe Flash Player has been in market since 2000. Obviously, there will be many people who know flash script, can program in it and can make wonderful apps with it as well.

Web pages are made with HTML and CSS combined with JavaScript and some server side scripting language. If Html 5 can do all the job of multimedia then flash will not get any place for their market in the web. HTML 5 is still under development but a lot of appreciation has been shown for them and almost all the major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer has accepted them. The question arises why people would prefer HTML5 to Flash.

There are two points, users will like, as they won’t need any additional plug-in to download to start playing any multimedia content. Many people might not know that they cannot play YouTube video if they don’t have Adobe Flash Plug-in. Similarly, Silver light apps cannot be played until and unless you don’t have silver light plug-in. The question is why developers would like to develop in HTML5. The answer is the demand of users, and browsers. Browsers will show support for HTML 5 as browsers love to follow standards. Users will love to use it as they avoid additional plug-ins. At last, developers will have to learn HTML 5 and it is not that difficult. Indeed, it is easier than Adobe Flash’s action script. Action script is a language to program Flash applications.

The plus point HTML5 has is it is a w3c standard. W3C is a World Wide Web Consortium that makes standards for the web and hence the web is flourishing so well. HTML5 when backed by CSS3 both of these will be standards, can do everything what flash can do. W3C is adding more functionality to HTML5 to go beyond the power of flash. Due to this Adobe is going to shut their flash business down. Indeed an era is going to be started known as the era of HTML5 that closed the doors for Flash.

Not only Flash, Silverlight i.e. a Microsoft’s answer to Adobe Flash will also be closed, which is almost the same thing like Adobe Flash but with a label of Microsoft on it. Such standardization will need support of browsers that render the HTML5 Content. For now, Chrome is ahead of all others in this task. After Chrome comes, Firefox and Internet explorer is way down in the list. Check the mock on Internet explorer here to see how poor their performance is in browsers market.

For the sake of completeness, let’s mention another technology which is already outdated but similar to Silverlight and Flash, that is Java applet. Java applets had a lot of boom and they are the trendsetters in this multimedia market. Java is a separate topic to discuss and have lot of contributions in this field but they will also be further eliminated by HTML5 and CSS3.

Revealed by

Muhammad Kashif Shabbir

A Blogger at Computace, interested in Game Development and keeps an eye on what happening in the tech world.

5 Steps to College Student Success

It's easy to fall behind with studies. With friends, parties and college life in general constantly vying for your attention, it's hard to make studying a priority. But if you want to get back the money you put into your education, there's no way around it. You must study.

1. Scheduling: Make Studying a Part of Your Daily Routine.
Find a way to incorporate studying into your regular schedule. Even on days when you don’t feel like studying during your self-appointed homework time, you need to make sure to stick to your plan. By committing yourself to studying as part of your daily routine, it will soon become habit.
Along with setting aside daily study time as part of your routine, you should also come up with a specific plan for each study session. By creating an agenda, you will know which tasks you need to accomplish. You will also be able to prioritize your homework, ensuring that the most important subjects are covered first.

2. Switch up Your Surroundings.
Most students have a dedicated study location, as courses on study skills encourage students to pick a specific place in which to do all of their studying; however, research has proven the opposite to be true. By simply changing the room in which one studies, students have demonstrated increased retention. This is because the brain makes associations between the material being studied and the environment in which the studying is done. If you study a subject in different places, your brain makes multiple, usually unconscious, associations between your varying surroundings and the material you are studying.
3. Study Smarter, Not Longer.
Study smarter by making sure you are getting the most out of your time. Optimize your study time by selecting a place to study that is free from distractions, sticking to your study schedule, figuring out what learning style best suits you, reading effectively, listening during lectures and taking good notes.
Research has shown that by studying several different topics as opposed to concentrating on just one, you are more likely to remember what you have learned. Dr. Rohrer, a psychologist who researched the difference between students who focused on just one topic and those that studied several, was able to deduce that the latter method proved more effective for retaining knowledge.
4. Sunshine is Your Friend.
Whenever possible, study during daylight hours. Research has shown that studying for 60 minutes during the day is equivalent to studying for 90 minutes at night. Some people find that they are more energetic during the day, with the added energy making it much easier to motivate yourself to study. Getting more sun helps any student, no matter what subject they study, or whether attending nursing, information technology or criminal justice schools.

5. Study Sooner, Rather Than Later.
If you can, review your lecture notes as soon as possible after class. This gives you a chance to process the material you have written down, while reinforcing it at the same time. Also, if questions arise while you are reviewing your notes, you’ll have adequate time to clarify these concerns with your teacher or with a fellow classmate. It is also important to space out your study sessions, allowing yourself time to “forget” the material. By forgetting and then revisiting the subject, your brain is forced to relearn it, which only helps to reinforce the material even more.

Visit he Criminal Justice Blog for more information about criminal justice careers and navigating your education successfully.

6 SEO Best Practices That Will Matter Moving Forward

The internet as we know is rapidly changing in a way like never before. Up until now, getting your website noticed in the SERPs (search engine results page) has required quite a bit of knowledge in terms of SEO tricks and keyword research. However, with new technologies and strategies for bringing users relevant information, the web and how users experience it is extremely close to changing for the better. Because of this, there are a few things you can know/do to prepare for the direction that the web is certainly heading in.

1. One of the first things you can do is optimize your content using Schema's (schema.org) tags. Schema.org is redefining search on the web by slowly moving away from the technical aspect of SEO and toward actual content and how relevant it is to a user's search terms. With Schema's tags, you can easily place a read-able description for search engines on your content so that they can direct users to it more easily. Schema takes meta tagging to a whole new level, and it will undoubtedly help users have an easier time when they look for your content that you have to offer.

2. Remember that the web and SEO is moving towards your actual content. The old saying, "Content is king," has never been more true. Instead of a website being ranked high because they targeted search terms with low competition, websites will soon be ranked on account of purpose. The more appropriate and relevant content will be ranked higher for search terms that they correlate more to. Instead of crawling for search terms and keywords, Schema will redefine search on the web by causing search engines to crawl information as a whole to gain a complete understanding of the information given.

3. Because the web is moving so quickly in this particular direction, it's best to take advantage as early as possible to gain an advantage over the competition. Just think, while your competition is still busy paying to target and maximize on keywords, you could be gearing your web presence for the direction that the web and search is about to take. Just because many other people are neglecting to acknowledge Schema's online presence so early in the process doesn't mean that you can't go ahead and start optimizing your content for it. Imagine, as soon as it is more popularly implemented, you'll already be completely optimized for it.

4. Google+ is also on the verge of significantly changing the game as far as web search goes. To understand how Google+ will do this, you first have to consider how product reviews influence purchases on the internet. It's not very likely that an online consumer will purchase an item without initially gaining an understanding of the product through product reviews. The odd part is that the consumer will take this information and advice to heart, even though the people providing the information are complete strangers. Now, imagine being able to get product and service reviews that you're searching online not only from strangers, but also from your friends, co-workers or family. For example in the future of Google+, if you searched for a cell phone online, you might get results for various deals, but you'd also see recommendations and "+1's" from friends near the top of the SERPs.

This is all from being connected via Google+. Additionally, this is a very realistic and probable strategy that Google is working on right now to change the way search works forever.

5. Start encouraging your users to +1 your content and spread hype about it. Because it probably won't be long before users start taking their friends' and family's "+1's" into account for choosing a product or service, you'll want to start building this number up early on. There is a very good chance that this type of search will absolutely take the internet by storm, and you'll want to be on top and ahead of the game as soon as it does. What do you have to lose? Spend time encouraging your users and educating them on the benefits of the "+1" that Google offers.

6. The best thing to do prepare you and your content for this change is to make sure that your website and content are relevant and recommendable. The internet is definitely on the verge of changing, and websites will be ranked more on what it offers rather than silly SEO tricks. Because of this, you'll want to be sure that you offer the internet something valuable. Is your content valuable to the rest of the world? If it is, you'll surely get an easy path when the internet moves in its transformation toward real people and away from algorithms.

Brian F is the in-house SEO for a virtual private servers provider based in North America. 

Police Officers Use Smart Wheels & Hellip

Police officers remind society every day of the necessity of law enforcement. Everywhere you look there is always the presence of lawlessness and the need for the average citizen to seek protection and refuge from evil. When humans see police officers around, they are comforted in knowing that someone is fighting to maintain and protect the liberties they hold dear.

Police officers are most concerned about protecting the lives of innocent citizens, which is why they are on “the smart wheels,” high-tech police vehicles, to reduce fatalities. Have you ever seen a drunk driver speeding down the road at 100 miles an hour, or teenage gangsters speeding down a long highway en route to another city or state to protect themselves from a drug arrest for which they are guilty and should be placed behind bars?

Often, in these “wild-goose chases,” criminals take to speeding on the streets as a way to outsmart the police and escape the clutches of prison handcuffs. However, it is in these times that both criminals and innocent bystanders lose their lives. A few cases make the point.

Latia Winchester was an innocent bystander in her car. She was struck and killed instantly when she fled a routine checkpoint stop.

Robert DeWayne Davies and Ernest Shawn Davies (Robert’s brother) were both killed when they drove into a tree, speeding to avoid a ticket or arrest due to driving 82mph in a 35-mph zone.

Michelle Taylor needed to pull over for investigation, she was told by police. She turned on the vehicle, sped down the road, and was killed instantly when her vehicle collided with some nearby trees.

David Wayne Cox met his tragic end when a local county sheriff, speeding to catch a motorcyclist in violation of traffic laws, collided with David’s vehicle. David was intoxicated but was not the target of the sheriff’s chase.

All of these cases took place in the state of North Carolina within the last four months.

If this is not bad enough, law enforcement officials have lost their lives in the process as well. What has contributed to the increase in the number of traffic deaths in North Carolina, for example? The high-tech nature of police cars.

Think of what crime-fighting technology involves: crime-fighting technology must have installation in police cars. Navigation systems need installation. License-tag detection, gunshot detection, and vehicle surveillance technology need installation. All of the devices used to catch criminals and find locations of current crime and lawlessness require technology—which must be installed in police cars.

Technology of the crime-fighting kind requires a lot of intricate wiring and complex arrangement to ensure it works properly and will not harm policemen or law enforcement vehicles. However, when law enforcement sets out to catch criminals and speed on local highways to do so, the metal, wiring, and other vehicle materials (such as gasoline) combine to take the lives of law enforcement officials who were simply doing their jobs.

How should society as a whole respond to this complex issue? There are two major ideas to be considered. First, law enforcement must let their crime-fighting technology work for them. Instead of going after some speeding criminal, law enforcement should let their license-tag technology catch the license plate and use their vehicle navigation capabilities to find the address and whereabouts of the transgressor in question.

High-speed chases, by default, are a trace of the past—in days long ago law enforcement officials chased speeding criminals “not to let them get away.” Consider, too, however, that, in those days, no navigation, license-tag detection, gunshot detection, or vehicle surveillance existed. Law enforcement was forced to chase down criminals in order to catch them.

Today, there is no need for a highway speed chase with every lawbreaker that wants to get away. Even traffic lights have small cameras installed that, with one change of the traffic light, can get a clear photo of a driver’s license tag number. Law enforcement must no longer fear for traffic violations at traffic lights—and the same goes for other places on the highway.

Another idea for consideration is harsher penalties for speeding drivers. Those who desire to speed away on the highways when faced with a traffic ticket or legal penalty should be arrested and charged with attempted murder. Even if no one is hurt on the highways, there should be a clear message sent to speeding drivers—if you are told to pull over on the side of the road by law enforcement, give yourself up to law enforcement, or you give up some years of life behind bars.

This may not sound popular to many, since there are enough criminals in local jails, state prisons, and federal penitentiaries to form an entire country; nevertheless, the only way to force criminals to comply with the laws is to treat them as criminal if they do not comply. Law enforcement should not speed and chase them down (while taking innocent lives) to catch one lawbreaker. This may not bring back the innocent lives that have been lost, but it could play a major role in preventing the loss of life in the future.

The article is contributed by John Smith; His Interest in Technology, cars and gadgets has made him a very dedicated and a passionate writer, to know more, visit his site Aanbesteding politievoertuigen and politie aanbesteding.

How to Become Rich on the Internet

A lot of people think that they can become rich on the Internet just by finding a gold mine, or a super popular niche. This is what my employees thing, and I have to constantly remind them that is not how it works!  Even though their are occasionally people who strike it rich and 6 to 12 months, they are not the majority of full-time Internet bloggers. In my experience, it is not like that for most people who make their living online. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, just a slow and steady stream of income that will grow as you put forth the effort, and apply faith.

Have Faith


Faith is super important to making any progress online. This is because you have to work before you get any return. According to the Scriptures, faith is believing in something that you can't see that is true.  This is the way the I look at my work as a blogger. I can't see my income, but I think it is their, and if I keep on working, I can develop it until it becomes what I want it to be.
The most difficult part about working online as a blogger is that you can work on a site for six months with out having it produce anything for you. But that's okay, you just have to keep on trying and keep on working. The more effort you put into something, the more likely it is going to be the payoff. I have had sites that have made only $50 after six months, and that two months later, they were making close to $1000 per month.  I'm not sure why that is, but maybe we are rewarded only after our faith in quality content and consistently building is tested.
If you want to become rich on the Internet, the first thing you have to do is learn how to write. Writing is persuading people to do what you want them to do or to see things from your point of view. I don't consider myself an amazing writer, but I do write a lot. In an average week, I often find myself writing 70,000 words or more.

Believe You Can Do It


The next you have to do is you have to believe in yourself. Without believing that you can succeed and be successful, it is impossible. This belief has to lead you to action. As you act, you will start noticing small accomplishments. Then, as you act more and invest more of your time, your self, and you are resources into your blog, then you will start to and see it increase and grow. Then, you will have to step back and think to yourself that this is really amazing, that Internet really can make money to provide for my needs. And then, if you are seriously motivated, you can increase your income even more. It is exciting, and it is fun and you can succeed online.  The key is to be determined. I have had a lot of sites fail a couple of times. Then I have come back, redone the site entirely, and remarket it it only to have it succeed. It's pretty fun when you can do this and be successful at it.

One of the ways that you can eventually become rich is by saving money. Start saving money now in everything you do, by figuring out how to shop at RV auctions, or how to buy car repos for sale.

This article is written by Spencer, an online blogger and expert who successfully own several money-earning websites across the internet. He likes to share useful tips and advise to help people save money and have financial freedom. Learn more about Spencer's valuable tips on saving money by shopping at RV auctions, or how to buy car repos for sale.

How to Get a Break Without Disconnecting

  

It happened to most of us. We had a question, needed some quick information, jumped over to Wikipedia, and… oh that’s right—the blackout. If you use the internet a lot, you may even have made the same mistake several times on the same day. And in the process you realized exactly what the organizers of the blackout wanted you to learn. You really like the internet.

It’s helpful to stop and realize every once in awhile how much time and trouble internet technologies save each of us on a daily basis. Here are several of the major tasks you do regularly and what the alternative would be.

1.      Messaging

Need to quickly communicate a piece of information or connect with someone? Today you choose between email, Facebook messages, instant messages and texting, depending on who you’re contacting. Take away the internet and you’re left with two options you probably won’t like. If you call them you have to catch them at a time when they can answer, and then you get to go through the formalities of an entire conversation. Or if that’s too much trouble you can write them a letter. That’s right—a piece of paper, envelope, stamp, three days, wait for something to come back… it’s been a long time, hasn’t it?

2.      Finding information

Do you remember card catalogs in libraries? They were invented to help us when we had a question but didn’t know where to start looking. The next time you wonder about a name, a date, or that recipe you know you read but can’t remember, imagine driving to the library, looking for a book on that topic, and hoping your information might be there. There are some questions you’ll have trouble answering at all without a quick Google search. We do it constantly, and you probably did it for the first time only ten years ago.

3.      Getting places

If you needed a map of your city right now, would you have to go buy one? Without the internet, you would be using it constantly. Instead of typing an address into Google maps and charting the distance and estimated time with traffic, imagine scanning across a sheet of paper and looking for an obscure road name before trying to decide how to get there. You never paid anything for the privilege of using Google Maps, it’s a much better tool, and best of all, you don’t even need to fold up the map when you’re done.

Here’s the most shocking thing about all of these technologies and the convenience they bring: you use them constantly without even thinking about it. They have so quickly become ingrained in our lifestyles that we don’t even realize how much time and trouble they save us. But try going back to the way you used to do these things and you’ll want to return to today’s conveniences as quickly as possible. Maybe that’s the true proof of how user-friendly they are—you use them, you love them, you could never do without them, and you don’t even realize it.

SeanTR is a technology blogger with a passion for technological innovations, language, and traveling.  When he’s not studying philosophy he contributes to ATTSavings.  Learn more about him @SeanTR

SMTP has revolutionized communication technology

SMTPis the abbreviated form of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is a kind ofprotocol used for sending e-mail among the servers. The e-mail systems thatexchange e-mails via internet use SMTP for sending the messages from one serverto some other. It is generally used to send e-mail messages from a client tothe mail server. It increases the deliverability of mails in less time.

A medium of fastcommunication

SMTPis a protocol to increase the   communication rate between the mail server andthe mail received. A Transmission Control Protocol is typically used toestablish the communication. The mail receiver uses command strings forsupplying the necessary data by a data stream medium. The commands aregenerally originated by a particular SMTP client and receive a reciprocalresponse from a SMTP server and finally the session is opened and the emessages are exchanged in a smooth flow. This transaction system consists ofthree major commands or reply sequences. These commands are,

·        Mailcommand- This command is used to establish and construct a return address. Thisis an address established for bounce messages.

·        RCTPcommand – This particular command is generated to establish a receiver of themessage. It can be used several times, each for every recipient.

·        DATAis issued to send message text. It is the main theme of the message. Itcomprises of a header and a message body, a blank line segregates both theseparts. In general, sense DATA is a group of organized commands. Each server canprovide either positive or negative reply.

It is implemented to access andoperate mainly over internet port 25. Today after repeated technologicaladvancement an alternative of SMTP is widely in practice in Europe is X.400.Even many servers these days are highly demanding ESMTP or Extended Simple MailTransfer Protocol, which enables the sender the multimedia files as e-mails.  

AuthorBio:

Robert Smith who is a Software Developer writes articles on SMTP. For more information he suggests tovisit http://www.mysmtp.eu

Things to Do if You Want to Achieve Top Page in Google

For those of you who are just getting started in SEO, following are some helpful things that you should keep in mind if you want to achieve top page in Google for your website.

Use Your Keywords As The Anchor Text For External Links


This is rated by most industry experts as the top factor that could affect your site’s ranking. This could be obvious for most of those who have been into SEO for quite some time, but the importance of this factor cannot be overemphasized especially since there is still a proliferation of sites which are being linked by external websites and yet the anchor texts appear to be random across the various linking sites. This is a waste of a very useful tool that could have definitely helped them increase their ranking. Hence, it is very important that you decide on a keyword that you want to concentrate for your site and use it as your anchor text when other websites want to link back to you. You could always send a polite request to the publishers of these sites in order for them to make a subtle change or two. Just make sure that your keyword appears natural in the general flow of the linking article otherwise it may look out of place or even spammy.

Credibility Of Sites Which Are Linking Back To You


Your popularity with other websites is one way for Google to judge if you are a credible site or not, and worthy enough for them to include you on their top page for your keyword when the time comes. One way for them to know if your site is popular or not is through the number of links that your site is getting from other websites. It is not enough that you get a lot of back links going your way however. The quality or reputation of these sites will also matter as Google factors this into their algorithm as well. Do a little research on the sites which are linking back to you. Chances are, if they are also highly ranked by Google then it’s safe to say that they are deemed as credible sites. In this case it’s more about quality more than quantity, but take note also that in the internet world you will need lots of these quality sites linking back to you in order to register a blimp on the radar.

Link Sources Should Be Diversified As Much As Possible


Another factor that plays an important role in SEO is the diversity of respectable sites that are linking back to you. Meaning, you should be getting back links from as many different sources as possible, from high profile sites, blogs, comments, articles, rss feeds, social networking sites, and many more. If Google suddenly turns around and changes their algorithm by suddenly putting more emphasis on one source over the other, then at least you already have your stakes evenly spread out so that your site won’t be affected as much by any change in policies or anything.  

George Peterson currently works for one of the leading search marketing agencies in Denmark - Outrider. He currently works as a SEO manager. 

Is E-Mail Out and Social Media In?

There was once a time, apparently during the dinosaur days, when communication was between two or more speaking individuals who met face to face with each other. Throw in a few attempts with the modern technology of the times, a cup and string, Morse code and the like, and we find ourselves all the way into the 21st century with more communication options than we can shake a stick at. Who knows, perhaps all in good time something amazing will be done simply by shaking a stick, as well.

"Who Am I Speaking With, Please?"

As we run down the list of communication alternatives, it is interesting to note the growth that takes place within the realm of each specific creation. The old-fashioned telephone, which was once considered the most popular and most effective way of communicating with friends, neighbors and those in far-away lands has been upstaged by fanciful phones that not only connect two or more people through the magic wires, but also provide pictures, games and cameras all-in-one. What a lovely surprise for us all, or so we assume.

Computers have been designed to "do the work for us." Little did we know it would do almost all of the work of personal communicating, period. Certainly this incredible creation is one to be admired and appreciated. However, it would seem evident that people still actually enjoy talking to real people. Add one point for ingenuity and remove one point for incomplete planning, or anti-social media games at the very least.

Social Media or Anti-Social Media, That Is The Question


As the never-ending yet always creative methods of communication continue, we find ourselves within today's technological updates being swept away with electronic e-mails and online social networking or social media. The buzzword protocols fluctuate almost as much as technologies do. E-mail was once the amazing new creation that seemed almost unfathomably available for the regular Joe. Mostly beginning in the work setting, e-mail made communicating easier, faster and organized. Spreading news around was a breeze. Hence another new name for electronically reaching even further out into the world is born. We dub this new protocol as social media news.

Is Social Media Becoming a Preferred Method of E-Communication?


Social media news extends far beyond that of ancient e-mail. In fact, social media news capacities are spreading like wildfire in homes, offices and personal spaces everywhere. Corporations are beginning to realize that e-mail could be losing ground. The attraction flows toward newer methods of communication that deliver audio and visual capacities in place of answering and organizing hundreds of e-mails on a daily basis. Many believe that e-mail actually slows down productivity due to the constant maintenance factor.

Somewhere down the line we have to ask ourselves what kind of value systems donning so many avenues lined with indirect contact with our peers is really doing to our world. Social media certainly does have its advantages. Perhaps a little more personalized one-on-one mixed in with our world’s doses of techno-frill would hit the spot.

Fran Delaney writes extensively and humorously on technology, social media and gadgets.

Using the Right Technology for the Job.

So we've got all this awesome technology at our fingertips, and it can be a heady thing. But it's very easy to lose sight of how to use it properly and effectively. The biggest negative repercussion often stems from using the wrong technology for the particular job at hand. Here are a few potential pitfalls to watch out for.


Texting Taboos


Yes texting is great, fun, and easy to jot off a note. What texting is not is an adequate form of communication for anything remotely serious or life-changing. It is way too easy to write something that is misconstrued, or can be hurtful and dismissive if you are sending something important via this medium. Honor the subject matter and the person you're attempting to communicate with by using the right tool for the job.

The Need for Speed


I was once asked to introduce two colleagues via email in the hopes that they could one day work together. Within a day of getting the request I had contacted the other asking if he would be amenable to speaking with my other colleague. A day later I found out that the colleague requesting the introduction had seen fit to not only contact me with the request but to also go around me through Facebook to introduce himself personally (and I'm assuming using my name as the bridge). A couple of problems with this: First off it shows a lack of respect for me and my time; it also intimates that I'm not one to follow through on emails and requests. Not true. If you ask someone for assistance via any mode of communication remember to allow the appropriate length of time for a response, and by no means should you ask for assistance and then go on and do it yourself simultaneously; it's a good way to harm business relationships.

Lost in Translation


No matter how skilled the writer there is always room for misunderstanding when communicating via the written word. And as fine-tuned as it is, an important email can just go floating off into space without ever landing where you want it to. So it's astounding how many people still impart crucial information and life-changing “conversations” via email. If you write something and the recipient doesn't understand you it's not like they can quickly say, “Wait, do you mean this?” as in a regular conversation. Be careful when wanting to impart important news or discuss a potentially nebulous topic that you use the appropriate tool for it – pick up the phone to have a conversation or better yet make a date to sit face-to-face.

These are just a few ways most people habitually lose sight of how to work with all this cool gadgetry we've got; it's also a cautionary tale. Remember that modern technology is a remarkable and often life-enhancing thing. But it's up to us, the humans, to use this power for good.

About Author

Written by Sarah Simpson. Need a mobile phone that can handle the big conversations?

Face Scanning From Kraft and Intel Make Easier Shopping

You’re heading home after a busy day at the office, and realize that there’s nothing in your kitchen for dinner. You enter the store, and don’t have a clue what to buy. But what if someone could tell what you really wanted just by looking at your face? Intel and Kraft are saying that’s exactly what their new store kiosk, the “Meal Planning Solution,” will do.



They claim that the computer will be able to scan your face and determine what kind of dishes you might like. It will also keep a record of your purchase history in the store and any history you might have on Kraft’s internet site or their iFood Assistant mobile app. We dug a little bit into the science behind this technology – here’s what we found. At first listen, the thought of having a computer look at your face and then spit out a shopping list for you seems bizarre. But it turns out that Intel and Kraft have been working together since 2010 to come up with something that actually creates solutions to four different groups:

Shoppers

People like the idea of making a grocery list, but tend not to follow through. Nearly three-quarters of the time, they go shopping without a clear idea of what they plan to cook, and so don’t know what to buy. To top it off, most folks only have ten or so meals that they know how to cook well and that the whole family likes. So how do we combine all this information to allow us to help people create decent meal plans and shopping lists?

Stores

For retailers, it’s all about the bottom line – and having a service that no other store provides helps increase both first time and repeat traffic in the store. Additionally, making recommendations increases purchases.

Kraft

Obviously, their goal is to sell more products. They have an excellent presence online and have a department developing recipes that use their products. With the in store Meal Planner, Kraft is able to get their recipes to people who need them.

Intel

They’ve been working on video analytics for years, and it’s important for them to be able to find partners to work with who can put their technology to work in a way that helps the end user. What makes the Meal Planning Solution such an innovative solution is its use of software that uses anonymous video analytics to determine age and gender, and with that information it’s able to make reasonable suggestions for recipes. The software has been shown to be from 70-80% accurate in its determinations. The sensors work by scanning the face and sending the information to the software. The first thing the software does is confirm that the image is actually the pattern of a face, by looking for certain tell-tale signs: horizontally matched shadows in the eye region, a brightness in the nose position and so on. Once it determines that it is actually a human face, it moves on to the rest of the algorithms.

The face detector algorithms are trained to recognize faces by scanning thousands of pictures that are maintained on a database. It compares similar features to determine if it has scanned a face that belongs to a man or a woman, and then separates the pictures into age brackets – child, youth, adult, senior. The scan data is processed for the necessary information, and then destroyed; none of the images are stored. The computer also tracks the number of people who use the Solution Center at a given site, and keeps track of how much time each person spends at the kiosk. So next time you're stuck for something to cook, let a computer see if it can give you some hints!

Jess has always been fascinated by technology. Combine this with her love of food, and she has the perfect job at RJ Herbert as an online researcher and blogger for the vegetable and food processing company.

Four Tips to a Great Landing Page

You may not exactly be a website creator by profession, but as a dentist you need to be aware of the basic ways to design your dental website. Having a website is not an end all be all goal because an ineffective dental website may just cost you money without delivering any results. A great landing page will help increase you convert visitors into paying patients. Although there aren’t any hard and fast rules to making an effective landing page, here are a couple tried and tested tips that could help:

1. Include a Clear Call to Action

This is something which almost any SEO expert will tell anyone with a website. Your dental website’s ultimate goal should be to convert visitors into patients and you can achieve this goal by leading traffic to your landing page. In order for visitors to make the conscious decision to become your patients, you need to make them act by making an offer. Your offer is an intrinsic part of sealing any deal so make sure that you offer your visitors something which is irresistible. For instance, you can offer your visitors a free dental check-up which will motivate them to visit your clinic or at least call your office.


2. Make Sure That Your Website’s Pitch is Consistent with Your Off-Page Promise

When you’re trying to market your services as a dentist, you’ll be using different online strategies. Consistency sells and this is why the message on your landing page should be in line with what the one projected by your dental blog, paid ads and submitted articles to prevent visitors from feeling misled. This is necessary because visitors will be directed to your landing page from blogs, article directories and other avenues.


3.  The Less Text, the Better

According to studies, website surfers aren’t keen on reading novel-length articles and write ups. People do not have the time or the patience to go through an entire 1,000 word essay on why your dental services are great. This is why if you’re going to make a point and sell your services, you need to do so right away. You can make use of bullet lists and easy-to-understand headlines.

4. Simple Design Wins

A good landing page isn’t cluttered. You can make use of images but make sure that they do not occupy a majority of the page. Give your readers a break, and use a font style and size that allows content to be easily read.

I hope you enjoy my post and find it useful. I like to write on the subjects of dental web page design and Dental Office SEO. Thank you for your interest, Elliot Pearson, Dentist Identity.

How to Make Money With an Online Auction Site

Online auction sites like eBay get a lot of buzz. Many people love buying from online auction sites because they’re great places to find items at a good price, especially unique items, and the idea of a little bit of competition certainly spices things up. They’re also very popular for sellers. It gives sellers an opportunity to advertise their items to buyers all over the world and get cash for them. If you’re interested in trying to sell some items with an online auction site, it’s certainly worth the consideration. It does take some work, though, and you have to be willing to put in the effort if you hope to get the reward. Here are some tips for how you can make money with an online auction site.

Choose the Right Site

There are lots of online auction sites, and which one you choose will play a huge part in your potential success. You should choose a site that gets a lot of traffic. Also, look into the commission policy the site has. Most websites, eBay included, will take a cut of your selling price for every item you sell. Go with a website that charges less. If you’re selling a niche item, look for auction sites that specialize in the type of item you’re selling.

Do Your Research

If you have specific items you want to sell, do a lot of research concerning their true value. And check out what similar items are listed for on the site you’re using. It’s important to put a good price on your item or no one will bid on it. Start low, and this will encourage bidders. If you price your item even just slightly lower than similar ones, interested buyers will go to you instead.

Sell Everything

The more things you sell, the more money you’ll make, so don’t be afraid to list any item you don’t want anymore. You never know who may be interested, and a profit is a profit no matter how small. Antique items and collectibles are especially popular on auction sites, so consider unloading the things you’ve been saving since childhood or cleaning out the attic.

Get Rated

Selling a large volume of items will expose you to lots of buyers. Every time someone purchases something from you, ask them to rate you as a seller. They’ll be able to give you a rating or write a review of your services. If you’re considered a reputable seller who accurately describes products and sends them quickly, interested buyers will feel better about purchasing from you.

Concentrate on the Description

The way you describe the items you want to sell is incredibly important. You have to convince interested buyers that your item is worth their money. Provide as thorough a description of the item as possible, and be honest about its condition. Share as much information as you can about the item and its background. It’s also very important to include photographs. Post more than one photo, photos from all angles, and make sure they’re clear.

Terry Ford is a social media expert. She polishes her online presence with the world's best grammar checker. Terry's latest gadget is a nice Kindle fire where she is reading Heart of Darkness.

New Phone Cases Claim To Improve Sound Quality From Portable Devices

The Consumer Electronics Show, better known simply as CES, is the largest convention of any kind in the world. Each January in Las Vegas, more than 150,000 people come together to show the world what will be new and exciting in the tech world during the coming year. Everything from computers and smartphones to home theater gear and high-end audio is on display throughout the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Venetian Hotel. The show spans millions of square feet of show space, and stretches the category of consumer electronics to include automotive tech, home appliances, and just about anything else with an on/off switch. Due to the prevalence of mobile gadgets, there’s even an entire room dedicated to accessories such as phone cases. Of course, iPhone cases abound, as do decorative and protective accessories for just about every other mobile device, from tablet computers and e-readers to GPS devices.

Every year since cell phones became commonplace, phone case manufacturers have introduced new accessories, hoping to become the must-have hit of the year. Some manufacturers, such as OtterBox and G-Form, have made a name for themselves by creating tough (though bulky) cases than can withstand bouncing around in a bag, and even falling to the floor time and time again. Other manufacturers are all about style, offering phone cases with some flare. And occasionally, someone comes along and offers a case that promises to do more than just look good and protect what’s inside.

One such newcomer to the world of phone cases is Divoti. Divoti is certainly a style-conscious company, but its new iPhone case claims to offer more than just good looks. Dubbed the Case Titan, this titanium case was first unveiled on January 10th at CES. Divoti is quick to point out that the case is made from the same metal that NASA uses to line space shuttles. According to Divoti CEO Ronald He, the stylish new Case Titan not only protects iPhones better than any other case, it also “dramatically improves the audio quality of music you listen to.” He says that the Case Titan, which can be yours for a mere $180, is “so unique that we have patented it.”

The case will be marketed to the audiophile demographic, for whom sound good quality usually trumps all else – including a reasonable price tag. Audiophiles are very accustomed to seeing such unlikely tweeks advertised with claims of drastic improvements in sound quality. For some, the idea of a metal case that can improve thesound coming from the iPhone within would be laughable. These audiophiles require solid scientific explanations for products claiming to improve sound. But others are happy to buy a product that they don’t understand from a scientific perspective, as long as it produces (for them) a perceivable improvement in sound quality. After all, many of us don’t know exactly how a microwave oven works (or an iPhone, for that matter), but we use them because we know that they work. Divoti is hoping that these audiophiles will take the plunge on the Case Titan.

For those familiar with Divoti as a company, it should come as no surprise that these claims of improved sound quality with the Case Titan come with a somewhat hazy scientific explanation. Divoti is known mainly as a maker of “health jewelry,” the kinds that uses magnets “as a health booster [for] better blood circulation and being able to release lactic acid, which alleviates muscle pain and enhances the quality of sleep.” In the case of the Case Titan, the use of pure titanium combined with “the rare earth metal, germanium” is said to provide an improvement of sound quality even when using “the most basic headphones.” In fact, Divoti claims that the case can make the ear-buds that come free with the iPhone sound comparable to high-end branded headphones. Even the most open-minded audiophile would find this claim suspicious, if not downright dubious. But who knows? Maybe the Case Titan will be the must-have hit of 2012.

New Phone Cases Claim To Improve Sound Quality From Portable Devices. Learn More at BodyGlove.com

Career Advice for the Newly Fired

So you’ve just received the pink slip and you’ve got to vacate your office; take a moment to listen to some career advice because your career is far from over. There are many slackers or abusers who deserve the cut, but there are many arbitrary and strange reasons someone could be fired. Don’t be down if you find yourself a victim of the latter, it’s not a reflection of you but your circumstances; unless it was you and then all you can do is learn from your mistakes. Career advice and guidance rarely goes into the details of how to handle being fired, but your previous employer can still positively or negatively affect your future so it’s important to do things the right way.

What Not To Do

Let’s first go over what you should never do as a result of being fired. Now is not the time to take out your frustrations on the office loudmouth who has been irritating you for months, you never know when you might find yourself once again sharing work place space with them and trust me they won’t forget. A most dire piece of free career advice, your ex-boss can and will be contacted by potential employers and if you left on an explosive note all your hard work in the past will be quickly forgotten. If you’re prone to physical expressions of rage, stay away from all loose or heavy office equipment, this is the quickest way to get arrested which is a whole other realm of danger. At the same time, never accept whatever you are told; you have the right to reasonably be heard and negotiate your departure on your own terms. Never badmouth previous employers either because this only demonstrates a possible difficulty in your personality or demeanour.

What You Can Do

Moving onto the do’s of our professional online career advice primer; always without question act responsibly, respectfully and professionally. Someone once shared with me a golden piece of career advice; London may be a big city but its network is only three people apart. In that it takes three connections to know anyone in your career; ex-employees included. Remember even when you’re let go there are many things you could negotiate. Perhaps you could fill a lower position out if that’s what you want, especially if the terms of your departure are dubious in favour of yourself. Useful piece of career advice, UK or abroad, you’ll want to get the official story as it will be told to future employers as to the reasons for your departure. If you were in the wrong it’s more important than ever to negotiate perhaps softening the story especially if you’ve learnt from your mistake. The end of your job is not the end of your career, there will no doubt be new opportunities in your future so keep an eye out for career advice and never give up.

Eugene Calvini is a writer and office specialist; having been involved overseeing serviced offices Mayfair and serviced offices Glasgow among others, he understands the intricacies of work place situations.