Technology Guides

It’s official guys, President-Elect Obama has a blog and by no means is it mediocore. I have been truly amazed by his ability to go about things in a completely different manner than most presidents. He has sparked change from the Youtube debate to his actual platform entitled Change. So to me, it’s no real surprise that he has started a blog called Change. It has since moved to Whitehouse.

Obama

For starters, it’s not really a blog in my mind, it’s more of a comprehensive website, with slideshow images, countdown, and many pages. What I like most about it, is the fact it has his agenda so we can make sure he is doing the right things. He Twitters, Vlogs, and posts often. This makes for a more personal connection for the President, who up until now, was like a martian to the majority of American citizens. This helps him connect on a lower level with people which is really important. 

There are also tons of opportunities for the American people to learn more about what’s happening. Whether it be his agenda, or different policies. The big one I found was people are able to submit stories to the blog which opens up another connection between the reader and the American Goverment.

So far all you people who want to start a blog, this should be your base, and work around it. All the features here are great and it should be something I implement.

Update: Currently I am waiting on a response from President Obama on whether or not I can get a bailout in the next little bit. My good friend Callam Graham suggested this to me and I decided to take him up on this.

Popularity: 2% [?]

There’s a huge price gap between an ultraportable and a mini-notebook. So what’s the difference and which one should you buy? 

Ultraportables

Ultraportables are the most expensive but they are coming down in price much more rapidly than their counterparts, the netbook or mini-notebook. A good example of this is Lenovo’s X61 which is priced at $1000 and offers a 12.1-inch screen at 3.6 pounds. Ultraportables in general have more power and versatility for their size and thus offer a better value package if you are willing to fork over that extra $700+ for it. Ultraportables are bigger in every aspect like weight and screen size but they make up for it by being able to do what a normal PC does like run Windows Vista and run other powerful applications. The aspect differences are small and they are getting smaller every year.

Mini-Notebooks

Mini-Notebooks are easy to love since they are cheap, small, and really cute. Especially with the release of the Asus EeePC which started it all, mini-notebooks have become really popular for those reasons. For under $500 you can get a small laptop that will do the basic things like compose a document and send an e-mail, but other than that, you can’t do much. They usually have great battery life because of the small processing power needed which is why I highly recommend it for University or College students. It will also be easier to carry around because of the weight and size, and it’ll be able to handle those long lectures. 

Conclusion

These two computer segments both have their pros and there cons, but it all comes down to what you are looking for. Both of them still have better than average battery life than the regular laptop as well as small dimensions and weight than the laptop. The ultraportable comes in at the same price point or even higher than a laptop whereas the mini-notebook comes in considerably lower. If you have the money, buy the ultraportable, but if you are looking for a temporary computer that can do the basics, stick with a mini-notebook.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Do you want to explore the possibility of running your own Facebook or LinkedIn because you are simply beyond the realms of everybody else? Well, there are options for you. The web has allowed you to be able to create your own free social network for anybody or a private network for you and your best friends. I personally set one up for a company I am part of, as I am the Vice-President of IT. We are a small company and just want something small, private, and most importantly, free, to conduct our daily business. With that being said, you can obviously guess my favourite pick of these sites to start your own social network just from the URL. It is a private network so you won’t be able to view everything but it’s located at http://jamarkham.ning.com.

Ning

This is my favourite of the 3 sites that I will describe to you. One of the reasons I love this site to build a social network is because of the drag-and-drop capabilities. Even once it is built, you are able to easily move different elements of your site to different parts of the page. Ning also has many different templates and styles to choose from, making personalization virtually endless.

Ning

The next step to me, is to open it to open-source programs like Wordpress and Blogger so other people can make their own templates and designs for others to easily download and upload to their own site. Elements you can include into your Ning social network are: chat, videos, photos, member view, forums, groups, and many more. Another plus of this program is you have control over your members if you are the creator of the social network. You can appoint group administrators and even ban members. Overall, this site will help you create a polished and professional site from scratch in less than 10 minutes as it did with me. 

KickApps

For people with a little dough to burn, this site will definitely be for you. One of the huge reasons many companies use this is because of the ability to fine tune a lot of the details. The Phoenix Suns use this service and they have a great website for their fans called Planet Orange. Because these organizations have money to spend, they can afford the developers to help build the website for them, but even the basic web developers can do it with some time with the help of the site’s advanced tool kit. The finished product is definitely worth it. 

Nexopia

Youth’s will love this version of a social network site builder because it is directed to youth. It provides users with the ability to create Facebook-like backgrounds, pages, and elements. The great thing about this program, is it’s easy to build the site. It is simple enough for somebody at any skill level. All you need to do is choose a bunch of different options like the design template, and then pick from your choice of two dozen modules that include feeds, photos, polls, and forums. 

Conclusion

I personally like Ning because it’s for someone who has some knowledge of websites but not enough to start from scratch and fork over money for a temporary social network. All three of these social network sites are great choices and you should be pleased with any one of them. KickApps does let you build one for free but there are limited options.

Popularity: 12% [?]

The internet is such a huge place that you really need to find a way to get your foot in the door. What better way to do that then by getting a free link onto a popular blog site? All you have to do is continue what you already do, blog. Many popular sites like to offer Guest Posts, and all you need to do is apply by sendin

g your wonderful idea to them. One of the key things you need to consider when sending a request is to make sure you offer them a win-win situation. That is, you tell them that they should at least consider you if you send them your finished post. That way they have an opportunity to see your work, and you get a slight edge when you apply. Now why should you do a guest post? Well, I have 5 great reasons why you’d be neglecting your site if you didn’t. 

Reason 1: You Get A Link Back

I mentioned this above and it’s a huge reason why bloggers continue to do guest posts. My friend did one post that got a website 10 000 views and he got himself another 200 a day. His post was well written mind you and you have to keep in mind, that you need to write a good post to get that kind of visits. 

Reason 2: Get Read by Targeted Visits

When you apply to do a guest post, you must make sure that it’s a related website. If you do this you’ll easily get targeted visits, usually by thousands of readers, depending on which site you choose. Your name will get out there and hopefully your link will be read and clicked on for future reference. 

Reason 3: Boost Your Ego

When you get accepted for a guest post, your standards become higher because you are not writing for yourself anymore, you are writing for soemone else who’s expectations are usually higher. If everything goes according to plan, your ego could be boosted with tons of new visitors pouring in. 

Reason 4: Boosts Your PR

With a few guest posts on a certain website, you’ll be listed on highly ranked websites multiple times, helping your ranking overall. You’ll be listed all over the website as well if you are good enough to be respected by the owners, and will therefore have more backlinks to your website.

Reason 5: Gain Important Relationships

When you write a successful article, and you better make sure you do, you will gain an important relationship for the future. These relationships will help you get certain benefits later on and it will help you get future opportunities to post further on that website. Who knows, maybe they’ll ask you to be a regular.

In my case, I am new to this, but I am learning a lot. I am hoping to get on Quick Online Tips as well as Tech Vibes. With any luck, and a bit of skill, I’ll be on those websites, getting my voice heard a little bit more. A little tip though; if they don’t specifically offer guest posting, be sure to contact them and run your topic by them and maybe they’ll like it.

Popularity: 3% [?]

I’m a big fan of Hewlett-Packard (HP) and for good reason. They are forward thinking. On that note, I give you two new HP desktops that grace the green market. The two new desktops are called the Pavilion Verde and the Pavilion Phoenix Special Edition. HP claims that these two systems are 45% more efficient that comparable PCs and they come in special packaging that is recyclable and adds a bit of flair with a green design. Now recycling packaging might seem like something small, but really, if you think about it, it is so important in our world today. Technology moves so fast, that our electronics become obsolete in no less than 3 months, and where do you think that packaging goes? We need recycled materials more now than ever. 

HP Pavilion Verde

These desktops achieve a high level of efficiency without making use of any power management technology which is critical to reducing the costs for the consumer. They don’t just sip power, but they have great stats to back it up. The Pavilion Verde houses an AMD Athlon X2 4850e dual-core processor, a 500 GB hard drive, 5 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE graphics processor with 128 MB onboard video memory, a DVD SuperMulti drive with Lightscribe, and Windows Vista Home Premium.

HP Pavilion Phoenix Special Edition

The second green desktop, the Phoenix Special Edition, comes with the same as the Verde but with these few upgraded or extra features: an AMD 9150e quad-code CPU and a 640 GB HDD. 

The prices for these two are $579 and $659 respectively. 

Conclusion

My opinion on these two desktops can be summed up in one word: great. I think a 45% gain in energy effiency is amazing and it does it all with class and a low price. I’d personally pick one up myself if I had a home to store it in. For now I’ll stick to laptops, and small ones at that.

Popularity: 1% [?]