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Google Android – the Developers’ Choice

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Android

Research recently released by Ovum has stated that Google’s Android mobile operating system is now the first choice for mobile app developers, taking the lead from their main rival, Apple.

Rising from fifth to second favourite development platform in a year is a great achievement for the search giant, with more developers preferring to develop their apps on the operating system before moving over to support rival systems. Mobile web developers typically don’t throw all their eggs in one basket and make their app for just one system, however Android could see an advantage if their apps receive an earlier release date as well as the ego boost of being deemed the most important platform by the people who make apps for them.

With mobile app sales reaching 1.2 billion in the last week of 2011, with 81 million coming from the UK alone, there is no doubt that the mobile application industry is a huge one, especially with the record sales figures for smartphones and the increase of low cost Android handsets and tablets → Read More

Android 4.0 Upgrade – When Will I Get It?!

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Android Ice Cream Sandwich

There was significant disarray last time that different companies and networks attempted to upgrade their phones to the new version of Android. It took many months to get most of the phones upgraded and even longer for some of the other ones. Although Android 4.0 seems to be a huge step up from their current operating system, one can only hope that the companies deliver the upgrade in a timely manner. The companies seem to understand how nervous people are but have promised that they will begin rolling out the updates in early 2012.

When Will My Phone Be Upgraded?

HTC claims that it will update the phones that are most popular including the Amaze 4G and EVO 3D. The same goes for LG, which announced via its Facebook page that it will update the Optimus 2X, Optimus 3D, Optimus Black, and the Optimus LTE to Android 4.0. Motorola seems to not be upgrading as many of its phones but will be upgrading its newest additions to the lineup (Droid Bionic and Razr). Samsung has said that the Galaxy Nexus II S Skyrocket for AT&T will get Android 4.0, but that’s about as forthcoming as the company has been. Contrast that with Sony Ericsson, which has said it will update its entire line-up of Xperia-branded Android smartphones to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The company claims that it is going to blend the features of its Xperia software with those of Android 4.0. → Read More

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office

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Google Cloud Connect

Apart from being the world’s leading search engine, Google is full with surprises on every corner. Have you ever thought about how combining Google Docs and Microsoft Office would be great? Just imagine the combo of Google Docs’ ability to store documents in the cloud and usability and features offered by MS Office. Not possible? Check again.

Google Cloud Connect, a free add-in for Microsoft Office, offers you exactly this kind of synergy. Google Cloud Connect lets you store Office documents directly to Google Docs. No need to upload anything, it’s all automatic.

Simple Installation

The installation of Google Cloud Connect is very simple. After the installation is finished, your Google Cloud Connect will become available to you as a toolbar found at the top of your MS Office. Every time you want to save a file to Google Docs, just click Sync, and the document will be saved and synced automatically. You can also adjust the syncing behavior to be manual, and have Google Cloud Connect sync only when you tell it to.

Collaborative Editing and Sharing Options

Google Cloud Connect for MS Office offers interactive multi-person editing options to the familiar MS Office environment. You are able to share, create backups, and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files and documents with your co-workers. → Read More

Why You Should Not Use Google+ to Market Your Business (Yet)

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Google Plus

If you are into business marketing, then there’s no doubt you understand how social media has taken business marketing by storm. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have literally revolutionized how the general public interacts, how information is shared, and how businesses communicate with their customers. The latest player in the social networking arena is Google+. Google+ has been getting a lot of attention and, although its membership is steadily expanding, there is still some debate over just how successful Google+ will be. Are you contemplating adding Google+ to your social networking marketing roster? Maybe you should give it some more time. Here’s why you shouldn’t use Google+ for marketing your business (yet):

The “wow” factor. Every piece of business marketing you put out into the public speaks for your brand. After all, it has your name on it and leaves customers (and potential customers) with a taste in their mouths. You want that to be a good taste, right? Well, Google+ Business pages are so new – and oh, so basic – that they really are nothing more than a profile page that you can insert your business logo into. Needless to say, millions who are aware of Google’s on-hand engineering were shocked and disappointed to find the addition of Google+ Business nothing more than a lackluster reworking of the basic Google+ profile page. Want to “wow” your customers and attract new ones? Google+ is not the way to do it. As a matter of fact, a Google+ Business page will probably only put your customers to sleep. → Read More

Google To Freshen Up Results: What Does This Mean?

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Google

Google constantly changes its algorithm hundreds of times during a year, however many of the changes do not really affect the search results and if they do it is normally only a nominal affect. Occasionally some of the changes they introduce can have some pretty big impacts on search results and one such change that happened earlier this year was the well known ‘Panda Update’.

The Panda Update basically devalued low quality content and links from low quality content sites such as links from article directories like Ezine Articles. The overall effect of the Panda Update was about 12% of internet search queries, however the new update is suggested to affect about 35% of search queries which is a huge figure and certainly bigger than anything we have seen before.

Explain Further Please

This update has been a long time coming and was first discussed in 2007 where engineers coined the term ‘query deserves freshness’. This means certain topics need very up to date fresh results included in them such as boxing results, football score fixtures, recent news, weather forecasts etc. In these types of cases the content needs to be updated very quickly because you do not want results for old sports matches coming up first as this would make the search results far less relevant. → Read More

Slide to Unlock a New Round of Patent Lawsuits

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Slide to Unlock

Apple is currently in the midst of a huge patent war with rival smartphone manufacturers that use Google’s Android operating system. As revealed in the new Steve Jobs biography, the former Apple CEO felt that Android was a rip-off of his own company’s iPhone iOS, and was willing to spend every last penny Apple had in the bank to run it into the ground.

This war kicked off in 2010 when Apple sued HTC for its Desire smartphone. Right from the start many could see that this lawsuit was intended as a proxy war against Google – as HTC has been one of the biggest supporters of the Google OS. Also in Apple’s crosshairs are Motorola and Korean giant Samsung.

Samsung is the company that is currently taking most of the flak from the Apple lawsuits, with many Samsung products being pulled from sale in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. Apple is aggressively seeking a similar outcome in other markets. While Apple insists that its disagreement with Samsung is due to the latter’s TouchWiz interface and the ‘look and feel’ of its Galaxy range of products, this is no doubt an intentional swipe at what is currently the most successful Android product of them all – the Samsung Galaxy S2. → Read More

How Often is Google Maps and Google Earth Updated?

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Google Earth

One of the commodities of having an earth mapping system in place such as Google Maps, is that the maps tend to be much more accurate than those purchased at convenient stores and gas stations across the world. The truth is that roads, pathways, road names, route numbers, and terrain across the world are changing on a continuous basis. While your ‘difficult to fold’ paper map may get you in the right direction, it won’t always get you to your destination. This is where Google Maps comes in, blending with GPS technology to offer you the latest and greatest mapping information available today.

The good news is that Google Maps and Google Earth are making continuous strides to update their maps. Imaging from around the world is constantly taking place and being refreshed on a daily basis. This means that Google Maps doesn’t necessarily follow an ‘update schedule,’ and is instead constantly adding new imagery and digesting data given to them through pictures, satellites and the general public. → Read More

3 Fab Uses for Google Real Time Analytics

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Google Real Time Analytics

Google’s announcement that it was adding real time statistics to Analytics was, for me, the best announcement by the search giant all year. Don’t worry if you’re not amongst the select few to have been given an early preview (neither am I – sob!). It won’t be too long before we’ve all got real time. And here are three awesome uses for the real time data you’ll be spoiled with!

Measuring the Immediate Impact of Social Media Posts

As a SEO, I’m always keen to see the results of things immediately. Maybe I’m a touch impatient. For me, being able to post a link to a blog post or piece of content on a site I work on and then to be able to immediately measure the impact watching traffic live on that site is great. Waiting for data is over! → Read More

Google Plus

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Google Plus

Google Plus is one of the newest websites to hit the social networking scene. The site was first launched on June 28, 2011. Some of the newest android phones and the iPhone can get apps for Google Plus so that those who enjoy this new website can use it to their heart’s content. While some people have argued that this new social network will rival Facebook, there are many people on the social media scene who disagree. Google Plus essentially combines some of the most crucial features of Facebook and Twitter, and includes some of its own unique features that make it one-of-a-kind.

The Circles feature is one of the most interesting parts of Google Plus. It allows members to divide people on their contact list into a variety of groups in order to share products, services, and more. Instead of the typical list of friends found on numerous social networking sites, Circles is accessed by a drag and drop feature and it offers a fresh, unique style to the social networking scene. → Read More

Google Plus is Now Open to Everyone

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Google Plus

After a trial process that seemingly lasted forever, Google+ has opened its doors to everyone, and kicked the invitations. Google+ has had some pretty substantial success in rapid fashion from the start. They reached 10 million users after only 16 days of being launched –  a feat that took Facebook and Twitter both around 800 days. The remarkable thing about their rapid growth was the fact that you needed an invitation to join. Google+ became exclusive at first by requiring invitations, sort of like what Spotify is doing now. Now that that invitation is no longer required, and all of the bugs have been weeded out, you can be sure to see more and more of your friends popping up on Google+.

Google+ really is a cool social networking tool. It has all of the functionality you could ask for, mixed in a simplistic form, and with some of the best privacy features on the web.

One of the best features you are going to be working with is Google Circles. This lets you customize certain friend lists, business colleagues, family, or whatever you chose. Then you can simply share information with select groups, individuals, or the mass public. You can organize then however you wish, kind of like old school AIM buddy lists. Customizing comes with the ease of a click, and rearranging as simple as dragging from circle to circle. → Read More