The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and when I saw these pics from yesterday’s Christian Dior show in Paris I couldn’t help but wonder how many of these fabulous looks will be walking the red carpet on February 27th.
Below, John Galliano talks with Hilary Alexander from the UK Telegraph about his inspirations for the show:
If you take a look at your traffic stats, you’ll likely find that a very large percentage, if not a vast majority, of your new traffic comes from Google.While this can be a great thing as search traffic is some of the best that you can get in terms of targeting, it is also highly risky. The reason is that it makes all of us subject to the whims of Google, a company that our sites have no direct relationship with and is prone to being fickle with both its algorithms and its index.
Imagine, for a moment, if half of that traffic went away suddenly or, even worse, if it disappeared altogether. This is the reality many sites have faced, and it has proved disastrous for many sites, including established ones that suddenly find the lion’s share of their daily traffic to be gone.
Perhaps worst of all though is that it is a pitfall that can not be completely avoided. Considering that Google makes “over 400″ changes per year, it’s almost impossible to be sure your site won’t get eaten in one of them.
Still, there is plenty that you can and should do and most of them are actually quite simple.
Though Google is far and away the most popular search engines, it became as such not by catering to webmasters, but by returning the best results and the best search experience possible. As a result of this, Google is constantly tweaking both its algorithms and its index to ensure that the sites it feels are the best rise to the top of the results.
But while this tweaking may be what helps keep Google on top of the search engine wars, it does create a great deal of unreliability for webmasters who are essentially trying to build a search engine presence on shifting sands.
Google can, without recourse, drop sites from its index, severely degrade their ranking or refuse to index many of their pages.
The results from any of these hits can be catastrophic to one’s traffic, either cutting off or severely restricting the flow of targeted new visitors. For a site’s traffic, this has roughly the same as cutting off a human being from their air supply.
So how can one avoid it? There isn’t much of a way to. But there are things you can do to reduce the possibility of a Google “spank” and mitigate any damage it may cause.
The problem is that, since we are at the whims of Google as to where it ranks us or if it indexes us at all, there’s not much we can do and most of what we can do comes down to simply doing what Google wants and hoping it doesn’t change with the next update.
Still, there are several pieces of good advice one can give, even if it has been said many times before. Those steps include:
Still, the best thing that you can do for your site is produce good, high-quality content that people enjoy, link to and want to see higher up in the search results. Even if you do have a slip up with Google, as long as you have strong content and aren’t doing anything too spammy, you can likely recover given enough time and energy.
If you don’t have that, then you probably didn’t belong high up in the results to begin with, making the loss of ranking less of a tragedy and more of a rebalancing of authority.
The sad, simple truth is this: We, as bloggers, are largely living at the whim of Google. What Google gives, it can take away and without any warning or repercussions.
The most we can do is try to create the best sites we can and stay within Google’s guidelines when promoting it. Considering that Google’s goal is to create the best search results possible, having sites that belong at the top of the results is the only way to remotely ensure that they appear there or will some day.
While it’s nerve-wracking living in the shadow of Google, wondering when and if the search giant will turn off the flow of new traffic, it’s the nature of the Web right now and all that we can do.
The good news is that very few sites get booted from Google unfairly and those that do usually find their way back in, either through appeal or through a later correction.
Still, one has to be aware of the dangers of having so much for their new traffic coming from one source and do what they can both to mitigate against the potential for disaster and try to ensure that it never happens at all.
For anyone who loathe doing the paperwork, Shoeboxed is the perfect companion. You send the paperwork using postage-paid envelopppes, they scan all documents and return them as Shoeboxed scans all documents and returns them as organised files. With export options to most accounting programs even.
Shoeboxed also exist as a mobile application for most phones.
Don't be caught off-guard by the tax season, try out Shoeboxed for free now!
When it comes to installing WordPress premium plugins, there are a few extra questions users should ask beyond the “Is this plugin secure?” or “Can I trust this developer/company?”
While there is are greater expectations regarding premium plugins (mainly due to the fact that you’re paying them), not every premium WordPress plugin is worth their weight in code (regardless of which features they promise to deliver).
Regardless of whether you discovered the premium plugin upon the WordPress plugin directory or via a quick Google search, here are several questions you should ask before hitting the buy button.
Notice I said superior not cheaper option, as you can always find a less expensive plugin or solution (albeit sometimes with poorer results).
While WordPress users should always seek out the best plugins for their blogs, installing too many of them can increase the loading time of your site.
Before clicking the buy button, you should always look for a solution that doesn’t involve a plugin.
Example: Instead of installing Network Publisher (a freemium plugin) to handle posting links and posts to Twitter as well as Tumblr, it would be wiser to use FeedBurner (from Google) and Tumblr’s native post importer, respectively.
Regardless of how you legally obtained your money, at the end of the day it’s your money and the last thing you want is to spend it on a bogus plugin (or anything bogus for that matter).
When searching out premium plugins, you should always seek out those that allow you to test out their product before you exchange your hard earned cash.
Many developers offer freemium plugins which give you the ability to demo basic features before upgrading to access more advanced services.
A few developers offer two different types of plugins (free and premium), allowing the masses to test out their free services to verify whether its worth purchasing the premium one.
Example: Disqus is a free WordPress plugin that offers freemium services while BraveNewCode markets WP Touch Free as well as WP Touch Pro (the latter which includes support for smartphones and tablets).
It doesn’t matter how awesome a WordPress plugin is if the support behind it is non-existent (or worse, extremely horrible).
Before buying a premium WordPress plugin you should always find out how much tech support the developers will provide, and (most importantly) whether they will help troubleshoot the plugin if it accidentally breaks your blog.
Usually the best way to find out about support is to ask previous users who have purchased the plugin, as well as read reviews about the plugin via a quick Google search.
You should also verify that you will receive support during the life of the plugin (i.e. throughout the current version) or until the company ceases to exist.
Always avoid “90 day warranty” support for your plugins, or those offering more support for more money (note: I am referring to premium/freemium plugins here, not free plugins).
Example: VaultPress by Automattic provides support (via email) for all of their users, as well as Ultimate Blog Security throughout the life of their plugin or service.
If so, what advice would you give to someone interested in purchasing one? And which premium plugins do you recommend based on past experience?
Feel free to share your advice in the comment section below!
The extremely powerful Builder theme by iThemes.com is the perfect option to build themes for WordPress, even with little to none coding knowledge. Once you have build your WordPress themes, you can sell the themes in the Builder store.
Builder also includes the $90 Billboard and Rotating images plugin as well as iThemes' Mobile plugin for WordPress, sold at $45 to regular customers.
SPB TV 2.0 is an IP TV streaming solution for BlackBerry devices. If you have any experience with video streaming you can appreciate the general frustration with video quality that sometimes looks like a puzzel with various pieces missing. In general the challenge with video streaming is around limited or unpredictable bandwidth. Try to suspend the preconceptions and imagine a solution designed to perform on mobile devices over 3G data services.
I like many technology enthusiasts have used SlingBox for mobile video streaming, or Apple TV, Vudu TV, Hulu, YouTube and a host of other solutions. The challenge faced with most streaming solutions are changes with consistent download speeds. The variation in download speeds, specifically when it dips below the minimum required speed, results in video quality issues many people have experienced.
My biggest concern with SPT TV is performance. The installer package is small at around 700kb and it only requires BlackBerry OS 4.3 or higher. That said my BlackBerry Bold 9650 with 161 MB of free memory becomes sluggish when I initially start the app. In fact if I start playing a show the OS takes some time to respond to my attempts to turn the volume down as it is running so sluggish. I cannot say that is so much an issue with SPB TV vs RIM not supporting offloading some activities to the GPU.
Think Kung Fu theatre, where the audio is out of sync with the video that was my experience from time to time with SPB TV. I cannot say my experience was better or worse than any other app as it relates to streaming. One feature I wish was offered was audio only, Slingbox offers a feature where you can turn off video and just stream audio when bandwidth is limited.
UPDATE: After writing my initial review SPB pushed a performance update. It required a reboot but the performance impact on my Bold 9650 is significantly better. I am not seeing a many video quality issues. The update did require a reboot but after 2 hrs of testing I have not noticed any major issues.
While SPB TV has a many channels they only had 3-4 that I would ever care to watch. I cannot see myself using this on a day to day basis as it does not have my first choice channels.
SPB TV is a shockingly decent solution for streaming video content to your BlackBerry. Now it is not as flexible as SlingBox, but it is a free solution. I am not a huge TV person and I found myself enjoying Bloomberg TV via my BlackBerry. Over WiFi I can only recall one or two streaming issues but if you switch to 3G it is a different story.
SPB TV 2.0 has channels in a wide variety of languages (English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Czech, and Dutch). When I initially downloaded the app I had high hopes to see thing like Discovery Channel, ESPN, HGTV, SPIKE, MTV, BET, History, SciFi, and many others.
A benefit is the integrated TV guide. When you are trying to stream video to a mobile device bandwidth is a constant struggle. The guide uses less bandwidth compared to bringing up a traditional onscreen guide during programming.
SPB TV 2.0 is designed for both touch screen and non touch screen BlackBerry devices. There are two different downloads of the client. I was not able to test the touch screen version.
Since it appears the software update has solved the performance and video quality issues the real question is can you find a channel you like. SPB TV 2.0 is free to you but you need to deal with some ads. Other solutions like Slingbox cost you from $100 – $300 for hardware then an additional $30 for the sling player software.
Download SPB TV 2.0 for BlackBerry
January 25th, 2011 – SPB Software, a leading mobile software developer, has released a major update for the BlackBerry version of its flagship solution SPB TV to version 2.0. As SPB TV 2.0 is ad-supported it is absolutely free for the end-user and requires no subscription fee. To deliver uninterrupted mobile TV experience ads in SPB TV are shown only during the channel buffering time.
SPB TV has reached the 3 million users milestone by January 2011. It has become so popular among users due to the best-in-class mobile TV interface. SPB TV is designed to provide users with the real TV-watching experience. For example the channelpreview allows users to see what is currently shown on a live channel before ever launching it. For those who are used to channel hopping the preview mode is a “must-have”.
In addition to existing features that include the catalogue with more than 150channels in over 20 languages, unique TV browser with quick channel previews, a TV guide with the list of current and upcoming TV shows, fast channel launch and switching, the new version offers also a video on demand (VOD) option. Another significant enhancement is the Advanced Video Codec (H.264) supportwhich improves video quality. As a result even with substantial lower bitrates the picture quality is strongly improved.
SPB TV is also available on Android, bada, iPhone/iPad, Symbian, Maemo, Windows Mobile and WebOS smartphones as well as on feature phones.
As a solution for mobile operators it allows carriers to couple SPB’s proven solution with their own infrastructure and various subscription models. 4 mobile operators worldwide have already deployed SPB TV based mobile TV solutions.
Watch TV on your BlackBerry with SPB TV 2.0 is a post from: RIMarkable
Related posts:
*UPDATE* - Check out this post in the forums for the exact details of what this is. It uses official files but no installer was given so one had to be created. You can decide for yourselves if that makes it official or a Hybrid.
*UPDATE 2* - If you weren't happy about having a non-signed RIM installer file you can now grab the official RIM installable file from here. Thanks to Verizon and of course, @theiexplorers
All of you BlackBerry Bold 9650 owners out there will be happy to see that OS 6.0.0.431 has leaked for your devices tonight! Word has it you're likely looking at bug fixes and minor app updates in this one. If you were waiting for a new OS for your 9650 or if you are a hybrid builder, you can download it from the link below! Let us know in the comments what fixes you see if you choose to install this leak. Take caution however, you must have OS .333 or .415 installed before you can upgrade to .431 as noted by the source.
*OS Disclaimer - Please Read: Keep in mind this is NOT an official release and as such is not supported by RIM or your Carrier. If you choose to install, do so at your own risk and only if you're comfortable in the process of upgrading and downgrading your device software. It is quite normal during operating system development for certain features to be crippled or disabled while others are tested, and these beta builds often reflect that. They are not always better. Depending on your BlackBerry comfort level, it may be best for you to wait for community feedback on a build before deciding to download and install for yourself or simply wait for the next official release. If you require support, you will find it in our CrackBerry forums via our extremely knowledgeable community base - do not contact your carrier or RIM for Beta OS technical support (their first course of action will be to advise you to downgrade to a supported OS). *
Download OS 6.0.0.431 for the BlackBerry Bold 9650
Discuss it in the forums
Source: Gizmofusion
CrackBerry.com's feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Leaked OS 6.0.0.431 for the BlackBerry Bold 9650
Updated theme builder coming by the end of January
Use your BlackBerry to make purchases at Starbucks across the US!
BlackBerry Style 9670 headed to Alltel?
AT&T 3G compatible BlackBerry PlayBook on the way?
BlackBerry 101 - BlackBerry Messenger Groups
Fuel Economy Calculator - 50 copies to be won!
Win a Ventev PowerCELL for your BlackBerry!
50 copies of Evy to give away!
Win 1 of 25 copies of Ringtone Remix!
Win 1 of 50 free copies of !Reflect7 Carbon by AG Designs & Graphics!
CrackBerry.com's feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. CrackBerry Reminder: What you may have missed this week
CrackBerry.com's feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Best of Smartphone Experts, Jan 23 2011
