Search Giants

Google

Founded by: the 'Google Guys' Sergey Brin and Larry Page

Launched in: September 1998

Revenue: US$ 29.321 billion (2010)

Users: more than 1 billion unique visitors in May 2011

According to the available statistics, google.com is the Internet's most visited website today. It is the fastest and most relevant search engine. It is also well-known for its other services and products like Google Talk, Google Earth, Google Images, Picasa photo organization and editing software, etc. It is estimated that Google attends over one billion search requests and it processes around 24 petabytes of user-generated data every day! The word 'Google' actually had no particular meaning; but you would be surprised to know that it appears in the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb now!

Yahoo!

Founded by: Jerry Yang and David Filo

Launched in: March 1995

Revenue: US$ 6.324 billion (2010)

Users: more than 700 million people log in to Yahoo website every month.

Yahoo is another popular search engine. For some, it is a favorite games/shopping center; while for some, it is the most preferred e-mailbox or news provider. Yahoo services like 'Yahoo! Maps', 'Yahoo! Finance', 'Yahoo! Groups' and 'Yahoo! Messenger' have gained popularity in all corners of the world.

More Sites

Fantastic search engines like 'Bing' and 'Ask' have made our life simple and easier. Within a fraction of a second, you can get the information that you are looking for.

Applications which turns on your mood

There are many android and iPhone applications available in the market. Many has hit the list of maximum downloading, some of them are bestsellers too. But there are few applications which has shown a fantastic performance and set a milestone for many application developers. In short they turn your mood even by hearing their names. They are:

Angry Bird

Angry Birds has been praised for its successful combination of addictive game play, comical style, and low price. Its popularity led to versions of Angry Birds being created for personal computers and gaming consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters and even long-term plans for a feature film or television series. With a combined 1 billion downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".

Temple Run

In pretty much every treasure hunting adventure movie there’s one specific scene in which the plucky hero finally gets his hands on the treasure but then has to navigate a maze of booby traps in order to get out alive. Temple Run is this scene and nothing else. And it’s amazing.

Stupid Zombie

Those stupid zombies are back, and you are humanity's last hope to keep them brainless. One man, one shotgun and lots of stupid zombies.

The Secret of Grisly Manor

Familiar objects have been re-engineered to create puzzles for you. Clues abound, and as each puzzle is solved, the solution to others presents themselves. As well as new puzzles, of course.

Where’s My Water?

Where’s My Water? is a challenging physics-based puzzler complete with vibrant graphics, intuitive controls, and a sensational soundtrack. To be successful, you need to be clever and keep an eye out for algae, toxic ooze, triggers, and traps.

Online Auction Websites And Advantage

Do you own an online auction website? Online trading is not just limited to buying goods, but a large number of people are making money on eBay and similar websites through online auctions. The business model of online auction sites is quickly becoming popular, as it gives unlimited exposure to sellers and a wide range of choices to the bidders. There are innumerable ways in which an online auction business model scores over its conventional counterparts. In this article, we have listed a few advantages of online auction sites.

Benefits of Online Auction Sites

The word 'auction' instantly conjures images of a county courtroom or a hotel ballroom with hundreds of anxious faces, all fixated on a hammer at the center of the room. However, in this era of e-commerce, auction has assumed an altogether different form. Here, you can buy even a home without leaving your doorstep, while lounging on your sofa in your boxer shorts! The comfort and anonymity that online auction offer is simply incomparable to physical auction. Apart from that, there are myriad other benefits which online auction websites offer to you.

Advantages for Bidders

The bidder community on the Internet is greatly blessed to have millions of goods from all over the world at a reach of a mouse click. Given below are some perks that bidders get to enjoy through online auction websites.

No Geographical Barrier

You need not have to miss out on a great property deal just because it's in some other state. Online auction sites allow you to browse through innumerable goods and services from across the world. Besides, there are no shipping hassles, as the product arrives at your doorstep within the stipulated time frame.

No Time Barrier

This is the biggest perk of auctioning online. While it is true that you have to bid during a stipulated time period only, there is really no restriction on when you can bid. As these websites run round the clock, you can bid pretty much anytime during the day or even night. So, while the seller snoozes away in Australia, you can happily click on your favorite item, while in America.

Wide Range of Choices

Bidders are offered a wide range of choices for goods and services, from across the world. You can easily avail an item that is not easily available in your own country, through online auctions. You can browse through hundreds of websites and reach thousands of sellers for a particular object you are looking for.

Faster Transactions

Buying commodities like property, cars, etc., is a time-consuming affair. However, online auctions are completed within a matter of few weeks. Typically, there is only a lapse of 3 weeks from the listing of an item to its actual sale.

Great Deals

Bidders can avail bargains that cannot be found easily elsewhere, while bidding online. As you are directly dealing with the seller or manufacturer, you can save money that would otherwise go to agents, brokers or middlemen.

Voice Recognition Software Pros and Cons

Everything technology has a good and bad side and Voice Recognition Software's are no exception.

Advantages

Compatibility: Use a voice command to type a letter, translate a memo, store a meeting's information, this sort of program is flexible enough to work along different types of software and systems.

Convenience: Often while typing, we tend to think or pause, then type, then think again.. this disrupts the creative process. It's nice if you just talk and your words are converted into text, right in front of you. You can actually see your ideas being formulated in front of you. For those who tape meetings and memos, this saves listening back to the audio and manually writing it down.

Speed: Typing takes practice; typing fast takes even more practice and experience. There's no doubt, that speaking your thoughts out loud is infinitely faster than typing them out. So a VRS takes care of that by eliminating the need for typing. Think how much more you can get done, if you just speak and the data gets typed. Navigation around a computer is much faster through speech recognition software. Saying "Open up Windows Explorer" and the program opening, is much faster than you searching for the option in the Start menu.

Hands-Free Computing: You can multitask or perform other tasks while computing, since a VRS computer will operate on your voice.

Easy Learning: Once you have mastered the commands, VRS is a simple system to use. This allows easier computing for those who are new to computers or not very tech-savvy. It is also useful for the disabled, elderly and those who cannot type properly or type with speed. VRS also helps those with learning disabilities like dyslexia, for whom typing can be a very cumbersome task.

Disadvantages

Accuracy: It's not as simple and easy as it sounds. There is a margin of error and different VRS programs have varying degrees of accuracy. Say a paragraph has 50 words, a high degree of accuracy would translate 46-48 words correctly. If the rate of accuracy is low, then you will have to retype or correct the stored text. The same applies to issuing commands to the computer. Saying "Open Word" and your computer mistakes it for something else and opens an entirely different program.

Sound Quality: The way you speak, the quality of your voice is also important. Humans find a slurred, mumbling or low voice tone, difficult to understand, why shouldn't a program? A crisp and very clear tone is needed. The background audio or effects also factor. A crowded or noisy area can hamper the entering sound quality and the VRS program cannot separate noise and audio.

VRS Learning Curve: The way you speak and pronounce certain words is different and the software must learn or adjust to that quirk or trait in your speech. It is a progressive program, so it learns from making mistakes and will improve with time. As it does so, you might end up editing or correcting some amounts of text, which do not match with what you said.

Environment: Talking into a microphone in a quiet and silent location, disturbs others around you. Plus they might think you are talking to them and end up starting a conversation! If you work with very specific and unusual data, such as scientific terms and jargon, then the built-in VRS software should also be smart enough to handle such words.

Price: Typing is cheaper than using a VRS. You do not need to purchase anything to type. On the other hand, a VRS will cost you at least $50 and high-end software can touch $200 - $300.

Ultimately go in for a VRS, considering your needs and weighing the various voice recognition software pros and cons against each other. Look for a balance of different features, check for compatibility with your computer's OS and programs and compare comparison rates before committing to a VRS program.

It’s All About Push Notification

The Apple Push Notification Service is a service created by Apple Inc. that was launched together with iOS 3.0 on June 17, 2009. It uses push technology through a constantly open IP connection to forward notifications from the servers of third party applications to the Apple devices; such notifications may include badges, sounds or custom text alerts.

Push notifications are essential to your app. This feature benefits both the user and the businesses. On the consumers' part, they can readily access discounts and other promotional activities of their favorite items. It enable apps to read text messages without opening the message. For example if you enable a push notification for a business app, the app will be able to provide latest updates about the business such as discounts, promo codes, latest coupons and other promotional activities. The notification will send a text and if you open it, you will be directed to the business app for additional information.

Businesses need the notification apps because they are able to quickly reach their intended audience. They alert customers in real time. Promoting the business app so consumers will subscribe is quite easy. They can promote their business app through their website. If they offer promo codes, redeemable items, discounts, mobile coupons, freebies and rewards system for repeat customers, the app will quickly gain a large following. If a business has a huge database of mobile phone users utilize the business app, one text can be sent to thousands of prospective customers in an instant. Discounts send through notifications increase sales by up to 30 percent.

Cell phone business apps are becoming more popular. This is because mobile phone users are growing by the minute. There are 5 times more cell phone users than computer users worldwide. The sheer number of mobile phone subscribers, estimated at 4 billion people and rising, provide businesses an immense opportunity in marketing. The conversion rate of 30 percent of notification recipients should provide enough motivation to utilize push notifications.

These features are vital to business applications. According to mobile marketing statistics, notifications that are sent are read by the recipient 97 percent of the time. This is an overwhelming advantage compared to email notifications which are opened at a much lower rate of 4 percent of the time.

Both customers and businesses should take advantage of this great opportunity at their fingertips. With the ever-increasing number of mobile phone users all over the world, it will be safe to say that mobile business apps are the future in marketing. Small businesses can greatly benefit in this marketing strategy.