Google shuts down Google Labs also removes Google toolbar from Firefox 5.0

Jul 252011
 

Google Vice President, Bill Coughran, has conveyed that it will no longer be continuing with Google labs and a phasing out process has already been started. The news appeared in the company’s official blog and apparently the Google CEO is sticking to his word of “putting more wood before fewer arrows”.

The closing will affect ongoing Google projects on the web and also the development of various Android applications. The projects won’t be closing down completely but many of them will be folded into other larger projects and further research work will stop. Similarly for android applications, the applications won’t become unavailable but further updates won’t be released.

The decision appears to be a consequence of the new management style of Larry Page, Google’s new CEO. Google says that it wants to focus on the upcoming ‘extra opportunities’ rather going into further research hence, the decision. Few years back, before Gmail was launched, Google became infamous for not launching its product completely even though more than 10 million users became member from invite only.

Another shocking decision was made by Google to discontinue its toolbar services from the latest version of Firefox (Firefox 5.0). Google claims that the ‘new browsers’ are capable enough on their own and don’t need the integration of an add-on like the Google toolbar.

The toolbar won’t be coming in the latest version of Firefox as well as all further versions, but will continue to provide services in the older browsers. The decision is sure disappointing but after all, the search engine giant has his own browser ‘Chrome’ to take care of.

For Firefox, Google toolbar was more than just a search bar, it was also used as a bookmarking tool and was useful for generating a site ranking (according to page scores generated by Google). Many users are not upgrading to the latest version because of the missing toolbar and some are even dreaming for a new toolbar from Google to be released for Firefox. Mozilla is now trying to analyse its options and building on replacements.

Finally Google+ iPhone App has been Released to iTunes

Jul 192011
 

Well there is nothing really much to say except that Google+ app for iPhone has been released to iTunes, and you can download it via iTunes Link . Here is the thing! I was able to download the app and also use it for a bit, and then all of the sudden it started crashing on my iPhone!

Google+ for iPhone

I do know why! I am on iOS 5 Beta 2 and should upgrade to Beta 3 because from what I hear is that lots of people saw app improvement and less apps crashing. So far my 3 apps are not working correctly on iOS 5

Hulu Plus

Netflix

and now Google +

Google+ (Google Plus) Now Open to Public

Jul 092011
 

Just few weeks ago Google released their own social network called Google+ (Google Plus). For weeks only invited users could test and explore Google+ but as of today according to GooglePlusTweet G+ is now open to public.

“Google+ is now open to anyone with a Google account. Go to plus.google.com and sign up! ”

What do I think about Google +?

Well its a nice social network that does remind me a lot of Facebook in old days, I like the fact that I have now more ability to sort people by “circles” overall Google+ will be popular social network but will take some time for people to realize what they can use it for. So far from what I can see, a lot of a-listers and companies are taking advantage of getting on as many followers as possible.

Perfect example would be Kevin Rose (Founder of Digg) he redirects his traffic from kevinrose.com to his google plus account. According to his tweet:

“Decided to forward kevinrose.com to Google+. G+ gives me more (real-time) feedback and engagement than my blog ever did”

I doubt his real reason, its more likely that he wants to have reach as many circles as possible, which reminds me actions that twitter promoters do.

If you wish to find me on Google+ my profile is located here

Update: I personally tried 2 accounts and loging-in worked only with one.
See more information from @GooglePlusTweet

Google+ iOS Edition

Jul 072011
 

Ever since Facebook became a deca-billion dollar construct, spawning companies which are worth billions of dollars in their own right (Zynga), there have been many attempts to dethrone this almighty social networking juggernaut. As we all know by now, Google+ is the Californian based company’s social network foray into the basically monopolized market. I’m not going into specifics here, but it basically looks like… Facebook, except, it’s not Facebook.

That’s not the point though. Currently, Google has just posted a Google+ application to the app store. It’s pending approval currently, while no approval process was necessary for the Android marketplace, for obvious reasons. Other information confirmed by Google, is that the application is not only for iPhones, iPod and iPad users can rejoice that they haven’t been forgotten by the search engine superpower.

Google is also releasing an Application Programming Interface for Google+, which will allow developers to create applications for Google+. Allowing software to interact with the service, as well as people, this API will certainly provide a greater amount of flexibility for users to exploit.

A couple of screenshots exhibit the features of Google+, including the much touted ‘Circles’ feature, where you can direct messages, and view messages only from particular social groups. There is also integration with Gmail, and GoogleTalk- perhaps a nice selling point about the social network in general.

In other news, remember that old site Myspace? The decaying site was just sold by its parent company for $35 million, a pittance compared to what it was originally worth. Even online newshub, ‘Huffington Post’ was sold for much much more. It serves as a reminder that perhaps, even Facebook might lose its grip on the Social Networking market.

Check out Google+ here

 

How To Turn Off Google Instant Search

Jul 022011
 

Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. There are several advantages of this new feature:

Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.

Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.

However, if you are finding Google Instant to be annoying or distracting, you can easily turn it off. To turn Google Instant off, go to your Google Search Preferences (the gear icon at the top right hand corner of Google.com) and select the radio button that says “Do not use Google Instant”. After, save your preferences. That’s it, Google Instant should be gone now.

Google+ for Android Equals Twitter+ for iOS 5

Jul 012011
 

Today I am upgrading my iPhone to iOS 5 Beta 2 and I can’t wait to see what all bugs have been fixed, while I just mentioned “iPhone” don’t get me wrong, I have android devices at home too.

To me this new Google+ is just as same as what Apple did with Twitter integration on iOS 5. Soon enough Android mobile devices will have integrated Google+ as well, that way people will be able to sync their contacts,profile pictures, emails and what not.

So far I do like Google+ but to be honest I am trying to concentrate more on one social network than others, because If my friends, family and + some 53.000 followers are on Twitter, why would I need to update the same status on Facebook or now Google+?

I have friends that update their Twitter, Facebook and even Linked in with exact same status, and when you have more than 100 “online” friends your timeline spins like crazy.

Anyway, purpose of this article was just to tell you that Google+ will be incorporated on Android mobile devices relatively soon, just like Apple integrated Twitter with iOS 5.
In case you already have Android smartphone, you can download Google+ App, and then wait few months until corporations start to integrate Google+ with the android OS it self :)

What’s your favorite social network? Leave interesting comments in the section below..

$1 Billion+ Acquisition of Popcap Games?

Jun 232011
 

 

Once, there was a backyard lawn that grew a multitude of plants including, sweet peas, corn, walnuts and sunflowers. However, after an arcane ritual went wrong, causing a devastating plague to sweep over humanity, causing zombification, your plants mutated somehow providing you with a cure against the undead disease as well as becoming your first line of defense against your brain hungry neighbors. In other words, Plants vs Zombies.

The company behind Plants vs Zombies, Popcap Games has been reported by TechCrunch as being under an acquisition process, with offers reportedly reaching over a billion dollars, unfortunately, the possible buyer has not been named yet. Possible suitors by TechCrunch comment that Zynga could have been a possible buyer, but with the Facebook game company’s comparatively low market capitalization, it would certainly be a colossal purchase for them. EA has been hinted at as a possible suitor too, and with its recent purchase of Playfish, EA does seem to be a contender in the acquisition of Popcap Games.

But, with comparatively small market capitalization versus the asking price of $1 billion, it also seems unlikely that EA will pick up the company. That leaves the ‘big 3′ so to say, Microsoft, Google and Apple. Microsoft seems like the most likely purchaser, after all, the massive company already does own an entire console, and the operating system that most games run on. Purchasing Popcap would allow the company to take another step in its plan of gaming domination.

Apple certainly does have the money to purchase Popcap, but it seems slightly unlikely that they would have reason to purchase Popcap Games. Some of the companies products have been released in the App Store anyway, such as Plants vs Zombies anyway. Purchasing Popcap to use as an exclusive application developer seems excessive, considering the huge numbers of willing developers to contribute to the App Store.

And then there’s Google, with their Android devices. Like the other two big companies, money really isn’t an issue here. However, they could use Popcap games to create a ‘killer app’ of sorts, to attract more users to Android phones in general, and embrace the market place. But with the market share of Android phones growing rapidly, it seems that Google won’t feel the need to purchase Popcap games to bolster their already accessible lineup.

Popcap games has refused to comment on these ‘rumors’ at this point in time. But expect a big announcement from the indie games developer soon.

Google search was never so much fun – Google adds voice, image search and much more to its search engine

Jun 152011
 

Google today conducted an event named “Inside Search” where it gave us an insight about the future of search and its search engine. Google has been at the head of innovations and people are working tirelessly at the Google labs to roll-out new products and services that excite the user and make life much simpler for him. Google today announced some new search features that are sure to interest you all.

  • First up is the mobile search feature that today gets a face-lift. From today onwards you will see a better mobile local search UI that shows your location on a map and dynamically changes map with AJAX to highlight each result as you look at it. Also, there will be integrated query suggestions from a user’s previous search history so that the user can more quickly get to things that they search quite often.
  • Next up is a refreshed tablet search UI.
  • Thirdly, Google announced that it will soon launch voice search for desktops. This feature has already been embedded in Android and now Google is planning to offer the same voice search experience to desktop users.
  • Google has also announced that it will soon launch image search feature wherein a user can simply drag and drop an image or cut and paste an image in the search box and Google search will then try and recognize the image and return relevant results like the location of the photo. This new feature will be available from www.images.google.com and can be accessed within the next few days so keep checking Google for the same.
  • Lastly, Google also announced the Instant and Instant Page feature whereby the user will not have to wait for a page to load when he clicks a link he has searched for. The new feature will load pages at least 4-10 seconds faster than before and I am sure Google will try to bring that figure down to zero. This feature will be available in Chrome Beta by this week end whereas it is currently available in Chrome’s developer version. This feature will also be extended to mobile devices and it will be launched on mobile in coming weeks.

 

Embed or Add Google +1 Button To Blogger or WordPress

Jun 032011
 

Google released new social networking button called Google +1, today we will show you how to embed or add Google +1 Button to your WordPress blog or Google Blogger.
Google +1 Logo
We would like you to get Google +1 button code first and then come back to this post to read further instructions. I read yesterday about 30 posts about +1 and not one describes what we are about to show you in step by step tutorial.

Most WordPress and Blogger themes are different but they do have common concept of functionality, I am no php or WordPress guru, but I do have confidence and patience to code things on my own and I am sure you can do it to. Lets start with WordPress Google +1 button installation, then we will go into Blogger details.

How to embed or add Google +1 Button in WordPress

Get the code the way you like it from Google Webmasters page .  Chose what size of button you wish to have and you should end up with two sets of code that look something like this:

AND



The first code they mention to place it before the </body> tag, which means you will have to look for that tag in one of the files. Most WordPress themes have opening and closing <body></body> tags in file called header.php.


Go to Appearance>>Editor and look to your right you will find file called header.php


Click on that file, and find </body> (CTRL+F, Option+F – should bring find bar in your browser)


Add the code




and save the file.


Then the second part of the code you can place it anywhere you like it to go, for example:

Code:




If you wish to add the code above to the sidebar, go to Widgets, drag the text object from left to right, add the code above and save the text so you should end up with something like this:

 Google +1 Button Embed


If you wish to add it to a single post go to Appearance>>Editor, find file called Single.php find the place you wish the Google +1 Button embedded paste the code and save it. If you don’t like it, work with it until you find the place you like that button to be. In our case, I found where the tags are displayed, and pasted the code




right bellow it.


If you have questions you can ask bellow in commenting section. Ill do mt best to answer it.


How To Add or Embed Google +1 Button to Blogger


Its so easy!

1. Go to Blogger.com and log-in

2. Click on Design tab above

3. Click on Edit Button for “Blog Posts”

At the bottom check-mark “Show Share Buttons”

Google +1 Button for Blogger

That’s it, the button should appear on blogs page, google also released this post about adding +1 to blogger. If you do have more questions on how to add Google +1 Button manually to blogger, do ask in comments section bellow.

		






	





	

	



	

		
Google +1 Button Embed Feature Coming Tomorrow!

	

		
May 312011

	

	 	

		



			

			

			

			
			

			

			
			
			
			
			
			
Google +1 Button


It is not official yet but Google +1 Button is going to be released tomorrow, you will be able to embed Google +1 button into your blog or website. I am not much thrilled about Google +1 button but it’s a good indication that button will have an impact on how much traffic you should be getting from Google, as well as the rank for certain keywords


Google +1 Button Example :


If you go to Google.com and search for MWD, you will notice that oclue.com can not be found on the first page but rather on the second page, so let’s say tomorrow when Google +1 button comes out, 50 people click on oclue.com because MWD should be tied to oclue.com. Few weeks go by and Google will notice that 50 people liked oclue.com for MWD keyword and then it will immediately rank oclue.com higher for MWD keyword.

Hope this example above makes sense to you.


If you own blog or website, stop by tomorrow and we will let you know how to embed Google +1 Button to your wordpress and website.


Sources: SEL and TC

		






	





	

	



	

		
Read These SEO Blogs to Improve Your Search Engine Optimization Skills

	

		
Apr 252011

	

	 	

		



			

			

			

			
			

			

			
			
			
			
			
			
Search Engine Optimization is very important part when developing websites or when you want to increase the traffic and visibility on internet. Today I would like to share with you few blogs and also my RSS bundle I created via Google Reader that you can subscribe to all SEO blogs I read on daily basis.


I have been blogging for over 7-8 years now and been involved in search engine optimization for very long time, I tutor also a lot of businesses back in the days about how to maximize their traffic by simply including few search engine optimization tricks to their website. As some of you webmasters noticed, a lot of people got hit by Panda Update including MWD but with some SEO skills you we managed to survive the downfall of that traffic and turn it up again and I would not be able to do that if I hadn’t read the SEO blogs below.


First I would like to share my bundle of those SEO blogs which can be found here on this page. As you can see, the bundle of my SEO blogs contain 10 blogs and those blogs are top blogs which I have been following for years, they thought me a lot, and I am still learning more and more on daily basis.


Google Reader (1000 )_1303744137292 


Matt Cutts – He is Google employee who loves to share knowledge on SEO and sometimes even describe things about Google in greater detail.


Search Engine Guide– They don’t write much as maybe others do, but their quality of seo content is supreme.


Search Engine Watch – Is build with quite few experienced seo people, they have their own opinion on things regarding seo news.


SEO Book – I talked to Aaron Wall few times back in the days and even though we don’t communicate much, his tools like SEO for Firefox and blog posts are still no.1 ranked. The name of the site tells you what it is all about.


SEOmoz – They have great tools, am using them quite often, and I love the fact that a lot of their blog writers say what they feel and think, they are not afraid bashing on anyone, as long as they know they are right. That blog is one of my favorite.


Search Engine Land – is another great seo blog, but only problem I have is that they mix news with different things than seo, so be prepared to read non-seo things from time to time. 


 


To read other blogs (as seen in picture above) I would suggest you to click on the bundle of rss feeds I created for you. Hope you enjoy my RSS feed bundle as I do every day. Please do share some of your favorite SEO blogs in commenting section below.


 


Cheers,


MWD Founder.

		






	





	

	



	

		
“You Share This” on Google is Really Annoying

	

		
Apr 232011

	

	 	

		



			

			

			

			
			

			

			
			
			
			
			
			
Seriously, for last few weeks I really get annoyed by the “You Shared This” on Google (as seen in picture below). I have Google Buzz turned on and I also share MWD articles on GBuzz so that my  followers have fresh news to read right from Gmail. Now, every single article I share via Google Buzz shows up also on Google Search when I type in some keyword.


Here is an example:


Apple Scandal GPS


I searched for Apple GPS Scandal and Google showed MWD result on first page, now if I log out from Google , and search the same keyword , I will not see “You Shared This“, duh!


So is there a way to turn this off? After 15 minute research there was not one single smart resolution to it, basically I am stuck with it.


And if you experience this same issue on Google , two or three things you can do.


    

  • Remove Google Buzz
    • 

  • Remove your Google Profile
    • 

  • Close Gmail account? hahah
    • 

  • Log out from google or use different browser – its what I have been doing, and seems to be the easy solution.
    • 



I really would like Google to add the button where you can remove “you shared this” or at least to let you customize it which shares you want to display on Google Search and which ones you do not want.


Overall “you share this” idea  is great because sometimes when I search for stuff I do click on the links I shared before, which means it was interesting to read and I shared with others.

		






	





	

	



	

		
We Survived and Fixed Panda Update Problem

	

		
Apr 222011

	

	 	

		



			

			

			

			
			

			

			
			
			
			
			
			
About week ago I wrote an article what I have learned from Panda Update.But before I go any further into how I fixed the traffic after the Panda Update I just want to write few words to those that don’t know what I am talking about at all.


Panda Update or Angry Panda
Img Credit:gadgetcage.com


Panda Update or some call it also Google Dance, is this new Google algorithm that ranks websites where they should be placed on Google when somebody is searching for specific keyword. Sites with low or poor quality content are now ranked very low in Google while other credited sites are still on top. I mentioned all of this in link above, so you might want to read that article first and then come back to this one.


For those that do know what’s Panda Update and also suffered traffic loss, here is how we survived and fixed some of the issues after the Panda Update.


First I went ahead and looked who I hired  to write for MWD since 2008 and checked some of their articles. I did that because one lesson I learned is “What you pay for is what you get” . I found 130 articles that were written by few individuals that had less than 200 words,  some of those articles even had 20-30 links in them! It was my mistake to give authority to those “authors” to publish articles Freely Neely. I go this cool wordpress plugin called “WordPress Meta Robots” and basically what that plugin allows you to, is to place NoIndex or NoFollow on pages and articles. I end up placing nofollow on 170 articles, took me about 2 hours to go through, but it paid it self off.


Posts that had over 5 links, I removed at least two links per post, so that each article which had 5 links, now has only two linked sources and some links I had to replace with better ones or more credited url sources. I downloaded and installed wordpress plugin called Smart 404. It redirects Google and visitors that get 404 error page to more appropriate place or to home page.


Summary:


    

  • Removed or placed NoIndex,NoFollow on posts that even I would skip after 5 seconds of reading it.
    • 

  • Checked Google Webmasters and checked Crawl Errors and looked at 404 Error Pages

      

    • Fixed those either with robots.txt file, or Smart 404 took care of it.
      • 

    

    • 

  • Removed affiliated links , if affiliated link does not make you money, why have it?
    • 

  • Removed links on posts that had 5 or more links to sources

      

    • Also replaced links with better and credited sources

        

      • Why link to Site A with crappy product review, when you can link to Site B with awesome product review?
        • 

      

      • 

    

    • 

  • Deleted Authors and Ghost Writer accounts that no longer write for us.
    • 

  • Contacted sites webmasters that copy and paste our content.

      

    • Asked webmasters to remove our content from their website within 72 hours, if not we will file DMCA against their hosting and they will be forced to shut the site down. I know this is harsh, but YOU as MWD visitor and loyal reader, should read our articles here not on sites like kak3k123oskz.info or .com :) 
      • 

    

    • 



Well that was pretty much it. I spend 7 hours doing this all, and this afternoon I already saw 6% in traffic increase!  I thought I would share this adventure and journey just because I know that many people that own websites like MWD were forced to either shut it down or let people go, like we were forced to do.


Thank you for reading, please take some of your time and leave comment if you have any additional information you would like to share with us and visitors. And if this was a good read, or it helped you in any way, do us a favor and tweet or click Like button.

		






	





	

	



	

		
Panda Update.Thanks, lesson learned!

	

		
Apr 182011

	

	 	

		



			

			

			

			
			

			

			
			
			
			
			
			
Not too long ago, February 24th to be exact, Google decided to change 12% of search query algorithm which basically took a lot of business to bankruptcy and a lot of people got  let go. Here at MWD we had some 20+ ghost writers who wrote articles almost every day to bring you latest and greatest technology news, but unfortunately due to the Google recent algorithm changes we had to let 80% of those ghost writers go.


I personally think that so called Panda Update is actually something that should of happened long time ago, not in 2011 but 2005, when Blogging got popular and everyone had blog to make money from. I have been in blogging business now for over 8 years, made 6 figure income from building and selling blogs which I recently retired off and  I said to my self, I’ll keep MWD and build tech empire out of it.


That empire started off good, just last year in December we received over 650.000 pageviews and bit over 450.000 unique visitors per month,  thanks to search engines and You as visitor who is loyal to MWD to come back and read our latest news.


So lets start fist with what means  “ Panda Update”…


Panda Update which correct term for it is Content Farm websites. On February 24th Google decided to put in new algorithm that recognized which sites deserve to be high ranked and which websites deserve to be low ranked for certain keywords.


Example: Mixed Web Data (MWD) use to high rank for keyword “magic jack” because one of our ghost writers wrote an article about Magic Jack USB. Before February 24th we ranked No. 4 in Google I think? We received lots of audience, who were happy  and unhappy to read the article. After February 24th we are not even in top 100 links for that keyword, and I don’t mind. But if Google thinks that sites like this one “magicjack.blog.asu.edu” deserves to be on Top 15 and which has NO content well I guess No content is better than 300 word content that describes what Magic Jack USB is.


Sites like Mahalo, Ehow and other similar websites that users contributed poorly written articles were  hit the most due to the recent Google changes. They lost millions of traffic by Panda Update effect on February 24th and most recent one on March 30th.


So what did I as Founder of MWD learned?


    

  • Focus on things you believe in and started MWD with!

      

    • Deliver quality tech news content that provides audience worth reading an article. As they say “Time is Money”
      • 

    • What you pay is what you get! – Rather have 3 good and passionate authors than 50 bad authors.
      • 

    • White about startups that are not popular, because they deserve to be published too!
      • 

    

    • 

  • Get in touch with your audience, communicate and socialize with them on daily basis.

      

    • Tweet, Facebook, and meet with people and give special attention to those that are loyal to your business.
      • 

    

    • 



I mean there is a lot of things I learned from this Panda Update and I personally wish that my focus was not going off track because MWD was doing so well. We believe and hope as a team that from now on we will deliver quality content and content that is rare to find. I think other webmasters should not blame Google because they lost rankings for certain keywords, they actually should be thankful because search engine like Google got lot cleaner.


What’s your whole thought on Panda Update or “Content Farmers”?


(Img Source: bootbearwdc – I added text)

		






	





	

	



	

		
Gmail for iPad Apps suck. Gmail.com is best

	

		
Apr 022011

	

	 	

		



			

			

			

			
			

			

			
			
			
			
			
			
I just got an iPad 2 for my birthday and first thing I did is setup my mail. I get bunch of emails every day and out of 100-200 per day I delete probably 20% of them. See the thing is that with original iPad mail app you can delete, archive emails and things like that. But to mark them as read even if you didn’t open email, oh well that option does not exist. 


So I went to app store and downloaded bunch of gmail apps for iPad but no app really had an option to select and mark emails as read. I went to gmail.com With my iPad and to be honest it’s the best way to check and manage gmail account. What I love the most is that I can actually make gmail.com as app by simply clicking on bookmark button and add it to home screen (sorry no images today, am writhing this article via iPad for the first time, and I am not happy with it at all.


Anyway, I just wanted to share tht sometimes mobile paged are way better than an actual iDevice apps.  Try it.


If you have tablet, which app do you use for to check on your gmail account?

		






	





	

	

		 Older Entries