Tablets are in essence a touch screen device which uses the internet. They are extremely mobile, use apps and website browsers and can store a multimedia files and players. Photos music and videos can be stored, accessed, played, viewed. Some of the latest tablets have built in cameras.

Furthermore social networking sites are being used by a wide ranging age group. For example the facebook newsroom reported in 2010 that the highest growing demographic for new people joining facebook was the over 35 age group. They also reported that there are over 500 million users worldwide and that half of facebook users log on everyday.

The global internet opportunity is huge for any company.

Whilst iPad has been market leader, others are following and by the end of 2011 it is expected that hundred of other versions of tablets, of varying specifications and price points will enter the marketplace. Hence making the ownership of a tablet desirable to most people who use the web.

A mobile website is not an APP. A mobile website is simply a website. However it ought to be designed so that there is limited scrolling for the user, and its simple to navigate throughout the site.

A starting point when considering having a mobile website designed is the objectives. For instance is your website designed to increase business enquiries, sell products or services online, or maybe it is an information giving website which will reduce the overheads traditionally associated with answering questions on the phone and sending out brochures.

Lets look at why a mobile website is not the same as an APP. An APP must be downloaded. They are fun funky and cools, however a mobile website does not need to be downloaded. The APP must be developed for the various platforms on which smart devices operates. For example Android, Mac for iPhones, iPad and Blackberry.

Every smart phone on the market has internet access built in so that mobile website is available at the touch of a button or screen, to anyone in the world who uses a smart phone.

Smart phones and tablets, such as the iPad are now outselling PCs and figures indicate that tablets will grow in popularity and fall in price.

Some smart phones has small screens. Mobile web design considers this by a less-is-more approach and great use of color and graphics.

Some platforms, for example leading e-commerce platforms, caters for the mobile website to be designed and published, and for APPS to be produced for each platform. For companies with a larger budget this is an option.

When approaching web design companies always ask for a portfolio of mobile web design work and apps before committing to anything.

Mobile web design is still relatively new and many web designers do not have the necessary experience to be able to fulfill the requirements needed for mobile and tablet web design.

Syncd Design offer mobile web design hudderfield and build website apps. Synd Design also provide marketing services such as graphic design in yorkshire

“DabbleBoard” is a whiteboard that enables you to visualize, explore and collaborate. You draw as you are drawing on a whiteboard and you can easily share your ideas. It also lets you conduct presentation and chat though you can not share files. You can read 10 reasons why to use “Dabbleboard”.

“CoSketch” is another whiteboard that you can collaborate to visualize your ideas and share them as images. The good thing is that, you don’t have to register or install anything. It works in all browsers, it’s real time and you can get an embed code for your drawing after you finish.

“Stixy” lets you create online bulletin board to collaborate with family, friends, colleagues. You can share pictures, files, reminders, notes using different widgets that you can change size and colors. It’s fun, free,easy and colorful. “Stixy” deserves a try!!

“Grou.ps” lets you create your own social network. There are different modules to be used as many as you want. You can create your forum, mailing list, share documents,files and your agenda to organize events, have your own “YouTube”, share links, bookmarks, photos. You can have real time chat and you can let the users have subgroups and it’s free.

I’m sure many of us are a member of a “Ning” group and “Ning” is the one of the best sites to create and join new social networks that interest us. You can upload pictures,photos, feeds, bookmarks and many more.

“ImaginationCubed” is a “multi” user drawing tool. You can use a pen, stamp,shapes, line or you can type. You can also change the color of the background. I loved this one, it’s cool!

If you are using Twitter, you may want to try “GroupTweet”. It lets you create your Twitter account into a group communication tool where everyone in the group uses direct messages. When a member gets a “DM”, “GroupTweet” turns it into a new tweet that all followers in the group can see.

“Wallwisher” is an online notice board maker. You can use this tool to make announcements, keep notes. You can use links, pictures, music, video and pages. You don’t have to register. You can have a look at “Nik Peachey’s Wallwisher” as a great example.

“PageFlakes” is a social personalized homepage that you can customize Internet using flakes which are small, movable of all your web favorites. You can add Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, photos, music, videos, calendar, to-do list, message board, RSS feed.

“WriteBoard” is a-web based text documents that you can track every edit and change that are made by other users. You can role back to any version and compare different versions.

“Wiggio” is an online toolkit that lets you work in groups easily. You can send emails, text messages,voice mails. It makes it easy to share files and polls. You can set video conferences and also keep shared calendar, keep track of group’s tasks and resources.

“WeToku” is an interview tool that automatically records it to play it back. You can embed it and share it with others. You can watch my “WeToku” interview with Ana Maria “Menesez”.

“Webnote” is a tool for taking notes on your computer and you can share your notes with others giving the workspace name or the URL.

“PalBee” is a free online service that allows you to set up online video meetings with your friends or colleagues. You also have a whiteboard and it lets you draw, write texts, highlight or erase using different tools.

“Phuser” is a tool for groups to discuss or work together and privately. You can share photos, files, choose who joins, create and track discussions.

“WikiDot” is wiki builder to share content, documents and collaborate with your students, colleagues, friends. You can create pages, forums,separate wikis for groups or students, discuss topics, upload files, documents,notes, images and share them with others.

“Creately” lets you create professional looking online diagrams with your colleagues.

“DoingText” is a web based text editor for collaborative writing. You tell others the URL and they write comments, make changes without signing up. It lets you track changes and comments by RSS feed, export text by embedding in other pages. You can go back to the previous version of every line or you can see an overview of the discussion history.

“SpringNote” is an online notebook for collaboration. You can write down your ideas, create to-do lists, do scheduling and work together for projects. It also has an iphone application.

“MeBeam” is a place where you can create your chat room. You just type the name of the room and tell the people to meet you there.

Create, collaborate and enjoy!

This article was written by Ozge Karaoglu.
Kevin Hogan is Editorial Director for Tech & Learning Magazine. Read more about technology in education at www.techlearning.com

Social media has three main components. Concept refers to what is posted. It could be text or pictures or video or multimedia. Media refers to the channel. It could be verbal or electronic or verbal. Social interface is the type of interaction. It could be direct, community engagement, viral or broadcast. There are several common forms. There are memorable slogans or concepts that encourage others to repeat them. There is print media that is planned to be re-distributed. There is electronic media meant to be shared.

Social media are different than industrial forms. Industrial media is also known as “traditional” and would include such things as television and newspapers. These typically involve a great deal of resources and personnel to produce. The social type does not require such resources. It is inexpensive and accessible and able to be created by an individual or group with something to say. There is not a need for extremely specialized skills. There is also a much shorter time between creation and distribution. There are some criticisms of the style. It is not regulated. The information presented may or may not be rue, accurate or valid.

A hybrid of social media and the traditional is called community media. This would include such things as public access television production organizations or small, community newspapers. They usually are small in scale and involve both professionals and amateurs. Everyone wants to have a voice. Many want that voice to be heard. They want to share their views or engage in a satisfying creative activity. The internet has provided a wonderful platform for these creative activities. Sites that allow for status updates or uploading of videos or the sharing of thoughts through blogging have given many people an outlet for their musings. Print media was an outlet prior to the internet and continues to be even today.

Troy Truman is an online publisher providing great tips on social media. To learn more about this topic, visit http://www.EcentricMarketing.com.au today!

It is certainly why it is missed by Irish citizens who move from home, and why many were so pleased at the announcement of RTE Player which is a similar version of BBC Iplayer. It allows you watch the majority of RTE content and programmes over the internet. Alas all the homesick Irish were to be disappointed when they tried to access the RTE Player from abroad, the dreaded Geotargeting stopped them.

Now some of you are probably not aware of this term, but ‘geotargeting’ plays an important part on what you access online. The most obvious example is when you go to Google, you will always be directed to the Google Home page related to your location e.g Google.com, Google.co.uk, Google.IE.

In this case it makes perfect sense, but unfortunately Geotargeting is also used to block access in many cases. It’s quite a simple process, everyone connected to the internet has an IP address to identify themselves. This IP address is registered and can be traced to a physical location, so all a web site has to do is look up the location of this address from a database and it can determine where you are.

This is what RTE Player does, it looks up your IP address and if it’s not registered in Ireland you won’t be able to access the content. BBC Iplayer does the same for Non-UK surfers, in fact most of the big media sites block access to their content outside their specific country.

But the truth is that this doesn’t stop people accessing the shows if they use a workaround. In the instance of RTE Player all you need to do is to connect through a proxy server that is registered in Ireland. When you connect throught the Irish proxy your IP address will be listed is Irish and RTE Player will work perfectly.

Now the methods you can use this depends on lots of things, if you don’t mind spending time tracking down and testing proxies then you can use free ones. The advantage is obviously the cost, however it can take a long time to find a new Irish proxy each time you want to view RTE. The free ones never stay live for very long either so it’s going to be an ongoing search.

I have found it simply takes too much time to find a free, fast and reliable proxy which is why I generally use a commercial one as they are fast and secure.

There’s more information here, on my US RTE post, on this blog.

It’s a well used concept, basically every computer connected to the Internet has an IP address. This address is basically your presence on the internet and it can be traced to the exact computer that you are using. Many media sites, the BBC included use the location of the IP address to allow or restrict content.

For instance if you connect to the internet in the UK you will be assigned an IP address from your ISP. This IP address will be listed to be used in the UK hence you are identified as a UK surfer. If you connect to the internet from somewhere like the USA or France (in fact anywhere except UK) – everytime you try and access the BBC Iplayer then you will be blocked.

It’s not that clever it’s simply a big database listing which country an IP address is assigned to. In fact sometimes this can be wrong, I know for a fact that some IP address ranges in France are actually listed as being in the UK. The result is that these IP addresses can access BBC Iplayer even when connecting from France, simply because the IP database is out of date.

This targeting of content is also used by many other web sites. Google will automatically direct you to the language variant of your connection, the same with places like Amazon which will suggest the correct country depending on your location.

There are lots of US media sites like Hulu, Pandora and ABC which block users who are not from the US. One aspect that always annoys me is the way I can’t visit my favourite online casino when I’m in the US as they block US surfers based on their IP address due to the online gambling laws in the States.

In other senses their are more sinister uses of geotargeting, censorship to online users is rife on the internet and many people are blocked from lots of legitimate sites purely due to the location of their computer.
When I travel across Europe the sites my computer is allowed to access changes dramatically in some senses. When I visit Turkey lots of websites now get blocked including until recently WordPress blogs (although someone told me that has now changed again)

But remember this form of censorship is actually quite unsophisticated, it’s just a simple lookup in many cases. The solution is that you just have to change your IP address so that it looks like you are coming from a different country. It’s relatively simple to do but will either require some research or investing in a commercial solution.

So fear not there is a way of watching whatever media site you wish, you may be interested in these pages Watch UK TV and
how to access BBC Iplayer

Google’s own Eric Schmidt has enthusiastically discussed partnering with Twitter by integrating Twitter feeds into the Google SERPs. However, Schmidt was keen to play down talk of a full-on acquisition.

Other participants in the real-time phenomena such as Scoopler also draw heavily on Twitter data.

The additional space for “popular content” is a great idea, however, in my example above it is not yet 100% functional. Looking for David Cameron, who has recently indulged in some casual swearing on Absolute Radio, we see the expected tweet stream awash with posts including a video. However, when selecting the videos link from the popular content panel we are told there are no videos yet!

OneRiot also makes use of Twitter posts as well as online content that is being shared by the masses.

The good news here is that the video filter is working. However, I would expect the most shared content to be tailored to target the user query in order to make the experience more relevant. Overall OneRiot feels a little clunky and does little to enhance user experience.

For me Twitter is the catalyst to something much larger and more significant for search and the web as a whole.

Companies such as Collecta, Relegence and OneRiot are busy putting flesh on the bones of this debate, however, there are considerable problems with putting a true real-time solution in place.

The Future: Definition and Evolution

If the question a search platform needs to ask itself in the context of the traditional model is,

“What is relevant?”

Then the question a real time platform must ask is,

“What is relevant right now?”

To give context to this then consider the events surrounding Michael Jackson’s death.

In the traditional search environment the most relevant result for “Michael Jackson” would be the Michael Jackson website. However, in recent weeks this query would have been entered by people looking for information on the memorial event and the recent issues regarding his personal physician. Therefore it is important that search technology understands the intent behind each query.

Some may say that this is catered for to an extent in our current search solutions but for true real-time information as-it-happens we need to see big changes in technology.

At a recent search panel attended by Matt Cutts, Danny Sullivan et al there was talk of the sheer heavyweight computational requirements of such a task. Not only would engines need to see everything posted everywhere, they would then need to filter this data to determine:

– Uniqueness of information
o 5% of registered Tweeps generate the majority of content.
o Within this, think about the volume of re-tweets generated from a particular article of interest.
o The solution needs to account for the obvious relevance of a re-tweeted article but also discount the content as being duplicated.
– Relevance of content
o As with the example above regarding Michael Jackson’s passing and the evolving events surrounding it
– Intent of contributor
o Suppose 1000 people all post the same link on Twitter. Although the content and intent of the linked article are the same the intent of each user could be different. Think of Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from Manchester United. There was a lot of opinion surrounding this and these differing opinions need to be considered.
o Some people here may prefer to make a distinction between real-time and social search (What is happening right now vs. what people think right now). I believe that the two go hand-in-hand for a truly relevant search platform. This links back to my opening on Twitter and brands connecting with users.
o What you say about an event should also be considered alongside the event itself.

One way of addressing this problem would be to apply a timescale to all data. Potentially, a real-time engine could examine all information gathered within a 5 minute timescale as relevant. Although this is still a mammoth undertaking from a technological standpoint we can immediately rule out masses of content which is not “of the now”.

Just how instant can we go?

Danny Sullivan labours the very valid point in his article What is Real Time Search? Definitions and Players that qualifying as real-time means as good as instantaneous availability on the web.

“For me, “real time search” means looking through material… where there’s practically no delay between composition and publishing. You take a picture and seconds later, it’s posted to the world to see. You think of something, immediately tap it out on Twitter, and your tweet is shared almost as soon as you thought of it.

What’s NOT real time publishing? Blogging, for the most part. A post has to be written, which typically will be at least a few paragraphs long. It may involve some research, taking more time. It may involve a ton of research, taking even more time. The mere act of creating and publishing the post will likely take more than a minute, if not several.

Publishing in minutes isn’t the same as publishing in real time? Nope. Not when the time to publish a tweet is seconds. You see something, hear something, want to say something, feel an earthquake happening – you bang it into a simple box and bam, you’ve microblogged.”

This represents a major challenge for real-time providers and the reason why Twitter has provided the backbone for many of the emerging platforms out there.

Wishlist: Commercial Application to PPC

When this hurdle has been navigated we are left with a very exciting evolution of search with massive potential as a business model.

In search we are all too aware of the link between TV spots and campaign volumes. A real-time model could allow businesses to leverage themselves at key conversion opportunities alongside their offline activity.

For instance, if I am running TV spots between the hours of 19:00 and 21:00 for car insurance a real-time model should be able to recognize the proportional uplift in searches for my brand in comparison to the norm and therefore place greater relevancy on my ads by discounting my CPC via it’s QS component.

This shift in functionality will surely excite those who often ask “So what?” when they are told about the link between offline and online. If Google and, indeed, search in general is all about relevancy then it is the next obvious step to start introducing this functionality into the paid search arena.

Latitude is one of the largest and longest-established digital marketing agencies in the UK, with expertise in SEO, PPC, display advertising, social media, conversion analytics and affiliate marketing. Original article is here.

Satellite TV is now made possible and you do not have to go through a lengthy process to avail the service. All you need to do is to install a card that will help the software work or you can opt for instant satellite TV software. Nevertheless, you have to make sure that you have a good sound card and of course a high speed Internet connection.

Getting the best quality TV on your PC is actually easy. You do not have to fear bad weather and check regularly if the satellite is aligned correctly. You can either use a hardware or software that you will only need to install once and then that is it. You can start enjoying your most loved shows live. Whichever of the two you choose, you should ensure that your Internet connection is good. The minimum requirement to get the best quality TV on your PC is your broadband connection needs to be no less than 512 kbps.

With satellite TV on your PC along with a good Internet connection, the images will be sharper and far better than your cable TV. You will be surprised that you have made a good decision with TV on your PC.

However, the Internet connection is not the only thing, which determines the quality of streaming and image/sound. It’s actually not really important. I mean, nowadays broadband is very affordable, and if you have something like 2mb broadband, then you don’t need to worry about the Internet connection being a problem, when watching TV on your computer.

However, if you want to get best quality TV on your PC, then what you need to pay attention to is the actual software that gives you access to television channels. This is the main thing, which is responsible for literally everything. The image and sound quality highly depends on how good the program is, and also streaming is partly dependant on the software.

So before choosing to buy any kind of programs, make sure you read some reviews/recommendations about them, and always look out for money-back guarantee, so in case if something goes wrong, you can easily get a refund.

I no longer wonder can I watch TV programs on my PC or not, because I’m using Satellite TV for PC software. If you want to watch TV on your PC, that’s all you need.

You have the option to watch TV shows on PC in real time approach or you can record them so that you watch them later. Actually, there are websites out there that allows you to watch the shows that you may have missed. They are instantly posted on the Internet so that other users may be able to watch them especially those special sports events that are shown on pay per view channels. Some of these channels may not be available in your area and thus, you miss half of the excitement. You will just know what the results are because they are now being shown in the news.

With TV shows on PC, you do not have to wait for the news to come out. You can watch the whole action live or you can take advantage of the sites that have prerecorded the events. Surely, you will be able to watch anything using your Internet and they are for free.

I’m sure when you hear something’s is free you start thinking, that there must be some sort of catch and you are actually quite right. However, it’s a fact, that there are some software available online, which are being sold for about $50 and they give you access to over 3000 channels to watch on your PC. Some of them even offer more than 5000 channels. Of course, these channels include foreign ones as well, but it’s a huge mix of everything.

So why everyone are not watching TV on PC, you may ask? Well, while things look really easy, the slight problem is that you need the right software to do all this stuff. Majority of programs offered online are total scams and useless piece of junk. Often they are packed with viruses and spyware, so it’s pretty tough to find a decent software.

My recommendation for you would be to read products reviews, before buying anything, and always make sure there’s a money-back guarantee coming with the product.

You no longer need to think can I watch TV programs on my PC or not, because with Satellite TV for PC it’s very possible. If you want to watch TV on PC, then this is all you require.

The first one is through downloading or streaming. Many of the television shows from around the world stream their programs to the Internet so this is an easy way for you since you do not have to download anything. You can watch full episodes in different sites even when they are already old. There are also sites that allow downloading of the shows and movies.

The next step is through the software that you can install to make viewing more pleasurable. You just have to install the program and then you start viewing your favorite shows. It is as simple as that and you also do not have to buy other hardware to connect to different channels.

The last thing is to use a TV tuner. You can find this in the stores and they are pretty cheap also. You can place the card in an available slot in your PC or you can just use the USB device and plug it into the computer.

If you would ask, which is the best option out of these three, then I would definitely recommend you to buy and install a professional TV on PC software. The reason for that is because you get over 3000 television channels with no limits or monthly fees. Compared to streaming this is 20x better, because you can simply switch on the program, locate the channel and watch, while when streaming, the signal is sometimes poor, image quality is low or others similar problems.

In regards of TV tuners, those are a bit more expensive than satellite software, and usually they provide less channels than specialized programs. In addition to that, they are more complicated to use/install, while the software is very easy to install and probably even 10 year old would manage to use it.

If you are still thinking how to have TV on your PC, then my choice would be to get a professional satellite TV software.

So stop wondering can I watch TV programs on my PC or not, and get Satellite TV for PC software today. I watch TV on my PC, and you can too. It’s easy!

The first reason why you should opt for this is that you can watch your favorite TV programs as well as those channels from across the globe no matter when you want to view them. Aside from that, it is not affected by the weather. Also, you do not have to live in urbanized districts just to watch the programs that you have been missing since you got cable. Quite obviously, you do not have to install a satellite dish just to watch your favorite sports events or concerts. As soon as you have installed the software or the tuner card, you can enjoy watching more channels. It is possible to get more than 4000 channels so you can just imagine how many choices you have.

When you watch satellite TV on PC, there are no problems with regards to the reception. You will never hear yourself complain about channels that have low quality images and poor sounds.

However, that’s only true in the case, when you are using professional, reliable software. The problem is that there literally thousands of scammy programs all over the Internet, which offer very low quality streaming and image/sound. The worst thing is that majority of such programs don’t provide any kind of money-back guarantee, so if you purchase them, after you can’t get a refund.

This is why you have to be really careful, when choosing which software to buy. If you don’t want to regret about your decision, then do proper research, before buying anything. You can definitely watch satellite TV on PC at home, but that’s only possible if you use the right program. Also to get maximum enjoyment out of this, you need a quality software. So keep this in mind, when browsing the Net looking for this stuff.

I no longer think about can I watch TV programs on my PC or not, because now I have Satellite TV for PC software that gives me access to over 3000 TV channels. I got TV on my PC, and you can too. It’s easy.