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rlorlu   rlorlu Rollins's TIGblog
Rollins's profile

Bing Vs Google- What really matters?

Microsoft unleashes Bing… it starts a chain reaction… everyone’s talking… they roll out millions in advertising /marketing funds… embark on mass media campaigns… now everyone’s hearing about Bing… more (and more) people actually begin “checking it out”. Okay, that’s basically where we are now.

As with all other thing that hugely affects our lives, there have been diverse views on Bing, especially amongst the tech/search savvy crowd, and webmasters in general. Sounds like your regular revolution doesn’t it?

Microsoft’s Bing release has however proved to be more than the average revolution, drawing widespread discourse from literally every corner of the globe, with many scrutinizing Bing, and offering (mostly negative) comments about the Search Engine, almost always in comparison to Google.

Only two days after the official release announcement, Bing had already come under intense fire from “search experts”, with many doubting its ability to compete with, much less “steal” market share from Google- often citing the quality of the Search Engine’s results and speed as the two major reasons.

Two weeks down the road, Bing surprised many including the experts, recording an 11.4% rise in searcher penetration. Bing had already attained a 16.7% searcher penetration and a 12.1% share of search results pages among all US workday searches, according to stats from comscore.com.

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Microsoft Sites’ average daily penetration among U.S. searchers reached 16.7 percent during the work week of June 8-12, up 3 percentage points from the May 25-29 work week prior to Bing’s introduction

These results have however not changed the minds of some who still insist the only way Bing can cause a major upset is if it provides much better search results than Google, the basis of the argument being ;

.. the same or “good enough” probably isn’t enough for Bing to convince too many people to switch from using Google

I for one disagree, and I made it clear in an earlier post on this site that I thought Bing would effectively “terminate” Google’s search dominance, and it definitely wasn’t because of the quality of search results (where Google surpasses Bing I must add).  A comment on that post literally really summarizes my entire view of the competition;

…. Bottom line: more comprehensive results does not mean more usage, at least for me.

Let’s face it, the search results generated by both Google and Bing aren’t that far apart, as such several other factors will be key in the determining the future of the competition between them.

Whilst many experts have focused on search results in trying to determine Bing’s fate, most have ignored a very important factor in market development- BUZZ. It’s quite simple really- the more people talk about a product, the more attention is drawn to that product, and more (and more) people are forced to check it out, if for nothing else to see what all the fuss is about.

Microsoft obviously hasn’t forgotten though- and they have clearly shown that with a series of marketing campaigns which have included a “live Bingathon and fast-forwarding commercials on The Daily Show“- Bing has literally been in everyone’s faces, attracting a huge number of “trial searchers”, which according to compete.com “haven’t produced significant enough volume to impact the established market share of the top engines, which account for more than 12 billion queries”.

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The Buzz and the Competition

Instead of trying to take on Google where they are obviously stronger, Microsoft have rather focused on making Bing more robust- offering users a richer experience- thus making the search engine Exciting »» Interactive »» Engaging !!


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The Strategy

Microsoft has put in a lot of effort in ensuring that they present Bing as a “Decision Engine”- which organizes the answers you need so you can make faster, more informed decisions. As shown below, Bing displays search results, not by order of popularity, but rather organizes them into categories such as best matches, similar results, and related searches.
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Bing essentially appeals to the senses of searchers by providing features which aid the searcher in making a decision, paying particular attention to the areas of key interest to most people- Travel, Health, and Shopping.

Shopping

No doubt one of Bing’s strong points- searching for a product on Bing generates price comparisons, images, and actual user reviews, sorted and grouped to display popular features, and even cash back for that particular product from “hundreds of online retailers”.

Health

Bing does really well with regards to this touchy subject. Bing’s health results pull together information from “top medical sources health sources from all over the world” to provide concise, and accurate results. A search for Malaria for instance, generates the following useful information alongside the actual search results;

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Travel

Apart from the useful content displayed on the Bing home page, Bing also features a special travel page which searches travel sites to find the best ticket options, offers tools to refine search results, and an impressive price predictor tool which tells you when fares will be cheapest.

Local Search

Bing provides tools that make it easier and quicker to find relevant local content, such as user reviews from local content sites, hours of operation for local businesses, one-click directions, maps and traffic reports. Each local listing in Bing provides a snapshot of information to help you make decisions, along with tools that help you refine local search results based on a number of factors, including rating, distance, type of cuisine, price, etc.

Additionally, Bing Maps lets you easily find, discover and share location information, providing useful tools such as maps and directions and view high-resolution aerial imagery.

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Google Running Scared?

It is quite clear what Microsoft intended to achieve with Bing, and they may well have succeeded. From all indications, Bing’s unexpectedly rapid growth has Google “threatened”.

Last week, the New York post reported that co-founder Sergey Brin is so rattled by the launch of Microsoft’s rival search engine that he has assembled a team of top engineers to work on urgent upgrades to his Web service.

Brin, according to sources inside the tech behemoth, is himself leading the team of search-engine specialists in an effort to determine how Bing’s crucial search algorithm differs from that used by the company he founded in 1998 with Stanford University classmate Larry Page.

New search engines have come and gone in the past 10 years, but Bing seems to be of particular interest to Sergey,” said one insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity

The move by Brin is unusual, as it is rare these days for the Google founders to have such hands-on involvement in day-to-day operations at the company

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What Really Matters?

Maybe comprehensive search results really don’t translate into usage after all. Microsoft’s strategy has been pretty simple-

  1. Create a feature-rich product that makes search a bit more exciting by offering greater usability and interaction.
  2. Spend a fortune marketing that product, with the aim of getting people to check it out and experience those rich features
    :

I guess it’s fair to say the strategy has worked. Bing has since had everyone “lining up” to check it out, including the skeptics, many of whom believed “this Bing thing would be a giant failure”. To be quite honest, after experiencing the features on offer at Bing, you could easily forget about some of the noticeable flaws on the Search Engine.

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Peep on Gatorpeeps 


June 22, 2009 | 3:06 AM Comments  0 comments

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rlorlu   rlorlu Rollins's TIGblog
Rollins's profile

Grabbed your Facebook username yet?

Starting at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday, June 13, you’ll be able to choose a username on a first-come, first-serve basis for your profile and the Facebook Pages that you administer by visiting www.facebook.com/username/. You’ll also see a notice on your home page with instructions for obtaining your username at that time.

I remember reading the following update on Facebook last week. My immediate thoughts at the time were “it’s about time“. I mean what’s so “social” about a social networking site if you can’t easily identify people by their names- the very same thing by which we are all distinguished from other people or things.

I mean creating a profile on any Social Network, be it Facebook, MySpace, Hi5 or whatever, basically amounts to having your “personal” space, and of course people should and by all means must be able to identify you by that.

Anyway, someone at Facebook apparently started thinking along those lines, so we can now have our very own “personal destination, or home, on the Web” (at least as far as Fb is concerned that is).

UPDATE on Saturday, June 13: Username selection is now live at http://www.facebook.com/username/. Remember, choosing a username is optional and will give you a distinct Web address for your profile. It will not change the name that appears on your profile, in search or elsewhere on the site.

I’ve just picked up mine at facebook.com/rollinsorlu. The idea of having a custom (vanity) URL really helps the entire social networking agenda, as it allows for the creation of a URL that is much easier to remember and share with others. I mean imagine trying to tell  someone “oh, you can find my profile at facebook.com/profile.php?id=xxxxxx


The feature is also available for page administrators, the down side of course being that “Your Facebook Page must meet two requirements: it must be live on Facebook prior to the May 31, 2009 cut-off date and have a minimum 1,000 fans as of May 31, 2009.” Facebook however says that the 1,000 fan restriction will be lifted on June 28, which of course is welcome news for companies, brands, and admins with far fewer fans.

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Copyright Infringements

The gold rush which has resulted from Facebook’s new feature has left many scrambling to register their preferred usernames, but of course anyone can literally register practically anything they liked, meaning there could be copyright infringement issues. Facebook has however provided a solution to this though, by making available a “Notice of Intellectual Property Infringement (Non-Copyright Claim)” to assist anyone who wishes to report that someone’s username infringes their rights.

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More in the pipes »»

Facebook have begun testing a new version of their search system. According to the Facebook blog, users will be able to see up-to-the-minute results from friends and the Facebook Pages of which they are fan, and also people who have “chosen to make their profile and content available to everyone”.

The new Facebook Search will also enable you discover what blogs and news sources your friends are following, and see what they are saying about issues related to your search. Testing is however limited to a “small group”— just a fraction of a percent of the people on Facebook.

According to a post on the Facebook blog yesterday;

… Those of you in the test group will see new layouts for search results that will continue to include people’s profiles, Facebook Pages, groups and applications, and some entirely new Search features. With the test, you will be able to search your News Feed for the most recent status updates, photos, links, videos and notes being shared by your friends and the Facebook Pages of which you’re a fan. You will also be able to search for status updates, posted links and notes in Search from people who have chosen to make their profile and content available to everyoneI’m interested in the latest updates on the aftermath of the Iranian election. By entering the term “Iran” in the “Search” field in the upper-right corner of any page on Facebook, I will see up-to-the-minute results from my friends and the Facebook Pages of which I’m a fan, not to mention people who have chosen to make their profile and content available to everyone. I’m able to discover what blogs and news sources my friends are following, what my friends are saying about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and how people in general are reacting to the election results.

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Peep on Gatorpeeps 


June 18, 2009 | 4:06 AM Comments  0 comments

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rlorlu   rlorlu Rollins's TIGblog
Rollins's profile

Bing In, Google Out ??

The introduction of Bing to the search scene has generated “a lot of buzz” around the web. Actually, that is an understatement because Bing has only been publicly available for just a couple days, and yet the ripple effect it’s creating is already reaching seismic proportions.

Everyone seems to be catching the “Bing fever”. I recently stumbled on this site which allows you compare search results from both Google and Bing in real-time. It features two separate frames which display the Google and Bing search pages side by side as shown below;

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There have already been thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of posts discussing the pros and cons of “Microsoft’s new baby”. So far the pros seem to out-weigh the cons.

As for me, I am loving it already, and it’s not just for the value added features (which are quite impressive I must add), but what it ultimately brings to the world of search, especially in relation to Google. I have never hidden my distaste for Google’s Search dominance, and I definitely am not about to start now.

Don’t get me wrong, most of my website’s traffic comes from Google, but I have never been a fan of “monopoly”- which is what Search was slowly becoming before the release of Bing- a release which threatens this dominance outright.

As a matter of fact, there have been suggestions that “perhaps Google’s Search dominance may well be over”, and these speculations might not be far-fetched after all.

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Not everyone agrees though

Google’s Matt Cutts recently took Bing on over the quality of their search results, in this Tweeting session. I’m gonna be borrowing a bit. Hope you don’t mind Chris;

Matt Cutts: Congrats to @bing on the launch! Sad to see this not-so-relevant result at #4 for [matt cutts] though: http://bit.ly/4a8Q1Y

Bing: @mattcutts anytime you want to give feedback to @bing, we’re here. :) I’m sitting with the devs at present. ^betsy

Bing: @mattcutts I know you are disappointed in ego search stuff tonight w/ @bing, but try ‘mtv movie awards 2009′ and see what you get. :) ^ba

Matt Cutts: Ouch. The #5 Bing result for [matt cutts] is spammy too: http://bit.ly/B2r5F It’s a YouTube->WordPress autogenerated blog. :(

Matt Cutts: @bing okay. First web result was from 2008 instead of 2009, even with 2009 in query: http://bit.ly/SToK1 . Google nails it.

Matt Cutts: @bing but doesn’t it bother you that [mtv movie awards] on Google gives great news results and 2009 url, but w/Bing I only see 2008, 2007, ?

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You can imagine what my impressions were now, can’t you? Yeah yeah yeah, Matt Cutts is simply trying to make Google look good, after all, as Chris rightly said: “He is practically the posterboy for Google, at least among the search and tech savvy crowd”, but after talking to some other people to get their opinions on this, I got a couple in the affirmative of Matt’s assertions. Here’s just one;

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Admittedly, after playing around with the tool above, I had to succumb to my pal’s views on Bing. That, for now (I think) is Google’s most powerful asset- something Bing would seriously have to work on if they want to “offer users a more refined search experience capable of satisfying queries more quickly than any rival search engine”, and have any chance of achieving this “hostile take-over”.

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Marketing Strategy or Last Ditch Survival Attempt

Google’s recent actions seem to suggest that perhaps even they feel threatened by the “new kid on the block”. Can’t help wondering if this was a perfectly executed marketing strategy aimed at keeping them ahead of the game, or just a last ditch attempt to stuff the wind out of Bing’s sails.

With recent unfolding of events,  I am tempted to incline my thoughts toward the latter. Matt Cutts “show-down” with Bing’s Betsy surely hasn’t done much to reduce my supsicion.

Danny Sullivan, however insists Google will stay strong Despite Bing and Yahoo. According to him,

Just because a product — toothpaste, laundry detergent, whatever — calls itself  “new and improved” does not mean consumers will abandon a brand that they already use and like. Microsoft’s new search engine Bing faces this same challenge in taking on Google. Google’s not broken; people like it, and there’s no compelling reason for them to switch to Bing, much less the more established Yahoo.

I beg to differ. Danny is a well known and hugely respected authority on all things search, and much as I hate to disagree with him, I just have to. Moreso, if this article is anything to go by, Google’s dominance may indeed be coming to an end. According to this, “One News Page talked to more than 1,000 people, and 55 percent of them supposedly said that they could see themselves replacing Google with Bing as their main search engine”.

90% said they could be using the expression ‘to Bing it’ as a metaphor for conducting an internet search.

This is not the first time people have registered their displeasure at Google, the most memorable for me being shortly after their latest Page Rank update, which saw many sites (including ours) lose PR. The fact of the matter in my opinion is that webmasters are just sick and tired of literally having the fates of their sites in the hands of the “almighty” Google.

In truth, no one likes to be controlled by the “whims and caprices” of another, a situation brough about by Google’s dominance over the years. Perhaps all that’s about to change? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Okay. I’ve said my bit, now let’s hear what you have to say.

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Peep on Gatorpeeps 


June 7, 2009 | 12:06 PM Comments  0 comments

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rlorlu   rlorlu Rollins's TIGblog
Rollins's profile

Bing- the new sound of search

Microsoft’s Live Search has just gone BING!! The Bing search engine, now publicly available at bing.com, is the latest roll out from Microsoft, and was unveiled by CEO Steve Ballmer at the
D Conference
on the 28th of May.

Bing

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So what’s with the name Bing anyhow?

Well, it’s all in the branding really.  Microsoft says;

We needed a brand that was as fresh and new as our approach. It needed to be like the product — optimized for the Internet. A name that was memorable, short, easy to spell, and that would function well as a URL around the world.

Apparently, Bing is supposed to be “a new kind of search that goes beyond traditional search engines to help you make faster, more informed decisions”.

“It will do this by combining a great search engine (with powerful new features to improve your results for any query), more organized results, and unique tools to help you make important decisions. We think of Bing as a Decision Engine.”

Okay, so can Bing really take on Google in its own backyard? (which is exactly what the world of search has become really). Even Ballmer concedes;

Search and advertising, we are a small share….It’s all about Google. They have share, we don’t have share.

Hmm… Microsoft is however expected to spend $80 million to $100 million on Bing marketing, and many believe Bing will most likely take market share from Yahoo!

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So what exactly does Bing bring to the “search game” ?

Bing is not dramatically different from Google, but some people have found its results stronger. There are some visible changes:

  • Bing shows a preview of the web pages in the search results when you hover your mouse pointer at the right side of the search results.
  • Bing displays fewer results if it is certain that it has understood your intent. The search for “Facebook”, for example, brings up just one result linking to the site itself.
  • Some search results are divided into categories. For example, if you search for the popular musician “Justin Timberlake”, you’ll get results in the categories news, songs, movies, biography, wallpaper and downloads. In addition, the search results show images, videos and the popularity of the musician.
  • Wikipedia searches can be displayed inline in the search results without leaving the Bing site by clicking the “Enhanced view” link.
  • Bing features a different background image every day. The image contains special hidden hotspots that lead you to more information (soon advertising?) about the image.
  • Despite the background image, Bing’s homepage loads very quickly in your web browser because the search box and logo load first. You can turn off the background image.
  • Bing’s video search lets you watch videos without leaving the search engine.
  • Bing offers specific health, shopping and travel search engines, as well as instant answers to travel searches. For instance, the search “Vegas hotels” displays a selection of hotels in Las Vegas, including hotel stars and prices.
  • Bing’s search history lets you return to your most recent searches of the last two days. This feature can be turned off to protect your privacy.

An obvious difference however, is Google’s ability to recognize misspellings and offer suggestions,which Bing has a visible lack of. For example, Bing doesn’t seem to recognize misspellings and returns no results in these cases

google

There have already been suggestions that Bing will be a success for Microsoft, and I must say I agree.

…. Microsoft has plenty of room to grow if they can only offer something that has some minimal value-add beyond what Google offers. Bing already does that. As soon as some search consumers see and experience the contextual sidebar searches in a Bing search, they will see how some searches can save them time on Bing, they will start using it for some of their searches, then defect back over to Google whenever a search fails on Bing.

True! Microsoft’s best bet would be to maximize the additional value Bing offers searchers.

Beyond all that, there’s just something about that name that makes me feel it surely will, even though Steve Ballmer jokes “We should have named it ‘BOOM!’”

Surely would have had a different meaning down here (if you know what I mean). ;)

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Peep on Gatorpeeps 


June 3, 2009 | 12:06 PM Comments  0 comments

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alive777   alive777 George's TIGblog
George's profile

IDEALIST
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

All Idealists (NFs) share the following core characteristics:

* Idealists are enthusiastic, they trust their intuition, yearn for romance, seek their true self, prize meaningful relationships, and dream of attaining wisdom.
* Idealists pride themselves on being loving, kindhearted, and authentic.
* Idealists tend to be giving, trusting, spiritual, and they are focused on personal journeys and human potentials.
* Idealists make intense mates, nurturing parents, and inspirational leaders.

Idealists, as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self -- always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination. And they want to help others make the journey. Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.

Idealists are sure that friendly cooperation is the best way for people to achieve their goals. Conflict and confrontation upset them because they seem to put up angry barriers between people. Idealists dream of creating harmonious, even caring personal relations, and they have a unique talent for helping people get along with each other and work together for the good of all. Such interpersonal harmony might be a romantic ideal, but then Idealists are incurable romantics who prefer to focus on what might be, rather than what is. The real, practical world is only a starting place for Idealists; they believe that life is filled with possibilities waiting to be realized, rich with meanings calling out to be understood. This idea of a mystical or spiritual dimension to life, the "not visible" or the "not yet" that can only be known through intuition or by a leap of faith, is far more important to Idealists than the world of material things.

Highly ethical in their actions, Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal integrity. They must be true to themselves and to others, and they can be quite hard on themselves when they are dishonest, or when they are false or insincere. More often, however, Idealists are the very soul of kindness. Particularly in their personal relationships, Idealists are without question filled with love and good will. They believe in giving of themselves to help others; they cherish a few warm, sensitive friendships; they strive for a special rapport with their children; and in marriage they wish to find a "soulmate," someone with whom they can bond emotionally and spiritually, sharing their deepest feelings and their complex inner worlds.

Idealists are relatively rare, making up no more than 15 to 20 percent of the population. But their ability to inspire people with their enthusiasm and their idealism has given them influence far beyond their numbers.

May 27, 2009 | 3:32 PM Comments  0 comments

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rlorlu   rlorlu Rollins's TIGblog
Rollins's profile

Renée (Re-birth)

We certainly are no strangers to change, as a matter of fact we’ve been evolving ever since our launch, and we’ve just taken another huge step in our evolution story. Some things still haven’t changed though (and probably never will), like Rollins still won’t lose the hair or wear a suit, and still has that weird looking 4-inch mirror (he literally keeps watching himself in) lying around. Junior still has that annoying “Ghana Black stars” T-shirt which probably belonged to his 6-year old kid brother (often wondered how he manages to squeeze himself into it), and Francis may well be on his way to substituting Eddie Murphy in the Nutty Professor.

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So, what has changed?

Quite a lot really. For starters, we’ve had a major make-over. We now have a fresh new look, a really cool new name, and best of all: we are a completely new Revitalized Brand.

If you’re reading this, then the transition is finally complete, and the D-Tech blog is now D-Tech Zone (as in “The-Tech-Zone”). After weeks and months of strategizing, careful planning, and feedback from our readers, we have made a couple of changes to the site, which (we hope) should provide a richer user experience. We have;

  • Changed the layout of the site to make it much easier to navigate and find content
  • Upped our web hosting, technical, and storage capacity, so we can now provide you with richer and more dynamic content (photos, videos, polls, mobile content, etc)
  • Speaking of quality content, we’ve introduced some really exciting “geo-specific” syndicated content to the Sidebar panel. In other words, you should receive different content (or none at all) depending on which part of the world you’re in.
  • We’ve introduced the social media corner (top right) to help you follow our activities on the different Social Networking platforms we use
  • We have also added the “In-House” category to the mix, so you can now follow what the team are doing (apart from lazying about and watching YouTube videos all day that is). HEY! This article actually falls under In-House.
  • We’ve had a lot of feedback and inquiries regarding advertising in the past, so we have decided to introduce 125×125 ad-slots to the blog so you can now promote your business, products or services.

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What hasn’t Changed

- For one, you can still follow us via the usual RSS and Email channels. If you haven’t already done so (wonder why), you may want to subscribe to our Email alerts so we can send updates directly to your mail box.

- We still allow you to promote your company, group or cause on our site, but all ads have to comply with our advertising policy.

- Lastly, we are still committed to providing the most useful, insightful, fresh top quality content.

:
Okay, that just about sums it up. Was really beginning to have a headache. Let me use this opportunity on behalf of the Team, to extend an invitation to you to join the discourse and help us build what we hope will grow to become a “location of choice” for web, search, social media, and tech information and resources. Did I mention we are now on Gatorpeeps? :D
:

P/S: If you have any interesting posts or articles you would like to have published here, or maybe you have a suggestion, or would just like to critique something, kindly send same to;

The Zone Keeper,
D-Tech Zone.
admin [at] dtechweb-blog.com

If you submitted a post or article, upon approval and subsequent publication, your work will be fully attributed to you, with your name as the author, as well as a link pointing to your site or blog.

Okay. Don’t let me bore you with all this talk. Happy reading!

:

Peep on Gatorpeeps 


May 25, 2009 | 12:05 PM Comments  0 comments

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smithswork   smithswork smith's TIGblog
smith's profile

Oh our leaders, Why?
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I am sad because our leaders continually hear about our plight and never act on behalf.

Days became weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. For over 5 years we are still struggling to get our real voice hear. Can you tell me which part of life did you change for t he youth?

N.B we ask for change every where in the world, some gave in and others did not. What i learned is ..

If you ask for change, you have to do it yourself and not from others. This is because the same SUN that hardens the clay melt the butter.

Think twice!!
Take care

The Giants are Awake!!!

May 25, 2009 | 10:48 AM Comments  0 comments

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alive777   alive777 George's TIGblog
George's profile

GUARDIAN
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic



Guardians are the cornerstone of society, for they are the temperament given to serving and preserving our most important social institutions. Guardians have natural talent in managing goods and services--from supervision to maintenance and supply -- and they use all their skills to keep things running smoothly in their families, communities, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses.

Guardians can have a lot of fun with their friends, but they are quite serious about their duties and responsibilities. Guardians take pride in being dependable and trustworthy; if there's a job to be done, they can be counted on to put their shoulder to the wheel. Guardians also believe in law and order, and sometimes worry that respect for authority, even a fundamental sense of right and wrong, is being lost. Perhaps this is why Guardians honor customs and traditions so strongly -- they are familiar patterns that help bring stability to our modern, fast-paced world.

Practical and down-to-earth, Guardians believe in following the rules and cooperating with others. They are not very comfortable winging it or blazing new trails; working steadily within the system is the Guardian way, for in the long run loyalty, discipline, and teamwork get the job done right. Guardians are meticulous about schedules and have a sharp eye for proper procedures. They are cautious about change, even though they know that change can be healthy for an institution. Better to go slowly, they say, and look before you leap.

Guardians make up as much as 40 to 45 percent of the population, and a good thing, because they usually end up doing all the indispensable but thankless jobs everyone else takes for granted.

Guardians at Work
As a Guardian, you enjoy working as a valued member of a team, whether you are leading it or following a credible leader. You like to work with people who carry their weight. You appreciate having clear-cut responsibilities and being recognized for your dedication and achievements. Your natural traits are those that employers have traditionally valued - and that successful companies still respect. You are responsible and loyal to an organization once you've signed on.

On the job, you seem to innately understand how to create smooth, working processes in your environment. You can excel at directing others to fulfill their duties. In your ideal workplace, you and your colleagues would know what is expected of you and be predictably rewarded for meeting these expectations.

May 25, 2009 | 8:16 AM Comments  0 comments

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alive777   alive777 George's TIGblog
George's profile

APPLICATION
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic



Application Instructions


We welcome your application for a Grand Challenges Explorations grant.

Applications for Round 3 of Grand Challenges Explorations are now being accepted through May 28, 2009. Please follow these four steps to complete your application.

Step 1: Read the Details
To get started, download and read the Rules and Guidelines document (PDF) . It contains detailed information on all aspects of Grand Challenges Explorations. You may need to download Adobe Reader to view PDF documents.

Please also read the Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Policy. Any information submitted by you or on your behalf with respect to the Grand Challenges Explorations Initiative (including your proposal, reports, and any related documentation and communications) will be subject to and handled in accordance with the provisions in these three documents.

Changes to the rules and guidelines will be posted on the Frequently Asked Questions page of this Web site. Please read the current FAQs before submitting any questions or concerns.

Step 2: Read the Topics
Read the detailed topic descriptions on the GCE Topics Overview page and determine which topic best suits your idea. The topics for Round 3 are:

* Create Low-Cost Diagnostics for Priority Global Health Conditions
* Create New Ways to Induce Mucosal Immunity
* Create New Vaccines for Diarrhea, HIV, Malaria, Pneumonia and Tuberculosis
* Create New Tools to Accelerate the Eradication of Malaria

Step 3: Download the Application Form
Please download the Application Form for specific instructions on the format and content of your application.

All proposals must be written in English.

Step 4: Create an Account, Register for a Topic, and Submit your Proposal
You may create an account using our online Explorations Application Tool. This tool will enable you to register for an Explorations topic as well as create, edit, or submit your proposal. After you have created an account and registered for a topic, you can start the online application process. All applications must be submitted through this online system.

* You may create an account at any time

For Round 3 of Grand Challenges Explorations we anticipate completing the review process and making our decisions in October 2009. Please do not contact the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation regarding your proposal; we will contact you once the review is complete.

www.grandchallenges.org/Explorations/Pages/ApplicationInstructions.aspx

May 23, 2009 | 3:46 PM Comments  0 comments

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alive777   alive777 George's TIGblog
George's profile

PLEASE TAKE NOTE
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Please take note
> IF A PERSON CALLED SIMON ASHTON (SIMON25@HOTMAIL.CO.UK
> ) CONTACTS YOU THROUGH EMAIL
> DON'T OPEN THE MESSAGE. DELETE IT BECAUSE HE IS A HACKER!!
>
> TELL EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ON YOUR LIST
> ADDS HIM THEN YOU WILL GET
> HIM ON YOUR LIST. HE WILL FIGURE OUT YOUR ID COMPUTER
> ADDRESS, SO COPY AND PASTE THIS
> MESSAGE TO EVERYONE EVEN IF YOU DONT CARE FOR THEM AND FAST
> BECAUSE IF HE HACKS THEIR
> EMAIL HE HACKS YOUR MAIL TOO!!!!!.
>
> Anyone-using Internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and
> so on. This information
> arrived this morning, Direct from both Microsoft and
> Norton. Please send it to
> everybody you know who has access to the Internet. You may
> receive an apparently
> harmless e-mail titled 'Mail Server Report'
>
> If you open either file, a message will appear on your
> screen saying: 'It is too late
> now, your life is no longer beautiful.'
>
> Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC,
> And the person who sent it to you will gain access to
> your name, e-mail and password.
>
> This is a new virus which started to circulate on Saturday
> afternoon. AOL has already
> confirmed the severity, and the anti virus software's are
> not capable of destroying it.
> The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself
> 'life owner'..
> PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS
> E-MAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS, And ask them to
> PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY!

May 23, 2009 | 3:32 PM Comments  0 comments

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rlorlu   rlorlu Rollins's TIGblog
Rollins's profile

The Pope meets you on Facebook

Social networking has changed the face of the web (and indeed everything else) in recent times, with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter spearheading the cause- redefining and giving new meaning to “socialization”.

Social media provide an interactive platform to connect and share with your friends and loved ones, likewise a perfect opportunity to grow your business, and now:
a source for spiritual revival.

The vatican has launched a website at www.pope2you.net, offering an application called “The pope meets you on Facebook,” which allows the faithful to see the Pope’s speeches and messages on their iPhones or iPods.

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The “Pope2You” Facebook app, lets you receive the messages of Pope Benedict XVI through the most important social network of the world. Essentially you can meet the Pope on Facebook, listen to his words, see his pictures, receive his messages of congratulations through “virtual postcards”.

Though you won’t get an email saying Pope Benedict added you as a friend and you can’t “poke” him or write on his wall, but the Vatican is still keen to use the networking site Facebook to woo young people back to church.

Pope2You allows you to share the most wonderful pictures of Benedict XVI with your friends on Facebook, along with his words of hope and peace. You can;

  • Send the virtual postcards from the Pope to your friends.
  • Download and read the Pope’s Message for the 43th World Communications Day.
  • Spread friendship with the Pope and become a witness of Christ in the world through the web.
  • Send now your virtual postcards

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May 23, 2009 | 6:05 AM Comments  0 comments

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alive777   alive777 George's TIGblog
George's profile

Programme MANAGER NEEDED
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

May 21, 2009 - Program Manager Job Opportunity
Program Manager (Maternity Leave)

Location: Toronto HQ

Reports to: Youth Programs Director / International Programs Director

Duration: One Year Contract

Application Deadline: June 5, 2009

Start Date: July 20, 2009

Compensation: $40,000 CAD


Description:

Youth Challenge International (YCI) is a leading global youth development organization that promotes youth innovation to drive positive change.

Building on over 20 years of experience, YCI’s programs are designed to meet the needs of youth affected by poverty through five integrated sectors: economic development, education, leadership development, environment and health.

We involve youth directly in creating solutions to the challenges they face and incorporate youth development, volunteerism, partnership, equity and advocacy into all that we do.

Responsibilities:

A. Volunteer Program Management (25%):
• Establish program strategies and processes in order to achieve broader program retention targets (application to interview, interview to selection etc.).
• Provide timely data to the Youth Programs Director on the results of recruitment efforts through monthly recruitment reports.
• Manage the Volunteer selection process.
• Manage the systems and processes to support and retain Volunteers during the period between selection to their departure for project.
• Manage systems and processes to ensure all documentation and preparation needs, deadlines for assigned Volunteers have been met.
• Manage the distance learning pre-project training program that adequately prepares Volunteers to be knowledgeable and effective international development volunteers.
• Manage implementation of re-entry surveys and follow-up for returned Volunteers.
• Manage activities of the Volunteer Communications Coordinator.

B. Project Design and Development (25%):
• Work in collaboration with the International Program Director and local partners/ field staff to develop international project profiles for volunteer recruitment and preparation.
• Work in collaboration with the International Program Director and local partners/ field staff to review project design, impact, volunteer contribution and satisfaction.
• Actively participate in program budget planning and management.
• Design in collaboration with the Youth Program Director new program, project and country strategies;

C. International Program Management (50%):

• In conjunction with the International Programs Director and Country Program Managers identify, develop, write and edit proposals, narratives and logical frameworks
• Investigate and research new international funding opportunities
• In conjunction with the International Programs Director, support Country Program Managers in the development of program and reporting strategies
• Research and communicate the activities and gaps of work being completed by INGOs and NGOs in designated countries of operation and interest.
• Edit and support the development of YCI documents including operational manuals, field HR manuals, procurement manuals etc.
• Support the completion or relevant objectives within the strategic plan

Any other duties as assigned by the Youth Programs Director / International Program Director;

Qualifications:

• University Degree in International Development or related field.
• 2-3 years experience in international program management – field based experience preferred.
• Experience in volunteer management preferred.
• Must have strong organizational, diplomatic, and communications skills.
• Must be flexible to adapt to changing requirements.
• Previous budget and fiscal oversight responsibilities.

YCI is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applicants on the basis of merit.

TO APPLY, EMAIL A RESUME AND COVER LETTER AS A SINGLE WORD DOCUMENT WITH “Program Manager” IN THE SUBJECT LINE TO: recruitment@yci.org

• PLEASE, NO PHONE CALLS

May 21, 2009 | 3:30 PM Comments  0 comments

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rlorlu   rlorlu Rollins's TIGblog
Rollins's profile

Africa’s Talking Are You?

I have always heard gators were dangerous, but boy have I had fun playing with this one. :)

(In case you haven't already figured it out, that's me up there)


I first learnt about Gatorpeeps from Oluniyi David Ajao’s review of Bar Camp Nigeria 2009 (which I really should have attended but for the most inevitable of reasons)- WORK! .. :(

Anyways, GatorPeeps is essentially a micro-blogging service that provides a platform for Afrigator users to connect with other “like-minded African users” through short updates and community interaction.

It basically works like most other micro-blogging platforms, featuring a status update box and a public timeline.

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The Status Update Box

The status update box allows you keep your friends… err ….  updated with what you are currently doing by Saying It Loud!

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Public Timeline

The public timeline (just below the status update box) allows you view your friends updates, and has a really remarkable “Friends Blogposts” feature which allows you to toggle between your friend’s peeps and their latest blog posts so you can actually keep track of what they’re blogging about.

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It doesn’t end there

Gatorpeeps offers an array of features which make it safer to play with :D
According to the Afrigator blog, Gatorpeeps would be extended to an SMS-based mobile offering to cater for users who wish to “use their mobile phone as their primary device”.

If only that were all. @-)

They’ve also added some really, really, REALLY cool tools to the mix, my favourite of course being the Post it to Twitter tool which essentially allows you to dual-post to Gatorpeeps and Twitter via a really simple setup process.

HEY! There’s more.

Gatorpeeps is going to be developed at a very fast rate. We have lots of plans for where we want to take it and we’ll be moving like a Boeing to get there. Some of our future development includes:

  • Mobile web front-end
  • Mobile apps for Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, iPhone and Android
  • SMS integration
  • Extending Community functionality
  • Smarter ways to share links & photos via Gatorpeeps
  • Plugins & Widgets for all environments
  • Closer integration with Afrigator
  • API Access (oh wait, that’s done)
  • API Documentation

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=D> Man I’ve really got to hand it to Justin, Stii, and the rest of the gang.
Gatorpeeps really is the bomb.

And you there! Africa’s talking, Are you? Hit us with a couple of comments and let us know ok?

Don’t forget to follow the D-Tech Blog on Twitter, and yeah Peep me up a line or two. You’d most likely be hitting me up on Twitter as well. Sweeeet !!!!

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May 15, 2009 | 10:05 AM Comments  0 comments

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rlorlu   rlorlu Rollins's TIGblog
Rollins's profile

Some Really Cool AJAX Effects

Okay. I’m going to do something a bit unsual today. I’ve been in love with AJAX ever since I came across it two years ago, simply because (in my opinion) it makes the web more fun to play with.

The D-tech Blog team unanimously decided to introduce a new category to the blog, exclusively dedicated to AJAX and Adobe AIR® applications. YIPEE!!

I saw this really cool post at NetTuts+ on 20 really amazing AJAX effects and after checking them, I was so impressed that I just had to share. Though most aren’t really AJAX, they still provide quite amazing functionality.

Let me quickly run you through my top 5 out of the lot. Enjoy;

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1. Image Menu

This really impressive JavaScript resource creates a horizontal menu using a couple of images. When you place your mouse pointer over any image, it reveals more of that image. Image Menu 2.2 was developed by Samuel Birch. You can see it in action Here.

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2. Image Flow

Image Flow an unobtrusive and “user friendly” JavaScript image gallery script featuring a scroll-bar which allows users seamlessly browse through the images. It kinda reminds me of what the guys over at XING used in their Guided Tour (which leaves my mouth open each time I must add). :)

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3. Search Field CSS/JS

SearchField is a simple lightweight Auto-Suggest script which guides the user by providing hints to assist them find what they are looking for as they type. It’s actually one of my personal favourites because of the ease of configuration.

Actually, I am a bit biased in favour of this because I found it just around the same time I was battling to accomplish a similar thing in a current project :)

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4. jQuery checkbox

jQuery checkbox adds a little flair to checkbox fields in forms. It adds a toggle button very similar to that of the iPhone interface, giving a very distinctive on or off. It’s great for usability, and the dynamic skin can be turned on or off, on the fly.

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5. Control Tabs

Last but by no means least, Control Tabs,  is a “sweet script” that gives many different ways to configure tabs on a page. It attaches/creates a tabbed interface from an unordered list of links/anchors that point to any elements on your page that have an id attribute.

Since it attaches these behaviors to HTML that already has semantic meaning, it will degrade gracefully for browsers that do not support JavaScript, and is search engine friendly. It attaches in one line of code for simple use cases, but is highly customizable and can be used in a variety of edge cases.

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Quite amazing, I’m sure you’d agree.

Have anything you’d like to share? Feel free to post a comment below. Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS Feeds….. and yeah,

follow us on Twitter- http://twitter.com/dtechblog

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May 14, 2009 | 8:05 AM Comments  0 comments

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natrudus   natrudus Nathaniel Rudolph's TIGblog
Nathaniel Rudolph's profile

Short Personal life
Related to country: Ghana

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The School Enterprise Project was born out of real struggle of life and life lessons. Having lived less with $10,000 annually for over a decade now. I have gone through this difficulty with determination and perseverance. I strongly believe that up and coming youth should be protected from this sought of life.

We owe it to our society to develop the youth to be enterprising and prevent them from indulging in crime and fraud.

My project, training students in entrepreneurship and snail rearing is making waves in Ghana and the students are enjoying the dimension and the style of training which according to some is really building them and psyching them for life ahead.

I am therefore calling on all to patronize the project. and please call on me if you need my assistance

May 12, 2009 | 3:14 PM Comments  0 comments

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