What a great feature! who has checked it out?

http://9.media.tumblr.com

Microsoft’s browser signs a new partnership to deliver direct answers and links, providing an additional service that allows them to extend their offer and compete with Google.

The supremacy of Google in the field of online search seems not to be questioned, but its competitors are slowly bringing new applications in pursue of least grabbing some market share.

This is what Microsoft has just made, by signing an alliance with WolframAlfa to offer direct answers in addition to links on their search results .

Bing will be using WolframAlpha’s API, to have access to thousands of different algorithms and calculations processes that will improve significantly the search results.

Michael Gomez

‘The Techy Guy’ at Marketing for Small Businesses Ltd

For more info visit Silicon News

Google Dashboard Image

This new tool can be accessed from the “dashboard” command and shows the information stored in Google’s computers which include search requests, email summaries and youtube use habits.

This tool points  to bring satisfaction to those concerned with privacy issues; however, it only gives information related to Google services and does not show activity associated to non-Google services.

Go to http://www.google.com/dashboard/ for more information, there’s also a helpful video that explains how to use this feature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPaJPxhPq_g

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Michael Gomez

Marketing for Small Businesses Ltd

google-ilike-lala logos

Google and Facebook will soon include on their pages the option to listen or download pre-paid music…!!

The American press recently announced that Google is about to launch a music search service on the web that allows not only listening to songs online but also the option to purchase the tracks. This new service was created by of some major labels and has been made possible through an agreement with companies from the online music sector such as Lala, and iLike.

Google, who will also be offering photographs and information about the artists, will keep the advertising revenue on these pages, although they will presumably share a percentage  with record labels. The search is expected to also include links to music videos from Google’s  YouTube subsidiary. Both initiatives are a clear attempt to compete with Apple, which has found the goose that lays the golden egg with its iPod digital music player and iTunes online store.

In countries like the U.S., Apple dominates the field of legal music downloads on the Internet with iTunes, which has already sold over 6,000 million songs, plus millions of movies and TV series since its launch in 2003.

Facebook will be charging users for the songs sent, and it is foreseeable that if the network members are willing to pay for sending a virtual link, they will also do so for sending a song.

Google will also offer the possibility to buy songs through links to the pages of Lala, and iLike.

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Michael Gomez

Marketing for Small Businesses Ltd

Twitter birdie on tree image

These entrepreneurs use Twitter to communicate their unique perspectives. Follow their tweets and learn from the big players. I hope you enjoy the article.

ttp://mashable.com/2009/10/29/entrepreneurs-twitter-follow/

Claudia Walliman

Net Neutrality image

control rules in the network management.

Proponents of network neutrality say that Internet service providers should not be able to block or delay traffic on the basis of content. The suppliers say that the growing volume of services that monopolize the bandwidth, like streaming video, requires an active control and some argue that network neutrality could be a problem for innovation. The Federal Communications Commission of the United States could formally propose ruling fixed wireless platforms designed to ensure neutrality for the Internet.

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by Michael Gomez

‘The Techy Guy’ at Marketing for Small Businesses Ltd

For more info visit http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/search/label/Net%20Neutrality

The idea is that even users who do not have optical drives on their computers, especially those who have a netbook, can upgrade to the new platform, running the installation directly from your USB flash drives.

“For users who do not have a DVD optical drive on their netbook, the download tool in Windows 7 for USB / DVD will get an ISO image and create an auto-run USB device, which may be used to install Windows 7,” explained Brandon Leblanc, a company spokesman.
As indicated by eWEEK magazine, this choice (only available for downloads within the U.S. for the moment), is based on the WUDT tool, which also burn the ISO to a DVD for a traditional installation.

Do you like this news? Don’t forget to bookmark it please

Michael Gomez

‘The Techy Guy’ at Marketing for Small Businesses Ltd

New Imac Computer image

Although the new iMac has been improved in many respects, Apple – as usual – keeps the price of the basic machine in £949; the same cost of the basic model for the previous generation.

In the top models of the iMac line, it will be possible to incorporate QuadCore processors, 16GB of RAM and hard drives up to 2TB (approximately 2.000 “gigs”). Significant cosmetic changes are incorporated into the new iMac, with the back and the base of the computer, formerly of black plastic, in aluminium finish, slightly thinner.

In the initial setup – 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, graphics card ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB and 1 TB of storage – the new iMac 27 “is priced around £1,599.

These all-in-one will come from factory with embedded wireless accessories, and those wishing to use the bigger keyboard (with numeric keys) will have to order directly from the Internet store, a move not liked for those who prefer Wired keyboard with its convenient USB port and complete set of numeric and shift keys.

The most popular computers from Steve Jobs, the “Macbook White” – so successful that the market took its big brother, the version made of aluminum – also went through a microscope for a “total re-engineering.

In appearance, Apple’s engineers devised a carcass “unibody”- in one piece – slightly more rounded, and incorporated the glass trackpad, significantly larger than the equivalent of a conventional notebook and enables the “multitouch” that hitherto exclusive to the very expensive model MacBook Pro and Air.

New Apple MacBook image

For around £799, that until recently bought a Macbook with 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive and 2.13 GHz processor, you will be able to purchase a laptop with 2 GB of RAM (two modules of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM), a slightly higher processor and 50% more storage.

We’re looking forward to getting hold of one of these new iMacs, have you already got one?

Michael Gomez

‘The Techy Guy’ at Marketing for Small Businesses Ltd

New Apple Magic Mouse image

As had been rumored, the Cupertino company announces its new mouse, the “Magic Mouse”, which replaces the Mighty Mouse, an accessory that has been vehemently criticized for sacrificing usability in exchange for a cute design. The major failing of the Mighty Mouse – one of the most expensive in the market, is the tiny area that performs the “scroll” function – just a few months of use are enough before the piece requires constant cleaning, as grease and dust settle on the delicate scroll mechanism. On several occasions, the wear of this mechanism impacted on the ability of the mouse click, disabling the expensive accessory.
Apple seems to want to redeem themselves with the new Magic Mouse, whose design completely eliminates the mechanism of the sphere and the style of the new BlackBerry Tour, uses an optical sensor to detect movements. The news, however, has been met with skepticism from some consumers, who are accustomed to poor performance by Apple when it comes to design and manufacture of mice that can run correctly for a reasonable period of time.
The new mouse will work wirelessly via Bluetooth, with rechargeable batteries, and allow the use of “multitouch” like those Apple presented on the iPhone and iPod Touch, and soon after on their notebooks trackpads.

The Magic Mouse will be on shelves later this month with a price of around £55.

Don’t forget to bookmark this article if you liked it!

A demonstration video of the Magic Mouse can be watched here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgiGd53jg2U

by Michael Gomez

The ‘Techy Guy’ at Marketing for Small Businesses Ltd

Last June during their IO 2009 meeting Google announced the development of a technology that might change the way we communicate and collaborate through the web.

This technology, presented under the name WAVE was developed by the same people who created Google Maps and a support team in Sydney, Australia, and is described by their creators as “what email would be if it was to be created today”

Email was created 40 years ago as a communication tool that only was capable of handling text. As technology advanced, new types of information were incorporated to the daily exchange such as images, audio and video; however, email programs managed to handle these new requirements in a very efficient way.

Today evolution has brought new mechanisms for communication that people use in their daily lives besides email. In fact, technologies such as instant messaging, chat, cell phones, etc, are used as alternate – complementary – non related tools to attend our communication needs.

Wave will present an integrated solution to these needs by offering a mechanism where they will interact under a natural platform. In fact, their creators describe it as a communications platform that will handle instant messaging, group or private conversations, documents exchange, documents collaboration, wiki type site building and more.  In a few words, just what you actually do with email plus several other programs and sites, joined in a single and simple window; managed by the browser of your choice, without installing any program on your PC and from any operating system (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc).

If this description has not amazed you yet then here are some more details that will be integrated in the product:

-       Online spelling dictionary with predictive text capacity.

-       Live transmitting of every word/character of your message.

-       Search tool to embed web search capacity in the conversation ‘Searchy’ feature.

-       Drag and drop contacts into the wave.

-       Play back feature, which allows you to keep track of the history of each wave from creation to last input in movie motion.

-       Create group albums by dragging and dropping the participants photos into the wave.

-       Embed the whole wave into a blog ‘Bloggy’ feature.

-       Discussion and content collaboration capacity, ideal for planning your projects, trips, events, etc.

-       International language input method.

-       Live editing.

-       ‘Yes, No, Maybe’ gadget to organise responses.

-       Twitter capacity ’Twave’ – a Wave of tweets.

-       Insert a Google map by highlighting a location name in your Wave. Add comments and markers to your map and use the polygon tool to highlight specific areas.

-       My very favourite!!!!! ‘Instant translation to 40 languages if any of the parties does not speak your language’.

In summary, its an email + chat + instant messaging + document collaboration + document sharing and editing + translation tool + online dictionary + more, more… much more! All integrated in a single window.

The product will be released by the end of this year. The effects this will have in the way people communicate is not easy to predict, but as we see it, two things look clear from now:

Our current email communication will become obsolete. Group integration will be enforced, as the language barriers no longer will be a limitation.

Want to add your own prediction? Please send us your comments on this post and remember to ‘Bookmark it’ if you liked it.

Michael Gomez

‘The Techy Guy’ at Marketing for Small Businesses

For a more detailed description visit http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html