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iPad 2 for sale today March 11, 2011

iPad 2 for sale today March 11, 2011

The iPad 2 is ready for sale today online and at Apple stores. I have been waiting for the new version, and held off from buying one for a year.

The new features include the much expected dual-cameras—with camera-focused apps like FaceTime, iMovie, and Photo Booth. The thin new contour, available in both black and white, is also impressive—side-by-side with the original iPad, it is clearly thinner—though not quite as significantly as the photos during the event seemed to showcase.

The A5 Chip

The new iPad 2 is much faster than the original. The 1GHz dual-core A5 chip is a chip with drastically faster graphics processing.

Cameras and FaceTime

The iPad 2 has a rear-facing camera that shoots 720p, and a front-facing camera that is only VGA quality. iPad 2 now has cameras and FaceTime. I’m sure the iPad 3 will have HD quality on the front facing camera.

The video chat feature works just as easy as it is on an iPhone or iPod touch.

Thinner Design

The iPad 2 is significantly thinner than the original. The original iPad with the case became somewhat bulky. So the iPad 2 should be more convenient.

GarageBand and iMovies App

The touch screen is what brings GarageBand to life in a way the computer software never could—you can strum a virtual guitar, pick single strings, and learn about chord progressions in the process.

HDMI Out

This is one of the biggest new features. You can plug your iPad into your TV and watch a movie. There is a tiny cable that plugs in to the the 30-pin connector on one end and has an HDMI connection on the other. It also has another 30-pin connection alongside the HDMI so you can be charging your device at the same time you are watching it on TV.

Vail Web Designs provides web design, SEO, CRO, social media marketing, custom blog design, graphic design, and hosting services in Vail, Beaver Creek, Avon, Edwards, Eagle, and Summit County, CO, Colorado.

Vail Web Designs
970-306-4471 (tel)
303-521-6681 (mobile)
866-667-8646 (fax)
Email Us
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in web design vail by admin 11 Mar 201115 Sep 2011 0 comments

Stop Ad Companies From Tracking You Online

How To Stop Advertising Companies From Tracking Your Online Activity For Targeted Web Ads

First Posted: 02/25/11 03:37 PM Updated: 02/25/11 03:37 PM

Back in the eighties, I used to hate television commercials, but I eventually got used to them. Had to, in order to enjoy my favorite shows. Then, the increasing number of billboard ads annoyed me in the nineties. They followed me everywhere I went–no escape–persuading me to buy the newest whatever. It seemed like Big Brotherism–like They Live. But, I got used to it. When I finally entered the digital age and became a web addict, I was peeved at the constant sight of online ads everywhere I visited. My rage eventually passed and… I got used to it. Had to.

But now that the whole world is connected to the Internet, advertisers are upping their game even more, with behavioral targeting. It’s been around for a while, and if you’ve never heard of it–fine, then listen up–because you’ve been a target of it regardless.

Advertising is absolutely necessary on the web to keep all of that content you love and enjoy free. If there wasn’t any advertising, none of us would be addicted to the web because we couldn’t afford it. We would be paying for anything and everything. So, whenever you see an ad on a website, you can choose to check it out or ignore it. Whatever you want. Fine–get used to it.

Behavioral Targeting Across the Web
Reasonably, those advertisers want a return on their investment, and that’s where user demographics come into play. It wouldn’t seem right to waste money marketing the newest Ford truck to a quadriplegic, so online marketers went on their quest to make online ads more targeted, more relevant. And website owners learned that the more focused the ads were, the more advertisers would pay them.

Hence, the current world of behavioral advertising. And, well… that’s something you DON’T have to get used to, because now you have an online privacy issue.

Behavioral targeting tracks and analyzes your online behavior, tracking what you search for, what websites you visit and what services you use. This could be used to determine what ads are shown to you and where, even having the same ad follow you from site to site, a practice known as retargeting (or remarketing). Outside the advertising industry, most call it stalking.

Is this not an invasion of your privacy?

There’s tons of behavioral advertising companies out there now, and you’d be surprised at how many are actually tracking your web usage. But you can stop them!

Step 1 Opting Out with NAI
The most straightforward approach to combating targeted web ads is via the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), a cooperative of online marketing and analytics companies that, straight from the horse’s mouth, are “committed to building consumer awareness and establishing responsible business and data management practices and standards. As increasingly sophisticated online advertising technologies evolve, consumer concerns about their impact on online privacy mount. The NAI is prepared to meet these concerns with both effective industry self-regulation and sensible protections for online consumers.”

To start taking control of your privacy, go to their Opt-Out tool. On that webpage, you can see just how many of those member companies have placed an advertising cookie file on your computer. To me, it was an alarming number–the vast majority!

Once you’ve regained your composure, proceed to clear all of the cookies or just the ones you want. You can check back to review your opt-out status.

Warning: This does NOT mean you won’t see ads anymore–opting out only means you won’t receive ads specifically tailored to your online actions.

Now, you may actually like a few of your ads to be relevant to you, so only opt-out of the ones you’re sure about.

If you want an easier way and more options, there’s another project to consider…

Step 2 Opting Out with PrivacyChoice
PrivacyChoice.org offers a more advanced solution, which includes features like a consolidated opt-out bookmark that opts you out of over a hundred ad networks, including those in the NAI.

On their site, you can view what websites use what advertisers to track you online, a nifty feature that shows just how common it is across the web.

In the above example, 14 out of 14 were flagged as concerns, with 9 were not accountable to NAI standards.

Netflix, Twitter and Apple only have one. It’s rare that sites serving ads would not. Hell, even WonderHowTo uses a few, like Google AdSense.

To start killing this marketing voyeurs, there’s multiple ways:

PrivacyMark (no add-on required)
This is a bookmark that you simply drag and drop into your browser’s bookmark toolbar. You can opt-out of ad targeting by over 100 companies, but you need to click on it periodically to update your opt-outs, especially after clearing your web browser’s cookies.

Video walkthrough for opting out with the PrivacyMark bookmark
Ironically, you have to allow 3rd party cookies in your browser in order to download the cookies that block the tracking cookies. Confusing? You bet.

The tool allows you to opt out of ad tracking from companies that do not comply with industry oversight, or opt out of all ad tracking entirely. You can also click on “More Info” to customize which ad companies you choose to opt out from.

Profile View
This webpage lets you see your profile from big companies, such as Google and Yahoo!, where you can opt-out of directly.

TrackerScan
This feature is available as either a bookmark (like PrivacyMark) or Firefox Add-on.

Just click on the bookmark or the installed button whenever you’re curious of a website’s ad trackers. For those who don’t want yet another Add-on slowing down Firefox, the bookmark works just fine, as you can see.

TrackerBlock
The TrackerBlock extension has more options, specific to your web browser, including Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome. TrackerBlock stops tracking by blocking specific companies from reading or writing cookies through your web browser. TrackerBlock also deletes other files, like Flash cookies, that tracking companies may leave on your computer.

TrackerBlock automatically updates your block list with new tracking companies. It does not affect cookies from other companies (for things like log-ins), which may be more convenient than turning off cookies completely in your browser.

For Firefox, the TrackerBlock Add-on is constantly updated. It gets a JSON file from their server for each session, which includes the current list of tracking company domains (in some weeks, 5+ new ones are added). It also updates if the “oversight” status of any company changes. In IE9, it’s every 3 days.

Disconnect
This is a really nice option, which block data-mining companies from using your email address to find your profile on popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. This is definitely something to consider.

PrivacyCheck
This is another nice option, helping you to protect your loved ones on Facebook. It’s a bookmark, just like PrivacyMark and TrackerScan, which you would click whenever you’re on a friend’s Facebook profile, to see what information they make publicly available.

If you want to take control of your privacy on the web, both the NAI and more comprehensive PrivacyChoice should be considered. Also, worth a mention–ProfileChoice, which actually lets you control your ad profile from different companies and potentially earn benefits. I have not investigated this, but it looks interesting, especially for those of you who don’t mind behavioral targeting.

Read article and get all the links to privacy websites at How To Stop Advertising Companies From Tracking Your Online Activity For Targeted Web Ads

Vail Web Designs
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Google’s New Algorithm

Google Tries To Bury Low-Quality Content With Major Search Algorithm Changes
BARBARA ORTUTAY and MICHAEL LIEDTKE 02/25/11 06:19 PM

NEW YORK — Google has tweaked the formulas steering its Internet search engine to take the rubbish out of its results. The overhaul is designed to lower the rankings of what Google deems “low-quality” sites.

That could be a veiled reference to such sites as Demand Media’s eHow.com, which critics call online “content farms” – that is, sites producing cheap, abundant, mostly useless content that ranks high in search results.

Sites that produce original content or information that Google considers valuable are supposed to rank higher under the new system.

The change announced late Thursday affects about 12 percent, or nearly one in every eight, search requests in the U.S. Google Inc. said the new ranking rules eventually will be introduced in other parts of the world, too. The company tweaks its search algorithms, or formulas, hundreds of times a year, but most of the changes are so subtle that few people notice them. This latest change will be more difficult to miss, according to Google engineers.

“Google depends on the high-quality content created by wonderful websites around the world, and we do have a responsibility to encourage a healthy web ecosystem,” Google fellow Amit Singhal and principal engineer Matt Cutts wrote in a blog post. “Therefore, it is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.”

Google makes significant adjustments to its search formula on the same scale as the latest change four or five times a year, Singhal said in a statement Friday.

What makes the new revisions so notable is that Google spent about a year trying to come up with a way to judge the quality of the content posted on the site.

That focus could hurt Demand Media, which depends on search engines for about 41 percent of the traffic to its websites, with most of those referrals coming from Google, according to documents filed last month after the company completed an initial public offering of stock.

Demand Media, based in Santa Monica, assigns roughly 13,000 freelance writers to produce stories about frequently searched topics and then sells ads alongside the content at its own websites, including eHow.com and Livestrong.com, and about 375 Internet other destinations operated by its partners. Articles range from the likes of “How to Tie Shoelaces” to “How to Bake a Potato” and more.

Many of the ads appearing alongside those articles are sold by Google, which accounts for about one-fourth of Demand Media’s revenue of $253 million last year.

Demand Media said it doesn’t consider itself a “content farm” or “content mill,” but rather as a more responsive approach to addressing topics on people’s minds.

“We believe that our platform for satisfying today’s consumer demand is the most comprehensive and effective of any online publisher,” Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt told analysts earlier this week after the company announced the first quarterly profit in its four-year history. “The standards we put in place, the process that we follow, and most important, the qualified professionals we rely on to create and copy at the solution are unprecedented in traditional and new media.definition.”

In a Friday blog post, another Demand Media executive said the company applauds search engine changes that “improve the consumer experience.” Google’s revisions caused some of Demand Media’s articles to rank higher and other to rank lower in search results, wrote Larry Fitzgibbon, Demand Media’s executive vice president of media and operations.

“It’s impossible to speculate how these or any changes made by Google impact any online business in the long term – but at this point in time, we haven’t seen a material net impact,” Fitzgibbon wrote.

Investors seemed uncertain how Google’s move would affect Demand Media. After falling nearly 5 percent in earlier trading, Demand Media’s shares rebounded to close at $22.96, up 36 cents for the session.

Read article at Huffington Post

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in seo-vail / vail-web-design-co by admin 27 Feb 201127 Feb 2011 0 comments

New iPad Announced

Apple Likely to Introduce New iPad at March 2 Event
By Brian X. Chen February 23, 2011 | 11:55 am | Categories: Tablets and E-Readers

Apple is likely to introduce a new iPad at a San Francisco press conference scheduled for next Wednesday.

The company this morning sent e-mail invitations to members of the press with a not-so-subtle image of a calendar entry peeled back to reveal the corner of an iPad screen.

The event comes at the correct timing, as Apple’s original iPad was released April of 2010, and Apple’s mobile products typically get refreshed after one year. The event date puts to rest rumors that the iPad would be “delayed” until summer. (Never mind that it’s impossible to delay an unannounced product.)

Apple has not officially commented on details about the iPad 2, but some credible publications claim the tablet will have front- and rear-facing cameras, a thinner body and a more powerful graphics processor.

Wired.com will provide news coverage from the event, which kicks off 10 a.m. on March 2. Stay tuned.

Vail Web Designs provides full-service online marketing services including Web Design Vail, SEO Vail, Video Production Vail, Social Media Marketing Vail, Blog Design Vail, Graphic Design Vail, and other digital media services.

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in table design vail by admin 24 Feb 201127 Feb 2011 0 comments

Facebook Pages Redesign

Facebook launches pages redesign

By Ben Parr, Mashable
February 11, 2011 9:59 a.m. EST | Filed under: Social Media

(Mashable) — Facebook has begun rolling out a full redesign of Facebook Pages. The changes will make the Pages look and operate more like user profiles.

The new Pages redesign was first seen in December, when Facebook accidentally launched it and quickly took it down. The update not only removed tabs, but it gave page admins the ability to post and comment on other Facebook Pages through a “Login as Page” feature.

Those prototype features have made the cut for today’s launch. As Facebook’s Rohit Dhawan, the lead product manager for Facebook Pages, explained to me earlier today, the company has wanted to redesign Facebook Pages ever since it launched the profile redesign.

“We strongly believe you should have consistent experiences when possible,” Dhawan said.
The big difference everyone will notice will be the new layout. The left-hand menu for editing pages has been removed in favor of a new navigation menu that replaces the old tabbing system.

And like the Facebook Profiles redesign, the left-hand “Information” box is also gone. However, page admins can now add info about their brand at the top of the page under the main title.

The right-hand menu has also been tweaked. There is now a section that features the page’s admins (if you so choose) as well as a section that shows users how many of their friends have also “liked” that particular page.

Finally, just like profiles, a page can now feature relevant photos at the top. This could lead to some very creative uses for Facebook Pages.

There are some other notable differences between the new Facebook Pages and the old version, especially for page admins.

The “Login as Page” feature gives admins the ability to interact with the rest of Facebook as a page, not an individual. For example, I could log in as Mashable and start commenting and “liking” things on Facebook Pages that have “liked” Mashable.

Admins will also see a different News Feed if they are logged in as their page; It will display the most important news from the pages you’ve “liked.”

“A page can now use Facebook as if they were an individual with the ability to interact with other pages,” Dhawan said. “It provides interesting content when people are visiting the page. ”

Pages can’t do everything a user can, though. Most importantly, they cannot post on a user’s wall or comment on his or her status. The lone exception is for a user who has opted for the “everybody” privacy setting; Pages can comment on status updates for those individuals.

The other update Facebook is adding is an “Everyone” filter that brings the most interesting and engaging posts from a page’s community to the top of the page. This makes it easier for users and admins to easily find the most “liked” and commented-on conversations on a particular page.

The new Facebook Pages are also smart enough to filter out posts that are not in a language you speak.

The new design launches today as a preview for Facebook Page admins. Before switching, they can check to see what their page will look like and tweak elements of the design before launch.

The company is also releasing a Page Tour and a manual to explain the new design. Admins will have until March 10 to switch over though, before Facebook automatically updates every page to the new design.

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in social-media-vail-co by admin 11 Feb 201124 Feb 2011 0 comments

New Website Vail Web Designs

Vail Web Designs launches new website at www.vailwebdesigns.com to better serve customers in the Vail Valley.

Vail Web Designs
970-306-4471 (tel)
303-521-6681 (mobile)
866-667-8646 (fax)
dave@vailwebdesigns.com (email)
www.vailwebdesigns.com

in vail-web-design-co by admin 11 Feb 201111 Feb 2011 0 comments

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