Adobe Soundbooth CS3

What is Soundbooth CS3?

Adobe® Soundbooth™ CS3 software lets you take command of your audio in film, video, and Adobe Flash® software projects. Use on-clip controls to make fast edits and intuitive, task-based tools to clean up recordings, polish voice-overs, customize music, modify sound effects, apply high-quality filters, and much more. Tight integration with Flash CS3 Professional and Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3 software and an intuitive, visual interface mean you can get the job done quickly without sacrificing creative control.

Get the details

• Features
• FAQ
• Compare with Adobe Audition®

• System requirements
• Integration

• Buy US$199
• Download free trial
• Get it as part of Adobe Creative Suite 3

ONLINE STORAGE - File Hosting and Sharing Sites

Online Backup

Allmydata.com - Unlimited storage and automated backup for $4.99 a month.

Angelbackup.com - Prices as low as $1.95 for 2GB of automated backup.

BlogBackupOnline.com - Automatically backs up your blog for you with up to 50MB of storage.

Carbonite.com - Backup your entire hard drive automatically, no free version.

CrashPlan.com - Automated backup plans as low as a one-time $20 fee, unlimited space.

Datapreserve.com - Automated, managed off-site remote backups, focusing on businesses.

Egnyte.com - Backup your files, store them securely, export them back to your computer in a crash. Share with co-workers for collaborative work.

ElephantDrive.com - 1GB of free storage, automated backups; up to 1TB in subscription form.

File123.com - 1GB of space for free, up to 10GB of backup for as low as $4.95 a month.

gDisk - Turn your Gmail account in to an online storage space for free.

GoDaddy.com - All paid plans, as low as $5.99 a year for 50MB, sync between multiple computers.

IBackup - Anywhere from 5GB to 300GB of storage, no free services.

iOmega iStorage - Automated backups for personal or business users, file sharing available.

Ironmountain.com - Focusing on professional backup solutions from small business up to government agencies.

MediaMaster.com - Unlimited storage of your music collection.

Mozy.com - Automated online backup of your selected files with versioning.

Mp3Tunes.com - Unlimited free storage of your music collection, streaming play of the songs from anywhere.

MyOtherDrive.com - Store up to 5GB of files, use as backup or share.

Omnidrive.com - Backup anywhere from 1GB for free, use as backup you can access from anywhere, or use as a file host to use on other sites.

Orbitfiles.com - 6GB of storage for your files, automated backup, ability to share with family and friends.

SOSOnlineBackup.com - Automated backup of your essential files.

Steekr.com - Online backup of digital media, free up to 1GB, subscriptions for more. Stream your stored music for listening anywhere, share files with friends.

Strongspace.com - Minimum of a 5GB subscription package, files are shareable with other registered users.

Textive.com - Backup your documents for free. Choose to publish some or all of your files, get paid for them.

Titanize.com - Online backup that allows you to snyc with other devices and share links to your files.

Trueshare.com - Secure off-site data backup, packages as small as 3GB up to 1TB.

Yuntaa.com - Sync your hard drive with your online storage, restore, or share. Free up to 1GB.

Sending Services

Arunalabs.com - Send large files to anyone on the net.

Bigfilez.com - Send a file up to 500MB in size to multiple recipients.

Bigupload.com - Send files up to 500MB in size, up to 2GB for premium members.

BoxCloud.com - Up to 1GB of free sending, more space with paid plans.

Driveway.com - Send an unlimited number of files up to 500MB each in size.

DropSend.com - Email files up to 250MB in size, subscriptions get you larger files and more storage.

FileFactory.com - Send up to 25 files at a time at 300MB per file.

JustUpIt.com - Send a file up to 120MB to up to four email addresses.

Jagbox.com - Upload a file up to 100MB in size, share the link, set an expiration time.

LeapFILE.com - Send files of various sizes, 7 day trial, subscription thereafter.

Localhostr.com - Upload a file up to 50MB in size, share it with friends.

MailBigFile.com - Send up to a 100MB file to one recipient, up to 2GB to 5 recipients if you subscribe.

MoveDigital.com - Store and deliver large files easily with a drag-and-drop interface.

Pandafile.com - Send a file, no limitations mentioned.

Send6.com - Send up to six large files at once for free, private branding available.

Sendspace.com - Send files up to 300MB in size, unlimited downloads.

SendThisFile.com - Subscription only, size and bandwidth vary with plan.

Sharebee.com - Upload a file, share the link, no mention of limitations on size.

YouSendIt.com - Email files up to 100MB in size for free, bigger limits by subscription.

YouSwap.com - Upload and send up to 1GB of files to multiple email addresses.

Storage/Sharing Services

4shared.com - Share a file or an entire folder for free, up to 1GB. More space available for annual subscription plans.Badongo.com - Unlimited file storage, inactive files files deleted after 45 days for free members, never for premium members.

BigFilebox.com - Free storage up to 100MB, more space available for a fee.

BooMP3.com - Free unlimited storage of audio files.

Box.net - Up to 1GB of storage of files up to 10MB size each, more space for monthly or annual fee.

BOXSTr.com - 10GB of storage of files up to 250MB in size each, 10GB of bandwidth.

DivShare - Upload a file, store it forever, embed it anywhere you want. Premium service allows you to brand your embeds.

Ewedrive.com - Store up to 1GB for free, more available at a fee.

Exaroom.com - Upload files, make a profile, let friends browse and download your files, access your files from anywhere.

FileDEN.com - 1GB of storage, files up to 50MB each, hotlinking allowed of all file extensions.

FileHo.com - Unlimited storage, you can choose to share your files or keep them private.

FileNanny.com - Store up to 500MB of files and share them with anyone.

FilePanda.com - Upload files up to 200MB in size, share them with others.

Flypicture.com - Unlimited hosting of pictures, audio or movie files, free use for blogs and auctions.

Freefilehosting.net - Free hosting of files up to 3MB in size, use anywhere.

GigaSize.com - Store up to 1.5GB, share files for up to 90 days.

I2drive.com - Plans as low as $4.99 for 500MB of storage.

In.solit.us - Upload your files, keep them private or opt to make them public so anyone can download them.

Jumbodir.com - Upload without even registering, up to 2GB of space and no time limits if you do register.

Mediafire.com - Upload up to 10 files of up to 100MB each at a time, unlimited storage, link and share if you like.

MediaMax.com - Up to 25GB of free storage, 10MB per file, more space and size limits available by subscription.

Megaupload.com - Up to 50GB of free storage and sharing capabilities for free.

Mofile.com - Up to 1GB of sharing storage.

MyDataBus.com - Upload up to 5GB of files for free and share, can integrate with Facebook.

MyFabrik.com - 1GB of media storage you can share and embed.

OneDump.com - Free hosting and sharing of up to 10 files of 5MB each.

QuickSharing.com - Up to 500MB per file, deleted after 30 days of inactivity.

RapidSahre.com - Share an unlimited number of files up to 100MB in size, an unlimited number of times.

Supload.com - Unlimited image hosting for use with sites such as eBay and MySpace.

TagAndFile.com - Store up to 100MB for free, more space available for a fee.

Tilefile.com - Upload and organize your files, share them with friends.

Upfordown.com - 20GB of storage with 50GB of bandwidth the first month for free.

Webcargo.net - Mail files up to 100MB for free, stay online for up to 7 days. More paid options.

WOOfiles.com - Up to 1GB of storage, share with friends.

Xdrive.com - Up to 5GB of storage, access from anywhere, share with friends and family.

zUpload.com - Share files up to 500MB in size, unlimited downloads.

7 Clever Google Tricks Worth Knowing

Below I have compiled a list of 7 clever Google tricks that I believe everyone should be aware of. Together I think they represent the apex of the grand possibilities associated with Google search manipulation tricks and hacks. Although there are many others out there, these 7 tricks are my all-time favorite. Enjoy yourself.

1. Find the Face Behind the Result – This is a neat trick you can use on a Google Image search to filter the search results so that they include only images of people. How is this useful? Well, it could come in handy if you are looking for images of the prominent people behind popular products, companies, or geographic locations. You can perform this search by appending the code &imgtype=face to the end of the URL address after you perform a standard Google Image search.

• Examples (notice the differences in each URL):
  • Image Search for Google vs. Faces Behind Google Image Search
  • Image Search for Digg vs. Faces Behind Digg Image Search
  • Image Search for California vs. Faces Behind California Image Search
  • More info.

2. Google + Social Media Sites = Quality Free Stuff – If you are on the hunt for free desktop wallpaper, stock images, Wordpress templates or the like, using Google to search your favorite social media sites is your best bet. The word “free” in any standard search query immediately attracts spam. Why wade through potential spam in standard search results when numerous social media sites have an active community of users who have already ranked and reviewed the specific free items that interest you. All you have to do is direct Google to search through each of these individual social media sites, and bingo… you find quality content ranked by hundreds of other people.

• Examples:
  • site:digg.com free “desktop wallpaper”
  • site:reddit.com free “wordpress templates”
  • site:del.icio.us free “stock images”
  • site:netscape.com free “ringtones”
  • site:stumbleupon.com free icons
  • More info.

3. Find Free Anonymous Web Proxies – A free anonymous web proxy site allows any web browser to access other third-party websites by channeling the browser’s connection through the proxy. The web proxy basically acts as a middleman between your web browser and the third-party website you are visiting. Why would you want to do this? There are two common reasons:

• You’re connecting to a public network at a coffee shop or internet café and you want privacy while you browse the web. You don’t want the admin to know every site you visit.
• You want to bypass a web content filter or perhaps a server-side ban on your IP address. Content filtering is common practice on college campus networks. This trick will usually bypass those restrictions.

There are subscription services and applications available such as TOR and paid VPN servers that do the same thing. However, this trick is free and easy to access from anywhere via Google. All you have to do is look through the search results returned by the queries below, find a proxy that works, and enter in the URL of the site you want to browse anonymously.

• Examples:
  • inurl:”nph-proxy.cgi” “start using cgiproxy”
  • inurl:”nph-proxy.cgi” “Start browsing through this CGI-based proxy”
  • More info.

4. Google for Music, Videos, and Ebooks - Google can be used to conduct a search for almost any file type, including Mp3s, PDFs, and videos. Open web directories are one of the easiest places to quickly find an endless quantity of freely downloadable files. This is an oldie, but it’s a goodie! Why thousands of webmasters incessantly fail to secure their web severs will continue to boggle our minds.

Examples:

• Find Music: -inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wma|mp3) “Counting Crows”
• Find Videos: -inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(mpg|wmv) “chapelle”
• Find Ebooks: -inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(pdf|doc) “george orwell 1984″

5. Browse Open Webcams Worldwide – Take a randomized streaming video tour of the world by searching Google for live open access video webcams. This may not be the most productive Google trick ever, but it sure is fun! (Note: you may be prompted to install an ActiveX control or the Java runtime environment which allows your browser to view certain video stream formats.)

• Examples:
  • Axis Webcams: inurl:/view.shtml or inurl:view/index.shtml
  • Cannon Webcams: sample/LvAppl/
  • MOBOTIX Webcams: control/userimage.html
  • FlexWatch Webcams: /app/idxas.html
  • JVC Webcams: intitle: intitle:”V.Networks [Motion Picture(Java)]”
  • More info. - More info.

6. Judge a Site by its Image – Find out what a site is all about by looking at a random selection of the images hosted on its web pages. Even if you are somewhat familiar with the target site’s content, this can be an entertaining little exercise. You will almost surely find something you didn’t expect to see. All you have to do is use Google’s site: operator to target a domain in an image search.

• Examples:
  • Digg in Images
  • Wired in Images
  • Reddit in Images
  • More info.

7. Results Based on Third-Party Opinion - Sometimes you can get a better idea of the content located within a website by reading how other websites refer to that site’s content. The allinanchor: Google search operator can save you large quantities of time when a normal textual based search query fails to fetch the information you desire. It conducts a search based on keywords used strictly in the anchor text, or linking text, of third party sites that link to the web pages returned by the search query. In other words, this operator filters your search results in a way such that Google ignores the title and content of the returned web pages, but instead bases the search relevance on the keywords that other sites use to reference the results. It can add a whole new dimension of variety to your search results.

• Examples (notice the added variety between search results):
• allinanchor:”google hacks” vs. basic search for Google hacks
• allinanchor:”wordpress exploits” vs. basic search for Wordpress exploits

Bonus Material:

Here is a list of my favorite Google advanced search operators, operator combinations, and related uses:

• link:URL = lists other pages that link to the URL.
• related:URL = lists other pages that are related to the URL.
• site:domain.com “search term = restricts search results to the given domain.
• allinurl:WORDS = shows only pages with all search terms in the url.
• inurl:WORD = like allinurl: but filters the URL based on the first term only.
• allintitle:WORD = shows only results with terms in title.
• intitle:WORD = similar to allintitle, but only for the next word.
• cache:URL = will show the Google cached version of the URL.
• info:URL = will show a page containing links to related searches, backlinks, and pages containing the url. This is the same as typing the url into the search box.
• filetype:SOMEFILETYPE = will restrict searches to that filetype
• -filetype:SOMEFILETYPE = will remove that file type from the search.
• site:www.somesite.net “+www.somesite.net” = shows you how many pages of your site are indexed by google
• allintext: = searches only within text of pages, but not in the links or page title
• allinlinks: = searches only within links, not text or title
• WordA OR WordB = search for either the word A or B
• “Word” OR “Phrase” = search exact word or phrase
• WordA -WordB = find word A but filter results that include word B
• WordA +WordB = results much contain both Word A and Word B
• ~WORD = looks up the word and its synonyms
• ~WORD -WORD = looks up only the synonyms to the word
• More info.

Source

Google Releasing Anti-Piracy Technology, Coming soon!

Google is looking to release its long-awaited anti-piracy technology on YouTube this September.

The news came out during a hearing today, regarding the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit that Viacom has filed against Google. The hearing was for setting the schedule of the case, including choosing a date for the trial. An attorney has stated that the company is working intensely on a video recognition, fingerprinting technology that is supposed to rival that which is used by the FBI. This will allow content owners to provide a digital fingerprint that will trigger a block from YouTube when someone else tries to upload the copyrighted clip without permission.

Google hopes to have testing completed by this fall, and says to be collaborating with media companies in this testing phase. Will this solve all of Google/YouTube’s legal problems? Maybe. Several have speculated that the amassing lawsuits against Google have been largely filed as a way to spur its development and release of digital fingerprinting technology.

[source]

Google Earth Enterprise Version Update Released

Google Earth has released the latest version of Google Earth Enterprise, incorporating some new geospatial tools, among other things.

Some of the new features include browser integration with the Google Maps API AJAX, allowing maps to be embedded in web-based applications. There’s also a new serch framework for integrating geocoding and other search services, including Java plug-ins. Use the regionator to make Super-Overlays with Regions, and publish them with other Google Earth products. Security and support has been stepped up as well. Overall, a good portion of the upgrades involve some better integration options with other Google Earth services and web-based services.

In other Google Maps news, Google has acquired Image America, and its project with NASA has been completed.

The Human Brain Cloud "Game"

The Human Brain Cloud is a terrific simple (and superbly implemented) idea to create word associations. It’s one of those games that is aggregating human intelligence on big scale, making the fun end up in something useful. In this case, you see a single word, and you enter another word that comes to mind which is associated with that word (e.g. the first I got was “Divine” and I entered “Google”, just because that came to mind). Whatever word you entered can then also be displayed to other people playing this. The more of the same words people entered when seeing a particular word, the stronger the association between the two words.

Using this methodology, and by only starting with a single seed word – “volcano” – creator Kyle Gabler now manages to display nice networks like the one above. “This isn’t academically rigorous or anything,” Kyle disclaims on the About page, but it might well be one of those “80% working” things that end up being extremely useful (like the concept of Wikipedia is an “80% working” thing, and it nevertheless turns out great).

What might be nice is if in the future, when the site has grown, one could start to work in a “neighborhood of expertise” (e.g. I could pick “Google” and then start out with the 1000 closest terms in that field).

NB:Some times you will see “This Account Has Exceeded Its CPU Quota” message, so I’m not sure it will load right for you...

[Via Andy Baio.]

Zimbra Desktop Version - web-based email client

Zimbra, the web-based email client, has been working hard on a Zimbra Desktop tool, which is an offline, AJAX option for the Zimbra service. The latest version is now available for download, for Linux, Mac and Windows, though Windows users must re-sync.

The offline access for calendars is a new development that has been included in the most recent version of Zimbra Desktop. The batch message syncing tool has been improved, as well as any mailbox changes on the server side, as they’re now reflected faster in the user interface. Overall, Zimbra Desktop mimics the web-based tools more, and switching from offline to online is more seamless. The search tools have also been improved, and the mail inbox will self-organize in a useful manner.

In other Zimbra news, the company has recently released its iPhone-optimized version.

Google Wants Your Videos to Create a GMail Ad

The Gmail team wants YOU to create a promotion video for them. Sounds lame? Well, actually the idea behind this is really neat, I think: you’ll print out a PDF of the red Gmail envelope showing the “M”, and then record a funny/ cool/ creative way in which this envelope is passed from the left to right. You then upload the result to YouTube, submit it with the Gmail team, and if they like it your clip ends up being stitched together with the clips of many others into a longer, semi-coherent video.

(And why the passing from left to right? The Gmail blog explains that “you can see this as a symbol of how email connects people from all over, making the world feel a bit smaller. Or you could think of it as a metaphor for mail exchange servers, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and all of the technical steps involved in getting a Gmail message around the world from one inbox to another.”)

[Thanks Jared Cherup!]

Firefox Add-ons For Security and Privacy

SECURITY

AI Roboform Toolbar for Firefox - Works as a toolbar with RoboForm to manage and protect your passwords.

Dr.Web anti-virus link checker - Check files for viruses before you download them, and pages before you visit.

FirePhish Anti-Phishing Extension - Anti-phising toolbar that works with the Open Phishing Database.

Controle de Scripts - Adds a more advanced JavaScript control panel.

eBayCaptcha Populator - Automatically fills in the eBay Captcha image input for you.

FormFox - Hover your cursor over a form box, see where the information you are entering is going to.

iTrustPage - Anti-phishing tool that prevents you from filling out a suspicious form and suggests the legitimate alternative.

KeyScrambler Personal - Encrypts your keystrokes to protect you from keyloggers.

Link Alert - Changes the color of your cursor to indicate visually what the link you are hovering over does.

Magic Password Generator - Enter a master password and generate unique passwords for each site from it. Will also auto-fill in email addresses and name.

Master Password Timeout - Set the timer for a predefined amount of time of inactivity, when time it expires, it locks down your stored passwords.

NoScript - Guards against scripts running except from trusted sites. Won the “2006 PC World Class Award”.

Password Exporter - Allows you to import and export your passwords between different copies of Firefox.

Password Hasher - Automatically generate strong passwords, quickly upgrade passwords, change passwords on sites plus much more.

PasswordMaker - Helps with password encryption and storage.

Personal Anti-Phishing Sidebar - Combines multiple extensions in to one to help fight phishing and spoofing attacks.

PhishTank SiteChecker - Works to bring the functionality of PhishTank.com in to your browser to help fight phising.

PopupMaster - Adds a popup blocker to the status bar.

QArchive.org web files checker - Install this, and with a simple right click, you can scan a file for malware, trojans, and viruses before download.

QuickJava - Gives you easy to access buttons to enable and disable Java.

Remove Cookie(s) For Site - Adds a right-click option to remove all the cookies for the currently viewed site.

Secure Login - Store login information and fill in forms with a click.

SecurePassword Generator - Helps you generate strong passwords.

SignupShield Passwords - 1-Click Password manager, form filler, spam control and anti-phishing toolbar.

SplitLink - Removes special symbols in URLs so you can better see where exactly a link is taking you.

TrustWatch Search by GeoTrust - Gives you realtime results from TrustWatch while searching with Yahoo, Google, and MSN.

VeriSign EV Green Bar Extension - Verifies the secure certificate information and turns the address bar green to let you know.

PRIVACY

Add N Edit Cookies - Allows you to add and edit cookies.

Anonymization Toolbar - Toolbar that lets you surf anonymously, also will clear your history and cache with a click.

BrowseAtWork - Allows you to view selected pages anonymously, can help you get around school or work filters as a bonus.

CookieCuller - Protect or unprotect your cookies.

CookieSafe - Gives you control of sites setting cookies on your system from a convenient location on the status bar.

CookieSwap - Allows you to maintain multiple cookie sets you can swap between.

Distrust - Turn on this extension while you surf, when done, turn it off and it will delete all the cookies and history collected while it was on.

Extended Cookie Manager - Gives you quick access to cookie controls and lets you change permissions on demand.

FoxTor - Allows you to “mask” and “unmask” yourself at will as you cruise around the web.

FoxyProxy - Completely replaces the built-in Firefox proxy system giving you more complete control.

Gish It! - Create a GishPuppy disposable email address via right-click or Tools menu.

MailNull Now! - Create MailNull addresses from the same window, once done, the address copies to your clipboard for easy pasting.

my-spambox - Create a temporary email address for 12 hours to use when signing up with websites.

Page Title Eraser - Will remove the title and favicon from a tab so someone looking over your shoulder can’t see the pages you’re on.

ProxySel - Lets you choose a proxy from a drop down list and even import new proxys.

RenameTabs - Change the names of any open tabs you have.

SafeHistory - Restricts sites from seeing your previous surfing history.

ShowIP - See the IP of the current page, look up its host name and do a whois query.

Spamavert.com - Right click on an input field of a webform, select spamavert from the menu, and it will insert a disposable email address from their site.

Stealther - Temporarily disables features such as cookies, browsing history and much more so that you leave no trace of your surfing while it’s active.

SwitchProxy Tool - Allows you to easily switch between proxy configurations and keep your surfing more anonymous.

TabRenamizer - Can set to randomly rename the tabs in your browser so no one can know what is open in all your tabs.

Temporary Inbox - Create an email address from temporaryinbox.com without leaving the page, keep spam out of your main account easily.

Torbutton - One-click button for enabling and disabling Firefox’s use of Tor for safer surfing.

TrashMail.net - Quickly create disposable email addresses.

Unhide Passwords - If you are secure in your physical environment, get rid of the **** you see when typing in passwords.

View Cookies - Adds a tab to the Page Info, shows all the cookies used by the current page you are viewing.

Dashes vs. Underscores in Google

Following on from Matt’s post a couple of years ago, in which he said that he “would always choose dashes instead of underscores”, it looks like things are about to change at Google as they’ll soon be recognizing underscores as word separators:

One key development that Matt shared with the audience [at WordCamp 2007] was that underscores in URLs are now (or at least very soon to be) treated as word separators by Google. That’s great news, because<>

– CNet Tech News blog

10 Tips for Choosing a Domain Name

By Anita Campbell

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but if your business name isn't followed by a dot-com your customers may never find your business.

Does your choice of domain name for your website really matter?

I’ll say it does!

Your domain name is like your street address. How will customers find you if they don’t know where to look -- or worse, if they go to what they think is your address only to find your company is not there? Here are ten tips to choosing a domain name for your business:

1. Make it a dot-com -- Henry Ford is rumored to have said about his Model T Ford that you could have it in any color “so long as it’s black.” That same attitude pretty much sums up one naming philosophy: choose any domain name, so long as it’s a “.com” extension. In the United States, most people typing in a domain name will type “.com” by default. With over 70 million registered URLs, the “.com” extension is by far the most popular, with “.net”, “.org”, and ”.info” lagging far behind in popularity, according to the ICANN Wiki.

2. Short and easy to spell -- Shorter is better. A short URL is easier to remember and less likely to be misspelled than a long one. For obvious reasons, avoid any domain name that by its nature is hard to spell or confusing.

3. Company names and brand names -- Whenever possible, register your company name as your main URL. It’s what people usually try first when looking for your business website. You might also consider registering your product/service names as additional URLs. The reason? Some companies now create mini-sites specifically for products and services -- think Jif.com or Tide.com. Or they point the product URL to a section of their main website that features that product.

4. Keywords and household words -- Some companies register industry-specific terms, common words or short phrases that your customers or prospective customers may commonly type into a browser. According to Monte Cahn, CEO of Moniker.com, “Seventy percent of people type directly in the browser address field, while the other 30 percent go through a search engine.” This has increased the value of domains that are household words, easy-to-remember phrases, or keywords. Domain names such as Autos.com and Seniors.com sold for more than $1 million each, he says.

5. Personal names -- Register your own first and last name as your URL if you are a consultant, writer, or other professional whose reputation in your field is critical to drawing customers. Think TomPeters.com. You have several options here. For instance, you can use your personal name as your business domain. Or, you can point your personal-name URL to a separate company website. Either way, people looking for you are more likely to also find your business website.

6. Be defensive with misspellings -- Buy up common misspellings of your domain name. That way, you don’t leave traffic on the table -- and competitors won’t be able to buy the misspelled domains and siphon off traffic intended for your site. According to Cahn, try this method to find misspellings: Get a number of people in your office to type in your domain name 100 times each in a browser. If you don’t have employees, get your family and friends involved. Keep track of every mistyped URL. Those are the URLs you want to buy and point to your site.

7. Protect your brand with other extensions -- While the “.com” extension is the most popular, as a defensive measure consider also snapping up other extensions of your domain name. Secure the .net, .info, .biz and similar extensions. If you do business internationally, think about securing country extensions, also (such as .co.uk).

8. Don’t forget mobile -- With mobile devices becoming more popular, big brands are starting to register and develop their .mobi sites specifically for mobile users. So do what the big boys do and register that .mobi. You may have no plans to build out a .mobi site today. But as mobile usage grows you may be glad you have that domain in two or three years.

9. Avoid long hyphenated URLs -- Ochool of thought in vogue a few years ago was to register domain names with strings of keywords separated by hyphens. The reason? It was thought that you could get higher rankings in the search engines if these keywords were in your URL. This approach led to some ridiculously long URLs prone to misspellings and confusion. This approach has fallen out of favor in most camps, as it is not clear that search engines give any preference to hyphenated keyword URLs.

10. Register domains for as long as possible -- A final word of advice: secure your main domain names for a minimum of several years so they don’t expire out from under you. Ten years is best. What’s $89 (the current cost of a 10-year registration through GoDaddy.com) when your company’s entire Web presence is at stake?

The larger domain name registrars will send pre-expiration reminders or even automatically renew on your behalf. Sign up for these protections whenever available. Be especially careful when using smaller resellers of domain names, as they may not offer these expiration-avoidance features. More than one small business owner I know has been rudely surprised by an expired domain.

Anita Campbell is a writer, speaker and radio talk show host who closely follows trends in the small business market at her site, Small Business Trends.

Via

Microsoft to Launch Google Analytics Competitor

There are reports of a new Microsoft web analytics tool being in the works. It would compete directly with Google Analytics. There is no confirmation of these reports, as Microsoft has not made an official announcement regarding the project.

The reports indicate that a beta version of this tool, code-named “Gatineau,” is scheduled for this summer, and will enable users to filter web traffic by age and gender demographics. This specific data will be coming from users’ Windows Live profiles, and will remain unconnected with users’ personal information such as name or email address. Nevertheless, some privacy issues could come into play, regarding the manner in which demographic data is acquired and utilized for statistical purposes.

Ask.com is looking to avoid discussions around privacy issues, and has recently announced that it will soon offer complete privacy control settings for people that use its search engine. Google has also released its analytics tools for Facebook developers.

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Web Design Toolbox: 50+ Tools for Web Design

explosion of new web based tools: so many that even we have trouble keeping track. Web designers haven’t escaped: there are now scores of tools that turn ordinary folks into designers (for better or worse) and plenty of new toys for the pros, too. We’ve gathered together more than 50 such tools and resources.

BEGINNER RESOURCES

SiteKreator - You can instantly design, build and host a fully-branded website for personal or business use.

Leafletter - Allows you to create a “little web site” that you can then distribute anywhere (social networks, blogs, other websites).

SynthaSite - Browser-based website creation tool that allows you to collaborate with friends or colleagues. Also has lots of widgets, templates and other components you can use.

Weebly - With Weebly you can create a fully branded website using a drag and drop interface, and change your design any time.

FolioNow - A web-based tool that makes creating websites affordable and requires little effort.

Zinadoo - Lets you create and share a mobile website.

mobispirit - An online platform for creating mobile applications.

siteMighty - Web based platform for creating affiliate websites in minutes.

CreataPlace - Create a professional portfolio website without programming. And it’s affordable.

weebox - Flash-based website creator with a drag-and-drop interface. You do have to host through them.

freewebs - Fast and easy website creator with hundreds of available templates and customizable widgets.

Built Smarter - Tons of templates available, depending on the price you’re willing to pay, built-in modules and customization also available.

sampa - Free website creation and hosting. There is an ad bar that runs across the top of your site.

Wufoo - Online form builder with full CSS and XHTML integration.

formspring - Another online form builder. This one lets you get all of the form submissions through an RSS feed or single spreadsheet instead of hundreds of emails.

RESOURCES FOR MORE ADVANCED USERS

inserit - A codeless CMS that lets you freely design your pages and integrate live content anywhere. Host your website anywhere (Linux or Windows).

BrowserShots - Test your site in different browsers.

tweak - Tweak is a CMS that allows you to design your way, and make it conform. You can also save pages in just about any format (HTML, PHP, ASP, JSP, etc.).

formatpixel - Create an online magazine, fanzine or catalog that you can then share on your website.

RoundedCornr - Generates HTML/CSS code and images for rounded corners.

GRAPHICS AND DESIGN TOOLS

ColorSchemer - I use the color scheme gallery on this site all the time for inspiration when creating just about anything.

COLOURlovers - Tons of color theory inspiration and color schemes as well as color trends.

Color Mixers - Color Mixers creates color schemes for you, and has an easy-to-use slider interface.

ColorBlender - A free online tool for color matching and palette design. You just choose a color using the color picker and a 6-color matching palette will be automatically created.

Kuler - Make color schemes that are compatible with Adobe Creative Suite products.

colr - Another color scheme generator.

Color Tool 2.0.8 Alpha - This is a pretty cool color scheme generator that allows you to save and then link to your color scheme.

Vecteezy - Get free vector graphics from top artists around the world.

BlogFlux Button Maker - The Button Maker allows you to make 80×15 and 88×13 buttons with a few clicks and without needing to know how to use a graphics program.

Button Browser - Button gallery and button maker.

Brilliant Button Maker - Another 80×15 button maker.

Background Image Maker - You can make slash, strip, dot or gradation backgrounds with this free online tool.

Brusheezy - Very cool Photoshop brushes available for download.

Tartan Maker - Create your own tartans with this easy-to-use web-based tool. Use for backgrounds or other images.

iconfinder - An icon search engine.

Stripe Generator 2.0 - Create striped backgrounds for your site.

FamFamFam - Silk icons, 1000 to choose from. There are report icons, picture icons, XHTML/CSS buttons, hardware drive icons, feed icons, and more.

IconBuffet - Professional icon collections.

Web 2.0 Badges - Create Web 2.0 badges for your site.

The Icon Factory - They offer freeware icons as well as a shareware IconBuilder.

Colr Pickr - Pick a color and Colr Pickr will show you a bunch of images that consist primarily of that color from flickr.

terra IMS mapicons Dynamic Generator - Create PNG format images to use as icons on Google Maps or Yahoo Maps.

pic2color - Create color palettes from images, and recolor your graphics.

TypeTester - TypeTester allows you to try out different web fonts to see how they’ll look side-by-side.

iRazoo Latest to Launch Human-Powered Search Engine

iRazoo is a new social search engine that is looking to promote human-powered recommendations the foundation of its service.

As a registered member, you can perform a search and recommend (yes or no) a site that you’ve checked out. iRazoo aggregates search data from the top engines and provides a thumbnail preview image of each result. Once you click on a search result, the webpage will be pulled up within an iRazoo iFrame. This is where you choose whether or not you recommend the site, and can leave a comment as well. Any recommended sites will appear above the regular search results when you perform a search, along with any comments a user has left. You can also browse through the recommended sites, though it doesn’t appear as though you can do a specifi search within recommended sites just yet.

iRazoo seems a very concerned with encouraging site activity, as you earn reward points for performing searches and commenting on sites. These points can be exchanged for merchandise such as an iTunes gift card or a digital camera. You can “shop” through prizes and add them to your wish list, reminding you that you’re working towards a goal in using iRazoo’s search engine. You can also add an iRazoo banner to your website, or install the search plugin into your browser toolbar. With your iRazoo account, you can keep track of your prizes as well as your recommended sites. While you can see sites that have been recommended, along with the number of users that have recommended it, you cannot see the username, or view others’ accounts.

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Microsoft "Windows 7" Expected to be Released in 2010

Sources close to Microsoft have revealed that the next version of Windows, code named "Windows 7", is expected to ship in around three years. The new version was a topic at a recent field sales force meeting.

Few details are known about plans for the new operating system other than it will have 32- and 64-bit versions and come in consumer and business editions like Vista did. A subscription mode is also being considered.

"Microsoft is scoping Windows 7 development to a three-year time frame, and then the specific release date will ultimately be determined by meeting the quality bar," said a spokesperson for the software giant.

Read More: news.com.com
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Ask.com to be the First Major Search Engine to Offer Complete Privacy Options

Ask.com is preparing to launch a new service called AskEraser, which is a a privacy settings option that ensures that no search records will be retained by the company. This will make Ask.com the first major search engine to offer such a high level of privacy options for users.

Many have expressed concerns with privacy options, or lack thereof, for people performing internet searches. AskEraser will guarantee that a person’s search records won’t be saved by the company in any way, shape or form, for any period of time. The privacy status for a search session will be prominently displayed for users as well.

The Center for Democracy and Technology, an organization that promote civil liberties online, has helped to prompt Ask.com to create the option for users to not have their activity recorded. Google’s actions in response to privacy advocates, which included the shortening the time which search preference cookies were saved and anonymizing its server logs after 18 months, also helped spur Ask.com’s efforts in providing more privacy options for users, obviously as a more desirable option for some seeking additional protection. This may prove to be another way in which Ask.com hopes to compete with Google, after launching an AdSense-like system earlier this year.

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