Things to do before installing iOS 6 on your iPhone or iPad

As an Apple Inc Fan, anything iOS gets me in the right mood and i always want to get updated of trending gadgets and technology, believe me there's nothing as sleek and secured as an apple product.

With the new iOS pushed live to the servers by Apple, it can just be installed on your iPhone or iPad wirelessly, in just a few taps but before you do that please take note of the following tips:

First of all Why bother with the upgrade? Well, I can tick off some new features, including turn-by-turn car navigation through the new Maps app, full-screen web surfing, a “do not disturb” mode for calls and alerts, the ability to decline a call with a text message, easier photo sharing, and more.

1. Update iTunes

Apple recently issued a new version of iTunes to go along with iOS 6, and while there’s nothing earth-shatteringly new about the update, iTunes 10.7 is designed to play nice with iPhones and iPads running the iOS 6 software update.
Given that, it’s probably a good idea to update your copy of iTunes before taking the iOS 6 leap. Here’s how to do it.
For iTunes on a Mac:

• Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen, then select Software Update.
• The Mac App Store application on your Mac should open automatically, and it will scan your system for software that needs to be updated. Near the top of the list, you should see an entry for iTunes; just click the Update button.

For iTunes on a PC:

• Open iTunes, click the Help menu, then select Check for Updates.
• After a few seconds, a window should appear prompting you download the new version of iTunes; go ahead and click the “Download iTunes” button.

 2. Back up your iPhone/iPad

A stalled iPhone/iPad update could freeze your device or corrupt its data, including your photos, contacts, music and apps.

That’s why it’s critical you back up your iDevice before beginning the iOS 6 installation process. Here’s how:

Using iCloud
If you’re using Apple’s free iCloud service on your iPhone or iPad and you have iCloud backup enabled, your device should be backing itself up automatically whenever its locked and connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Nice, but it’s still a good idea to check the date on your most recent iCloud backup—and if the backup file is more than a few days old, you should probably perform a manual backup before proceeding.

• Tap the Settings icon, then tap iCloud, Storage & Backup.
• Scroll to the bottom of the next screen and check the date of your last backup. Was it more than a day ago? If so, tap the “Back Up Now” button to manually create a new backup file.

Using iTunes
Still syncing your iPad or iPhone with iTunes? If so, iTunes creates a backup of your iDevice with each and every sync, and it’s worth it to perform one last backup before installing iOS 6.

• Connect your iPhone or iPad to iTunes on your desktop using its USB sync cable. Or, if you’re using Wi-Fi to sync your device with iTunes, you should see it already listed in the left column of the iTunes interface.
• Click the “Sync” button on iTunes, sit back and wait; within a few minutes or so, iTunes will have created a new backup of your iPhone or iPad data.

 

3. Plug your iPhone or iPad into a power source

One thing you definitely don’t want to happen during the iOS 6 update process is have your iPhone or iPad run out of juice midway through the installation; it’s a sure-fire way to corrupt your device’s data, or worse.
With that in mind, make sure to plus your iPhone or iPad into a wall outlet using its power adapter or connect it to a powered USB port on your PC or Mac before you install iOS 6. Better safe than sorry, right?

4. Be patient

Whenever there’s a major new iOS update available for download, a stampede of eager iPhone and iPad users tends to slow Apple’s servers to a crawl—and when that happens, downloads that normally take minutes could take an hour or more.

Top 10 Tablets compared: COMING SOON

Top 10 Tablets compared: which is best for you? COMING SOON

 Number 10: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9

Number 9: Apple iPad 2

Number 8: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

Number 7: Microsoft Surface

Number 6: Amazon Kindle Fire HD

Number 5: Asus Transformer Pad Infinity

Number 4: Google Nexus 10

Number 3: Google Nexus 7

Number 2: iPad 4

Number 1: iPad mini

Top Tech Trends To Look Out For In 2013?

Nothing happens overnight; next year’s trends will be an outgrowth of what is happening already this year. But a few markets may see an inflection point in 2013:

Cheap tablets – most people still think of tablets as expensive premium Apple toys. But these things are going to be $19.95 soon, that's like (N4, 000) cheaper than a hardcover book. This has some implications:

• Every kid in every school can have one or more than one.
• They’ll be widespread in Africa, Asia, South America, even in places without landlines. Many folks may skip smartphones completely and move directly to small tablets.
• You can own multiple tablets, optimized for different purposes (same as how you own multiple hardcover books today).
• This will bring in changes in education, health care, retail and restaurant experiences, automobiles, etc,  as we stop thinking of these things as expensive computers and start thinking of them as replacements for paper.

 MOBILE payments – as mobile money becomes more widespread, and services like internet Banking, E-payment, RTGS, NIBSS roll out, 2013 might finally be the year where walking into a store and paying with your phone or just by giving your name becomes common and not just an early adopter experience in a few markets.

Wearable computing – a revamped iPod Nano, the Pebble watch project, and/or other things like them will make this the year you’ll finally see people checking a watch or a necklace regularly for messages from their friends vs. whipping out their phone and turning it on constantly.

Corporate IT moves to the cloud – this is already happening but is large enough that it still deserves a mention. Trillions of dollars of IT spending are moving from data centers and software licenses to cloud services. Soon you’ll be able to read about companies with 10,000 employees who don’t have dedicated data centers.
The aas-ing of everything – companies are moving software and storage to the cloud. They’ll soon realize those cloud services can easily pull from cloud-based data sources (Jigsaw, Insideview, Rapleaf) plus cloud-based labor pools, both crowdsourced and professional services firms. For example, why should a mid-market company buy solutions from Marketo, Salesforce, Insideview, build a website, design their lead management workflow, hire IT people to implement the software then staff to implement the workflow? Outsource the whole thing to a firm who runs the plumbing and provides a labor force to do some of the grunt work, leaving the company free to test and push messages to customers through that infrastructure and have their employees talk only to qualified opportunities.

TV – this may be wishful thinking, but something significant could finally happen in the living room in 2013. It could be the long-awaited Apple iTV, or it could be Tivo getting acquired by Apple or Google or Microsoft. The ideal TV experience is a  a single box that lets you both record and download any content you want at any time via a single interface. We’ll take at least a step towards that this year. My bet is on an upgraded Apple TV box plus a true iTV with built in DVR functionality, a revamped interface and set of services, and an app store.
It will be a wild ride.

MasterCard to release credit card with display and keypad in 2013

Near Field Communication has been at the forefront of payment technology for a couple of years now. We’ve seen the tech ship on multiple smartphones to facilitate paying for things at places like gas stations and convenience stores. A new technology from MasterCard being unveiled in Singapore, however, could rival NFC in sheer terms of awesomeness.
The credit card company worked with Standard Chartered to launch what is essentially a credit card with a built-in display and touch-sensitive keypad. It’s described as an interactive payment card, or security token card, which uses MasterCard’s Display Card technology.
The display and keypad allow cardholders to generate a one-time password that is used as an authentication security measure. MasterCard says that future revisions will be able to display things like available card balance, loyalty or reward points, recent transactions and other interactive information.
The card will become standard issue for all Standard Chartered Online Banking and Breeze Mobile Banking users starting in January 2013. They say it’ll be particularly useful for high-risk transactions like payments or transfers above a certain amount or when adding third party payees.
Furthermore, all MasterCard Super Salary, XtraSaver and Bonus$aver debit cards issued in Singapore will be converted to Display cards. The company didn’t mention if this technology would soon be introduced in other parts of the world.
Would you be more inclined to use something like this to pay for goods versus an NFC-enabled device given the potential security risks that the latter may have?

Run Windows OS from a USB stick with Windows To Go

Windows To Go is a new feature in Windows 8 Enterprise that enables you to install your preferred image of Windows 8 on a USB stick.
Your employees can use the USB drive to boot Windows 8 on any machine, so they can work from home or another uncontrolled location with secure access to your full corporate environment. Once the thumb drive is removed the computer resumes to its original state.
If you're struggling with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) scenarios where your employees want to use their own hardware, Windows To Go solves the issues. User settings can be managed using Group Policy in exactly the same way you would set up other PCs in your business.
It's also a great solution if you need to use more than one PC yourself; you can simply take your install with you. Windows To Go can also be controlled by enterprise management tools such as Microsoft System Centre, while your employees can access company resources like your intranet through Direct Access.

http://www.vsszone.com/create-a-bootable-dvd-or-usb-flash-drive-from-iso-image-using-windows-7-usbdvd-download-tool/

Windows 8 vs. Windows 7

Windows 8 vs. Windows 7: Top Features That Will Be Gone

Windows 8 upcoming release is buzzed a lot on the Internet. The key enhancements like Metro design, Windows Store, fast boot are now well known even to Mac and Linux users! So let’s leave them in peace. In fact, Windows 8 is remarkable not only for its new features, but for the removal of some old options which have been a flagship of Windows OS for years. Important or not so, these features are no longer available. So if you really miss them, think twice before upgrading to Windows 8.

1. Start Button

The Start button which first appeared in Windows 95 and persisted in each new Windows version will be gone soon. Instead, there’s a hot bottom-left corner of the screen to reveal the hidden Start button.

2. Start Menu

The Start menu has also been removed in favor of a full screen interface called the Start screen that uses dynamic tiles instead of static computer icons. It’s accessible as a hotspot in the lower left corner of the screen, via the Windows key, and on the charms bar.

3. Aero Glass

The Aero Glass theme, the graphical centerpiece of Windows Vista and Windows 7, has been completely removed from Windows 8 in favor of a Metro-style theme.

4. Flip 3D

Together with Aero theme, Microsoft abandons Flip 3D windows switching (WinKey+Tab). This wasn’t actually the popular feature among Windows users, still it looked cool and stylish. In Windows 8, Flip 3D is replaced with a Modern UI app switcher, accessible by moving mouse up from the bottom-left corner or down from the upper-left corner. This cannot be used for desktop apps, only to switch to the desktop.

5. DVD Playback

Since DVD discs are used less with the rise of Netflix and other media-streaming services, Microsoft will be removing the integrated DVD playback support from Windows 8. Many new Windows 8 computers will come without DVD drives and Windows Media Player will no longer include codecs to play DVDs. Still if you buy a computer with a DVD drive, it’s up to the manufacturer to include licensed DVD software. Or you can use third-party DVD players, anyway.

6. Windows Desktop Gadgets

Popular desktop widgets like Calendar, Clock, Contacts, Currency Conversion, Feed Headlines, Notes, Stocks, Weather, etc. will be no longer available as a part of Windows sidebar. Though most of these widgets will appear in Start Screen.

7. Update Notifications

On current Windows versions, we are informed about updates through a system tray icon and notification balloons. On Windows 8, these update notifications will no longer appear on the desktop. All Windows-Update-related messages will be shown on the login and lock screens, so you might not even see them if you automatically log into your PC.

8. Recent Documents

There is no place for Recent Documents menu in the new Start screen. So use Search in Charms bar to find any documents on your Windows 8 PC.

9. Windows Backup and Restore

The Backup and Restore feature that allows users to create system and files backups and restore from them has been replaced by a new feature called File History. Still this new option will provide only file-based backup, since system backup is underused in currant Windows versions. As it’s clear from the list, most Windows 7 features described above don’t completely disappear in Windows 8, they are just replaced by the new modified ones. We hope that these changes are well thought out and caused by new technology standards. Farewell, Windows 7! Good luck, Windows 8
 SOURCE: FREEMAKE.COM

IPAD MINI

                                   IPAD MINI REVIEW

The iPad mini has an 4:3 aspect ratio, different than the 16:9 ratio preferred by the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD. The wider screen (holding it in portrait orientation) gives you more room for content.
Apple's Phil Schiller gleefully compared the iPad mini's 7.9-inch screen to the Nexus 7's 7-inch screen, pointing out how the iPad mini's viewing area is 40 per cent larger when you hold it in portrait, and a whopping 67 per cent larger in landscape orientation.

The iPad mini's 1024x768-pixel screen is 163 pixels per inch, the same pixel density as an iPhone 3GS, making it woefully low-res in terms of specs. It's also the same pixel dimensions as iPad 2 and the original iPad, so all of the existing iPad apps can run natively, no scaling or waiting for developers to push out updates. 

Naturally, the small iPad mini sports Apple's new Lightning connector, which can be inserted facing either direction and locks into place with a satisfying click. Apple's Lightning adaptors will let you connect a VGA display or projector, a digital display or projector with HDMI, a USB camera, or an SD card (but will cost you at least £25), and Apple also offers a £25 Lightning to 30-pin adaptor and spare Lightning to USB cables for £15 (one cable comes with the iPad mini).
Preorders begin this October 26. iPad mini starts at £269 for 16GB Wi-Fi only. 32GB and 64GB versions are £349 and £429, and you can add LTE cellular for £100 extra.
Here's where consumers might have a problem though - for £150 less, they'll be able to pick up a Google Nexus 7 or Amazon Kindle Fire HD with 32GB of storage, a much faster processor and a more impressive screen.
Apple has made some significant sacrifices for the iPad mini, be it the low-res screen or last-gen processor, and while it will still sell thanks to its user 'enchantment', the rivals are better-specified, cheaper and carry some pretty serious names behind them.
Wi-Fi versions of the iPad mini start shipping November 2, and the LTE versions two weeks later. Its size and weight let it compete with smaller e-readers, while its power and access to the full ecosystem of iPad apps make it a capable, extremely portable tablet, too.

SOURCE: TechRadar,Touchreviews

Latest Top 5 Trending Tech/Gadgets

Latest Top 5 Trending Tech Gadgets

1.The Almighty Board

Something to add to your kitchen is the Almighty Board — which is the ultimate hi-tech kitchen assistant. This smart-board will simultaneously serve as your cutting board, display your recipes, provide step-by-step directions and weigh your ingredients for you. After you wash it, it will even tell you if it has been cleaned enough to avoid cross-contamination or food poisoning. (No price listed). what exactly is this device?
Source: YankoDesign.com

2. Joystick-IT iPad Arcade Stick

For those who enjoy playing classic video games on an iPad, the Joystick-IT is a real treat. All you have to do is press down to attach it to your tablet’s screen — no wires or batteries needed. (Price $24.99)

3. XDModo Window Solar Charger for your iPhone

This is an environmentally clever way to charge your iPhone batteries without using electricity. XDModo Solar Charger sticks to the inside of a window and charges your phone from the sun’s rays. (Price: $66)

4. Razer 'Project Fiona' gaming tablet

 This is how you do a gaming tablet! Razer's eye-catching 'Project Fiona' concept combines a chunky Windows 7 tablet with two fixed analogue game controllers that stick out on either side like jug-ears.

Powered by an Ivy Bridge Core i7 processor, it boasts a 10.1-inch touch display and has been spotted smoothly running Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Skyrim.
We'd love a portable Xbox 360 like this. It would be ideal for couch potato gaming when the wife wants to watch the telly.
source: techradar.com

5.Voice/motion control

 With Kinect heading to Windows and Siri presumably destined for an Apple TV, CE companies are keen to add gesture control and voice commands to their next-gen telly boxes. Samsung and LG have both demonstrated the technology this year. The days of the old IR remote control could be numbered.
 source: techradar.com

The Best Notebooks So Far

                                                                   Best Gaming Laptop

  

Alienware M17x
Pretty much the diametric opposite of a budget laptop, the Alienware M17x (2011) is a monster. Its massive benchmarks are made more ridiculous by five hours of battery life-an eternity

                                                         Best Value Notebook

HP Pavilion G6x

Sweet sound, an attractive design, and a comfortable keyboard make the HP Pavilion g6x one of our favorite budget notebooks.

                                                         Best All Purpose Notebook
 

HP Pavilion dv6t

The sleek HP Pavilion dv6t delivers a strong multimedia experience with a fast processor, bright display, and Beats audio.

                                                    Best Thin & light Notebook

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (2011)

The most well-rounded 13-inch notebook gets a serious speed boost and lasts even longer on a charge than its predecessor.


                                              Best Ultra portable Notebook

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (2010)

Apple's ultimate ultraportable combines a barely-there profile with a high-resolution display, instant-on functionality, and long battery life.

                                                Best Network Storage Alternative

TS-459 Pro I

Best Networked Storage Alternative
Some aspects of the TS-459 pro II hardware are comparable to the competition, and in other respects, it's just head and shoulders above the rest. A 1.8GHz dual-core Atom powers the TS-459 Pro II, and 1GB of DDR3 RAM comes preinstalled, though you can upgrade to 3GB yourself. QNAP also offers more connectivity options than most mortals will know what to do with, and it's strong on the software side, too.


                                                             Best Wireless Mouse

 

The Logitech performance Mouse MX takes everything that's great about the Marathon Mouse-the same wonderful scroll wheel, the same smooth glide, similar (but better) thumb-buttons-and improves upon it. The laser it uses to track its position will even work on clear glass, which is crazy. It's also rechargeable.

First Bank's FirstMobile and FirstMonie

 

Firstmonie - https://www.firstmonie.com/iweb/

•FirstMonie™ is a payment service which allows a Mobile phone to be used as a virtual wallet for secure, fast, affordable and convenient payments.     The mobile phone number serves as the    

     account number.

•The service is available on all GSM Mobile Network in Nigeria (MTN, Airtel, Glo, Etisalat) and eventually the CDMA networks (Visafone, Multilink, Starcoms etc).

•It works on all phone types. From the most basic phone to sophisticated smartphones, FirstMonie™  experience is the same.

•

•All you need is just a mobile phone

FirstMobile – http://mobile.etranzact.com/FirstMobile.jad
 https://webpay.interswitchng.com/download/firstmobile

FirstMobile is a network independent mobile phone solution that provides financial services and other value added services using the mobile phone and a payment card(Debit – prepaid cards).

Internet-Based Business: Startup Rules

Internet-Based Business: Startup Rules

1. Pre-packaged programs only work as much as you can customize it and make it unique and your own. Even then, techniques that work for one niche won’t work in all niches.
2. Be wary of any “system” that promises instant results (especially anything that sounds like a get-rich-quick scheme!)
3. Knowing the basics of html, SEO (search engine optimization), social media marketing, website marketing and traditional marketing and sales are a must.
4. Every business is made stronger by specializing in a tight niche. Know your audience and stick to it.

INTERNET and E-COMMERCE

The dimension of electronic transactions for any business offers global opportunities and challenges. With the sophistication in the softwares and applications used to develop online stores and integrate secure mode of payments developing an ecommerce site is becoming simpler day by day and cost effective.
But, like any real time business, e-business also needs the attention, focus and hard work to establish goodwill, reputation and profitability, the online business also needs the same energies, strategies and focus to become a success on the WWW. The business challenges of competition, marketing, offering online customer support, attending to potential customers, settling payments, refunds, executing orders, integrating accounts, etc. are applicable to any online business too. Of course, once all these are put in place your business has a global platform with a faster and wider reach and the potential of running your business tapping the local and global market even when you are in your deepest slumber. The number of payment gateways in Nigeria is increasing day-by-day as these eCommerce companies realize how much revenue they can generate from these services. A host of them like Visa, MasterCard, Interswitch, E-tranzact, CashEnvoy, Quickteller, firstpaylink e.t.c has helped the drop the price of integrating the payment gateway module on webstores. The competition is increasing and there's more coming even here in Nigeria.

Webman

HTC J Butterfly with 5-inch 1080p display

HTC has announced its first smartphone with a full HD display in Japan on Wednesday. Featuring a 5-inch Super LCD 3 display with 1920x1080p display, the smartphone is known as HTC J Butterfly and will be released on Japanese telco au by KDDI.
According to the company, J Butterfly will go on sale in the country in early December; however it did not reveal anything about the international launch.
This is the first full HD smartphone that we have seen till now; the display on the phone sports a huge 440 pixels-per-inch (PPI). Other features of the HTC J Butterfly include 1.5GHz Qualcomm S4 Pro quad-core processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage.
The smartphone also comes with 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, Android 4.1, HTC Sense 4+ and 2020 mAh battery.
Connectivity options include HDMI out, microUSB, Infrared, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and NFC.
J Butterfly is expected to be a Japan specific model, but we hope to see similar phone from HTC in other countries.
HTC, which is struggling big time in the smartphone market, is trying to focus on high-end devices to get back to its original spot. Company had recently launched an improved version of its flagship One X, called One X+, which will soon available in countries across the globe.
We have also heard rumours of a Nexus smartphone from the company, which is going to be based on J Butterfly, but no credible reports have come out so-far.

USB 3.0

Western Digital announces its smallest external drive with USB 3.0

The move from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 ports gives the drives a 10-fold bandwidth increase

 Y'all know the popular WD Hard disk drive

Western Digital today announced what it is calling its smallest external hard disk drive, the 500GB My Passport Edge, for both Macs and PCs. The new drives are 4.34 inches long by 3.2-inches wide and .5-inches thick.
The drives are also an upgrade from the USB 2.0 (480Mbps) to the USB 3.0 (5Gbps) USB I/O interface.
[ To control your storage requirements, start by eliminating data redundancy. InfoWorld lays it all out in our Deep Dive Report on Data Deduplication. | Find out which storage server prevails in Test Center's NAS shoot-out. | Keep up with the latest approaches to managing information overload and compliance in InfoWorld's Enterprise Data Explosion newsletter. ]
"USB 3.0 for single drive is as fast as Thunderbolt," said Ralf San Jose, WD's branded product manager. San Jose was referring to the hard drive's inability to saturate Thunderbolt, Intel's high-speed interconnect technology, and its 10Gbps of bandwidth.
The My Passport Edge drives come in an all aluminum housing and have native, hardware-based encryption. The MyPassport Edge for Mac, complements Apple's new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lineups in looks and also in that they come configured to take advantage of Apple's Time Machine backup feature.

By Lucas Mearian

Invitation Facebook Virus

Please circulate this message to your friends and family on your contact list. Over the next few days you should be very careful ... Do not open a message with an attachment called "Invitation Facebook", regardless of who sent it. It is a virus that opens an Olympic flame that burns the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone you had in your address book. Therefore, you should send this message to all your contacts. It is better to receive this e-mail 25 times than to receive the virus and open it. If you receive E-MAIL called: "Invitation Facebook", but sent by a friend, do not open it and remove it immediately. CNN said it is a new virus was discovered recently and has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. It is a Trojan horse that prompts you to install an Adobe Flash plug-in. When you install it, it's over. And there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the hard disk, where vital information is stored .

Top Android Apps

Reading RSS feeds on your phone has become a whole lot easier recently, with the introduction of the official Google Reader app for Android. But what Reader doesn’t bring is, well, sex appeal – it’s as plain Jane as a Loose Woman sans makeup.
Pulse on the other hand is Google Reader slathered in Sex Panther and injected with the libido of Hugh Hefner. It’s an app that begs you to cheat on Google, offering a quick way to import of Google Reader RSS feeds.
It teases you into submission by showing off your favourite websites in such a coherent way. Once you import your feeds, they appear in rows. In each row is a thumbnail story that you can click and get a nicely reformatted page of the article.
It works brilliantly and makes reading on your Android device that little bit sweeter.
If you don’t have Google Reader RSS feeds, you can also Bump to get other feeds across or choose from the plentiful feeds on offer through the app. Be warned: most of what is on offer is US based so this may put you off taking from this archive.
Lucky then there is a decent search option to find the websites you want to add.
Pulse is one of the best looking and easiest news reading apps to use on the Android Market – you’ll wonder how you lived without it for so long.
Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ review: First look | Best Android Phones review

Skype cemented itself as the go-to choice for free video calls years ago but its move to mobile hasn’t been so clear cut. This is because it is not about video calling, well not in the case of the app on Android. What you get on Google’s mobile OS is free Skype-to-Skype chats, low global rates to mobiles and landlines at home or abroad and some IM functionality.
Loading the app on to your phone is a cinch. If you already have a Skype account, then all you have to do is log in and you are away.
If you need an account, then it is fairly simple to set this up on your handset.
Once in, then it is all fluffy clouds in the land of Skype. There’s a nice intro explaining how you can use the service.
There’s a number of things you can do to integrate Skype into your phone. The first is the opting to synch your Skype contacts with the rest on your phone. This makes it a whole lot easier to use Skype, as the option will be there when you load up a contact.
Speaking through Skype to another Skype user works extremely well. To be honest, you won’t notice a difference, except for the lack of bill at the end of the month.
The IM is decent enough, but the amount of text bundles around on contracts, you may not be pushed to use this as much.
To use the low-cost calling you do need to set up a credit system with Skype, which is a little bit of a pain. Couple this with the lack of video calling (which could be a massive rival to the iPhone’s FaceTime) and what you have is a very competent app but one which is missing that special something.
Best Android apps: The Top 10

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing – Perhaps the most lucrative process for earning money online is by using your blog to recommend useful and relevant products to your readers.  The best examples are seen by the many bloggers linking to different themes, ebooks and other products.  The best thing about affiliate marketing is that you are only marketing the product and not selling it.  Just make sure the product is relevant and not over-used.  Read more

Ways to Make money Online

PPC – Pay Per Click is an advertising program in which ads are placed on your blog and you are paid whenever your visitors click on the ads.  It is the most common method bloggers use to make money online.  It involves almost no effort and is so incredibly easy that many blogs have too much advertising on them.   Money is maximized as traffic levels increase.

Resources: Google Adsense Chitika Yahoo! Bidvertiser Adbrite

Text Link Ads – As your blog builds reputation and traffic your posts/pages become great places for links.  Many people will even pay you to put their link on your website or page.  While it has earning potential, be leery of this form of revenue as it may be detrimental to your blog in Google’s algorithm.  So study it out before you make your decision.

 

Paid Surveys and Polls – It is just what it says it is.  You fill out surveys and polls or place them on your blog for others to fill out and earn money.  In doing this option be careful to find survey or poll companies that have credible backgrounds as this is a source for scammers.

 

Pop-up Ads – These pesky and annoying advertisements may be great for some of your niche blogs or sub-domains.  Not worth putting on blogs you actually want to build a community on, pop-up ads offer decent revenue to blogs looking to exist but not grow significantly.  But be aware that it is annoying to the reader.

 

Article Marketing – A two-edged sword.  You get both quality backlinks to your blog and its posts while also creating earning potential. Squidoo and Associated Content are very good examples. It’s also very easy through the simple resources available to you.  Using this blogging income source is both potentially lucrative and excellent marketing.