Daily Plan of Work

In order to be a successful blogger, it is important to be well organized. One of the things that will help you be organized is to devise a daily plan of work. Here is an example of how your plan of work can look like:

-Check and reply to comments. It is important to maintain a bond with your readers. Your visitors are going to appreciate that you care about their opinions.
-Read email, and take action. This might include responding to an email, registering somewhere, forwarding emails, etc. It is not a good idea to skip this step as you never know what email you might receive.

-Visit other blogs that will help you decide what you want to write about, and see what is happening in the blogosphere. You may want to suggest link exchanges with other bloggers, or get involved in a discussion.

-Write and publish your post. You may not need to do it every single day, as it depends on the type of your blog. It also depends how dedicated you are and how much time you have.

-Market your blog. There are many articles written on this topic, so I am not going to go any deeper into that right now.

Online Relationships

With the Internet becoming increasingly popular, it is not difficult to notice all of the dating sites being created and online relationships being formed. This was not possible at all a few decades ago, but these days it is different. Currently, online relationships are often regarded as something very common since so many people are engaged in them. People of all ages participate whether they are young, middle-aged, or even quite old.

I am not going to say whether they are a good idea or not, as it is not such a simple matter, but it is important to know some facts about online relationships. First of all, many people might only write about their positive side instead of confessing, for example, that they have been married a few times already. Such situations can also occur in regular relationships, but it might be more common in online relationships.

That is because on the Internet it is easy to hide information about oneself. I simply want to encourage people to be careful in such situations. On the other hand, online relationships are an excellent way to find someone with similar interests. That is because you have millions of people to choose from, so it should be easy to find someone with similar hobbies or even values. What do you think about online relationships? Do you find them interesting?

Virtual Pets

Pets are creatures kept for companionship and enjoyment. While this term is currently reserved for animals, I believe that we may soon see people having virtual pets. There are already many games and programs that allow you to have a virtual aquarium, or to take care of a creature like Tamagotchi. What current games miss is the lack of sufficient intelligence of in-game creatures such as real dogs or other real pets have. Dogs may not seem that smart for people who never had a dog, but I am sure that dog owners know what I am talking about. Sometimes dogs can surprise with their intelligence, and this is something what artificial intelligence should aim for. Will it be an easy task? I do not think so, however, we have a lot of time to develop such technology.

Memory and Your PC

Every computer has a memory. In this way the computer resembles a human being, as it was built somehow in his image. Memory is very important when it comes to the performance of a PC. Actually, every time I upgrade the components of my computer I tend to do something about the size of its memory. Bigger memory makes a computer perform more smoothly, run more complicated programs and software, and makes it generally more reliable. A bigger memory in your PC can also enhance your overall experience. This is especially the case if you use an operating system that requires a lot of RAM. Vista is an example of such an OS, so you will need at least 3GB of RAM if you want to have good performance.

The Purpose of Online Games

Second Life developed by Linden Lab is another online computer game which gives an opportunity to earn real money. Actually, it is a whole virtual world, where players who are called residents, can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities. They can also create and trade items, virtual property and services with each other.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Second Life is that the players, not Linden Lab, create most of the content of the world. There is a 3D modeling tool in Second Life that allows any resident with the right skills to build virtual buildings, landscape, vehicles, furniture, and machines to use, trade, or sell.

This is a primary source of activity in the economy. It is not an action or role-playing game - there are no levels, no clear winners or losers. This game has a lot of features, like transportation via vehicles, such as go-karts or even helicopters, submarines and hot-air balloons.

Computer Games Based on Movies

Within the last few years there were a lot of computer games released that were based on games. Titles like Lord of the Rings Online or Star Wars Galaxies are an example of that. Developers know that monetizing the popularity of specific movies can be a great idea and it often works. That is because even if the game would not get rated very well, there will still be fans who will want to play it as playing a game offers a new dimension compared to watching movies. It is also interesting that there are some movies based on games. An example of that would be Resident Evil, which was a very popular game, and eventually arrived on the big screen.

Why You Should Back Up Your Data

It seems obvious that each computer user should back up any important data on his PC. The question is whether people really protect their computers from data loss. Here are some of the reasons why you might want to consider backing up data to be a part of your regular routine:

1. You can lose your data anytime due to even a single virus on your PC.
2. Power failure and hard disk problem might also contribute to significant data loss.
3. Do not assume that computers nowadays are secure. This false sense of security can be the reason you might lose important data.
4. You should back up any valuable data so that you will not have to worry about losing it. You will be able to sleep peacefully knowing that your valuable data is safe.

If you decide to back up your data, then you should consider using an external hard drive for this purpose. Make sure you store it in a safe place so that no one will be able to get hold of it. If you are wondering how often you should back up, I am going to say that there is no magical number. Once per month is generally considered to be a good idea, but if you want to be on the safe side you may want to back up every week. Some decide to make a back up on a daily basis, but it actually might be quite excessive, so in the end it is your choice.

Promoting Your Blog

There are various ways to promote a blog, but one of the most important things is to receive backlinks. I would like to show you some ideas which could result in you receiving a lot of backlinks. Here they are:

-Organize a massive blogroll exchange on your website. Invite everyone to participate, and explain why it is a good idea to exchange links with you. You might mention that while you might not able to exchange links with everyone, you will exchange links with those who respond first. You should make it clear that the more established a blog is, the bigger its chances of getting listed on your site. You can start the post with questions such as “Do you want more traffic to your blog?”, “Do you want some powerful links pointing back to your blog?”, or “Would you like to see your link added to my blogroll?”

-Another idea is to give away money. It does not even have to be a lot, as people will be satisfied with any amount if they receive it for free. You can ask them to write about your site or about yourself. Refer them to any pages which might contain more information. You should ask them to link to your site in their post, and later comment on your post to let you know that they want to participate in the contest. You should also let your readers know at what date you will announce the winners.

Choosing the Right Password

Passwords are used to protect all of our accounts on the Internet. You can protect your email, MySpace, gaming, blog, forum, and subscription site account among others. That is why choosing a proper password is important, but unfortunately sometimes people are not very creative when it comes to choosing password.

It appears that one of the most popular passwords is “password”. Another popular one is “qwerty” and another famous one is “123456”. As you see, they are not very complicated, and even the worst hacker in the world will be able to hack into your account if you are using such passwords. My advice is to take your time to devise some complicated password like, for example, “dg4j8z3m”. There are special programs out there that can generate passwords similar to the one I listed. Most of these programs can store these passwords in case you would forget them.

However, I recommend that you choose a password that you will be able remember easily due to the fact that each number and letter would stand for something important in your life. If such a password will be complicated enough, then strangers will never be able to guess it. Do not store this password on your computer; however, you may wish to write it down on a piece of paper.

Why Use a Remote Desktop

A remote desktop can be useful in many circumstances. This solution will work perfectly for you if you have at least two or more computers at your disposition. The best part of it is the fact that if you have Windows XP installed on your computers, you may not even need to install it, and thus can use it almost immediately.

Why use remote desktop? Imagine that you are lying comfortably in your bedroom and have a laptop besides you. Suddenly you realize that you need something that is located on another computer in another room. Instead of getting up and going to another room, you connect remotely with your other PC. It is as easy as that. T

his feature will be available to you if you have local network and also through the Internet. While most computer users may never need this feature, I think in case of people who have multiple PCs it can be quite useful.

Viruses and Attachments

Whenever someone sends you an attachment via email you should be careful to make sure you will not get infected by a virus. It is easy to click and open a file with a virus, and if you do not have proper antivirus protection, then your computer will be infected, and you may lose sensitive data. You might even be forced to format your hard drive. One way to protect yourself from potential viruses is to know which file types are safe to open and which are not. Here is a short list:

• .doc, .xls, .pub, .ppt are files which can be opened by Microsoft Office. I never heard of any of them to contain a virus.
• .htm, .html, .php .jpg, .png, .gif are files that are very popular on the internet as they are responsible for pages and for displaying images. They will probably not contain viruses as well.
• .mov, .avi or .mpg are video files which are relatively safe when it comes virus infections, but some people reported that they can contain spyware. Having a good firewall program should protect you.
• .exe is an executive file type, which means that it can be a software program, but it also may be a virus. This is the file type that you should be especially careful when opening.

The key principle is to be careful and do not open any files from people that you do not trust. Remember that .exe is the most dangerous file type. Take proper precautions, and do not let viruses harm your computer.

Useful Tool for Webmasters and Bloggers

Online marketing has many strategies, one of which is keyword research. Blogs can often rank well in search engines due to their frequently updated content. This can bring a lot of visitors to your site. Another way to bring many visitors is to do some keyword research. This type of research will show you what people are searching for, and will maximize the potential the search engines have to bring traffic to your site. If you research what keywords are popular, then you will know what topics to focus on, and maybe you will even change the marketing strategy your blog has.

Great tools with the help of which you will be able to research keywords are keyworddiscovery.com and wordtracker.com. Both of them are relatively easy to use so check out both of them in order to decide yourself which one you will want to stick to. I have to warn you that keyword research might take some time, but in the end it is worth it. After all, search engines are an excellent source of traffic for webmasters who optimize their site for them. I does not mean you have to makes drastic changes, however, being aware of the most popular keywords will surely give you an advantage.

Forums About Making Money

I was searching on the Web for forums that could allow people to discuss various online money making opportunities, and lately I came across a few forums which are communities for people to discuss different programs. These forums have different categories such as Network Marketing, Business Opportunity, MLM - Multi-Level-Marketing, Affiliate, Publisher Advertising Income Opportunities, HYIP, Autosurf, and Investment Programs. I am not going to say that I approve all of the programs available on these sites. I just wanted to let you know that there are a lot of places where people can see what experiences were other users having with a broad range of programs.

USB

We all have heard this term before, but do we really know what it means? USB stands for Universal Serial Bus and it was designed to make connecting various peripherals to computers a lot easier. USB has been present in the market since around 1996. Before it was introduced, computer users had to add different electronic equipment to the computer’s CPU by using cables that had to exactly match the sockets of one’s computer.

This was not an easy task at that time, and it was very frustrating for some. To make things even worse, the older computers had a limit on the number of peripherals that could be attached to one’s computer. Those of you who never had to deal with older computers might not even know how lucky you are to have USB nowadays.

Taking Care of Your CDs and DVDs

Our CDs and DVDs need to be treated with care if we want them to serve us for a long time. There are a few principles that I am going to mention that will help you make sure that your CDs and DVDs will be in a great shape.

1. Keep your CDs and DVDs away from the sun and heat.

2. Keep your CDs and DVDs away from places where they might get scratched. Always keep them in cases. If you do not have enough cases, then I suggest you buy paper cases, which are quite inexpensive.

3. Avoid touching the side of CD/DVD where the data is stored.

4. Hold your CD/DVD by its edges. Alternatively, you can slip your index finger of your non-dominant hand through the center hole of the DVD/CD.

5. Use a soft cloth to clean your discs.

6. Avoid chemicals and or cloths that might scratch your CDs while cleaning them.

7. Clean the discs from inside to outside.

8. Store your discs properly. The best solution is to store them vertically in a closed box.
Just using common sense will extend the life of a DVD. You will be able to view your favorite movie on your DVD even in a few years.

Why Do You Need a Firewall

Most PC users have had a firewall installed on their PC since they purchased their computer. In case you are wondering whether you should have one installed as well, then let me tell you that you definitely need one if you have Internet access on your computer. It is true that when you surf the Web you become visible to the rest of the world.

You might be visible to anyone who has a chance to obtain your IP address including hackers and spammers. You are visible simply because your ports might be open. The purpose of a firewall is to close those ports that you are not currently using so that nobody will have access to them. If you want to be really well protected, then make sure that you are using a router as well.

Games Based on Movies

Both games and movies are one of the most popular forms of entertainment. Additionally, they are not necessarily aimed at a different audience. That is why it would be a wise decision for movie and gaming studios to try to make some money based on that fact.

One of the best ways to accomplish this is to make games based on movies, or movies based on games. For example, Lost was one of the most popular drama shows recently. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island. The plot and the storytelling is very interesting according to the TV audience. That is one of the reasons why Lost won many industry awards including Emmy and the Golden Globe.

No wonder that programmers decided to create a video game based on the show. The game is available for PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. The price ranges from $30 to $60, depending on which system you plan to play this game. The game features many flashbacks, a parallel storyline, many dialogues from real actors, occasional fast-paced arcade-style chases, and a large area to explore.

I think it would be fair to mention that unfortunately the game is not really rated very well, which means that it might not appeal to everyone. However, I am sure that the fans will get a blast by playing this game. It is really interesting to see that there are more and more games based on movies.

Input Devices and Games

Some people argue that every keyboard is a great peripheral for gaming. While that might be true, some keyboards are simply better for gaming than others. The same is true about mouses. I think that the middle button is very useful in many situations, and I know that some of the mouses do not have one.

From my experience, I can say that a laser mouse can be better for gaming as they are very reliable. If you use a roller ball mouse, it might stop working at any moment due to dirt being accumulated. It might happen when it could be a disaster for it to stop working, like during a tournament.

Many gamers use mouse of reputable companies like Logitech or Microsoft, and are very happy with their precision and overall performance. Do not forget to make sure you have a reliable mouse pad as well. A high quality mouse pad will ensure that your gaming experience will be more enjoyable.

Of course, it all depends on what kind of gamers you are playing. First Person Shooters require a very precise mouse, while almost any mouse will be suitable for role-playing games. Some gamers spend a lot of money on vario

Street View in Europe

Google is quite proud of their project Street View, and it seems that Street View might be soon coming to Europe. Street View provides panoramic street-level views of important locations, and allows users to view photos in different sizes, from any direction, and from a variety of angles. Various interested parties have been wondering whether the EU will even approve Street View. One may ask why would the EU not like something about Street View? The answer is that there might be some issues with privacy, as many people would potentially be visible on those photos. Of course, Google does not have the means to ask each person for their permission to be included on some of the photos. On the bright side, Google has stated that the faces of people will be automatically blurred by special software. Almost for the whole last year, a fleet of Opel Astras has been making photos that will be used for Street View Europe. It means that Street View might be released in Europe very soon.

Be as Objective as Possible

When a blogger writes posts about some products or services, he might be tempted to write about them in a very positive way. While writing about positive aspects is not necessarily a bad thing, I believe that when you are describing a certain product or service, it is important that you also mention any negative aspects that might be important to people.

What I mean is that you should not recommend certain websites/products that you personally would not be interested in at all. You should try not to be biased and not describe a product only in a positive tone. If you know that for some reason there is something not attractive about a product/service, then do not be afraid to talk about it. I think that doing so will bring you a lot of satisfaction.

However, if you don’t do so, it might alienate some of your blog readers if they will realize you are not being completely honest. Of course, every writer might have tendencies to be biased in some manner, but it is important to be as objective as possible. This might be especially important if you have a news blog, and your readers are counting on you to be objective.

Blogging Platforms

There is a lot of discusion what blogging platforms should a new blogger choose. I think that starting a blog on a free domain is a good idea for those new to blogging. There are a lot of free platforms available, the most widely known is probably Blogger and Wordpress. Blogger has been around from the late nineties, and at some point has been purchased by Google.

Having a blog on Blogger is very easy and does not require knowledge of programming such as html. You simply create your account, choose a template, and basically you are ready to go. No fees, no contracts, no wondering which web hosting provider to choose. Everything is very easy, which is a good thing for someone who is just considering to start blogging. You can start blogging as soon as you want, modify your template, and do many other things. The only downside is the fact that once your blog becomes quite popular you may want to move your blog to a paid domain.

That is because once you will be regarded as an experienced blogger, you will probably will appreciate the freedom your own domain would provide. However, most blogs get abandoned within the first few months. That is why you do not have to pay for something that you may abandon at some point anyway.

History of Bluetooth

A typical person has probably heard the term Bluetooth many times. I am sure that some of us have wondered what were the origins of this word. Although some might think it was created by technology geeks, in fact it was not. I am sure you will be surprised to find out that the name Bluetooth was the name of a Danish king who reigned from 940 to 981. Of course, Bluetooth is his name in English, not Danish. This famous king was renowned for his ability to help people communicate, and this is what he is remembered for. Today, Bluetooth is a wireless technology that provides links between computers, mobile phones, and other handheld devices. Because of Bluetooth it is so easy to connect to the Internet from various handheld devices.

Reading Magazines Online

During the last decade, the Internet became more and more popular in the world. During this time we also observed many magazines starting to be available online. We live in times when people spend an awful amount of time in front of their computers, and it seems that this trend is going to continue. That is why many magazine publishers are creating digital versions of their magazines.

Some even say that the future of magazine publishing is on a digital display. Actually, some companies only deal with creating digital versions of magazines. While they claim that their goal is not to eliminate traditional form of magazines, it is clear that they are contributing to it.

Do you think that online magazines will become more and more popular? Does this pose a danger to traditional magazines?

Is Windows XP Still Popular?

The operating system is one of the most important parts of a computer. While technically it may not be hardware, it is necessary for a PC to be fully functional. Windows XP is still a very popular operating system, even thought Windows Vista was released some time ago.

The question arises whether Windows XP will still be popular in the upcoming years. It may not be easy to answer the question that easily, but Microsoft has stated some time ago that it will stop selling Windows XP in 2010.

There is an exception to this rule, specifically when it comes to very cheap computers being sold in China and India. Such computers will still have Windows XP pre-installed to make it possible to keep the price as low as possible.

Determination

There are millions of blogs out there, so the competition is very steep. In order to have a lot of visitors you need to have a valuable blog. A valuable blog in my opinion is a blog that has high quality posts, and to have high quality posts, you have to be determined to write such posts. It might sound obvious, but there is a big difference when it comes to intentions and determination behind writing posts.

For example, some people are only writing posts out of boredom, only for the sake of money, or because they promised their friends or families. Of course, their blog might accidentally be high quality, but it will not last long without the proper motivation behind writing posts. I encourage all of you to consider once again what your motives behind your blog are. Over time such an approach might improve the overall quality of your posts.

Anyway, the question what makes a high quality content has been asked many times in the blogosphere. While there are many answers to this question, but there is a rule which I think is quite logical. Quality is often comparatively determined. This is true in any niche where there is competition.

There will be always someone who has the highest quality content, and someone with the lowest quality content, simply because you can compare their blogs as they are in the same niche. I will not discuss any specific ways to judge which content is of higher quality, but you need to remember that you are competing with other blogs or even other types of websites with similar topic to yours. You should also be aware that the standards of writing might be completely different, depending on the particular niche.