Whenever there’s a new search start-up the hype also follows that there’s a “Google Killer”. Here are few words from a new search start-up itself.
So let’s just get this out of the way: there is no such thing as a Google killer. No company is going to play David to their Goliath and slay them with a well-aimed stone from a slingshot. Google is here to stay.
Trent Reznor of NIN, shared some tips on how a lesser known artist could get established and become noted. His thoughts are applicable to any new entrant whose trying to build a name in their respective industry.
Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.
To clarify:
Parter with a TopSpin or similar or build your own website, but what you NEED to do is this – give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Collect people’s email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods. Base the price and amount available on what you think you can sell. Make the packages special – make them by hand, sign them, make them unique, make them something YOU would want to have as a fan. Make a premium download available that includes high-resolution versions (for sale at a reasonable price) and include the download as something immediately available with any physical purchase. Sell T-shirts. Sell buttons, posters… whatever.
Web has moved from PC to mobile. So now the question comes…does your site work in all mobile platforms ? Here are some tools that can help you there.
As the number of people using mobile devices increases, so too does the pressure to ensure that our websites look good and are legible on a mobile device. The ideal, and unrealistic situation, would be to test on real handsets, but obviously this would be impossible for most designers. Fortunately, there are number of tools available online, allowing you to put your site through its mobile paces.
Given the state of the economy, it is important to recognize the declining value of the United States dollar. Without getting deep into this topic, note the 97% drop in dollar value over the past century. With numerous causes for inflation transpiring, including bailouts, government “stimulus”, and foreign spending, one can only expect a greater loss of purchasing power in the near future. So what specific steps can a web designer take to plan for continuous currency devaluation? The three strategies below can help cut costs in the long-term without sacrificing the level of work and service delivered to clients.
Top 3 Cost-Cutting Strategies for Web Designers
(Thanks for mentioning CurdBee as an option!)
Earlier this week, Google posted on how to make PHP performance better as step of their campaign to “make the web faster”, but has given some noteworthy tips (such as avoiding SQL querying within a loop) as well as some insignificant ideas.
This may have been ignored if it was published in some other source, but since it’s endorsed by Google, PHP community has taken a special interest and rebuffed some of these so called tips.
A Note on Google’s So-called Best Practices
Make the Web Faster – Google groups
PHP performance tips from Google
An interview on the behind the scenes work of CurdBee is published in FuelYourApps. If you are interested to know what inspired us, our workflow and decisions made during the process – this would be a good read.
A study on Twitter, with some very intriguing findings.
Just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content, a Harvard study of 300,000 users found.
Estimates suggest it now has more than 10 million users and is growing faster than any other social network.
The new WordPress version 2.8 “Baker” represents a nice fit and finish release for WordPress with improvements would seem to be the ability to,
- New drag-and-drop widgets admin interface and new widgets API
- Syntax highlighting and function lookup built into plugin and theme editors
- Browse the theme directory and install themes from the admin
- Allow the dashboard widgets to be arranged in up to four columns
- Allow configuring the number of items to show on management pages with an option in Screen Options
- Support timezones and automatic daylight savings time adjustment
- Support IIS 7.0 URL Rewrite Module
- Faster loading of admin pages via script compression and concatenation
From the Dancing Baby of the 1990s to the phenomenon that is Susan Boyle, the web has seen its share of viral video sensations. However, these 20 are the cream of the crop. They have been seen by millions and discussed by millions more. Many of them are part of not only Internet culture, but mainstream culture too. Here are the top 20 YouTube (YouTube reviews) and video memes in chronological order.
Dear CurdBee Fans,
It’s hard to believe we’re finally here. After months of development and testing, and agonising about design decisions, we finally launched CurdBee PRO about a week ago. Even though we were confident of its quality, we wanted to start small with this release because we knew that our regulars would find little bugs that needed to be ironed out. Come to think of it, now’s probably the time to say thanks to them. So, thanks guys! We couldn’t have done it without you.
In any case, a week, and many squashed bugs later, we’re here, and ready to go PRO in style! In terms of functionality, there is a lot of new stuff in this version. Of course, while we certainly hope you will, you don’t have to upgrade to PRO to enjoy some new goodies. The FREE version also received several new enhancements, including access to all known currencies, the ability to export your billing data to a CSV file, and the option of selecting the unit of measurement for each line item, a feature that was requested by freelancers who charge on a daily or weekly basis. The FREE version also gets a brand new streamlined workspace, which includes smart invoice
filtering, the quick preview of invoices, and a live preview feature during brand customisations.
As fun as CurdBee FREE Is, if you’re serious about your billing there’s a good chance that you’re going to want to go PRO. With SSL Encryption, PDF support, and the ability to have multiple contacts per client, CurdBee PRO has received a plethora of new features. The new Reminder and Thank You email feature is an option that many power users will find use for, and this, coupled with Customisable Email Notifications, will give you the ability to run a truly professional billing rig. With zero CurdBee branding, and the ability to account for taxes and discounts automatically, PRO is really packed full of new and exciting features, and at 5$ a month, we’d be crazy not to call this a bargain. I mean, it’s cheaper than a pizza, for crying out loud!
Of course, the beauty of PRO is far from skin deep. Thanks to some furious hacking by Lakshan, PRO also comes with support for Extensions, a feature that really opens up the platform for further development. So far, Recurring Billing is one of the more popular Extensions, and is a feature that will probably attract freelancers in particular, thanks to its easy tracking of daily, weekly or monthly billing options. The addition of an alternative payment gateway in the form of 2Checkout is also an Extension that is sure to draw interest, especially in countries where Paypal and Google Checkout are not supported.
Whether you’re running a SME, or are just a freelancer looking to move to a simpler billing solution, rest assured that CurdBee can adapt to suit your specific needs. As you go and sign up for the first time, or upgrade to PRO, please do drop by our forums and tell us what you think of your CurdBee experience. Since we’ve jumped this hurdle, and shipped out a major release, we’re now going to throw ourselves into developing the Extensions you need, so please do tell us what you’d like to see next!
Thank you,
The Very Happy Hackers at CurdBee
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