Free (few Open Source) Browser and OS releases coming in 2009

Microsoft Corp intend to keep up the pace with Internet Explorer 8

Mozilla’s Firefox 3.5 promises a native parser for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), a data exchange format frequently used in Web apps, and several features to enhance rich media Web content, including support for the HTML 5 video element and the Ogg Vorbis and Theora open audio and video codecs.

And then there’s new version of Google’s Chrome browser, based on the open-source WebKit engine. The company is playing it close to the vest, but we do know Mac and Linux versions of the browser are in development.

 

Ubuntu 9.04, the Jaunty Jackalope.

Linux fans have much to look forward to, too. Following the release of Ubuntu 9.04, the "Jaunty Jackalope," in April, the Ubuntu team is planning for Ubuntu 9.10, the "Karmic Koala," to see the light of day in October 2009. Among the promised new features are integration with the Amazon EC2 APIs, so users can set up their own cloud using entirely open tools, and a kernel mode setting for a smooth and flicker-free start-up. The Ubuntu Netbook Edition will get the latest technology from the mobile Internet project Moblin, including better screen support.

Every other Linux distribution is sure to get better, too, along with associated operating system components. For example, openSUSE 11.2, scheduled for November, should include KDE 4.3, GNOME 2.28, Linux kernel 2.6.30 (or higher), a Web-based YaST interface and netbook support.

Red Hat Fedora 11 is slated for release by this summer, with several updates. The project’s goals include making Fedora boot and shut down faster (you’d be at the log-in screen in 20 seconds), changing supported architectures and default installed kernels, and improving support for fingerprint readers.

Will Google be able to buy Twitter? or will they start there own Gwitter?

There has been speculations of Google trying to buy out Twitter since TechCrunch break the news on 2nd April this week. There has been rumors around the tech world that Internet will soon hear the news of a take over or a merger. You can have an idea of the pace at which news is spreading by the frequency of update - TechCrunch have three updates of the news since 2nd April.

Breaking news on TechCrunch -

Here’s a heck of a rumor that we’ve sourced from two separate people close to the negotiations: Google is in late stage negotiations to acquire Twitter. We don’t know the price but can assume its well, well north of the $250 million valuation that they saw in their recent funding.

Update 1 (2/3/09)

Yet another source says the acquisition discussions are still fairly early stage, and the two companies are also considering working together on a Google real time search engine. But discussions between the companies are confirmed.

Update 2 (3/3/09)

Google’s internal valuation, however, would value the company at a token premium above Twitter’s last round of financing valuation, around $250 million. Some Twitter insiders want the deal, but our sources say CEO Evan Williams wouldn’t sell even for $1 billion. “He may blink, but he wouldn’t do it,” said one source.

Update 3 (4/3/09)

In a non-denial blog post entitled “Sometimes We Talk” Twitter co-Founder Biz Stone says: “It should come as no surprise that Twitter engages in discussions with other companies regularly and on a variety of subjects.”

Would Google pay more than $1 billion for Twitter? No idea. But it seems like Google has not been successful to strike a deal so far.

But there’s no way Microsoft lets a deal be negotiated without putting its bid in, too. And if these two giants see Twitter as the future of search, $1 billion is peanuts.

Well I do wonder though - With all the expertise and money that both Google and Microsoft have, Will it not be easier for them just to create there own Gwitter (Google’s version of Twitter) or probably Mwitter (Microsoft’s version of Twitter). Well this is open for discussion, please leave your comments in the Comments section.

Meanwhile, business discussions between Twitter and Google continue. The deal Google wants is a real time feed of Twitter updates to speed indexing. Without that feed Google must independently index each Twitter user periodically to look for updates. That means it will be dreadfully slow in grabbing all those Twitter posts. And it will also be very expensive from a computing resource standpoint. A real time feed would be of huge value to Google, and they would be smart to nail down a long term deal sooner rather than later.

Are you a small business owner? Simple, Effective and Affordable steps to increase and monetize your web presence.

Are you a small business owner? Do you have a web presence? Is your Website related to the product or services that you sell?

If the answer to any of the above is Yes, then chances are you are missing on a big opportunity to monetize your Website and increase your sales.

Read the full article to learn about Site Monetization and How to increase affiliate conversions and thus increase sales.

As a small business owner, we can categorize Site Monetization into two key areas-

• You can optimize your site to increase sales of your current products and services. And can use your Website to promote your brand and improve relationship with your business clients and customers.
• You can use your Website to promote the products and services that complement the kind of products and services you already sell. This way you can expand your web audience and can also earn affiliate commissions thus monetizing your Website traffic.

Now lets dig down deeper into the first point about optimizing your Website. (Second bullet about promoting products and services that complement your existing services - needs a full article of its own, so I will touch back on that in a separate article within next 3-4 days. So stay tuned to coolwebdeveloper.com and click to Subscribe to my Email Feed, Newsletter or RSS feed).

Optimizing your Website - The first two important steps are:

• Make sure that your site has a Blog
• Make sure your site and blog are Search Engine Friendly.

“For many businesses, a Web site is the first way that your clientele will look at you, even if it’s just to find your address and phone number,” says Rand Fishkin, founder of Seattle-based search engine optimization consulting firm SEOmoz, which aims to increase the odds that search engines will happen upon a given site. “The quality of your site is often a measure of the quality of your business.”

As a small business owner it is costly to maintain and blog and to update and optimize your Website for Search Engines. Well, luckily enough, WordPress comes to the rescue.

What?? Not familiar with WordPress??

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging tools available. But what many people don’t know is that it is a powerful Content Management System (CMS) that can be used for more than just blogging. With WordPress you can build a blog, a Website, or both.

Top Five Reasons to Use WordPress for Your Small Business Website -

• SEO - WordPress provides good search engine optimization (SEO) right out of the box. There are many SEO benefits that WordPress provides for free. In fact Google’s own Matt Cutts says WordPress is “made to do SEO well” in this video: Matt Cutts gives tips to small business owners.
• Content - It is super easy to update content on your Website without knowing HTML.  Do you hate the idea of having to learn to use a complex HTML editor tool like Dreamweaver? Do you have to “ask” your webmaster every time you want to make a small change to your Website? Well no longer - once
  WordPress is set up for you, you can easily create new pages or edit existing pages using a simple rich text editor.
• Extensions - There is a thriving ecosystem of developers creating themes and plug-ins - imagine free design themes, or the ability to extend your Website with polls, contact forms, ratings or hundreds of other cool features without having to hire a web developer.
• Support - If you do have problems, or want to add very custom features, it is easy to find support and developers who can help you. There are literally thousands of WordPress developers out there. And there are so many people writing about WordPress that help is only a Google search away!
  One-click-installation - Quick installs are provided by many hosting providers, including Bluehost, 1and1 and Thinkhost.

Thesis WordPress Theme has the following functions automatically built in, so you do not need to use these plugins if you are using this theme. Just as an FYI - This theme is already getting some great reviews around the blogosphere (you can see some testimonials here). You can download Thesis WordPress Theme here.

But if you are using other themes, the following plugins will give you a similar look/effect.

• All in One SEO Pack - This plugin makes it easy for you to optimize your article titles and other meta tags. 
• Google Analytics - This plugin makes it easy for you to insert your Google Analytics code and start tracking your blog visitors.
• WP-Note - This plugin lets you insert notes in your article to make them stand out. Kind of similar to the yellow colored notes I have twice in this article.
• WordPress Gravatars - This plugin lets you display Gravatars of your readers in the comments section and can put your Gravatar on top of your article to show who the article was written by.

Even if you are not using WordPress for your Blog or Website you can still follow these important and useful SEO tips for an enhanced web traffic -

• Start early. It can take up to six months for competitive search terms to see results through Google.
• Content really is king. Make a list of the top 20 search keywords relevant to your business and create content that’s thematically linked with those terms.
• Don’t use the same keywords over and over. Search engines have gotten smart enough to weed that out.
• Focus on Google. The magic formula is relevance and popularity. Having a well-written and well-structured Website is a big part of the battle. Mentions and links from blogger’s and other Websites can be a big boost as well.

If you choose to work with an SEO consultant, find one that specializes in the needs of startups and growing businesses. If he or she tries to guarantee you an instant #1 ranking in Google, run the other way.

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