6 Tips on Image SEO

Images as an asset for organic search results and search engine optimization are often overlooked. Images can drive traffic through image search as well as inclusion in universal search results.

There are actually several dimensions to image optimization that involves better placement in search results, optimization for user experience and in some cases, optimization for easier sharing of images on the social web.

For image SEO, it can be helpful to think of optimizing images like optimizing a tiny webpage within your page. Things like url structure, anchor text and descriptive tagging are factors for optimizing images for search engines, just like regular webpages.

Here are a few tips for optimizing your images to improve their performance on the page and in search.

1. Find the right images

Finding the right kind of image is incredibly important. Great images can add another dimension to an article or page that can encourage people to share the page and create some great backlinks. Research shows that while text is still the first thing seen on the page, the image is what sells the page.
Here are some of the best places to actually find images:

• Flickr – Probably the de facto service for finding free images. They have a really useful creative commons search as well. Skellie has an excellent article on how to find Flickr images.
• stock.xchng – Weird name, but a ton of royalty-free stock images.
• iStockPhoto – Large selection of stock photos that you can buy.

You can also use Google Images to find images for your site, as long as you search with the proper licensing. (They allow you to search Creative Commons and other public licenses.) But you have to be very careful when using images, as if you don’t have the permission to reuse it, companies and sites can take legal action against you.
The general rule of thumb is this: if the image isn’t Creative Common licensed or you didn’t buy or create it, don’t post it.

2. Use the keyword(s) in the file name

Just like keywords in post urls are important for pages, the same is true for images. Using keyword-rich words in your image filename is important for helping search engines determine relevancy. For example, the image above was originally named “iStock_000004221245XSmall.jpg” which doesn’t add much information about this web page. It has been renamed to “image-optimization.jpg”. Of course, most images that are not simply decorative like the one above are literal and connected to the content of the page such as a photo of a product. If the above image were used in an article about eye color, then the file name should reflect that.
Google suggests that you should place your images in one folder on your site, mydomain.com/images versus placing them in random folders throughout the site. Another suggestion from Google related to file names or URLs of images is to make sure you use common image filetypes such as JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP.

3. Create descriptive alt text

Alt text or tags are another way that search engines help determine what your image is about. Unlike traditional web content, search engines can’t determine the text content of an image. (Search spiders are pretty smart, but as far as I know they haven’t developed eyes yet.) As a result, search engines need to rely on captions around the image, alt text, file names and other surrounding text. Adding descriptive text in the alt tag helps the search engines determine what the content of the image is.
If an image is used as navigation, ie as a link to another page, be sure to use alt text that is meaningful to the content of the page being linked to.

4. The right anchor text

Anchor text is another important factor in image SEO. If you decide to link to images with text, your anchor text can play a role in how your image is ranked for keywords. Use descriptive anchor text that describes the image. For example, linking to an image using a generic term like “image” or “photo” or a file name that doesn’t use keywords doesn’t give search engines much meaningful information on what the image is about. Linking to an image with keywords is helpful to search engines as well as people visiting your site.

5. Make sure the image matches the content

The content surrounding the image should be related to all of the things that you’ve optimized thus far: anchor tags, image url, alt tags. When these things align, it helps search engines confirm that you’re not spamming and that the image is of higher quality and relevant.

6. Don’t stuff

This goes for all kinds of SEO, but we’ll say it again just for clarity: don’t keyword stuff when filling out things like image alt text. Your alt text, captions and file names should be short and descriptive, not a long list of keywords. Remember to optimize images for your website visitors. Image SEO is as much about user experience as it is about achieving better search engine rankings.

Port US Galaxy S III ROMs to Other Variants

While Samsung may not always update every device with the urgency that we as users all crave, one thing they definitely got right was releasing the same device for multiple carriers with only minimal changes. This makes it very easy for developers and users from different carriers to work together to fix problems, develop ROMs, and have other sorts of fun. For instance, there is now a guide that walks users through the process of porting any ROM from a US variant of the Galaxy S III to any other US variant.
XDA Recognized Developer PureMotive released the tutorial, and it helps end users port both TouchWiz and AOSP-derived ROMs from one variant to the next. As the devices have strikingly similar hardware, porting ROMs requires only a few changes. As PureMotive outlines for TouchWiz ROMs:

In the ROM you want to port – delete /system/etc/apns-conf.xml
Replace the apns-conf.xml you just deleted with the one from the ROM for your carrier
Open up /system/build.prop in Notepad++
Locate every instance of d2att, d2tmo, or d2spr and replace it with d2vzw (Use CTRL+F if you have to)
Save the build.prop after all changes are made

That’s essentially all that it takes to make a ROM compatible with your device. These instructions were written specifically for porting to the Verizon variant of the Galaxy S III, but it can be used on other devices with very minor changes. Porting an AOSP-based ROM requires a little more work, but the idea is pretty much the same. Just make sure that the source ROM is from another US variant, and not from the International SGS3!

Nokia Lumia 620 comes to Thailand

While the United States is finding solid popularity in the Nokia Lumia 920, this is far from the only great Windows Phone 8 handset. One of the more “budget oriented” models that also is gaining traction as it launches across the globe is the Nokia Lumia 620.

With its attractive design, smaller size and reasonably powerful components (for a budget phone), its hard not to see why. Yesterday the phone launched in Thailand, costing Nokia Windows Phone fans just 8250 Baht ($275).

This is NOT a bad price for a phone off-contract with a dual-core processor. Personally I’d love to see these come to the United States as a carrier unlocked option for prepaid customers, I think Nokia would find quite a bit of success in that capacity.

So what kind of performance does the Nokia Lumia 620 actually bring to the table? You get a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 3.8-inch LCD display with 800×480 resolution, 8GB internal memory, microSD, 512MB of RAM, a 5MP camera and a 1300mAh battery.

Windows Phone 8 in the Developing World

What makes the Lumia 620 so important in developing markets is that it manages to start at a reasonably affordable price point without being stuck with Windows Phone 7. Microsoft has affirmed it will continue to support Windows Phone 7 for the developing world, but let’s face it: Windows Phone 8 is where it is at.

Converting popular regional Android apps is much easier/possible with Windows Phone 8 than it was with Windows Phone 7. The operating system also just seems faster and more fluid from my experiences with it compared to WP7.

The pricing is an effective price point for those who are seeking a smartphone that will deliver performance for a low cost. To remind us of the specifications:

• 1 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor
• 3.8 inch LCD display (800 x 480) with ClearBlack technology
• 8GB internal memory expandable with microSD
• 512 MB of RAM
• 5 megapixel camera
• 1300 mAh Battery

5 Things that are In Store for SEO in 2013 and Beyond

2011 and 2012 have been incredibly important years in the world of search engine optimization and for search design trends in general. In an effort to make the web closer to something

semantic and highly responsive to the real needs of human readers, Google has performed some major overhauls to the way it ranks the websites it has indexed by its web crawlers.

These overhauls will be ongoing and will continue to develop further in 2013; creating a web popularity landscape that depends not just on classical SEO tactics but also numerous other factors involving social media, website design and friendliness to the latest browsing systems such as mobile web viewing.

Let’s go over some of these key trends that will almost certainly be really big in this new year.

1. Humanized Ranking Metrics

With Google’s repeated massively damaging blows to black hat SEO during all of 2011 and 2012, the days of effective link farming, content stuffing, keyword stuffing and other “nefarious” optimization tactics that don’t actually reflect site popularity are over. This trend will only continue and whatever black hat optimization tricks that are still working for some sites will only continue to deteriorate in their effectiveness.

Instead, Google is steadily working its way towards creating a more humanized ranking index that, in addition to reflecting other metrics which we’ll soon get to, also takes a lot of its value analysis from real time social media and human user metrics of actual popularity amongst readers.

The end result is expected to be a more “real time” search results profile for queries and an increasing amount of weight given to data collected from Twitter, Facebook, other social platforms and, of course, Google’s own array of social media tools. An important aspect of this will involve site owners connecting their content to each of these social platforms and also integrating themselves more with Google’s own network of content tracking. (despite the obvious bias in Google’s favor here)

2. Quality over Quantity

This almost certain 2013 trend is great news for a lot of content weary bloggers and site owners. Instead of giving heavy emphasis to massively content stuffed websites, Google and other search engines will continue to focus more on ensuring that their best ranked content is judged more by its quality, relevancy and freshness.

Updates like some of Panda’s iterations were a particularly good demonstration of this and played a part in giving precedence to sites whose content was most relevant and valuable for a given search, even if the sites themselves were not major content producers like some competitors might have been.

Based on this trend, site administrators should work towards really filling information needs with high quality posts without rushing to fill out as much new content as they can as quickly as possible.

3. Mobile Search

The mobile browsing landscape is only continuing to grow and soon it will completely overtake conventional web search. This means that adapting to the technical and practical details of this changing environment is a crucial step for SEO conscious site owners in 2013.

Speaking on a purely technical level, more emphasis has to be given to making websites more mobile friendly and designing them so that they are fully responsive not only to different PC browsers and screen sizes but also to thousands of different mobile platforms, from tablets to a whole array of smart phone types and operating systems.

Additionally, from other optimization standpoints, work to get your sites and their content more oriented towards mobile friendly content delivery. This could mean post design, text layout and presentation media such as video or audio

Another interesting feature of this emerging mobile search trend is the fact that a lot more of it takes place through a complex series of social network connections, bringing us to our next point.

4. Increasing Social Media Importance

We already partly covered the incredible importance of social media weight in our first major trend point, but it bears mentioning in more detail.

In 2013, you will absolutely need to develop your website’s social platform presence and integration as much as possible.

As more and more of the data about what’s trending on their platforms gets collected by social media sites, more of it will also become available for review by Google. This in turn will make such metrics more important in deciding search rank value. Ultimately Google is working to provide the most human relevant search experience possible to its users and the fundamentally human guided nature of social media popularity makes it a vital base of information for Google to achieve its goal.

Help this process along as much as possible by developing your popularity in the social media platforms and building up a base of dedicated fans that keep coming back to and repeatedly sharing what you have to offer further down the social chain. Not only will this eventually improve your essential human ranking value in the new search landscape, it will also achieve the vital site popularity building step of making you less dependent on search rank and SEO for the long run.

In essence, by developing a fan base at least partly through your social presence, you’ll be forcing the search engines to pay attention to you. Another way of looking at this is that building a deep human popularity amongst many fans and other influential websites will create a domain authority for your pages that no search engine can ignore.

Additionally, bear in mind practical technical steps that will improve your social media friendliness; things like creating multiple profiles across several popular media platforms, connecting them fully to your website through social media buttons and making it easy for people to log on through their Facebook or other social networking accounts.

5. Conversion Rate Optimization

However Google works, it has to also pay attention to reality on the digital ground. In terms of CRO, this has an enormous potential importance for 2013 because it means that a major factor in higher ranking may soon be how well sites get visitors to perform useful actions.

In essence, while many sites may have numerous visitors, the ones that optimize their pages for the best human engagement are those that actually get the readers not only to visit but also do things like buy products, click more links or opt in to a mailing list with their email addresses.

Since successfully doing all this is an obvious indicator that people are getting real personal value from a website, it’s very likely that Google will pay more attention to it in 2013.

For your own site, focus as much as possible on delivering high quality and getting maximal action or purchase conversion rates from whatever visitors you do have. Doing this is even more important than focusing on raw visitor numbers.

The iPhone 5S will launch in June and have a built-in fingerprint sensor

We’ve heard all kinds of crazy rumors about the next-generation iPhone so far, some being more believable than others. Reports have claimed that the iPhone 5S could launch as early as next June, while others have suggested that the next iPhone could finally have NFC built in. Now, an analyst is claiming that the iPhone 5S will pack a built-in fingerprint sensor, and will launch alongside a cheaper iPhone model…
Frankly, I’ve pretty much had it with these so-called “analysts”. There have been tons of highly unlikely predictions, so your guess is probably as good as theirs. Nonetheless, this specific rumor does come from Ming-Chi Kuo from KGI Securities, who’s made some correct predictions on Apple launches in the past.
Apple bought out AuthenTec last year, which is a company that specializes in fingerprint sensors. The Cupertino company also came to an agreement with biometric security company Microlatch in 2012. Thus, Apple may indeed be working to integrate biometric security into our beloved idevices, but considering the fact that these deals happened only late last year, I doubt that we’ll see this feature on the iPhone 5S. As much as I’d love to see it come with the next-gen iPhone, the iPhone 6 seems more likely.
Kuo also predicts that the next iPhone will come with an improved camera and A7 chip – which are pretty obvious guesses.


According to the analyst, Apple is also set to launch a cheaper, plastic iPhone model alongside the iPhone 5S. Despite Phil Schiller specifically stating that Apple would not jump into the cheaper smartphone market, reports continue to come out that suggest Apple will in fact launch a cheaper iPhone. This rumored model will supposedly have the same design as the current iPhone 5, but will come in multiple colors. It is also rumored to retail around $99 to $149.
If Kuo’s predictions hold any truth to them, both devices will be announced in June or July.

Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Rio HD now free for a limited time on the App Store

If you haven’t already slung some heated birds at their enemies in Rio, you’re definitely missing out. But no need to fret, as Rovio has just made their wildly popular Angry Birds Rio game completely free for a limited time!

You can now head over to the App Store and download the addictive little game for both the iPhone and iPad absolutely free. We wont go into explaining what the game is; we’re sure you already know. So head inside for the download links!

You can grab Angry Birds Rio for the iPhone and Rio HD for the iPad from the App Store completely free.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or add us to your circles on Google+ to be the first to hear about breaking iPhone news, tips, hacks, and more!

United To Offer Wi-Fi On Flights

United Airlines has installed Panasonic Avionics Corporation's Ku-band satellite technology on some of its wide-body aircraft in order to provide Wi-Fi Internet service to passengers. Internet service will first be offered on long-haul flights, followed later this year on shorter flights.

 

The first planes to get the satellite Internet service are Boeing 747s, which are used to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and two Airbus 319s, which are used for some cross-country domestic routes. United said it should have the satellite-based Wi-Fi service available on about 300 planes by the end of the year. This includes its Boeing 737, 757, 767, 777, and 787 aircraft. (The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is not expected to enter service for United until the third quarter.)

United will offer the Wi-Fi service to passengers at a range of price points. Interestingly, the airline will offer two different speeds, though it hasn't specified exactly what those speeds will be. The slower service will cost between $3.99 and $14.99 and faster service will cost between $5.99 and $19.99 per flight, depending on the duration. United pointed out that both ranges are initial prices and noted that they may evolve over time.

The Ku-band satellite-based service offers faster data speeds than some competing air-to-ground services, such as GoGo. Before it merged with Continental, United offered GoGo on some of its long-haul, cross-country flights. Continental, however, never offered Wi-Fi Internet service to passengers.

GoGo, which is run by Aircell, uses land-based towers to communicate with aircraft as they fly overhead. The service is used by a wide range of air carriers, including American Airlines and Delta Airlines.

"Satellite-based Wi-Fi service enables us to better serve our customers and offer them more of what they want in a global airline," said Jim Compton, vice chairman and chief revenue officer at United. "With this new service, we continue to build the airline that customers want to fly."

The service will allow passengers to use their smartphones, tablets, netbooks and laptops while in the air. They'll be able to browse the Internet, upload and download files, and use instant messenger systems. Tools such as VoIP calling will likely not be supported.

United has yet to specify exactly when the service will become available.  

Apple's iPhone Share To Peak In 2013

Apple's iPhone will reach its highest percentage of the worldwide smartphone market this year, said ABI Research Thursday. Once it hits 22%, or just over one-in-five smartphones, it will level off and remain relatively flat for the next five years.

Apple will play second fiddle to Samsung, which has already surpassed it (and everyone else) in global sales. ABI believes Samsung will remain the worldwide leader for some time. Samsung's share of the smartphone market surged from 8% in 2010 to more than 30% in 2012.

"Barring an unlikely collapse in Samsung's business, even Apple will be chasing Samsung's technology, software and device leadership in 2013 through the foreseeable future," said senior analyst Michael Morgan.


Though Google's Android operating system is largely responsible for Samsung's market success, ABI believes Samsung's future depends on other, lesser operating systems. Bada, Tizen and Windows Phone will all play a particularly important role as alternatives to Android and iOS in emerging markets where smartphones have yet to catch on.
Though smartphones already account for more than half of all smartphone purchases in the U.S., they haven't quite reached that level worldwide. ABI believes smartphones won't surpass the 50% mark until 2014. By 2018, ABI forecasts that smartphones will make up 69% of the 2.4 billion annual device sales.
ABI also looked at LTE 4G and where it fits within the cell phone and smartphone space. It believes LTE will play an important role in pushing smartphone adoption. It suggests that LTE will be in 35% of all handsets by 2018, but 50% of all smartphones by 2018. In the U.S., few new smartphones are shipped without LTE support. Nearly all the devices available from AT&T and Verizon Wireless, for example, include LTE. The proliferation of LTE worldwide hasn't been as quick as in the U.S. thanks to varied and incompatible spectrum frequencies.
"With the successful launch of the iPhone 5 and competing LTE handsets from other leading OEMs, LTE handsets will be found in the hands of many consumers who do not even have access to LTE networks," said senior practice director Jeff Orr. "Apple is demonstrating to the market that LTE is not the only reason to buy a premium handset."

Iphone 5S Rumor Apple Eying Sharp IGZO Screens

It’s three months on from the launch of the iPhone 5, and if rumors are to be believed, we’re almost halfway to the launch of the next version of the iPhone. That means it’s time to start combing shipping reports for iPhone 5S rumors.

This week’s rumor comes courtesy of DigiTimes, a Taiwanese publication that focuses on manufacturers in Taiwan. Their report states that Apple is currently looking to use Sharp’s IGZO panels in their next generation of iPhones, iPads, and iPad Minis. According to unnamed “industry sources,” Apple is discussing production capacity estimates with Sharp and asking about similar AU Optronics technology.

This isn’t a particularly new rumor. Sharp’s IGZO screens would allow smartphones to be thinner and have more accurate touch screens. In addition, the technology could allow for higher resolution displays and lower power consumption. As these are obviously goals future Apple devices will work towards, it’s a safe bet that the technology will show up in i-devices in the near future.

Exactly when that future is depends on panel manufacturers and their ability to provide quality products in the huge volumes Apple requires. As far back as one year ago DigiTimes reported rumors that the New iPad (iPad 3) would feature an IGZO display. That obviously didn’t pan out, but Sharp has had an entire year to bring their manufacturing capabilities up to snuff. If IGZO really is the future, we’ll see it in devices starting this year.

Dust 514 Open Beta Starts January 22

CCP Games, the developer behind Eve Online, today announced that the open beta test for Dust 514 will begin on January 22.

The news comes just as Dust 514 has been merged onto the server that also hosts the Eve Online universe. CCP states that this accomplishment marks the first time two games from different genres have been linked together into a single MMO.

“The launch of the Dust 514 Open Beta is another step towards our long-term vision for CCP and Eve,” said Hilmar Pétursson, CEO of CCP. “But this is just the beginning. As we have done with Eve Online, in the coming weeks, and for years to come, we will continually improve upon and add to the Dust 514 experience, as well as add deeper integration between the two games and their communities.”

Dust 514 is a free-to-play first-person shooter MMO for the PlayStation 3. It is directly connected to Eve Online, and actions in each game will affect the economy, politics, and outcome of battles in the other. Players in Dust 514 can, in some ways, be seen as the shock troops for player corporations that command the fleets in Eve Online.

PlayStation 3 owners who don’t want to wait until the 22nd can buy closed beta access for $20 via the PlayStation Network Store. The purchase comes with several in-game items, 40,000 Aurum, and 100,000 bonus skill points if a match is played before the open beta begins.

Free Corvette Stingray Gran Turismo DLC Coming Tomorrow

Polyphony Digital, the developers of the Gran Turismo series, knows what racing fans want. They want Gran Turismo 6, with photo-realistic cars, settings, and weather conditions. Unfortunately, the developer will have to sit on any news of a new core title until Sony finally announces the PlayStation 4. Until then (which could come as soon as May), Polyphony will continue supporting and reminding gamers that Gran Turismo 5 is only a little over two years old.

Today, Sony announced that a free 2014 Corvette Stingray DLC add-on will be available through the PlayStation Store starting tomorrow. The real-life car debuted earlier this week at the North American International Auto Show, and Chevrolet “worked very closely” with Polyphony to develop the in-game car.

Sure, it’s a marketing gimmick for Corvette, but it’s also very shiny. Check out the trailer for the DLC below and make sure to download a free car tomorrow.

Weather Channel Apps Top 100M Downloads, 38M Monthly Mobile Users

The most popular weather app around has just hit a significant milestone: 100 million downloads.

The Weather Channel has just announced that their family of apps has crossed this threshold. That includes iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The iOS app was first launched in 2007, and the Android app followed in 2008. Last July is when it finally landed on the Windows Phone on the Nokia Lumia.

“This is a huge achievement for us – only a very small, select number of companies can say they have this reach and consumer loyalty – and I want to thank our users and our employees,” said Cameron Clayton, digital division president, The Weather Company. “Reaching this milestone is a testament not only to our amazing users who continue to seek out – and use – The Weather Channel on their devices, but also to our hard-working team, which continues its efforts to create the best app available on every screen.”

According to their stats, the apps register 38 million users per month on mobile, and six million on tablets. Over the past year, which has been a pretty crazy year for weather, Hurricane Sandy and Christmas were the two events that drove the most app use. On December 26th, the Weather Channel family of apps saw 137.5 million views, which is an all-time record.

Back in May, The Weather Channel app v5.0 launched in the App Store as a pretty significant redesign, both in the UI and the features. Apart from changes to the way the app looks (for the better, I might add), the new app added social integration from Facebook and Twitter – so users could see the weather chatter in their area. It also added improved severe weather alerts, something that I’m sure came in handy for plenty of users in 2012.

Cellular iPad Mini, 4th-Gen iPad Coming to China on Friday

Apple has just announced that the Cellular + Wi-Fi versions of their two newest tablet offerings will become available in Chain by the end of the week.

The Cellular + Wi-Fi iPad Mini and 4th-gen iPad with Retina display will launch in China this Friday, January 18th.

The iPad Mini and the 4th-gen iPad will be available through Apple Stores, the Online Store, and other authorized Apple retailers.

The Wi-Fi-only versions of the two devices have been available in China for over a month. They landed in the country back on December 7th, just a week before the iPhone 5 launched there.

“iPad mini with Wi-Fi + Cellular models come in black & slate or white & silver for a suggested retail price of $459 (US) for the 16GB model, $559 (US) for the 32GB model and $659 (US) for the 64GB model. 

The fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular models come in black or white for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model.”

The newest iPads are currently available in over 100 countries. 

Get Up Close And Personal With The Blackberry Z10

RIM’s last chance to save itself is almost upon us. BlackBerry 10 and its accompanying handsets will launch on January 30. That being said, not a lot of people have had a chance to see the new handsets in action. Now they can thanks to a vide from TelekomPresse.
TelekomPresse, a German Web site, uploaded a video today that features the BlackBerry Z10, RIM’s all-touch smartphone. The entire video is in German, but you can get a good look at the phone and its features by watching it.


The BlackBerry Z10 in the video looks just like the Z10 that we’ve already seen before in leaked photos from the developer beta. The only real difference is that the handset looks much smaller in video than it does in the photos. As many commenters on the video point out, it could just be the presenter has large hands.
Besides not understanding the German, did the video inspire you to switch back to BlackBerry once it launches? That’s going to be RIM’s greatest challenge moving forward because the enterprise market can’t carry it alone anymore. It has to capture at least some part of the consumer market that’s currently enamored with iPhones and Android devices. RIM will also have to deal with a reinvigorated Windows Phone brand that’s doing much better than expected thanks to increased demand for Nokia’s Lumia 920.

Facebook Unveils Graph Search

Well, here we go. Facebook is doing search.

Facebook revealed “Graph Search” today at its event in California. CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that this is not “web search”.

“We are not indexing the web,” he says. “We are indexing our map of the graph, which is really big and constantly changing. Almost a million new people every day. 240 billion photos. 1 billion people. 1 trillion connections.”

“Friend connections, locations, likes, comments, tags, it all adds up to indexing all this content and making it so you can retrieve it instantaneously is a really hard technical problem.”

The offering will appear as a bigger search bar at the top of the page, and when you search for something, you can actually retitle the search results page as you see fit.
“Graph Search and web search are very different,” the company says. “Web search is designed to take a set of keywords (for example: ‘hip hop’) and provide the best possible results that match those keywords. With Graph Search you combine phrases (for example: ‘my friends in New York who like Jay-Z’) to get that set of people, places, photos or other content that’s been shared on Facebook. We believe they have very different uses.”
“Another big difference from web search is that every piece of content on Facebook has its own audience, and most content isn’t public,” the company adds. “We’ve built Graph Search from the start with privacy in mind, and it respects the privacy and audience of each piece of content on Facebook. It makes finding new things much easier, but you can only see what you could already view elsewhere on Facebook.”
OK, so Facebook isn’t doing web search (yet). That doesn’t mean that this couldn’t represent a significant threat to Google in the way that other types of search and information discovery tools pose a threat. Amazon, for example, has been taking away a significant amount of product searches that would have once been performed at Google.
Google has been doing its damnedest to provide you with relevant social search results, but we all knew this would not be possible without Facebook, as long as Facebook is the dominant social network that it has become. When Google lost the Twitter firehose, that only complicated things further. Twitter Search can be thought of as another one of these information discovery tools that could be viewed, collectively, as a threat to Google’s dominance in search. Facebook, obviously, is a big piece of the puzzle.
Even still, this doesn’t look like a Google killer by any stretch of the imagination, but a handy Facebook tool? Perhaps. It’s no secret that search on Facebook has pretty much been a joke up until this point.
And if you’re looking for web search from Facebook, it still has Bing.
In terms of Google losing any search market share, it’s really about Google losing more queries for different types of searches – people’s decreased reliance on Google for finding information.
Let’s also remember that Facebook’s mission is to “Make the world more open and connected,” as opposed to Google’s, which is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible.” Those are pretty different, and today’s offering definitely fits more into Facebook’s plan. Facebook considers Graph Search “a new way to navigate these connections and make them more useful”.
Graph Search is in limited beta. The company notes that it’s still in “very early development”. It’s only available in English, and currently only works for a subset of content on Facebook. Posts and open graph actions aren’t available yet (though Facebook says it will be working on these in the coming months). It currently focuses on people, places, photos and interests.
The company also says that mobile, more languages, and the open graph are on the agenda for the future. Once it has all of that, it’s going to be a lot more powerful feature, without question. Think about the open graph, specifically, and how many sites on the web are connected to Facebook. Hint: it’s quite a few.

 Right now, you have to go here to sign up to join a waiting list to use the feature. When you sign up, Facebook tells you you’ll see an announcement on Facebook, and you can switch to the new experience.
Facebook says the roll out will be slow so they can see how people use it, and make improvements accordingly.

What new SEO action items can you do in 2013 to take your SEO to the next level?

1. Revisit your keyword research.

I usually tell my clients they should consider revamping their website (new design, new content, etc.) every two years or so (if it makes sense). You want to clean up your website—weed out underperforming pages, tighten up your internal linking and navigation and consider revisiting your keyword research as part of your new SEO campaign. How has user search behavior changed since the last time you optimized your website? What new industry keywords are popping up? What terminology is going out of style? The keywords you target are the cornerstone of your SEO campaign and it’s important to make sure they are still on track. Sometimes you might only have to swap out a few keywords (maybe none). Other times a whole new world of keywords will have cropped up in the last few years and you’re missing valuable visitors by not targeting them on your website.

2. Ramp up your content marketing.

It’s hard to have a good guest blogging program when you can’t get your own blog under control. Now that you’ve had a year or two to fine tune your blogging skills on your own company blog it’s time to ramp up your content marketing efforts for your new SEO campaign and look into getting real guest blogging opportunities on respected industry sites. I worry that guest blogging will become the new link exchange and Google will start treating them as such, so it’s important that you don’t publish content on any old site that will have you. Take the time to find quality blogs that reach your target audience and routinely produce great content—these are the blogs you want to be writing for.
You could also ramp up the content creation on your own blog by accepting a few guests posts of your own (maybe 2 or so a month) or start interviewing industry experts and publishing those interviews as blog posts. A guest blogger or expert is going to want to promote content with their name attached to it, but it’s your blog that reaps the link building and traffic driving benefits! But remember, just like you don’t want to publish on any old blog, you don’t want any old blogger publishing on your site. Pick and choose carefully!

3. Start going after those hard-to-get links.

A new SEO campaign is the perfect opportunity to push your white hat link building to greater heights. Start going after that hard to win links that you might have avoided in the past and make your link profile that much stronger! I know it can be frustrating to feel like you’re spending hours building links and only having a handful of published links to show for it but those hard to get links are going to be much more valuable in the long run than a dozen easy wins.

Sculpteo Lets You Sculpt 3D iPhone 5 Cases

iPhone 5 cases are a lot like Nikki Minaj’s wardrobe: You never know what’s coming out of that closet next. Case in point: French 3D printing firm Sculpteo, which showed off a line of iPhone cover-alls that can be customized in 3D by consumers..
Sculpteo’s customization options include cutting words and shapes from the back of the phone, adding raised objects (like a skeleton head, for instance), adding new color schemes to covers or simply cutting out covers in wacky shapes, like the silhouetted faces below. (See the gallery below for more examples.)

And if you’re not in the mood to sculpt, the service does photo printing on cases as well.


To design and order a new clip-on, you can use the Sculpteo iOS app to select and modify the design. The app does not support original customizations from users, but there is a large library of templates to choose from and lots of modifications such as color, patterns, etchings and textures.
According to Sculteo, the cases cost between $25 and $40 and take five days to ship from the company’s offices in France. About 60% of the company’s business originates from the U.S., so “we’ve gotten good and shipping things fast,” a rep told us.
These case are made with a mixture of nylon and plastic, so they’re pretty thin. Don’t expect them to withstand drops and dings. If you’re looking for a way to gussy up your device, though, here’s your chance to be extra original. Just no pink wigs.

Sony Xperia Z 1080p Smartphone Plays Music Underwater

CES 2013 feels like Sony Mobile’s coming out party. Though the electronics giant split from cellphone partner Ericsson in 2011, the newly single company had yet to really wow us with its handsets . . . until now. The new Sony Xperia Z combines current superphone staples like a 5-inch, 1080p screen and quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with high end imagining and the ability to survive underwater without missing a beat.

We had a chance to go hands-on with an Xperia Z and were impressed with its gorgeous glass polymer body, Bravia-engine enhanced display and ability to survive a serious dunk. The first thing we noticed about the Xperia is its slim, lightweight chassis. Though the phone has a 5-inch display, we had to check with Sony reps to make sure that was accurate, because it really looks more like a 4.5 or 4.7-inch handset. At 0.3mm thick and just 5.2 ounces, the svelte Xperia Z is about the same size as the HTC Droid DNA and a bit larger than the 4-inch iPhone 5.

The back and sides of the Xperia Z are made from a glass polycarbonate material Sony says is commonly used on cars and planes. Indeed, the black model we saw shined like a new car that had just had a detailing.

We were pleased with the bright colors and sharp images on the 5-inch, 1080p “Reality” display. However, we noticed that, at wide viewing angles, the whites blow out a bit, making colors seem less vibrant than when we viewed it head-on.

A Sony rep explained that the built-in Mobile Bravia Engine 2 software works to make photos and videos look more vibrant. He even showed us a special split-screen demo where the right half of a video was Bravia-enhanced. On the Bravia side, colors like yellows and greens really popped in a way they didn’t on the unaltered side.

The Bravia engine is always on in the background and there’s no setting to enable or disable it. The software does not enhance the colors on Web pages, because Sony doesn’t want to make objects on online shopping sites more colorful than they are in real life.

Sony’s 13-MP rear-facing camera features 16x digital zoom and HDR for both video and photos. Once you enable it, the camera can shoot a burst mode of 7fps until it runs out of memory. Unfortunately, Sony does not include a “best shot” feature like HTC has for its phones’ burst mode, so if you shoot 200 photos of the same flower, you have to manually delete the 199 you don’t like the best. We didn’t get a chance to do any serious photography with the camera, but we noticed that the burst mode was pretty quick.

In addition to its 1.5-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Pro CPU, 1080p screen and 13-MP camera, the Xperia Z carries other strong specs, including 2GB of RAM, an LTE radio and 16GB of internal storage. Unlike many of its competitors, the Xperia Z has a microSD Card slot for added storage expansion. It also features a proprietary docking port you can use with an upcoming Sony dock.

Like most phones this slim, Sony’s battery is built in and, at 2350mAH, seems unlikely to dethrone the Galaxy Note II as battery life king. That said, Sony has introduced a new Stamina mode that extends standby time by disabling background services when the phone goes to sleep. We were able to enable and disable this mode by going into the power settings menu. We liked that the Stamina menu estimates how much standby time you’d get with or without the service running. We also appreciate its whitelist feature, which lets you keep Facebook or other messaging services on.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Xperia Z is one we hope we’ll never need; the device can survive up to 30 minutes submerged in up to 1 meter of water. Sony’s goal isn’t to make the phone a scuba diving or swimming accessory but to prevent the kind of phone-killing damage that occurs when you spill liquid on your handset or drop it in the toilet. You can even use the phone without drying it off, as the display has wet-finger detection.

During our hands-on, we paired the phone with a Bluetooth speaker and listened as it played a pop song. Then, with the song still playing, we dropped the phone in a fish bowl and were amazed that the music continued to play, without even so much as a pause. When we took the phone out of the water, we tapped the pause button on the screen and our stroke registered, even though there were water droplets all over the surface. Other waterproof gadgets such as the Pantech Element may shut down or freeze their screens underwater, but Sony says you can even make a Bluetooth phone call while the Xperia Z is submerged.

The Sony Xperia Z will launch globally sometime in Q1. Sony hasn’t yet disclosed specific pricing or carriers.

The Bravia engine is always on in the background and there’s no setting to enable or disable it. The software does not enhance the colors on Web pages, because Sony doesn’t want to make objects on online shopping sites more colorful than they are in real life. Sony’s 13-MP rear-facing camera features 16x digital zoom and HDR for both video and photos. Once you enable it, the camera can shoot a burst mode of 7fps until it runs out of memory. Unfortunately, Sony does not include a “best shot” feature like HTC has for its phones’ burst mode, so if you shoot 200 photos of the same flower, you have to manually delete the 199 you don’t like the best. We didn’t get a chance to do any serious photography with the camera, but we noticed that the burst mode was pretty quick. In addition to its 1.5-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Pro CPU, 1080p screen and 13-MP camera, the Xperia Z carries other strong specs, including 2GB of RAM, an LTE radio and 16GB of internal storage. Unlike many of its competitors, the Xperia Z has a microSD Card slot for added storage expansion. It also features a proprietary docking port you can use with an upcoming Sony dock. Like most phones this slim, Sony’s battery is built in and, at 2350mAH, seems unlikely to dethrone the Galaxy Note II as battery life king. That said, Sony has introduced a new Stamina mode that extends standby time by disabling background services when the phone goes to sleep. We were able to enable and disable this mode by going into the power settings menu. We liked that the Stamina menu estimates how much standby time you’d get with or without the service running. We also appreciate its whitelist feature, which lets you keep Facebook or other messaging services on. Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Xperia Z is one we hope we’ll never need; the device can survive up to 30 minutes submerged in up to 1 meter of water. Sony’s goal isn’t to make the phone a scuba diving or swimming accessory but to prevent the kind of phone-killing damage that occurs when you spill liquid on your handset or drop it in the toilet. You can even use the phone without drying it off, as the display has wet-finger detection. During our hands-on, we paired the phone with a Bluetooth speaker and listened as it played a pop song. Then, with the song still playing, we dropped the phone in a fish bowl and were amazed that the music continued to play, without even so much as a pause. When we took the phone out of the water, we tapped the pause button on the screen and our stroke registered, even though there were water droplets all over the surface. Other waterproof gadgets such as the Pantech Element may shut down or freeze their screens underwater, but Sony says you can even make a Bluetooth phone call while the Xperia Z is submerged.

Mystery BlackBerry 10 Devices Hit FCC with AT&T LTE

BlackBerry 10 appears to be right on track for RIM’s promised January 30th launch date. Over the weekend, a pair of BlackBerry mystery devices reared their heads at the FCC. The paperwork provides few tantalizing clues, but one set of certifications suggests that RIM’s last, great hope will find a home on AT&T Wireless.

The mysterious BlackBerry RFF91LW (shown in its censored glory above) breezed through FCC tests sporting the BlackBerry 10.0.9 OS, support for several international radio frequencies, and domestic GSM and LTE support for AT&T’s wireless bands. The shape of the handset indicates that it’s one of the touchscreen varieties rather than a squat N-series phone (which sport physical QWERTY keyboards and a 720 x 720 screen resolution). That being said, it’s unclear if the phone is the Dev Alpha phone we’ve seen time and time again or the elusive L-series production model.

The second model to wind its way through the FCC, the RFH121LW, didn’t even reveal that much. Its regulatory appearance does, however, indicate that RIM is getting its ducks in a row well before BB10′s January 30th unveiling. The company has already pushed the BB10 Gold SDK to BlackBerry developers and introduced a BlackBerry Messenger update that introduced VoIP over Wi-Fi, with video calling capabilities rumored to be incoming when the first BlackBerry 10 devices—like the RFH121LW and RFF91LW—hit the streets.

Mapicases Brings Leather to the iPad mini and iPhone 5

Mapicases has unveiled a ton of new products in its collection of leather gadget bags and accessories at CES 2013. Known for its hand stitching and use of fine leather, those looking for an elegant look for their Apple devices may love the new items. Most of the company’s basic products come in five different colors: tan, brown, black, white and red. Mapicases makes accessories for both Apple and Samsung products as well as laptops of all sizes, but it was the new Apple products that really caught our eye.

Mapicases announced an iPad mini version of its popular Orion series, which currently has models available for the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and iPad. This case has a magnetic folding cover, just like Apple’s own Smart Cover, but with a swivel hinge that allows for use in either portrait or landscape mode. There’s a slight texture to the leather and it felt like the product would last a long time.

The two other products we checked out were so new they haven’t been named yet. The first was an iPhone 5 case that folds open like a book. There’s a rectangular peephole on the front flap that lines up perfectly with the caller ID when receiving a phone call or the clock when viewing the lock screen. The case added a little extra bulk, but it was relatively lightweight and we liked the smooth leather.

Lastly is a new folio-style case for the iPad mini, also unnamed. There’s a zipper around the perimeter so you don’t need to worry about anything scratching your screen while your iPad mini is in your bag. The inside of the case features space for business cards or a few small notes. This folio-style case had the most padding protection of the three cases we held, with plenty of smooth leather encasing the device.

There’s no release date set for any of these cases, but we were told that all three should be available in about six weeks. The Orion case will be priced at $150, but the other two are still awaiting pricing. The iPad mini folio, however, should be in the ballpark of $150, but the price of the iPhone 5 case is still pending.

New iPad App

Get all the latest news from Financial News on the iPad.

Free to download and view iPad Highlights - a selection of our best content from the week especially available on iPad.

For full access get a Financial News licence.  WebSite Here



Features:

• Online / Offline viewing
• Save articles for reading later
• View our latest Photo Galleries
• Trending, see what everyone else is reading
• Customise the news sections within the app
• Read the weekly print edition 

Phil Schiller Says That Rumored Cheap iPhone Isn’t Happening

Earlier this week, a rumor emerged saying that Apple was planning on introducing a cheaper iPhone into emerging markets. How cheap? Another rumor speculated that it could be as cheap as $99. The phone would obviously be intended for emerging markets where cheap smartphones are much more popular, but would Apple really go against years of creating expensive, luxury devices? Apple’s Phil Schiller gives a resounding no.

During an interview with Chinese newspaper Shanghai Evening News, Schiller said that Apple has no plans in regards to a cheaper iPhone. He admits that “cheap smartphones are more popular” in China than the once popular “non-smartphones,” but says that “will never be the future of Apple’s products.” He goes on to say that the company’s position in China is quite comfy because they own 75 percent of the profit despite only owning 20 percent of the smartphone market.

So, what’s up with all the rumors of a cheap iPhone then? Not only is Digitimes reporting on the device, but Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal both received reports from those close to Apple who confirmed the device as being real. Could they all be wrong? Of course they could, but these kinds of rumors have a way of at least being partially true.

Regardless, Apple needs to focus on these emerging markets. They may own 75 percent of the profit in China, but I would wager those are only hardware sales. Software sales count in the long run, and Apple needs to capture more of the market share to tap into this lucrative revenue stream. It doesn’t necessarily have to be $99, but how can Apple hope to penetrate emerging markets, like Brazil, when its flagship product costs the equivalent of $1,145.

CES 2013 Pretend You’re At CES By Watching Samsung’s Keynote

What’s the best part about CES? Is it the new cool technology? Or the inane celebrity endorsements? How about both rolled into one?

That’s what you get if you watch Samsung’s CES 2013 keynote. Watch an hour of announcements coming at you from all sides as Samsung assaults your brain with the latest marvels of technology. Obviously, the big deal is Samsung’s new Octo-core Exynos 5 chip that will power the next generation of mobile handsets – including the rumored, but totally real, Galaxy S IV.

Check out Samsung’s CES keynote in all its glory below: 

The Official Oscars App Expands To Android, Kindle

ABC announced today that the official Oscars app is now live, and for the first time, it’s available for Android. Specifically, it’s available on Android 4.0+ devices, including the Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Note 10.1 and GSIII, as well as the new Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD.
As before, the app is available for iOS as well.
The app was developed by the Academy and Disney/ABC’s digital media team, and includes the following features, as listed by ABC:

• Magazine-style format featuring photos, videos and the latest social media buzz.
• Viewers can watch the live Backstage Pass experience in two different modes, Watch or Direct. In Watch mode, viewers will be guided through the live behind-the-scenes show. In the Direct mode, viewers can select the cameras they want to experience.
• Live video grid allows viewers the ability to watch all available cameras simultaneously or zero in on one.
• Once in a camera view, a ticker will display over the video updating viewers to what is happening on other cameras. Fans will be aware when their favorite actor enters another view, allowing them the opportunity to navigate between cameras.

“Our goal is to create a really full, immersive experience leading up to, during and after the Oscars,” said Karin Gilford, SVP of Digital Media for ABC Television Network. “Last year, we saw a huge increase in the number of people using the app. With its availability now on the Android platform we look forward to bringing even more people into the Oscar experience. We want this to be the next best thing to attending the show itself.”
“We’re always looking for ways to bring fans closer to the show and this app provides a unique and fun way to do that,” added Josh Spector, Managing Director of Digital Media and Marketing for the Academy. “More fans than ever will be able to enjoy the full Oscar experience now that our app is available to Droid users.”
The Oscars will air on Sunday, February 24 on ABC, with coverage beginning at 7PM Eastern. You can find the Android app on Google Play.

8 Million Angry Birds Games Were Downloaded on Christmas

The popularity of the Angry Birds Franchise was understandable when the original game debuted just over two years ago. It’s a simple game that offers a perfect, bite-sized progression for bus rides or toilet trips.
Now that the game has inspired a theme park attraction, a Star Wars tie-in, a feature-length movie, however, it’s beginning to seem as if Angry Birds wasn’t simply a trend in mobile gaming. In fact, it seems that the Angry Birds franchise is becoming more popular than ever.

This week, Rovio announced that over eight million copies of Angry Birds games were downloaded on Christmas day alone. As they point out in the handy infographic below, that’s nearly one game for every other new mobile device activated on Christmas. Throughout the week of Christmas 30 million Angry Birds games were downloaded.

It appears that Rovio is counting downloads of Bad Piggies, which is an Angry Birds spin-off. It’s also unclear whether downloads of Amazing Alex were counted, though that number wouldn’t make up much of the 30 million downloads.

Assuming Rovio makes at least a dollar for each download (through the app price or through advertising), it’s clear that mobile gaming has become serious business. Gaming companies such as Nintendo will soon have to come to grips with the new reality of gaming and offer their classic titles on mobile platforms other than their own.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Revolution DLC Previewed

This week Activision and Treyarch released a bit of information on the upcoming downloadable content (DLC) for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

“With Black Ops II, the team set out to challenge assumptions about what fans should expect from Call of Duty, and there’s no exception with Revolution,” said Mark Lamia, Treyarch studio head.

Titled “Revolution,” the add-on will include four new multiplayer maps, “Downhill,” “Hydro,” “Mirage,” and “Grind.” A new map for zombies mode called “Die Rise” will also be included. It pits players against the zombies inside of collapsed skyscrapers in a ruined Chinese city.

In addition to the new maps, a new SMG called the “Peacekeeper” has been added for multiplayer, and a new zombies mode called “Turned” will allow players to take on the role of zombies themselves.

The DLC will be available first on the Xbox 360. On January 29 fans can download the update via Xbox LIVE for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Easy Search Engine Optimization Guide

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a particular discipline within web design, intended to increase the site's rankings on a search engine. Since many users who search for a topic will select a site from the first page of results, or may stop after only a few pages, most web masters want their content to be displayed at the top of the page rankings. 

There are a number of techniques that can be used to promote your web site within the search engine page rankings, and a number of pitfalls to avoid. Since the field has grown and evolved over the years, there is a body of knowledge and professional debate about it, as well as some long-standing myths and hold-overs from previous techniques that no longer work. 

Pitfalls include: 

- “Magic formulas” for keyword density 
- Dictionary-like lists of keywords in page headers 
- Filling tags and headers with irrelevant content 
- Using invisible tags or keywords to “trick” the web crawler 
- Using link exchanges or farms 

Time-tested techniques include: 

- Offering high-quality, unique content 
- Becoming or utilizing recognized authorities 
- Carefully soliciting links from high quality, professional contacts 
- Structuring your site to be easy to crawl 

Getting into SEO means sifting through all of the information available on how to optimize, determining which information is relevant and current, and then applying the best of it to your own project. Doing so cost effectively is critical. 

You can choose to do your own SEO on your web site, or contract the work out to professional SEO services. Whether you do the work yourself or hire it out should be a careful business decision, based on the current size and completion level of your site, the amount of user traffic it can handle, the amount of time and skill you can dedicate to the SEO project, and of course your budget. 

If you choose to contract the service, do your research on firms that are professional and well respected. As with any other web-based service, caveat emptor. There are good firms and scam artists, clear terms and fine print. Be sure to check the SEO provider's references, and ensure that you're paying for site architecture and content changes, rather than simply for pay-per-click contracts. Avoid any that guarantee you a particular page ranking or sound too good to be true. 

By far the best technique for increasing your search engine page ranking (SEPR) is simply offering high quality content that users find valuable. The more people value and respect your site, the more respected bloggers and sites will link to you, thus increasing your rankings. 

Remember that the point of SEO is to drive users to your site. You should never find yourself sacrificing a user-friendly experience or the quality of your content for the sake of the search engine bots. Search engines are themselves web sites that must offer a high quality experience to their users, so they will heavily penalize sites that use technical “tricks” that degrade their own user experience. More importantly, a high page ranking is irrelevant without a good web site that keeps users coming back.