Itcertsbox

What the Acquisition of Skype May Mean for Microsoft

If You Build It, They Will Come

Ralph Waldo Emerson is often quoted (though incorrectly) as saying “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” It speaks to the dreamer, the entrepreneur, the artist in all of us.

Four such dreamers in the technology world are: Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple. This week, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft faced each other down to compete for the acquisition of Skype, an online communications company, for $8.5 billion. Because sometimes when you haven’t built the better mousetrap, it’s just as effective to buy the company that did.

Facebook are building a new campus in Menlo Park, with space for 9,000 employees, and every online application seems to be linked to an imminent sale to the social networking giant. You have to think that Mark Zuckerberg is hatching a plot for the next big thing in the social media space.

Google and Apple are competing in the mobile and tablet arenas, trying to out-do each other on hardware, operating systems, and user experience. YouTube, part of the Google empire since 2006, have just rolled out their live streaming service, and the smart money might be best placed on when the service will develop capabilities to be used in user-to-user direct communications.

Which prompts me to wonder: were Google and Facebook really interested in Skype, or were they just pushing the price up to see if, or when, Microsoft would blink?

A New Arms Race

From the Cold War to the Space Race, we’ve been thrilled by watching fast iterations of technology, striving to produce better and better military equipment than the other guy just developed. Welcome to technology in the new millennium.

When the dust settled after the IT bubble burst around the turn of the century, Gates, Jobs, and Brin held on, and then began to pull the world with them. When a punk-kid programmer from Harvard joined them in 2004 the gears of a second Internet bubble began moving.

Or maybe it’s not a bubble. Maybe it’s something bigger, something more important. Perhaps we’re on the verge of the Communications Race. The Face Race. That’s why the acquisition of Skype was so important to Microsoft. It’s why Google and Apple are building better mousetraps in the mobile sector, and why Facebook is constantly reworking the ways its users can communicate with each other.

Red Queen Effect

There’s a passage from Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass,” where the Red Queen tells Alice ” takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” It’s the drive to run faster that lives in the minds of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin. Those guys are busy thinking right now of how to make their mousetraps better.

But when the price-tag is $8.5 billion, what’s the …

Can’t Decide Between a PC Gaming Desktop Or Games Console?

I wanted to make an article on the current state of the gaming desktop and gaming laptop market.

With all of the console-biased games you see publicised every day, you’d be forgiven for thinking that games consoles are the only way to play up to date games. However, the PC gaming desktop is on the up and has never been better/bigger!

Not only does the PC have a lot of different genres of games and titles to rival the consoles, it’s more affordable than it ever has been and the choices of specification are endless. Its also keeping up with the latest trends compared with the consoles.

The PC’s greatest strength as a gaming platform is that it’s a completely upgradeable and only limited to what you can afford. This means the more money and effort you are prepared to put into your PC gaming desktop, the more you’ll get out of it.

In the past, the high cost of buying a high performance custom gaming PC may have been off-putting. However, there are now companies such as Scan who make descent, entry-level machines for around A�600; meanwhile, companies such as AlienWare make powerful gaming desktops which are beautiful to look at as-well as being fast.

It’s also worth noting that while the initial expense of a gaming desktop PC or gaming laptop is higher than that of a console, computer video games are a lot cheaper. Most new computer games sell for around A�10 to A�15 less than their console counterparts.

The PC is also the preferred platform for genres such as strategy games and sports management sims; trying to play Starcraft II or Football Manager 2010 without the benefit of a keyboard and mouse etc would be a bit of a challenge!

PC gaming desktops also have a long list of fancy peripherals; the Logitech G-Series family is a good place to start. The G700 Mouse is sleekly designed to better fit your hand, has full speed wireless connection and 13 programmable controls, for instance.

Many of the bigger titles also allow players to make mods; homemade creative nips and tucks which enchance the gaming experience beyond anything available on a console. These can range from map editors to over clocking tweaks to tool kits that can be used to create new environments, new skill sets and, in some cases, entirely new games.

The biggest advantage that a gaming desktop has is the sheer processing. An up-to-date gaming PC plays video games with unbeatable graphical detail and sound. Hardcore gamers who long for the 3D gaming experience boasted by Sony for the PS3 can find that PC gaming desktops are more than up to the job.

There are in excess of 400 titles 3D-ready; all you need is the NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Kit. And nearly every new PC game released is 3D-ready. So to summarise the quality rendered on screen and sheer choice of configurable options of …

Finding A Reliable Gaming Laptop Comparison Shopping Site

Comparison shopping is the technique you should adopt while shopping for any electronic device. It is a technique that lets you compare and understand the pros and cons of any laptop. Since gaming laptop is in great demand these days, many people are trying to purchase a good laptop for gaming at an affordable price.

There are plenty of sites on the web that lets you compare laptops. Some of these sites even allow you to purchase laptops from their site. Are they reliable? You may not have a good answer to this question. Hence, you should find a reliable comparison shopping site for purchasing gaming notebooks.

Here are some qualities that will help you determine whether a comparison site is good or not:

Should not biased

They should not be biased to a particular brand and try to upsell it. A honest site will always provide you with genuine information according to your requirements.

Easy to understand

Many people cannot easily understand the jargons mentioned on such site. So, it should provide enough information on understanding basic things like what is a graphic card, what is a processor and so on. They should be able to answer all the sales related question. Technical support can be considered as an added benefit.

Should be in business since a long time

Many comparison shopping sites have started in the recent past. However, the ones that are in business since a long time understand the customers requirement and can be considered reliable. If you are able to trust that site, you won’t be having any issues in purchasing a laptop from that site.

Testing

If the site sells laptops, it should also make sure that its customers receive the machine they have ordered in working condition. That is the reason why, they should do performance testing and various kinds of test to make sure the notebook is working properly.

Return policy

Other than providing comparison shopping on gaming laptop, if the site also sells the laptops, then it should also provide with a money return policy. If the site is authentic, it will never hesitate to mention its money return policy. So, if you are not satisfied with the laptop, you can return them back and get money back without answering any questions.…

Die Unterkunft war ausgesprochen sauber und extrem, die Lage ferner vulkan vegas die Zimmer waren toll.

• Chip Unterkunft war sehr sauber und wunderbar, die Lage und die Zimmer artikel toll.
• Alle Unterkunft war besonders sauber und bemerkenswert, die Lage ferner die Zimmer waren toll.
• Die Unterkunft war ausgesprochen sauber und wunderbar, die Lage und die Zimmer artikel toll.

The mixdrive series offers separate mixing and control units that ensure the highest level of flexibility. The unit controls the stirring operation and is available in three different formats. Mix control echo is the most cost-effective solution for small and medium stirring, unlike the other formats that incorporate power for large applications.

Mix drive units are of two types with basic temperature formats. They can be applied in various fields such as medical, biotechnical, and chemical industries. Multiple stirrers with external control units are designed for reliable mass screenings and biotechnical applications developed for daily lab use.

Single point stirring drives with external control is designed for applications that involve continuous operations. They are sealed with a stainless steel housing that is easy to clean, offers maximum resistance, and is suitable for carbon dioxide incubators and ovens.

IT Mix drives

Whether to keep your business in-house or outsource e-commerce is a key decision to make among investors in this internet age. However, some investors have chosen to outsource some of the e-business solutions and utilize what they have internally to enhance success.

Mix drives allow customers to complete their transactions on the web and others use websites to carry out their research, get quotations and make purchases online. For quick outcomes, some investors opt for in-house approaches to develop the user-friendly and easy-to-use front end.

It is important to hire service providers that can house servers and provide the necessary bandwidth charged on a pay as you leave basis. Investors can also consider outsourcing round-the-clock managed support with software engineers on the site throughout.

Successful e-business outsourcing requires a lot of investment in efforts to negotiate and manage the contract. Ensure that you can keep the software and make any essential changes. It is advisable to deal with a supplier that is competent with a proven track of performance record.…

The Best PS2 Games of All Time

5. Final Fantasy 10

This was the first Final Fantasy title to launch on the PlayStation 2. Never before did we have a story-driven RPG with voice acting and stunning graphics. I’m happy that a Final Fantasy title was able to be the first to reach that milestone. Square Enix deserved it.

4. Grand Theft Auto 3

Rockstar reinvented the ‘sandbox’ genre with Grand Theft Auto 3, making a completely different game from the previous two Grand Theft Auto games. The most noticeable was obviously the game now being in 3D. The amount of liberating freedom you have in that game is amazing.

3. God of War

God of War had excellent presentation and was one of the most polished PlayStation 2 games to ever release. By polish I mean few bugs(which was important considering the PlayStation 2 didn’t make use of ‘patches’ much like PC games do) and smooth gameplay. The sequels were just as good but the original game is what opened the doors for those games. It has unique brain-bending puzzles and a combat system that is terrific, allowing you to do button mash mini games to give a final executing blow to your foes. This one was a favorite of mine.

2. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

This was the first Metal Gear game to appear on the PlayStation 2 and it was an instant classic. Hideo Kojima improved a lot of aspects from Metal Gear Solid including the ability to aim in an over-the-shoulder viewpoint behind Snake. Hideo said this was a tough decision because the game would no longer be the traditional Metal Gear Solid birds eye view type of gameplay. It was for the better though.

1. Shadow of the Colossus

After it’s success, the devs who made Ico decided to go big. Literally. Shadow of the Colossus features gameplay that no other game could compare with. Fighting giant colossi. The player got a satisfying sense of accomplishment after taking down one of these huge beasts. The variation between the different Colossus was great with each one requiring a different strategy to take it down. They can even be considered as puzzles to be honest. The game has a touching story with an ending that leaves no stones unturned.

Conclusion

There you have it. My pick of the top PlayStation 2 games to ever release. The console had a great run and many of my most memorable gaming experiences were with PlayStation 2 games. The PlayStation 2 was also my last console, as I have now moved on to being full time PC gamer.…

Some SEO Tips About to Emerge

Making your website more search engine friendly can be one of the best ways to achieve best results and make your site land high in the search engine’s rankings. Any change in your search engine optimization efforts (provided these are white hat) may come up with better results and even if this result will not come out outright, you may feel improvements in rankings slowly.

While the search engines are the primary ways to get people to come to your site there are also other ways you can do like online advertising or through word-of-mouth. Other ways are slowly emerging like the increasing popularity of the social sites which are becoming fads these days.

Although the trend may come as a cycle and the traditional search engine optimization strategies may have a comeback in popularity, it is necessary for you to embark on the new fad which is slowly emerging (or have already emerged at a very fast pace). Socializing is the trend of the modern days and finding yourself in these social networking sites will be good for your business.

Social media monitoring has to be done to determine which social media sites, social bookmarking sites, and other web forums are the one’s more frequently visited by your intended customers or viewers. Having these insights will help you decide which channels or forums you can place more focus on.

Social media monitoring may involve analysis of social keywords which are the ideal words to use in whatever forum you will make more focus on There are good social media monitoring tools that can help you in these processes, or help you identify topics of interest that are more talked about by the customers that you want to establish connections through the social sites.

While social SEO may be your focus, contents are still the important keys in social online marketing and many marketers are finding ways to create a content marketing strategy based on these social activities. Customers do not like the traditional ways anymore, like product features and benefits in contents, but a more modern way like engaging in conversations, sharing of thoughts and other forms of socializing contents that they can think of.

Although there are other strategies emerging you don’t have to overlook the importance of the traditional ways of website optimization like placing the important keywords in the title tags of your site as well as other content pages. Making these optimization efforts will ensure your rankings even if you are also socializing, which is the modern way.

Getting high quality links should be also an objective even if you are also on the social sites because getting links from users of these sites can be a good way of establishing your credibility. And quality links are giving good optimization to your site.…

Engage Your Audience Through Attractive Article Writing

Engaging readers and audiences is the most challenging task while developing an article. In fact, it is the most difficult thing that nobody guarantees. Written communication has several advantages, but people often lack knowledge and skills to convey their message in an effective manner. One of the most important things to consider while writing an article is to bind readers’ attention by giving appropriate examples and explanations in a directional manner. Through this you will be able to achieve a higher level of engagement without saying stressing on a particular topic.

In fact, inclusion of descriptions and other tools can certainly help to achieve your objective. You can adopt formal or informal writing for your article body. However, informal writing is more impressive than formal. Informal writing is expressed by casual and often familiar language. It not only shows creativity, but also exhibits originality of the subject matter. It also gives positive impression and delight readers.

One of the best known methods is to write exactly as you speak, this will help to get unlimited number of readers in the form of fans and followers. It is also known as conversational style writing. It is not a usual thing, yet gives positive results. It not only kindles new and innovative ideas, but also helps readers to think what you want them to think. It rolls great when you have already decided a topic in your mind and have multiple thoughts also. It will certainly assist you to develop integrated article writing in a seamless fashion. This thought process also help to reckon how much to write, how to write and stretch the whole idea.

You should also start discussing key points and facts in your writing style so that it can catch user’s attention and bind them to think and imagine as per your idea. You should try to present facts, figures, views in an elaborated fashion. One thing to muse is to be direct and descriptive with each and every fact provided by supplying your own insights. One thing should be remembered is, your insights should be original, intuitive, should have enough verve, call to action, and above all ability to strike the inner psyche of the reader. Your collective thoughts should also be bundled in an exclusive manner that could engage its readers in a more deliberate fashion.

This will eventually create online credibility as well as engage your readers. This technique is highly helpful for the writers, bloggers, content analysts, web content developers, editors and journalists. It, fortunately helps them to get noticed when there is heavy competition. In fact, most of the successful writers exercise this technique to impress their readers and provide them with article marketing in an efficient manner.…

Will Social Media Businesses Make Money?

My thoughts recently have been about the business model for many if not most of the major Social Media infrastructure sites around today. The question I have been asking myself is, how will Social Networking sites make money?

This is a serious issue, and the current hype over Social Media sites, reminds me greatly of the situation in the middle of the Dot Com boom, when everyone was so carried away with the idea of Internet based business that they forgot the basics of business, that is there must be a way of making money out of the business otherwise it Will eventually fail.

Parallels are everywhere, Twitter the current doyen of social networking sites, not only does not make any income; but further there is no facility in its current business model to make any money. Twitter, according to recent comment raised nearly $100m on top of the $35m raised in February, yet it still has no way of generating any income. The question we ask is what happens to investor sentiment when its astronomical growth figures inevitably slow: recent reports, in the USA at least, suggest this may be happening now.

Similarly the default url shortener for Twitter has no method of generating income, neither has budurl or tiny. These are key infrastructure players in the social media landscape yet they have no workable business model. Further there is a host of apps for the likes of Twitter and Facebook which are free. I find it rather disconcerting to think that much of the infrastructure platforms that underpin Social Networking don’t have a viable business model. It’s also somewhat ironic to think that those same platforms are filled with users propounding the benefits of monetizing social networking and exhorting who ever will listen to do the same.

Once they hype cools and sentiment becomes more cautious, or realistic depending on your viewpoint, then investors will be looking for a quick return i.e. a trade sale, failing that, they’ll curtail and then stop further investment as the prospect of hoped for returns diminish. The worrying aspect to this is two fold firstly, who exactly will buy them: I cant see Facebook, the only Social Network business with the muscle to pay the prices that are likely to be demanded, going on a spending spree, it doesn’t need too. Google could of course, but currently seems to have its attentions elsewhere and its previous foray into Social Media with Orkut was a dismal failure. So where else are the buyers? The omens aren’t good; outside of the industry no purchase of a large scale social media business has been successful. One thinks of Fox’s purchase of MySpace and ITV’s purchase of Friends Reunited as classic examples.

Secondly, any difficulty in getting further funding could lead to radical shifts in service and costs for participation as survival takes precedent over funding. This could mean either a wall of advertising, or subscription; neither model is frankly …

How to Backup PS 3 Games Successfully

As you may know the gaming industry is thriving now with all different games for different platforms like the PlayStation 2 and 3, Xbox and Xbox 360 and also the PlayStation Portable and Nintedo DS. All of which are nearly as popular as each other, having saying that they still sell a lot of games and as the years have progressed we have seen these games literally evolve from not just 2D to 3D but to make us feel like we are actually in the game.

People no matter what age are always buying computer games and they always will, however what game they buy depends on the platform they buy the game for now both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have internal hard drives which is where the gaming information is stored for further use this is beneficial for people want to backup the game because it is possible to do so in the console however there is only limited space.

For people who are looking to do this you can find information on the Internet on blogs, forums and gaming communities but you might not be able to trust or believe what people are saying. But if you really want to make a copy of your game and to backup it up you must have a piece of software.

It’s a simple and easy to use piece of software that has been designed to decrypt the encryption code on the games disc and this acts as copy protector and prevents privacy. The software can easily create a copy of your game onto your local hard drive which can then be burnt onto a CD or DVD depending on the size, and whats more is that it is a one time investment.…