Quick Online Tips

Download bbPress 1.0 Final: Host Free Forums

QuickOnlineTips — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:08:29 +0000

Now you can download bbPress 1.0 Final, the latest release of the excellent forum software by the creators of WordPress. bbPress is the ideal way to integrate a forum with your WordPress blog.

bbPress is a simple forum software, easy to use, easy to administrate, and is very fast and clean. It has some powerful features and is highly customizable and WordPress bloggers will find the same WP goodiness and feel when they use bbPress.

We used bbPress for our forums earlier and here are the top 10 reasons to install bbPress. Some key highlights are pretty SEO optimized permalinks, lots of plugins and themes, open source, lots of feeds, Akismet spam control, integrated Gravatars, and lots more.

Download bbPress now and start a new forum for your site in minutes. Remember bbPress requires PHP 4.3 or greater and MySQL 4.0 or greater.

Join Free Antarctica Blogging Expedition

QuickOnlineTips — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:51:08 +0000

Want to join a free Antarctica blogging expedition? Quark Expeditions is searching for an official blogger who will travel to Antarctica in February 2010 and blog about their polar adventure.

Photo by JenniferPickens (under CC license)

To participate in event, post your creative entry and tell the world why you should be their blogger. They are looking for an adventurous spirit, a keen sense of observation, and the ability to write (in English) with style and imagination. No blogging experience required. As the public voting continues, the entrant with the most number of votes will be selected as the winner on September 30, 2009. Over 200 bloggers have sent in their entries.

The winner wins a free $20000 cruise for 2 persons to Antarctica aboard Lyubov Orlova on Classic Antarctica: Discovering the Peninsula, from February 20 to March 3, 2010. Interested in photographing penguins and blogging about your fun filled adventure?

Remember the Indian Psychiatrist blogging from Antarctica!

Buy Twitter Followers: 100,000 for $3479

QuickOnlineTips — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:27:18 +0000

What is the secret to increase Twitter followers? You can easily buy Twitter followers for a few dollars. As huge twitter follower counts represent prestige, some of them might actually be bought.

uSocial twitter follower service lets you actually buy Twitter followers. I checked their prices and a starting package will get you 1000 twitter followers for $87 to a new or existing account in 7 days. You can buy 10,000 twitter followers for $372.75 in 45 days. So you want more….

How about 100,000 Twitter followers – that is sure to make you famous on Twitter. You can spend $3,479 right now and buy 100,000 twitter followers, which are assured over the next 365 days! You might also join the Twitter celebrities.

And this is just one of them. A quick Google search will reveal many more buy Twitter follower services like TweeterFollowers where VIP members can get up to 300 followers per day! TwitterPromoter lets you buy 5,000 followers in 20 days for $250 only. TwitterFollowers lets you buy 100 followers for $5. Twitboost will get you 5000 followers for $650 in 30 days.

As Twitter is now bigger than Digg and Twitter addiction is on the rise, Twitter marketing is going to become big business and its actually a form of investment to have more Twitter followers. I am sure there are many people out there who are buying Twitter followers to enhance their Twitter profile and the race is on to get the maximum Twitter followers. How can anyone find out if someone bought followers, as they will gradually increase in number simulating normal growth, without raising suspicion.

Of course the best way to get thousands of Twitter followers every day is to get on the suggested users list, and people are willing to pay $120,000 dollars per year to get on the that list. While selling Twitter followers was frowned upon, some used the charity deal to increase Twitter followers.

Anyway all this adds a lot of distrust to Twitter follower counts and flaunting your steeply rising counts may not be believable anymore. Follow us on Twitter for free, and find truly amazing genuine Twitter followers.

http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2009/02/increase-twitter-followers/

How to Create Cool Usernames

QuickOnlineTips — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:08:47 +0000

Guest post by Srikanth
Username has many important qualities, it instantly represents you. If you join a social networking site, then you need to have a cool username to gain focus and visibility. Username should be creative, unique and should be able to represent you in all means.

Consider Twitter for instance, people look at your username before looking at your profile, so it should also attract users to your profile to become popular on social networking sites. For email you have to choose a simple and short username such that people can remember it easily.

Think creative when you are choosing a username, try to be different at the same time. So how can you be creative and unique? Well here is how!

First thing to remember is others need to remember your username, so keep it short and cool.
Misspells have a great impact and look different from others. For example: you can use krazy instead of crazy. But too many misspells spoils the beauty of the thing.
Using too many numbers and special characters is not advisable. You can use one or two numbers like your birthday at the end of the name e.g. krazy11
Most of the sites do not accept special characters in the username field so check for its availability first.
As microblogging is the hot trend, people can write you short messages up to 140 characters only. So keep your username short to save characters.
Your username should not be a tough twister and it should be easy to pronounce so that you do not find it difficult to tell others.
If possible try to include your first name in the username so that people can easily find you.

If you are not sure about a cool username, then you might want to check out this username generator website to generate a username for you. All that you have to do is type in your name and grab the username that has been generated.

If you are looking for a username for your business or want to create an Email ID that is cool and represents you perfectly then:

Try to abbreviate your organization name. If it has multiple words the at the end of it add a word that represents your product. For example software company A—- B—- C—- try something like abctech@email.com
Twitter is a good platform to promote your business. To gain more followers on Twitter use the same trick as above, do not worry if the username is little long. As long as it says what your business is all about. For example ABC_softTech
You can also use your company URL as a username so that you best represent your company.

To check availability of the username on various sites check out usernamecheck.com and know the availability on various social networking sites and web based email services in seconds.

If you have selected a unique username, then it should be available on most of the sites or if it is a common one try making something unique, creative and special.

Guest blogger Srikanth writes on Tech Inspiration blog about tips, gadgets, and technology. You can also write a guest article and share your tips and tricks.

Top Brands Introduce Extra Large Ads

QuickOnlineTips — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:23:29 +0000

What are extra large ads for you – 768×90px or 160×600px banners? Well XXL extra large size advertisements went live on top websites like CNN, New York Times as consumers continue searching for content between the ads.

I spotted this huge Mercedes ad on New York Times

Online Publishers Association announced that several popular members, whose sites reach 68% of the total U.S. Internet audience, have begun offering the three new larger new ad units, namely

The Fixed Panel: 336 wide x 700 tall, remains constant as the user scrolls to the top and bottom of the page
The XXL Box: 468 wide x 648 tall, opens for seven seconds to 936 wide x 648 tall with 1/24x frequency
The Pushdown: 970 wide x 418 tall, opens to display the advertisement and then after seven seconds rolls up to 970 wide x 66 tall, with 1/24x frequency.

The Online Publishers Association (OPA) represents high-quality online content providers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public and comprises of some of the most trusted andwell-respected media brands. Some of the top advertiser brands leveraging the new OPA ad units include Bank of America, Cleveland Clinic, CNA, Frito-Lay, Mercedes-Benz etc.

Some of the top 37 publishers brands on the internet where you can now these OPA extra large ad units now or some time in the near future include About.com, ABCNews.com, Bizjournals, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, CBS Interactive, CNN.com, Discovery Communications, Disney Online, ESPN, Forbes.com, FOXNews Digital, iVillage Network, Lifetime Digital, msnbc.com, MTV Networks, NBC Universal, National Geographic, New York Media, The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, Time Inc., USA Today, Wall Street Journal Digital Network, The Washington Post, and Weather.com.

Of course bigger ads lead to better visibility and more brand presence. For CPM advertisers, the bigger the ads are, the better it is, as they pay for ad impressions. Since these large ad spaces on top sites would be very expensive, they will be afforded by only top advertisers. Moreover, these ads look great because of high ad quality as top brands would have engaged top ad designers.

How large will ads get? I expect even larger ads in the future. They are still better than the full page ads!

5 Best Sites to Get Answers to Your Questions

QuickOnlineTips — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:50:02 +0000

Guest post by Dee Barizo
The Internet is a rich resource of information on all things imaginable. But while you can just key in a query on the Google search box, you are not sure you would get the right information. This is especially true if you are looking for answers to specific questions. And because of search engine optimization, you’re not sure if the site at the top of the result page is there because it’s genuinely helpful, or if it’s simply there because it’s the best-optimized webpage.

Here are five resources that you can use to get answers to questions.

1. Mahalo Answers

Mahalo describes itself as a human-powered search engine with its content mostly user-submitted and edited by a handful of Mahalo’s editors. Similarly, Mahalo Answers are made up of user-submitted questions with answers provided by other members. Mahalo’s community members are encouraged to submit good quality answers to questions because of the “Mahalo dollars” system. When you ask a question, you can offer a tip to other users who can provide the best answer, which is then chosen either by you or from votes from the community.

To get an answer to your question, first try searching for existing answers to the same or similar questions. Type in your question on the searchbox, and check whether other people have asked—and answered—the question. If you can’t find existing content, click the “Ask a Question” link to submit your own question.

2. Yahoo! Answers

Yahoo! Answers works much like Mahalo Answers described above. You can ask questions, answer questions, and if you’re just in the mood for exploring what other people are asking about, you can browse by topic or search.

When you ask or answer a question, you are required to login to your Yahoo! account. An added option of Yahoo! Answers is that it can automatically notify you if one of your contacts (from your Yahoo! Address Book) asks a question. Yahoo! also uses a fan system, in which users can be fans of others, so they can follow the answers being posted. Yahoo! uses a point system—you “spend” points for asking questions, and you “earn” points for answering. Depending on how many points you have accumulated, you are assigned a user level, which dictates how many answers or questions you can post per day.

3. Answerbag

Answerbag is another service similar to Mahalo Answers and Yahoo! Answers. The interface is likewise similar—you can search for existing answers by typing in keywords or a question, and if you don’t find what you need, you can submit your own question. The nice thing about using the Answerbag’s search functionality is that when it lists possible matches, it also displays the best answer along with the question, which makes it easy to browse for the information you need.

Another difference with Answerbag is that it categorizes the question according to the type and difficulty. These can be “social,” which are casual or conversational questions that you would usually ask a friend or relative. These can be “expert,” which can be educational questions that are best answered by well-researched and well thought out responses. These can be “local,” which are, as the name implies, specific to certain countries, regions or cities. And these can be about “shopping,” which are questions about business, commerce or products and services.

4. Twitter

Twitter has been hailed as one of the most flexible platforms for exchanging information online—in 140 characters or less. Originally conceived as a microblogging or lifestreaming application, Twitter has expanded into being somewhat a messaging platform where users can exchange public and private messages both with the rest of the Twitter community or within their own networks.

Aside from messaging, Twitter is also considered a rich ocean of data and information that can be mined. Featuring its own search engine, users can look for discussions and “tweets” on just about any topic imaginable. While you don’t usually run searches in the form of questions, you can input keywords or hashtags (which are keywords that start with the hash like #football), which people use to attach keywords in their tweets.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for with a regular search, you can simply tweet your question, and your message will be read by people who follow you. Assuming you have a considerable following (anywhere from dozens to hundreds), a few friends will most likely respond to your questions with useful replies.

The power of Twitter is not only the number of people exchanging thoughts and ideas, but in its ability to deliver realtime results for your searches. The Web interface for search notifies you whenever there are new posts that match your query. Power users use client-side software like TweetDeck, which enables a user to run multiple columns, each with its own keyword or #hashtag query. These applications will pull feeds from twitter.com on a regular basis, so you are kept posted.

Another advantage of Twitter is that it can be used on different platforms. Apart from the Web interface, Twitter can also be used on mobile phones through phone-based applications (for the iPhone, Symbian or Windows mobile) or SMS. You can get answers to your questions even while on the move.

5. Forums

Lastly, another good resource we can recommend for finding answers to questions are forums. These types of websites have been popular even before blogs, Wikipedia, Twitter and other websites existed. Forums are mainly community-driven. Therefore, how useful a forum will be will depend on how active the community is.

Forums are also specific to a topic or niche. For instance, if you want to get information about mobile phones, you should join a forum that specializes in mobile phones. The same goes for other topics. Remember that when you need to ask a question on a forum, it’s always polite to use the search feature first, to see if other people have asked the same question, and if these have been adequately answered.

When you’re looking online for answers to questions, sometimes it’s best to skip the generic Google search and instead go for something more structured.

This guest article was written by Dee Barizo from twitQA, a twitter answer app. You can also write a guest article and share your tips and tools.

12 Easy Ways to Extend Mobile Phone Battery Life

QuickOnlineTips — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:09:33 +0000

Guest post by Srikanth
How to increase your mobile phone battery life? Most of the modern mobile phones come with good batteries, which last for years if used according to the manufacturer instructions. Nowadays most of the mobile phones can support various applications and programs that are useful to us. However, we must note that these applications are energy hungry and use up the battery power faster, adding to this, most of the people ignore to turn off some of the functions in the mobile phone that use power.

Usually modern lithium-ion battery can power your phone for days in standby mode but all the unwanted applications and functions drain battery power quickly, decreasing the efficiency of the battery and its lifespan. To improve your battery’s performance and its lifespan, following are some simple and handy tips.

Photo by Larsz (under CC license)

Extend Mobile Phone Battery Life

Turn-off wireless connection like Wi-Fi if you are not using them. Most of the people leave Wi-Fi on even in the areas where there is no Wi-Fi network.
Nowadays third generation phones are making their presence in the market. Mobile devices like iPhone 3G, Blackberry and other models have a 3G feature that is useful for fast browsing experience. Turn off 3G feature if you do not use it or if there is no 3G service. You can still browse internet using the GPRS and EDGE services with your phone.
Vibrating alert is another big power hungry feature in the mobile phone. Using vibrating alert is good when you are in meetings or in a library, otherwise you can turn off vibrating alert. Moreover, there is no need of keypad tones and you can reduce ringing volume of the phone if you are not working in a sound polluted environment.
Your mobile phone display also uses lot of power to illuminate. Reduce screen brightness to the lowest level possible where you can see things on the screen clearly. Moreover, all the phones have this time out feature: set the display light out time to low values such that the display will turn off quickly after your use.
Keep your phone screen as simple as possible, using screensavers and animated wallpapers may look pretty but you must remember that they use up the battery power to stay running. If you want your battery to last longer, then you can turn off screensavers and stick to a simple wallpaper.
In most of the smart phones, you can load number of applications and utilize them. Terminate applications as soon as you finished working on them. Pressing end key does not terminate the application, they still remain running in the background using up the battery power. You can see all the background applications running on your phone by long pressing the menu key and terminate all the applications that you do not need.
Games are other power hungry applications, they use lot of power and most of the games do not allow the screen to dim or turn off. Play games less to save more on the battery. Even listening to songs and radio on the phone also uses lot of power. So think before you start playing games or listening to songs if you are on low battery.
If your phone supports automatic updates of emails or browser then change the update intervals let us say every 1 hour or so to save more on the battery power. Try using few email accounts and disable automatic update feature if you do not really need it.
Network coverage in another important factor that comes into picture when speaking about battery power. If your phone is in weak network coverage area or in no network area then switch off your phone or keep it in the flight mode to save on the battery. In the less or no network area phone uses lot of battery power to stay connected or to establish a connection with the network.
Turn off BlueTooth when you are not using it. Most of the people ignore to turn off BlueTooth even if they are not using any BlueTooth devices.
Recharge your battery every now and then to ensure that all the electrons in the battery move freely. Modern Lithium-ion batteries work well even if you recharge them before they discharge completely but it is good habit to recharge it after three fourth of the battery is discharged. This will not only improve battery’s performance but also improves its lifespan.
Avoid over heating of the battery to prevent damage to the mobile phone and to the battery. Keep your phone away from the direct Sun heat and any other radiations. Your phone battery works fine in the temperature range of 10 – 35 C.

Guest blogger Srikanth writes on Tech Inspiration blog about tips, gadgets, and technology. Write a guest article and you can also share your tips on QOT.

10 Best Sites to Create Your Own Free Ringtones

QuickOnlineTips — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:56:28 +0000

Guest post by Srikanth
Want to convert your mp3 to ringtones? There are several reasons people use different ringtones for. For instance, to distinguish between different callers, for the joy of music or just for fun. Different cell phones use different formats. So you need to research what file formats are supported on your phone, before you proceed to create the sound file. Following are some cool sites to create your own ringtone.

Zedge – This site enables you to upload your own mp3 music and create unique free ringtones on the fly. You can also download free ringtones of popular and latest songs.
Audiko – It allows you upload a song directly from your PC or a URL and then clip the part of the song you want to set as a ringtone. You can download the ringtone as an mp3, .amr or for iPhone. You can even put the ringtones on your blog and share with friends.
Mp3mer – Here you will find a marker tool to set range and ringtone duration. Mp3mer enables you to change the sound quality and filters if needed. Other effects which can be added to the ringtone include fade in/out, bass, treble, chorus, echo etc.
Mobicious – Choose any 20 seconds of your MP3 file to make it into a ringtone and send it to your mobile.
Mobiles24 – This site allows you to create and download latest and top ringtones. ‘Request your name ringtone’ feature is also available here.
MakeOwnRingtone – The unique feature of this web application is that it offers a wide range of uploadable formats like MMF, AAC, MP3, MP4, QCP, OGG. The created ringtone can be either sent to your mobile or as an mail.
Cellsea – This site enables you to upload a file that you want to create as ringtone and then you can choose the start/end time, sound quality, length etc. Supported file formats are mp3, mp4, m4A, flv, midi, aac, ogg, wav, aiff, wma etc.
Playscreen – You can create your own original ringtones here and sell ringtones o earn some bucks.
MyxerTones – The site provides with ringtones of various categories like alerts and alarms, rock, jazz, popular artists, comedy etc. It allows you easily customize the ringtone and send it to a phone. You can also download ringtones to your iPhone.
ToneBee – This site enables you to create a ringtone in just 3 simple steps. Upload your mp3 file, create a ringtone and download it to your phone.

Guest blogger Srikanth writes on Tech Inspiration blog about tips, gadgets, and technology. You can also write a guest article and share your favorite services.

How to Clean Laptop / Notebook LCD Screens

QuickOnlineTips — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:30:44 +0000

Guest post by Srikanth
Keeping your laptop display clean is very essential. If you are working on graphics or watching photos or videos, dirt and fingerprints left on the screen can alter the appearance of the image making it difficult to judge the quality. Display of the laptop is sensitive therefore certain care should be taken while cleaning your laptop or any other LCD screen.

Photo by daveblog (under CC license)

Things you may require to clean your LCD

A soft lint-free cotton cloth (100% cotton t-shirt, terry towel, etc.,)
Distilled water
Isopropyl alcohol (or white vinegar)
Spray bottle

You may clean the screen depending on the smears and smudges present on the screen. If only little dust is present on the screen try dry dusting the screen by wiping the screen with a cotton cloth along one direction, top to bottom or left to right. If this does not give desired results, then you can try cleaning the screen with some of the cleaning solutions.

Dirt and other organic stains left on the screen can be effectively removed by using alcohol and water solution. Alcohol cleans any organic marks like fingerprints or oily marks left on the screen, while water removes any dirt or mineral strains present on the screen.

Process to clean your LCD / Laptop screen

Try dry dusting the screen first with a dry cotton cloth. In most of the cases, this gives better results if only little dust is present on the screen. If you can still find any smudges on the screen then try below step.
In a clean spray bottle mix distilled water and alcohol in 1:1 ratio and spray the solution on to the cotton cloth and wipe the screen with the cloth along one direction or in circular motion. Avoid putting pressure on the screen, which may damage the screen.

How Not to Clean Screens

Never use tissue or paper towels to clean the laptop screen as they are made up of wood and contain fibers, which can scratch the screen surface.
Do not use any cleaning products available in the market to clean the display as they contain some harsh chemicals like ammonia, which can peal out the protective layer of the screen.
Never apply excess pressure to hold the cloth close to the screen as excess pressure can damage pixels in the screen.
Never spray the water and alcohol solution directly on to the screen as this can short circuit electronic components present in laptop.
Do not excessively wet the cloth with the solution use only required amount of solution to clean the screen.
Do not use tap water for making the cleaning solution as the tap water contains minerals that may leave strains on the screen.
Make sure that the screen is completely dry before you close the screen, if there is any excess liquid present on the screen wipe it with the dry area of the cloth.

All the above tips and measures can be taken for effective and safe cleaning of your LCD or laptop screen. It is always recommended to shield your laptop screen with protective scratch guards that are readily available in the market.

Guest blogger Srikanth writes on Tech Inspiration blog about tips, gadgets, and technology. Write a guest article and share your tips and tricks.

Choose the Right KnownHost VPS Hosting Package

QuickOnlineTips — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:26:05 +0000

Its been over a week since we migrated to Knownhost. For new customers interested in starting out with Knownhost, we share our experience which will help you get started…

1. Texas or California DataCenter – When you start to signup, they offer a choice where you want to host your server – Texas or California. The help link describes them-

Texas Datacenter - Our Texas Datacenter is a state of the art facility featuring Premium Bandwidth such as Internap & Level 3. With this datacenter you can expect optimal network performance with great connectivity worldwide. California Datacenter – Boasting a blend of 7 Bandwidth Carriers our California Datacenter is another network giving optimal network performance to our clients. You can’t go wrong with either network so we’d recommend whichever is closer to your core website visitor’s location

We chose the Texas center as the ‘State of the art’ facility was appealing. We further checked their network and location at Colo4Dallas, which is a powerful network featuring Level 3, Internap, AboveNet, and TW Telecom providing optimum speed and reliability, high speed connectivity, clean IP addresses in a true carrier neutral environment.

Choose the right center, as it would be difficult to change later. When you are ordering, verify the package as VStx (for Texas) or VSca (for California).

2. Which Control Panel? - Cpanel, Plesk or DirectAdmin are control panels which are loaded on your server which help you manage your server is a user friendly manner. Unless you are really skilled with server management, you need a control panel. All three have their own unique benefits, but I chose Cpanel+WHM (costs $5 per month) based on recommendations of few friends and after browsing around forums.

They offer many add-ons, but for all practical purposes, the control panel is the only essential thing you need to get started, rest you can add-on whenever you want. Remember if you do not buy a control panel, you are self managed. If you want share the differences between these panels, feel free to write a guest article.

3. Don’t Choose Base Package VS1 – They offer many VPS packages, but if you are looking for managed VPS hosting, do not chose VS1 package. Though the cheap $25 per month cheap VPS package seems inviting, read the fine print.

* Fully managed service is included with VPS accounts that have a control panel installed. VPS accounts with webmin or no control panel are self managed.
** Plesk, DirectAdmin or cPanel control panel is not recommended with 192 MB of RAM due to the amount of resources required for control panel itself and all services installed and managed by the control panel

Since VS1 comes with 192MB RAM, they do not recommend you install a control panel like Plesk, DirectAdmin or cPanel because they consume lots of resources; but if you do not install a control panel, you are self managed! So you need a minimum package of VS2 ($35 per month) if you intend to get managed VPS support.

You can upgrade your package whenever you want. We opted for the VS2 package but were hitting memory limits with the provided 384MB, so we bought a 256MB RAM upgrade ($12.50 per month extra) and the excellent support team upgraded our package to 640MB RAM in 10 minutes. We always have an option to upgrade further without any downtime.

Quick Online Tips

Download bbPress 1.0 Final: Host Free Forums

Related Posts

Join Free Antarctica Blogging Expedition

Related Posts

Buy Twitter Followers: 100,000 for $3479

Related Posts

How to Create Cool Usernames

Related Posts

Top Brands Introduce Extra Large Ads

Related Posts

5 Best Sites to Get Answers to Your Questions

1. Mahalo Answers

2. Yahoo! Answers

3. Answerbag

4. Twitter

5. Forums

Related Posts

12 Easy Ways to Extend Mobile Phone Battery Life

Extend Mobile Phone Battery Life

Related Posts

10 Best Sites to Create Your Own Free Ringtones

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How to Clean Laptop / Notebook LCD Screens

Things you may require to clean your LCD

Process to clean your LCD / Laptop screen

How Not to Clean Screens

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Choose the Right KnownHost VPS Hosting Package

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