The Best Web Apps and Online Services: Get the Most Out of the Cloud

By using Web-based applications and storing your files online, you can work from anywhere, on any device, for next to nothing.

Everyone seems to be moving into the cloud. With Web-based apps and online storage services that give us constant access to the most important data from all of our devices, we have more computing power at our disposal than ever before. Online productivity suites let you work with Office documents on your laptop or smartphone, and keep them perpetually available on the Web for easy access. Cloud streaming services make your entire music library available on any device you have handy, or let you tap into an unlimited supply of free tunes from a personalized online radio station. Web-based phone services allow you to call anyone in the world--with video--for next to nothing, and receive calls on any phone. You can even protect your PC with online antivirus apps.

In this article package, I'll explain the pros and cons of moving aspects of your digital life to the cloud, and I'll discuss the very best free and paid cloud-based services for storage, security, entertainment, communications, finance, productivity, and more. 

What Your Wireless Carrier Knows About You

Operators can tell a lot about the devices, apps, and content you use. But they're far more interested in macro-level trends that show shifts in overall usage patterns as mobile broadband use continues to increase.

Like a lot of cell phone users, you may be wondering just what your wireless company knows about you. Can it see what kinds of apps you’re running on your phone and where you go online while you’re out and about? Can it tell what types of phones and tablets are connected to their networks, and how much data they consume? The answer to these questions is “yes.”

As mobile data usage has skyrocketed, wireless operators have built even more intelligence into their networks to help them can allocate network resources properly. For instance, if you download or upload moderate-size files from the Internet, your provider might label your task “low priority” and allocate more available bandwidth to the person across the street who is running a highly time-sensitive app like video chat.

In general terms, wireless operators capture three main kinds of information: information about the devices connected to the network, metadata about the packets of data that run through the network, and information about the content contained in the packets being downloaded or uploaded by the subscriber.

For the most part, the carrier sees this information in an aggregated form that is not directly associated with individual users. Operators spend most of their time looking at large trends in the usage patterns of large groups of users.

Google Wallet: The Complete FAQ

Google's hoping you're ready to put your money where your phone is.

Yeah--you read that right. Google announced the launch of a new mobile payment system called "Google Wallet" on Thursday. The service lets you store your credit cards inside your smartphone, then use the device to make contact-free payments. All you do is wave your phone in front of a special sensor, and--hocus pocus!--the payment is made.

Google Wallet isn't magic, though (hey, this isn't Apple we're talking about). It uses something called Near Field Communication to let your phone communicate wirelessly with sensors at stores' checkout lanes. Support for Near Field Communication, or NFC, is built into Google'sAndroid 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system. A phone also needs the right hardware to be able to put it to use.

Now, I know: This all sounds a bit wacky. The whole mobile payment concept, after all, is new and uncharted territory for most of us. That's why I've put together this massive Google Wallet FAQ. Read on, and get answers to all your burning questions.

Who can use Google Wallet?

Anyone with a compatible phone. To start, the service will support only Google's Nexus S 4G phone on Sprint. Google says, however, it'll be working to add more devices as time moves on. The service is also being offered only in the United States as of now.

So if I have any other phone, I'm just out of luck?

Nexus S 4G smartphoneNot necessarily. As reported by TechCrunch, Google is working on a special kind of sticker that will allow non-NFC-compatible phones to access the Google Wallet service. It'll reportedly be a more limited experience than you'd get on a fully supported phone, but it'll at least let you make basic credit card payments.

What about non-Android phones?

Google has yet to mention anything about support for phones outside of its Android operating system. According to IDG News reporter Nancy Gohring, Google representatives at Thursday's Wallet event "did not respond to a question about whether other kinds of phones are welcome on the platform."

Soluto Utility Now Solves App Crashes

     PC utility Soluto is moving beyond speeding up your boot time and now helps you solve software conflicts and rid your Web browser of unnecessary toolbars, add-ons and plug-ins. The company, also called Soluto, has launched the latest beta version of its free desktop app for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 systems.

     Just as it did before, the new version of Soluto gives you an at-a-glance view of your boot time and the processes involved. But now the desktop app is also providing you with similar information about application crashes including historical data about your computer's app crashes and solutions to fix the problem. "We are very glad to be helping users find solutions for application crashes, one of the most frustrating experiences for PC users around the world," said Soluto's chief executive, Tomer Dvir.

     The new Soluto beta will also take a look at all the Web browsers installed on your system, and show you which plug-ins, add-ons and toolbars are installed on each browser. The app then helps you make decisions about what you can get rid of and what your browser needs to keep running. Soluto can also help you manage your default search engine for each browser instead of rooting around in your browser's settings.

Here's how it works.

Wi-Fi: Problems and their Solutions

 Six Things That Block Your Wi-Fi, and How to Fix Them

Does your wireless network seem slow? A recent study by Epitiro, a UK-based broadband-analysis firm, shows that consumers lose an average of 30 percent of the data speed their broadband connection supplies when they use Wi-Fi connections in the home.

Why the slowdown? You've probably heard that some household electronic devices, including microwave ovens, baby monitors, and cordless phones, hamper Wi-Fi performance. To separate fact from fiction, we did some research and consulted an expert on the topic: Nandan Kalle, networking business unit manager for router manufacturer Belkin.

1. Public Enemy Number One: Your Neighbors' Wi-Fi Networks

"I'd say the biggest source of interference today for most people is their neighbors' Wi-Fi networks," says Kalle. The problem is that most existing Wi-Fi equipment operates on the crowded 2.4GHz band. "There are basically three nonoverlapping channels. I always describe it as a three-lane road that's really, really busy," Kalle adds.

If you use a 2.4GHz router and live in a densely populated area, your neighbors' Wi-Fi networks could interfere with yours, hindering the performance and range of your wireless network.

  The solution: Buy a dual-band router that operates simultaneously at 2.4GHz and 5GHz. While the 2.4GHz band is necessary for supporting older Wi-Fi devices, 5GHz "is almost like an 11-lane highway that nobody's heard about yet," Kalle says. "There's much less congestion."

Newer Wi-Fi devices, including tablets such as the Apple iPad and Motorola Xoom, Internet-ready TVs with built-in Wi-Fi, gaming consoles, and business laptops, are all dual-band. "They all play in the 5GHz band. They can take advantage of that empty highway, and that's really going to help," Kalle says.

It's important to get a router that supports simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz, such as the $100 Cisco Linksys E2500. Some older dual-band routers allow only one band at a time; that's a problem if you have older Wi-Fi devices (as most people do), because you'll have to leave your router at 2.4GHz. "You won't get any benefit from the 5GHz mode," says Kalle.

When you're shopping for a new router, look for a dual-band, 802.11n MIMO device, which typically has an "N600" label. The "N" refers to 802.11n, an international Wi-Fi standard approved in 2009. MIMO(multiple input, multiple output) technology provides greater range by using multiple antennas to transmit and receive data. And "600" refers to two bands, each transmitting at 300 megabits per second.

2. Household Electronics

Is your microwave oven, cordless phone, or baby monitor sabotaging your Netflix stream? Perhaps.

Most problems with cordless phones and microwaves involve products that use the 2.4GHz band. Many baby monitors operate at 900MHz and won't interfere with Wi-Fi. However, some wireless monitors are 2.4GHz, which can interfere with 802.11g or single-band 802.11n routers.

The solution: When choosing a wireless baby monitor, look for a 900MHz model such as the Sony 900MHz BabyCall Nursery Monitor ($45). Alternatively, get a Wi-Fi-friendly system such as the WiFi Baby 3G ($279), which connects to your existing wireless network.

Newer cordless phone systems like the Panasonic KX-TG6545B ($140) use DECT 6.0 technology and the 1.9GHz band, not the 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz bands.

3. Bluetooth Devices

Older Bluetooth devices did interfere with Wi-Fi networks--but those days have passed.

"Over the past several years, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi manufacturers have implemented specific techniques to minimize interference," says Kalle.

The solution: "Most people replace their phones every couple of years, so unless you have a really old phone or Bluetooth device, it's unlikely that [Bluetooth] will interfere with Wi-Fi," says Kalle.

Google ChromeBook

Chromebooks are built and optimized for the web, where you already spend most of your computing time. So you get a faster, simpler and more secure experience without all the headaches of ordinary computers.

          As expected this week Google are putting a lot of effort in to their new Chrome OS which for us geeks is a pretty interesting concept and for the man on the street could change the way we all think about computers. Launched today at IO the video below explains a lot but the main point is that a lot of the things we do these days on a computer are stored in the cloud in one shape or another. We save out email online, many of us use online document editors and calendars so Google is tapping in to that by offering a new series of computers with partners Acer and Samsung that will do nothing apart from give you access to the web. These will be cheap computers that last a full days charge and that strip away all the excess and leave you with nothing but the web. All the talk in recent months on this blog has been about Google squaring up to Facebook in the battle for social but with this latest move they have their oldest enemy Microsoft in the cross hairs and are very much trying to make the traditional Windows operating system a thing of the past. So just what is a Google Chromebook?

Instant web

Chromebooks boot in 8 seconds and resume instantly. Your favorite websites load quickly and run smoothly, with full support for the latest web standards and Adobe^® Flash^®. In fact, Chromebooks are designed to get faster over time as updates are released.

Always connected^*

It's easy to get connected anytime and anywhere with built-in Wi-Fi and 3G. As your Chromebook boots up, it quickly connects to your favorite wireless network so you're on the web right from the start. 3G models include a free 100 MB per month of mobile data from Verizon Wireless so you can keep working around home and on the go. Learn more about 3G.

Top 25 Android apps: The best of the best

The Android Market may not have as many apps as the iPhone App Store yet, but there are still enough to be overwhelmed, and it’s growing at a breakneck pace. To help you sort through them all, here’s my list of the best apps I’ve found on Android. Again, remember that this is a snapshot in time. The Android platform is developing so quickly right now that I guarantee my home screen look different a month from now.

The best way to view my list of the top Android apps is in the screenshot gallery. However, you can also view my top 25 in the list below.

The screenshots

The list

1. Google Voice

Google Voice is a service that is so useful I consider it one of the top benefits of Android itself, especially since Apple rejected the Google Voice app for the iPhone. It gives you a phone number that can ring to multiple places or devices and it allows you to access all of your voicemail and text messages over the Web. The Android app integrates even deeper. It can make outgoing calls look like they’re coming from your Google Voice number so that you can keep your real mobile number private.

2. Advanced Task Killer

One of the realities of having a multitasking mobile OS in Android is that you have to manage your apps so that they don’t hurt performance or battery life. Advanced Task Killer (or ATK) is my favorite. It even comes with a widget that you can tap once to kill all open apps.

3. Dropbox

Dropbox is a great cloud service that automatically syncs a folder of files between multiple computers (Windows, Mac, or Linux). This app extends Dropbox to Android and interacts with other apps (such as Documents To Go) to open the files.

4. Evernote

Once you get used to typing on a virtual keyboard (and it honestly took me over a year to do it), then these devices are great for note-taking, and Evernote is a great note-taking app. It is similar to Dropbox in that it saves data locally but syncs it across all your machines and devices.

5. DroidAnalytics

For some reason Google doesn’t have an official app (for either Android or iPhone) for Google Analytics. The best one I’ve found on Android is DroidAnalytics. Another good one is mAnalytics.

6. Documents To Go

The free version of Documents To Go offers a great little reader for Word and Excel files. You can upgrade to the full version (for $15) if you want to edit files and add PowerPoint files to the mix. If you do want editing capability, I’d also recommend taking a look at QuickOffice.

7. Amazon Kindle

I never warmed up to the Amazon Kindle e-reader, but I’m a big fan of the Kindle mobile app. Since it was released I’ve read a lot more books simply because my smartphone is always with me and I can pull it and read a few pages anytime I’ve got a couple minutes free.

8. Places Directory

This is an awesome app for finding shops and services near your current location. From restaurants to movie theaters to medical facilities to taxis, this app is very accurate and takes advantage of the business information from Google Local. This app is better than the info you get from a GPS unit (or app) and better than any of the similar apps available on the iPhone.

Five Reasons why Google's Linux Chromebook is a Windows killer

     When Google first started talking about Chrome OS, I thought it might be turn into a Windows killer. Well, now we know that the first commercial Chromebooks will be available in mid-June and there’s no question: Google is aiming right at the Windows business desktop market.

Can Google do what the Mac was never able to do? What the various desktop Linuxes, even the most popular ones like Ubuntu have never even come close to pulling off? I think it can. Here’s why.

1. Attractive business packaging and pricing

ZDNet Editor-in-Chief, Larry DIgnan, hit the nail on the head when he entitled his Chromebook overview: Google Chromebooks: Aimed directly at Microsoft’s PC upgrade cycle for $28 a month. Exactly so. For $28 a month you get a constantly updated operating system and, this is the killer part, Google will also automatically, with no extra charge update your Chromebook or ChromePC every three years.

Would you spend $28 a month for a PC that will never go out of date? I think I would.

What’s more important, I think a lot of businesses would as well. Indeed, many already are. Neil Levine, formerly Canonical’s VP of corporate services and founder of the new cloud analytics companySoba Labs, tells me that “Many Fortune 500 companies are already trying rent-a-laptop scenarios. It’s cheaper to throw away and replace than fix for many function.” With the Google Chrome OS model though you don’t even have to throw them away and if something goes wrong, Google will replace the dead unit.

2. Ease of use

Linux has a reputation for being hard to use. It’s non-deserved. We’re long, long way from the days when you needed to be a shell wizard to use Linux. That said, desktop Linux, whether you use KDE or GNOME, requires you to learn a new way of doing things no matter whether you come from Windows or Mac OS X. Even the new, easier-to-use Ubuntu Unity interface is quite a change from any other desktop.

With Chrome OS, though, well let me ask you a question: Can you use a Web browser? If the answer is yes-and if it’s not how are you reading this story!?–you can use Chrome OS. The interface is the Chrome Web browser and that’s it. There’s no need to learn anything new. If you know how to use a computer at all, you can use a Chromebook.

Introducing Music Beta by Google

    Google has a very clear strategy to put everything online and I for the first time with this launch we can see it all starting to come together. Most of Google’s products and especially their revenue generating ones live online so the more time Google can have you spending their via it’s own properties the better. Everything from Google Adsense and Adwords right through to their Chrome app store and the new Google music will live online and this latest move is all about getting more customers to those platforms so as Google can generate more sales. Simple but effective. Below is the video for their new music product which you can see fitting in perfectly with these new Chromebooks.

For more detail :Click Here

Google's Chrome browser hits 160m users - but what does it mean for the web?

We have decisively moved from a world of one browser provided by your operating system to a world where people install the browser of their choice. The increasing growth of Firefox usage has risen to the point where 31% of users on the Guardian website use Firefox and only 37% use Microsoft's Internet Explorer (split into 22% IE8, 9% IE7 and approx 3% each for IE6 and IE9).


Google's entry into the market has increased usage over time: one year ago at the previous Google IO, there were 70m Chrome users worldw
ide; today we were told there are over 160m. Unusually for a browser, Google has committed to a forced upgrade process and releases updates every six weeks.

What is Google Adwords?

Recently there was a guest post on our blog about publicizing a website through Google Adwords. But there are many people who wont be aware of what Google Adwords is?

Google Adwords is a contextual advertising company by Google that displays ads onGoogle search pages and Sites running Google Adsense.Running a Google adwordscampaign can fetch lots of traffic and publicity to your product and will definitely bring rise in publicity of your product. If somebody wishes to market his/her website or product online through google, there are two options available to you.

• PPC-Pay Per Click.
• PPM: Pay Per Metric.

In PPC your advertisement will be contextual type and will only appear on Google search pages on the right side like in the screen shot .

In case of Pay Per Metric you can have banner ads as well which will be displayed on sites that are running Google Adsense like ours.

According to wikipedia Google Adwords is the primary source of income for Google.

Google adwords has reserved specific rates for specific keywords based on competition in the industry. Soon we will be taking up another articles on How to run a google adwordscampaign??.

Google Adwords provides full suport for  first time users. An engineer is allotted to you for the first time who will tell you the keywords and bids you are to keep for your product.

If you have a limited budget then you can choose PPM else PPC is better than PPM. As I talked about bidding we will be taking up in our next post about all the details regarding terms related to Google Adwords and campaigns.

By the time you can feel free to share your views and asking any kind of queries.

For more detail on Google AdWords Click Here