If you are new to the internet you may not be aware of what startup pages are all about. You probably hit the internet button on your desktop, and then start surfing. But for people who want more out of their internet experience, using a great startup page is the way to go. But before you can do this, you need to make a decision on which one is best for you. The fact of the matter is that there are many startup pages to choose from, but not all of them will give you what you want.

The first step to choosing a quality startup page is to learn which ones are available. Once you know what you have to choose from, you can then move forward with the actual selection process. But sometimes, just knowing about startup pages is not good enough. And with that in mind, you will want to use the roundup below to help you find what is best for your internet surfing needs. (more…)

As a blogger, you are only as good as the words that you write. After all, your words are what people are going to read. For this reason, you want to make sure that every post you make is error free, and hopefully in good taste. While everybody makes mistakes, as a blogger you will want to do whatever you can to avoid them.
Here are five common writing related mistakes to avoid when blogging.

1. Not Proofreading

Not proofreading your post before making it live is a huge mistake. Even if you think that you did a good job, silly mistakes can make their way into your work without you realizing it. A quick proofreading job will catch all of these mistakes.

2. Use Words that Make Sense

Have you ever seen a blog post where there are a lot of big words that make no sense? If so, you know just how annoying this can be. Instead of trying to look smart with big words, stick to ones that you can use in the appropriate context. (more…)

‘Ask.com’ – the fourth most used search engine (behind the ranks of ‘Google’, ‘Yahoo!’, and ‘MSN’) – recently unveiled their new design last night at 9 PM PST. Ask.com now incorporates a more “pure” approach to their layout, with a simpler search box similar to that of Google’s. However, in comparison, Ask.com rises above the rest with a vibrant design and a newly introduced feature, “Skins” which allows the a more customized feel to the page (”Timber Brume” pictured below).

In addition, as opposed to other search engines, Ask.com pioneers the rest by allowing preferences such as “Advanced Search” and “Options” to appear in the same window, instead of opening a new page.Search results produced by Ask.com are tailored to the specific type of search the user is doing. For example, music-related searches, such as artist and songs, produce results that can include images to clips of songs. Search results displayed are also accompanied to the right of the screen with information from the wikipedia encyclopedia and the Ask.com dictionary. A new preview function on Ask.com – a pair of binoculars appearing before the website link – allows the user to view the page before he or she clicks on it. Results can also be bookmarked – by clicking the ‘+’ button – for future searches.

Most certainly a great user-interface, both efficient and concise, Ask.com is sure to rise to the top.

Sources
Ask.com
Tech Crunch

First introduced May 29^th 2007, Google presents their latest map feature: “Street View“. In addition to the detail the people at Google present in their maps, users can now use a feature impossible in any two-dimensional map. Google’s “Street View” allows users to “tour ‘streetscapes’ and see 360̊ images; view street level photographs; take virtual walks; pan, rotate and zoom; and find shops, restaurants, parks, hotels and more”.

I also found the following to be worth mentioning: while not at all a new feature, iPod users are able to put a subway map of their choice city in their respective (nano, photo, and video) iPods. City subway maps include: New York, New York; Paris, France; Los Angeles, California, and many more.

This is part one, in a two part article about Joost, this part will be an introduction about Joost. Part two will be a review, or rather a preview since it hasn’t actually been released to the public, I am one of the lucky few who actually has a beta invite.

From the innovators who brought you the peer-to-peer file sharing program Kazaa, and the free peer-to-peer online phone carrier Skype, now introduce Joost™ (pronounced “juiced”), an Internet television application that’s transposed the television industry. Co-founders Janus Friis, 30, and Niklas Zennström, 40, are known for “sticking it to the man” with their programs that put the control back to the people. Joost™ works like an on-demand television, removing all of its negative qualities, one of which being what Friis describes as “televisions being locked in linear time”. Joost™ offers “high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping.” (more…)

This is second and final part in a series by Connor Wilson on getting into the web design ‘game’ as it were. This part will focus on the front end/client side coding part of things.

First things first, a clarification:

• Client Side: code that is executed by the client’s (user’s) browser, like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the likes. You can see the source code of client side languages.
• Server Side: code that is executed by the server and sent back out to the client in the form of HTML/text, like PHP, Ruby and ASP. You can not see the source code from your browser. This article will not deal with server side languages.

This will be all about the client side languages. Mainly (x)HTML and CSS. I will also be assuming you have no prior experience, and have no idea what either are. Please also note, this is not a tutorial on how to make a web page, rather a guide from one experienced person to someone wanting to learn how to learn, essentially. (more…)