Veronica Mars hits theaters today, thanks to fans who helped fund the movie via Kickstarter. We look at ten other crowdfunding success stories.
Hybrids are all the rage these days. No, I'm not talking about laptops that transmogrify into tablets, or portable all-in-ones that can be lugged around like supersized slates. I'm talking about mutant devices capable of dual-booting into either Android But while the Android/Windows mix is a compromise stemming from manufacturers' desperation to move beyond pure PCs, rather than an actual desire from everyday users, a laptop that combined Chrome OS and Windows would be a downright drool-worthy combination. And that's despite the fact that most dual-booting devices are, well, almost appallingly awful.
The program, which launched in the spring of 2012, took inspiration from wireless carriers, who subsidize the cost of new smartphones in exchange for long-term service commitments. Microsoft charged just $99 for the console, but required a two-year commitment to Xbox Live at $15 per month. While the offer was cheaper up front, it was more expensive in the long run than buying the console at full price and paying Xbox Live’s cheaper annual rate of $60. Microsoft
Security researchers demonstrated zero-day exploits against Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Adobe Flash Player during the second day of the Pwn2Own hacking competition Thursday, racking up total prizes of $450,000. A team from French vulnerability research firm Vupen hacked Google Chrome by exploiting a use-after-free vulnerability that affects both the WebKit and Blink rendering engines. The researchers then successfully bypassed Chrome’s sandbox protection to execute arbitrary code on the underlying system. On Wednesday, the first day of the contest that takes place every year at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, researchers from the same team
Ultrasonic cover and document-scanning stand help users navigate the physical world.
Every year, web apps and sites become more powerful and more useful, but working in the browser is still far from perfect. We've all been there: You're doing some research on the Web with 10 or more tabs open. On top of that you've got your webmail tab, your Google Drive tab, your Twitter tab, and your Facebook tab. Before long, keeping your open tabs organized is a complete disaster. Pinned tabs to the rescue! A set of pinned tabs in Chrome. If you use Chrome, Firefox, or Opera, you can keep your more essential tabs organized to the far left of your browser. That leaves the rest of your window for tabs dedicated to research, news, and games.
Nokia’s Refocus app—which lets users play with the focus after a picture has been taken—is now available for all Lumia smartphones with Windows Phone 8. Nokia has been launching new camera features and apps on its top-end models first, and then later making them available to cheaper devices. Nokia Refocus lets users take a photo and later choose what they want in focus by clicking on the image. There is also a Color Pop feature which will not only refocus part of an image, but also highlight the color of that particular area. A
Good news: Sega's developing a new entry in its classic Crazy Taxi franchise. Bad news: It's a not-so-great mobile game.
Symantec has spotted a phishing campaign leveraging Google Drive that would be hard for users to discern as a scam. Potential victims receive an email with a subject line saying “Documents” with encouragement to click on a link to a purported important document, wrote Nick Johnston of Symantec in a Clicking on the link takes a user not to Google Docs but to a login page that looks the same as the one used for Google’s many online services. That fake login page is “actually hosted on Google’s servers and is served over SSL [Secure Sockets Layer], making the page even more convincing,” Johnston wrote.
eMarketer forecasts ad spend on the desktop to decline $1.4 billion this year. This, due to new data emerging that shows desktop spend only yielded 2 percent growth in 2013, while mobile ad spend grew about 121 percent.
Diagnosing and fixing PPC problems is easier than you may think. Roll up your sleeves and use this troubleshooting manual to guide you through some of the most common problems you’ll face in PPC, with steps you can take to fix what’s broken.
Updating your site with new content isn't enough to successfully drive web sales. You have to create dynamic web experiences that quickly encourage customers to convert. Personalizing the content results in a better user experience and higher ROI.
Your quality score is very important and you'd be crazy to ignore it. Simply put, if you're an AdWords advertiser, improving your quality score should be at the top of your agenda. Here are four reasons why quality scores are so important.
This handy feature makes it easy for you to tweet a snapshot of any website’s linking profile, including the Link Profile Chart if it’s available. The integration is done through Rich Snippet style semantic markup tailored to the Twitter API.
When it comes to ranking in Google search, many webmasters in highly competitive market areas wonder if it's possible to compete against larger sites, especially without using black hat tactics. Google's Matt Cutts says good guys do stand a chance.
The change will take AdWords "TrueView" video viewing from three formats to two: in-stream and in-display. The change will fold in the former third option, in-search viewing, with in-display. All video campaigns will be upgraded starting May 15.
Certainly there is much to learn from the likes of BuzzFeed and Upworthy, but what basic tenets should rule your quality assurance process? Here are four important things mid- to large-size companies should know about developing a content strategy.
New Animoto survey data shows that video has a positive impact on online purchase decisions and drives brand engagement. Respondents also share what types of videos they want to see more of across industries, products, and services.
Promote your messages, not your website. Spread your knowledge using multiple authoritative sites. As a guru on your subject, you’re bound to get clients, speaking gigs, interviews, and articles about you. Guest blogging is a great way to the top.
If you have a website that has been spamming for years, and you're now attempting to clean it up to get back in Google’s good graces, you'll find it more difficult, or maybe impossible, to get back into Google's search results.
Popular URL shortener Bitly and search and social software company Moz announced this week they were teaming up to provide Moz users with richer data about links, replacing Moz's current source for tracking content performance: Twitter.
When it comes to unnatural links, companies need to remain vigilant. This post explains four actionable methods for tracking new unnatural links, so businesses can avoid negative SEO attacks, future Penguin hits, and manual actions.
The native advertising future has arrived – and Facebook, which invented the addictive, engaging, content feed format – isn't about to miss out. As an advertiser, make sure your News Feed ads are making the biggest impact possible with these tips.
Matching your ad copy and landing pages to the current season, a holiday, or current events will make your ads fresh, relevant, and stand out from competitors. It's also a simple and effective way to boost click-through and conversion rates.
Have paid links to your site from Spanish or Italian link networks? You might want to check. Google's Matt Cutts has declared that Spanish and Italian are the next two languages Google is targeting in an effort to reduce unnatural links.
Nothing can replace the power of face-to-face engagement, networking, and learning you'll get at a digital marketing conference. With ClickZ Live New York coming up, here are four tips on how to get the most out of your conference experience.
AdWords announced one way Google it is leveraging its Consumer Survey data: through annotations displayed in AdWords ads. Ads can show in up to three categories of consumer ratings. The feature is now rolling in the U.S., U.K., and Canada.
While it's certainly possible to manage PPC using only the AdWords and Bing Ads online interfaces, doing so will be less than optimal. Here are the top recommendations from 20 top PPC experts on the must-have free tools for PPC success.
Design your next conversion rate optimization test (or your first CRO test) with insights galore by leveraging new tools along the way with this simple, four-step web analytics pretest routine used to produce bigger CRO testing wins.