Creating an effective link bait can take a lot of time and effort and I think initial control over the distribution process is very important. You want someone who has influence or connections to submit or promote your link bait to the social community you are targeting.

This increases the potential for eventual success on many levels. Submitting your link bait using a very weak account on social voting or news sites will not allow you get the prominence you deserve, primarily because there isn’t enough initial support to propel your link bait into the limelight.

However, sometimes even power users might not have the ability to make your link bait go viral. Blame it on the saturated of news, the inherent bias against your domain or the inappropriateness of your article.

There are dozens of reasons why your bait didn’t succeed but trying to pinpoint them definitively is futile, particularly when some of the factors lie outside of your control (e.g. editorial/management prejudice).

Why You Should Resubmit Your Content for Social Media Popularity

Re-submission or re-insertion of link baits and valuable content into the social community gives your website a second chance. Didn’t make it big before? Now you have another shot. Note that there are also some concrete reasons why you should consider resubmission as a promotional strategy:

1. Correct Weak Submissions. You might have submitted your own linkbait with a new profile that doesn’t have much clout. Or someone else with a small circle of influence might have submitted it before you. Even though your article is awesome, it may still go unnoticed on the social site. Resubmission with a stronger profile is a good way to bring it back from the dead for round two.
2. Resuscitate Your Archives. Maybe you’ve written great content in the past but never bothered about social media marketing. Your favorite articles might have already been submitted by other users but now that you’re more social media savvy, it’s time to dig out some of the older, timeless articles to give them another go-around on the social sites.
3. Feed Current Interests. Say you have an old Apple article which intricately explores the history of all their mp3 players. You’ve just found out today that Apple is releasing a next generation iPod with great new features. Pull out your old article, do some edits and resubmit it to ride the social media buzz.
4. Kickstart a New Domain. If you’ve moved all your articles and content over to a new domain or brand, resubmission is an excellent way to immediately get some attention to your new website. All your permalinks will be different, which will faciliate the resubmission process. This was something I personally realized after completely restructuring my category and permalinks.

Remember, the aim of every linkbait is to bring in links and traffic. Re-submission doesn’t deviate from this principle. Ergo, your content must still be incredibly appealing and link worthy. This must be the number one rule to keep in mind.

You’re essentially giving your article or webpage another chance. You’re asking the social media audience to take another look, because they might find something valuable that was overlooked the first time round.

How to Resubmit Your Content for Social Media Popularity

Take a stroll through your site archives to examine the webpages or articles you have created. Look at the ones that are exceptionally well written or still relevant to the current climate. News-oriented or topical posts will probably not work well with audiences who expect content that is relatively fresh or new.

You can also make minor (or major) edits to the articles you want to re-submit, in order to increase their relevance or attractiveness. This will also legitimize your article, particularly if it received a decent amount of exposure the other time, while failing to eventually develop massive popularity on the specific social site.

Pick some of the articles you like and then submit it to the social news websites through a strong social profile. Submit it yourself or get someone else to do it for you. Some of the social websites block the old url so create a new URL for your linkbait page and 301 redirect the old URL.

And you’re done. Depending on the strength of your article and the influence of the submitter, you will now have a better chance going big on any social website.

More Articles on Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies

This first social media marketing strategy is something that anyone can implement for success. I’ve been meaning to write about resubmissions for a while but haven’t had the chance to do so until now. A special hat tip to Chris Winfield, who reminded me of this method in a conversation we had earlier today.

I’ll be writing a little more on social media marketing and will be providing more tips on how you can better improve your potential for getting traffic, attention and links through the various social media outlets.

• 10 Twitter Hashtags to Live a More Frugal and Sustainable Life – October 27, 2011
• Google Make +1 Button Load Times a lot Faster – July 27, 2011
• Derwent Open Social Media Based Hedge Fund in UK – May 19, 2011
• Are AVOS Planning Advertising Solution for Delicious? – May 9, 2011
• Hachi Shows You How To Meet New People – April 27, 2011

Social Media Marketing Strategy #1: Re-Submitting Linkbaits for Viral Success originally appeared on: Crenk
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via – Flurry

• RIM Soon to Adopt Other Mobile Platforms Such as iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7 – May 3, 2011
• IPHDAVAD The All In One HDMI and USB Port for Your iPhone and iPad – November 28, 2011
• iPhone 5 and Google Nexus 3 To Be Available to Buy in September – August 11, 2011
• CNN Launch Android App With Some Great Features – April 21, 2011
• Ex-Engadget Editor Josh Topolsky and PC Mag’s Lance Ulanoff Discuss iOS vs Android – April 7, 2011

US Portable Gaming Marketshare by Revenues originally appeared on: Crenk
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As you might have heard, Twitter launched their own photo sharing service in August, which is hosted by Photobucket. Since then Twitter has obvious seen a huge rise in their photo sharing service and the third party Twitter photo clients that were dominating the market are starting to die.

Market share of all the major third party Twitter photo sharing services have dropped, Twitpic, Yfrog and more. It simply now seems that these services are finding it very hard to diversify and innovate within the space. These services really need to change their model or core service or they are going to fade into obscurity very quickly.

• Twitpic Adds New Video Sharing Option for Twitter – February 9, 2011
• Bit.ly Is Growing At a Rapid Pace – August 26, 2009
• Manage Your Time Creatively Using Photos! – November 3, 2011
• 10 Twitter Hashtags to Live a More Frugal and Sustainable Life – October 27, 2011
• Awesome New Twitter Follow Buttons & Icons – August 22, 2011

Twitter Photo Sharing Service is Growing Fast: Third Party Services are Struggling originally appeared on: Crenk
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Females are rarely treated with the same respect as males in the gaming industry, both in online and real-life interactions. Women working in the world of gaming aren’t taken as seriously as men. What continues to makes things even worse is the prevalent portrayal of females in video games: many are dressed in provocative clothing to accentuate extra-large busts, like the archetypal Lara Croft. Tammy Yap, a video game programmer for six years, says she asked one of her male colleagues (she was the only female) why women were always dressed like Vegas show girls. After all, this might offend some women and drive them away from gaming. The reply she received was: “What difference does it make? Women don’t play games.” Her colleague’s retort serves as a good example of the general attitude of most men when it comes to women gamers.

Unfortunately, female gamers aren’t getting their opinions attended to in the video game world. With so few women working in the industry, the video game market is close to being entirely ruled by men. Without having a female representative making her voice heard in the industry, female gamers won’t find as many games that they’re interested in on the market. Famous video game producer Denise Fulton thinks if more women played video games, then more women would start landing jobs in the industry. The consensus is that they would if more games were available that were more appealing to female players.

Playing video games is still branded as a boyish hobby. Women looking to enter the gaming industry already have it tough, but the rate at which they are finding jobs may stagnate if fellow female gamers aren’t willing to step up. Thankfully, this path has already begun being forged by prominent gaming women such as Morgan Webb and Denise Fulton, and indeed the evidence suggests the number of girls playing games is rising. Perceptions are already changing, and it may be only a matter of time before women’s presence in the game industry better reflects their growing numbers among players.

• NVIDIA Tegra 3: Next Generation in Games to Mobile Devices – November 10, 2011
• How To Mod Your Xbox 360 Game – June 28, 2011
• Raptr Is the Ultimate Gaming Service: Connects PSN, Xbox and More – May 16, 2011
• Shadow Guardian, Uncharted-like Game available for iPhone and iPad – November 28, 2010
• Play Need for Speed for Free – September 26, 2010

Women in the Video Game Industry originally appeared on: Crenk
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• Spotify Gift Cards Available to Buy in Retail Stores in UK in time for Christmas – November 1, 2011
• Share and Listen to Music on Facebook with Spotify – September 23, 2011
• Spotify Conversion Rate is at 12.5 Percent in the US: Major Labels Rejoice – August 9, 2011
• 2 Tools to Turn YouTube into a Genre-Based Radio Station – October 3, 2011
• Pandora Launches All New Website – September 21, 2011

Spotify Gapless Playback originally appeared on: Crenk
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• Google Offers Available in Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa – January 25, 2012
• First Google+ TV Advertising: Sharing, but like real life – November 25, 2011
• Hajj Pilgrimage Live to Watch on YouTube for Free – November 4, 2011
• Google Galaxy Nexus: Smartphone Comparison – October 19, 2011
• Google+ Song – September 29, 2011

Google Earth: Around the World in 60 Seconds originally appeared on: Crenk
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These services, such as Anywho’s reverse phone number finder, essentially finds the person who belongs to a phone number you may have. Why would anyone have a phone number, but not a person attached to that number? For plenty of reasons, including:

Prank-Calls

Prank calling is predominately a thing of the past thanks to Caller-ID, but it still happens more than you think, and it can be quite annoying to repeatedly receive calls late into the night. Instead of answering the phone and threatening whoever is calling you with hopes of scaring them into stopping, simply type their number into a serve like Anywho, find their info, and send it over to your local police station. Those pesky calls will be sure to stop in no time.

Telemarketing

Telemarketers are some of the most relentless callers on the planet, and have been known to contact the same individual up to three times in the same day. If you find yourself receiving frequent calls from mysterious numbers which you are sure are telemarketers, don’t answer to receive an earful of sales pitches. Reverse phone look up the number to find out the exact company name and then put yourself on their no call list. If they continue to harass you, you can then take their information to the BBB.

Found Numbers

Do you ever come across numbers that you have written on miscellaneous papers or notes. Instead of having to call the number and giving the person the tenth degree before figuring out who they are, you can now simple type the number in to a reverse phone look up service. You may find out that the number is innocuous and simply that of your family physician, or you may find that it is the number of that man or woman who wouldn’t stop bothering you at your last conference – the one whose number you wrote down simply to be polite.

Services like reverse phone look up exist because they actually do have a few great uses. If they were completely worthless, companies, like the one that runs AnyWho, would waste their resources to keep the site up and running. The service is free too, which gives you all the more reason to use it the next time an unidentified number comes across your smart phone.

• Phone Apps for Your Next Road Trip – January 11, 2012
• Limited Edition Nokia Lumia 800 Dark Night Rises – December 16, 2011
• iPhone 4: Retro Yet Futuristic Wooden iPhone Case – November 20, 2011
• Samsung Illusion 4G – November 18, 2011
• Journey from the Phone to the iPhone – October 19, 2011

Reasons to Actually Use Reverse Phone Look Up originally appeared on: Crenk
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Apple is great for users because the products sync up nicely and offer an easy-to-use interface. While this is great for those of us who aren’t incredibly tech savvy, it does leave much to be desired by those who want greater control over the devices that they often rely upon to get them through basic day-to-day tasks.

Cloud Computing Services have recently been brought into the forefront by Apple’s release of the iCloud in June. While the iCloud is a great service for those who are looking for a place to store all of their information, many are forgetting that they already use cloud services on a regular basis.

Email, GoogleDocs, and other programs such as Flickr are all based in cloud computing. The only difference between these programs and the iCloud is that the iCloud provides one central location for all of these programs to meet. With the iCloud you can store music, photos, and documents all in one convenient location and then access these files from anywhere.

While the iCloud sounds great, it does come with a monthly price which can be quite a deterrent – especially when there are other free or more inexpensive programs available. Google and Amazon will both offer similar products for significantly cheaper prices, but the programs to look for are those that offer open source software.

Both Rackspace and OpenStack offer cloud computing services for free, and they provide some of the great features associated with other clouds that cost upwards of $25 a month. By remaining open source, these types of programs also allow for quicker updates and the streamlining of problem solving should any issues arise. The users who use these programs actually care about them and want to make sure that they offer the best service available.

While Apple and Amazon may offer a great product, you can bet that these companies are more concerned with the profit rather than the product.

So before you haul off and buy a subscription to a cloud, consider what you are actually going to be using it for. If you own an iPod and a MacBook and want a place to store all your iTunes, then paying for a piece of the iCloud may be worth the expense. But if you simply want a place to store all your files so that you can access them from anywhere, consider some of the free and equally functioning and secure cloud services provided by other companies.

• Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple: Worlds Largest Public Company – August 25, 2011
• Apple Now Controls iCloud.com – June 2, 2011
• Apple to Launch iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion and iCloud Next Monday at WWDC 2011 – May 31, 2011
• Apple Buy iCloud for Cloud Content Storage Service – May 1, 2011
• Video: Worlds Largest Apple Store in Grand Central Station New York – November 21, 2011

Is the iCloud Worth the Purchase? originally appeared on: Crenk
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Disk Space

Checking your disk space is the first thing you should do. Every model comes with a different hard drive size. You can go online and look up your model and see how big your hard drive is. You can check this simply by double clicking on your HD icon on your desktop. In the bottom bar of the window that pops up, you’ll be able to see how much is left. If you have less than half of your space left, then you should probably start cleaning up your hard drive. Go through all of your files and applications and see what you don’t use or programs that you just don’t need anymore. Rarely does anyone do this and all that extra junk is cluttering up your computer and making it run slower. You should be doing this on a regular basis.

Programs

If you’re noticing slow performance, look at how many programs you run at any one time. Some people set their computer to automatically start programs when the computer is turning on. Though this feature is handy for those who need specific programs all the time, the majority of users simply have too many programs running at once. If you only open up the programs that you need at the time, then you’ll see a noticeable difference in the way your computer runs.

Widgets

Widgets are the little icons that rest below the screen. They’re quick links to the applications and the sit in your dock. If you’ve ever seen someone with practically every application on their computer just resting in their doc, then you should realize that these widgets consume critical power from the processor and memory. You might have thought that it’s harmless to keep all of those applications resting in your dock, but in actuality, it’s taking up a lot of your computer’s resources, even when they’re not active.

Disk Utility

This is another way to speed up your Mac’s performance. You can go to the disk utility and select your computer’s internal hard drive and then click Repair Permission. This will take some time, but the results will be substantial. Doing this every month will check and fix your Mac’s internal hard disk space and do wonders for its operations optimization.

All of these steps are good to do regularly in order to keep things running smoothly. If you ever have an issue with performing any of these tasks, then you can go online for some Technical Support. Not everyone is computer savvy and there’s nothing wrong with that. You could also look online for other ways that you can optimize your computer’s performance.

• Mac OS X Lion Gets Big Update for Developers: Download Now – March 31, 2011
• CleverFiles Releases Disk Drill: Free Data Recovery App for Mac – March 15, 2011
• How to Change Your Screen Resolution on a Mac – February 3, 2011
• YoYo Game Maker for Mac Released – August 15, 2010
• Cupidtino – Dating Site for Apple Fans – June 16, 2010

Ways To Make Your Mac Run Better originally appeared on: Crenk
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• Download MP3 Music for Free – September 26, 2010
• Digital Music Distributor RouteNote Signs Three New Online Music Stores – Deezer, Napster, Thumbplay – January 29, 2010

Interview with Sean Parker: co-founder of Napster and former Facebook President originally appeared on: Crenk
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The iPad and other computer tablet devices are poised to take a huge step forward and possess the opportunity to become an integral part of the student’s life by becoming the new age notebook. These devices have programs that allow students to use word processing programs, read textbooks, and run applications. Perhaps the most important aspect is the reading programs that support school text. For both textbooks and classic books the computer tablet reading devices have the ability to be the first e-reader will be widely accepted by students.

Some schools are taking the concept of technology integration further than most. A school in Tennessee, as TechSpy reports, is now requiring every student to have iPads as the primary teaching method. From the iPad, children can brows through lesson plans, take tests, and write papers. Though this program is in it’s infancy, it’s likely that this approach will only become increasingly common as the cost of education, child population, and need for quality technological education and exposure increases. It’s hoped that though using many technologies, initially designed for entertainment, and refitting them for educational purposes, our educational system can begin to make up for its many deficits such a lack of teachers and outdated books.

Some argue that their effectiveness is only hampered by the huge cost to consumers. Though the iPad is quite expensive at first and the sticker shock and scare people away, it is a long-term money saving tool. One of the most attractive benefits of the iPad as an e-reader is that e-books will cost less compared to hard copies. Another benefit that makes the iPad attractive is that it brings more to the table than being a simple e-reader. It offers users a wide range of applications that goes far beyond reading a book and, in effect, becomes a single source for information and education.

These devices are beginning to change the landscape of the classroom. More and more people are using them in the classroom. There’re invaluable tools for anything from medical radiography courses to business classes. The apps that are being developed are mirroring this evolution and technology creeps further and further into the realm of education completely changes the way we learn.

• The Asus Transformer 2: More Than Meets The Eye – November 23, 2011
• Amazing Launch Coloured Kindle Tablet: Fire – September 28, 2011
• Leaked: 10.1-Inch Motorola Xoom 2 – September 24, 2011
• GameStop With Android Tablet Ambitions – September 13, 2011
• Video Preview of Microsoft Windows 8 Tablet PC – June 14, 2011

Computer Tablets and eReader Devices in the Classroom originally appeared on: Crenk
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The graphic is created by XCube Labs.

• Intro to New Apps Thanks to AppGiveaway – June 28, 2009
• How to Download Spotify App Clients for Windows and Mac – December 2, 2011
• Windows Phone 7 Numbers: Over 11,500 Apps with 36,000 Developers – March 31, 2011
• How to Build Real-time Apps with Backbone.js Models, Node.js and Socket.io – February 22, 2011
• Yahoo: The Rise and Fall: Infographic – January 20, 2011

Infographic: Smartphone Apps originally appeared on: Crenk
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• Shareasale pays $150 for each new referred merchant
• Linkshare has 10 million partners
• 62% of the Top 500 retailers are using CJ.com
• Top Linkshare Clients: GoDaddy, JC Penny, American Express, 1800Flowers & Avon
• Top CJ Clients: Zappos, Dell, Yahoo, Overstock, Buy.com and Home Depot

via Zac Johnson.

• The Reddit Invasion [Infographic] – October 5, 2011
• Monopoly Infographic: Peelin’ Lucky – September 27, 2011
• Angry Birds Addiction: Infographic – September 12, 2011
• The First 45 Years of Star Trek – September 9, 2011
• Infographic: Smartphone Apps – June 15, 2011

Infographic: Top Affiliate Networks Compared originally appeared on: Crenk
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It seems as though in May, The Huffington Post pulled in 36.6 million unique visitors from the U.S., compared to 35.5 for The New York Times.

This seems an amazing milestone for The Huffington Post, as the site is only really known about in the USA. Im expecting some large International expansions in the coming months and years.

• Thousands of Huffington Post Bloggers Want Their Share of the Sale Price! – February 10, 2011
• 95 percent of Blogs are Abandoned – June 9, 2009

The Huffington Post Passes The New York Times in Monthly Visitors originally appeared on: Crenk
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Here are all the vital numbers from the WWDC 2011 keynote by Apple.

• 5200 developers are attending WWDC this year
• The Mac App Store is now the #1 retail channel for PC software over Best Buy and Walmart
• Mac sales rose 28 percent year-over-year during Apple’s last quarter, while PC sales declined 1 percent
• There are now 54 million active Mac users around the world.
• Mac sales have outpaced the broader PC market for 5 years, 22 straight quarters
• Apple has sold 200 million IOS devices to date …
• … which accounts for more than 44 percent of the mobile market
• 25 million iPads were sold in the device’s 14 months of availability
• 15 billion songs have been sold from the iTunes store …
• … making Apple the #1 music retailer in the world
• 130 million books have been downloaded from iBooks
• There are 425,000 apps in the app store
• 90,000 of them are designed specifically for the iPad
• 14 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store in less than 3 years
• Apple has paid some $2.5 billion to developers building apps for the app store
• There are 225 million iTunes Store accounts, all of them with associated credit cards and 1-click purchasing
• There are 50 million Game Center users. XBox Live, which has been around for a lot longer, only has about 30 million
• IOS users send more than 1 billion Tweets a week
• To date, about 100 billion push notifications have been sent to iOS devices
• The iPhone 4′s camera is the second most used camera on Flickr
• OS X Lion boasts 250+ new features and 3,000 APIs
• iOS 5 has 200+ new features and 1,500 APIs

• Apple to Launch iOS 4.4 or 5 and Mac OS X Lion at WWDC 2011 – March 28, 2011
• Apple to Hold WWDC 2011 from June 5 to 9 at Moscone Center convention hall in San Francisco – February 8, 2011
• Watch Video of Steve Jobs Keynote from WWDC 2011: iCloud, iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion – June 6, 2011
• Watch WWDC 2011 Steve Jobs Keynote Live – June 6, 2011
• Mac OS X Lion Gets Big Update for Developers: Download Now – March 31, 2011

WWDC 2011 By Numbers originally appeared on: Crenk
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As you may be aware, Groupon has just filed for an IPO and hope to raise around $750 million (even though the company isnt profitable yet).

Here is a run down on who owns what inside Groupon:

• Eric Lefkofsky, who was a cofounder of ThePoint (which became Groupon) and originally financed the company, has 21.6%.
• New Enterprise Associates, which invested in ThePoint and then invested again once the company had become Groupon, holds 14.7% of the company.
• CityDeal Management has 10.3% (Groupon acquired CityDeal in May 2010).
• Groupon Cofounder and CEO Andrew Mason has 7.7%.
• Bradley Keywell has 6.9%.
• Accel has 5.6%.
• Also important is the distribution of Class B shares, which, while making up a small percentage of the overall shares, likely have much higher voting rights:
• Both Lefkofsky and Mason have 41.7% of Class B shares.
• Bradley Keywell has 16.7% of the Class B Shares

• Crenk Weekly 2: Tech News You Missed This Week – May 23, 2011
• Best Daily Deals Sites – April 13, 2011
• Groupon’s Global Expansion Reaches into UAE – March 1, 2011
• Skullcandy Hitting the Stock Market: IPO Filed – February 18, 2011
• Deal Collector: UK Daily Deals Aggregator: Groupon, Living Social and more – January 28, 2011

Groupon IPO: Who Owns What Percentage originally appeared on: Crenk
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SEO Guide to HTTP Status Codes originally appeared on: Crenk
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One Teacher’s Experience

Les Pang , a Program Director and Collegiate Professor in the Graduate School of Management and Technology at the University of Maryland University College implemented cloud computing in his Information Technology Foundations course. He used Google Docs, a cloud computing alternative to traditional word processing software, in the class. Students created a Google account and posted their assignments to the account. All students could view the responses of other students and the professor could display any document on a projector screen at the front of the room. As Pang notes, this created an online education environment in which collaboration and group discussion was easily facilitated. It eliminated the need for flash drives, e-mails and network drives to move documents from the student’s computer to the professor’s.

At the same time, Google Docs took some students out of their comfort zones. They had tried-and-true software with which they were familiar, and oftentimes they had difficulties interfacing with the new software. This was particularly pronounced when it came time to load PowerPoint presentations. Overall, Pang found that cloud computing enriched his classroom experience, but he, like many teachers, has reservations about the extent to which cloud computing should be employed. For each advantage, there is a disadvantage.

Advantages

Among the advantages that Pang noted in his classroom was the ease with which cloud computing facilitated collaboration and classroom discussion. Students could view documents prepared by other students before the class ever met. It also standardized the technology that students used, meaning they were able to interface and collaborate on the same software across the platform.

Cloud computing also allowed students to access their documents regardless of the computer they were using—all they required was access to the Internet. Likewise, most software available over the cloud is compatible with a variety of operating systems, adding to its ease of use.

The Smart Schools Program offers further observations of the uses to which cloud computing technology can be put in the classroom. Using cloud computing software, it is possible for students to create independent workspaces that still offer collaborative capabilities, and teachers can customize the software applications they employ to create a truly virtual learning experience. It also reduces the need for backup files and file transfers, which can be the bane of the teacher’s existence. Similarly, it speeds up the processing of information to make for easier demonstrations, and it gives students a constant link to the learning environment.

Disadvantages

Still, just as cloud computing offers a wealth of opportunities for teachers and students alike, there are a number of disadvantages that highlight the fact that teachers should proceed with caution when integrating cloud computing into their classrooms.

Primary among them are the Internet ethics that, while students should know by the time they reach high school, they may not. Cloud computing is another form of interactivity, and programs like Google Docs offer students the chance to interact together in a way similar to that of social networking sites. While it would be nice to think that students will behave responsibly, the reality is that there is always a small percentage that will not. Unfortunately, as the Smart Schools Program points out, misuse of the technology will fall upon the shoulders of the teacher. Thus by using cloud computing in the classroom, teachers will become responsible for teaching and enforcing Internet ethics.

Cloud computing may also leave computers and documents more vulnerable to malicious attacks. Internet filters might limit the risky sites which student can access while in the classroom, but the very aspect of using cloud computing technology carries an inherent risk. Unauthorized visitors could also gain access to the site, leaving personal information vulnerable, Pang noted.

Conclusions

Ultimately, cloud computing offers a new frontier to integrate technology into the classroom. Students of all ages can benefit from the collaborative environment and convenience that cloud computing offers, but it must be introduced with care and circumspection. Security of both students and their personal information must be paramount, and consideration should be given to those who may not have easy access to the Internet or a computer. Still, cloud computing offers promises for creating a collaborative learning environment that extends beyond the walls of the classroom and integrates itself into students’ daily lives.

• Dropbox Rejects Acquistion from Apple for $800 Million – September 12, 2011
• Why Mobile Apps Need Cloud Support – June 29, 2011
• Amazon Launches CloudFormation For Simple Provisioning – February 26, 2011
• Jolicloud Reaching Final Version this Week – July 13, 2010

The Cloud in the Classroom originally appeared on: Crenk
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I wanted to write a quick article here on Crenk to show how Google’s Panda update has hurt our site. I’m hoping that someone from Google actually reads this article and notices that there is still a big issue here!

Yesterday one of our authors wrote an amazing how to article titled: How to Download and Burn Hulu Movie to DVD.

The article is completely original, it’s over 400 words in length and provides a detailed step by step guide. This article is the epitome of original content!

I wanted to see where this article was actually ranking within Google for the keywords: burn hulu movie to dvd.

I would have thought that the original Crenk article would have been in the top 50 at least. However, after searching the top 100 article we didn’t appear. Bad times!

Then, I discovered that 4 websites scraping our content are ranking within the top 100, one even ranks just outside the top 10. How is this providing good search results?

It would be great if someone from Google could please take a look and let us know why this is happening!

• Crenk Still Being Punished by Google for NO REASON! – July 14, 2011
• Google: Crenk Isnt a Content Farm! – February 28, 2011
• Blekko Starts Blocking Content Farms from their Search Engines – February 2, 2011
• Yelp Walks Away from Google’s Half a Billion Dollars – December 22, 2009
• Monitoring your Search Engines Positions – July 2, 2009

Google Panda Got It Wrong! Scrapers Out Ranking Original Content: Crenk Example originally appeared on: Crenk
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Geekaphone‘s RIM vs the World Infographic

• New Blackberry Curve’s 9350 – 9360 – 9370 – August 23, 2011
• RIM Soon to Adopt Other Mobile Platforms Such as iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7 – May 3, 2011
• Microsoft Entering the Mobile Games Market – August 15, 2010
• Nokia Deny Android Plans – July 7, 2009
• 7 Fun iPhone Apps for Animal Lovers – January 3, 2012

Infographic: RIM vs the World originally appeared on: Crenk
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Here at Crenk we were affected by this recent Google Panda update and since that time I have been trying to clean our site and make it a lot better for our readers. I have read great articles from Search Engine Land and BlogStorm, made a lot of changes to Crenk, but with no affect on our rankings. Im more than happy to make changes to our site to improve the site overall for our readers, but I find it amazingly fustrating that I have no idea why our site has been punished (site-wide) and I have no idea how to fix it. It would be amazing if someone could just pinpoint the reason and then I would go ahead and fix it, but it doesnt seem to be the case. I realise there might be some low quality articles on Crenk, but how do I find out which articles they are, considering we have over 5000 articles?

Does anyone have any advice on this topic or do we just have to continue our site and see where it takes us?

• Google Offers Available in Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa – January 25, 2012
• First Google+ TV Advertising: Sharing, but like real life – November 25, 2011
• Hajj Pilgrimage Live to Watch on YouTube for Free – November 4, 2011
• Google Galaxy Nexus: Smartphone Comparison – October 19, 2011
• Google Earth: Around the World in 60 Seconds – October 13, 2011

Google Panda Farm Update: How Do I Fix Our Site? originally appeared on: Crenk
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I have always been savvy with technology and computers – I started working with my first computer at the young age of 8 and when I was 10, I taught myself how to program in BASIC literally overnight. For some reason, though, I didn’t immediately jump on the Facebook bandwagon the moment it became mainstream. It seemed silly, frivilous and simply trendy. I had been using MySpace and enjoyed the ability to control the look and feel of my page. I managed to find a few old friends on it, but most of them never posted anything. Mostly I just used my page as a personal blog to track my mundane life.

Then one day, I finally took the leap. I joined Facebook.

At first the pages looked dull and boring. A stark contrast to MySpace’s colorful pages, flashing blinkies and auto-loading music and videos. But what I quickly realized is that everyone I had on MySpace was also on Facebook and… guess what… they were actually posting! Next I realized that not only were my old friends there, but so were dozens more. To date I have connected with nearly my entire High School class, a childhood best friend I thought I would never find, old teachers, college friends, remote family and even old boyfriends (most of whom I was already still on speaking terms with). While these may not be people I feel the need to converse with on a regular basis, I feel priviliged that I can know what great (or terrible) things are happening in their lives, offer congratulations or condolenses, provide advice, wish happy birthday’s or just simply “Like” their status because… well… I liked it!

Today, like many people, I am hooked on Facebook. I have not only used it to connect with friends, but I have also used it to promote businesses I have been a part of and to follow other businesses I have interest in. And let’s not forget the oh-so-addicting games. So what if Facebook never existed? Where would be then?

Perhaps MySpace would have remained more popular. Or perhaps social networking as we know it today wouldn’t exist – at least not at the level it is now. Businesses would still rely solely on expensive advertising, email marketing and banner ads. While these methods are still used, Facebook’s advertising has been, in my experience, invaluable.

Some say people would call, write or speak in person more. But let’s be honest here, when was the last time you called someone just to update them on your life or find out about theirs? In High School? 15 years ago or so? People tend to stay in their own circles – in their comfort zone. Facebook allows us to open up and reach outside of our circle. It extends our comfort zone.

One thing is for certain, the world would be a less “friend”lier place. I never would have found my childhood friend or connected with classmates who had been outside my circle in High School. This also means I never would have intended to attend a reunion, which I now look forward to. Facebook has given me the ability to reach outside my daily circle and laugh, cry and vent with old and new friends alike. It has rekindled friendships and connected me with people I thought I would never get to talk to again.

So despite the addicting games and countless hours easily wasted away with Facebook, I am thankful it was created. I am thankful I took the leap. I am thankful for finding friends.

Case in point: Life just wouldn’t be the same without Facebook.

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Where Would We Be Without Facebook? originally appeared on: Crenk
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I received an email from Amazon when the cloud drive was launched and was given $2.00 in credit towards mp3 purchases. Intrigued by this new development (and the free music credits), I ventured to their website to check it out. I quickly found a song I wanted and clicked the buy button. It asked if I wanted to save the music to my cloud drive. “Simple enough,” I thought. Then I wouldn’t have to download it – I could just stream it. I immediately went to my new cloud drive, selected my new song (which was available immediately) and pressed play. It buffered up the song and played but I discovered it was also downloading to my computer as well. Bummer.

Next I decided to try uploading some music. I clicked “Upload to your Cloud Drive” and was prompted to download the “Amazon MP3 Uploader.” Wait a minute – so I have to use proprietary software to upload music? “That’s a bit inconvenient,” I thought, but I downloaded it anyway. After installing the software, it decided it had to scan my entire hard drive for music, which was a long and tedious process.  Once it finally loaded, it told me I had X playlists and X songs not in my cloud drive and asked if I wanted to upload it all now. I declined (as it would have been way more than 5GB of space) and chose a few albums to upload. What I found was that it killed my internet speed and I saw no way to limit the upload rate. Frustrated after about 20 minutes of sluggish internet, I killed the uploader until that night when it could run and not bother me.

In the meantime, I checked out the Android mp3 player from Amazon, wondering if it too would have to download my music before playing it. I discovered that while it can play the song through buffered memory, it still has to download; so listening while downloading isn’t a good option as the song often plays faster than it downloads (unless you’re using Wi-Fi). So once again I’m stuck waiting.

Ultimately, I was able to get the music I wanted uploaded and then downloaded again (to my phone). Now that I have done so, I can simply open the Amazon cloud player and quickly hear what I want (slightly faster than searching my hard drive and includes better filtering options). So was the hassle worth it?

Pros:

• Music can save directly to the cloud (optional). This allows me to download my new music at my convenience and on whatever computer or mobile device I wish to listen to it on.
• I no longer have to use a USB flash drive or external to move music around.
• Creating a playlist is simple
• Music can be viewed by songs, albums, artists, or genres.
• In addition to music, the cloud drive can also store documents, pictures and videos
• Music can be listened to through a web browser or via a mobile device using Amazon’s MP3 app.
• 5GB free storage space

Cons:

• Uploading and downloading again is time consuming
• No upload speed limiter makes for doing anything else while uploading nearly impossible (and I have a 15MB connection)
• Must use proprietary software to upload music
• Must buy an annual subscription if you want more than 5GB of storage at $1/GB.
• No true streaming – music has to be downloaded to each device you wish to listen on

Overall, I would say Amazon has a potentially great thing going on here. If they simply added the ability to stream without downloading, I would give the Amazon Cloud Player and Drive 5/5 stars. As it is now, and considering their hefty fees for storage in excess of 5GB, I give it 3.5/5 stars. It’s a great concept, but could use a few tweaks to make it the best.

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Amazon Cloud Drive as Dreamy as it Claims? originally appeared on: Crenk
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Hachi Shows You How To Meet New People originally appeared on: Crenk
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The above graph was for the US, but the same thing seems to be happening all around the world.

• In the United Kingdom, iPad’s iOS makes up 0.94%, versus 0.74% for Linux.
• In Canada, iPad’s iOS makes up 0.91%, versus 0.76% for Linux.
• In Australia, iPad’s iOS makes up 1.19%, versus 0.66% for Linux.
• In the Netherlands, iPad’s iOS makes up 1.16%, versus 0.81% for Linux.

Linux to be me is being used by only very tech savvy individuals, but it does outline how popular the iPad has quickly become.

Source: Pingdom

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More People Use iPads than Linux Computers originally appeared on: Crenk
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