What A Double-Dip Recession Would Mean For Venture Capital

One year ago I worried that consumers were overstretched with debt, and unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of venture capital investment even further.

When I wrote this the Dow Jones Industrial Average had already come roaring back from 6,600 to 9,865 so it was certainly against conventional wisdom. It eventually closed at 11,204 in April before sliding back to 10,000 as I sit here and type. My fears haven’t abated, so I’d like to offer my current thinking on the economy and what it portends for the VC industry and fund-raising for entrepreneurs. I have a vested interest in being wrong about tough times ahead, but as the old saying goes, “hope for best, plan for the worst.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

With Own Incubator On Hold, Facebook Befriends Y Combinator

Facebook Inc. is partnering with incubator Y Combinator in a deal that will give start-ups that join the program a range of Facebook resources and expertise–and incentives to use Facebook’s technology.

Facebook says it will support Y Combinator companies with resources for products, technology and design, whether for new websites or Facebook applications.

Y Combinator companies will also get early access to Facebook technologies such as Facebook Credits, the virtual currency and payment service the company recently developed, and Facebook’s Instant Personalization service for third-party websites that use Facebook Connect, among other new features.

Y Combinator will publish a request for applications for its next incubator session, which will happen in Winter 2011. That program will include “social startups” that Facebook could assist.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

The Best Argument for iPad Magazines

If an Apple (AAPL) server crashes, it’s an inconvenience. But if a truck carrying 48,000 pounds of next month’s Glamour magazine crashes, it’s a different story….

How to transfer music from iPod

Basically, there is a need for you to transfer music from iPod with iPod Rip and iPod Rip for Mac to avoid your files are lost. Now, I guide you how to Rip your iPod to hard drives with Aiseesoft iPod to Computer Transfer. So you don’t need to worry about losing anything.

Step 1: Download Aiseesoft iPod to Computer Transfer and install.

Step 2: Launch the program
Double-click the icon to run the software; or launch it from the “Start” Menu.
Step 3: Rip iPod files.
1) Run the software, and connect your iPod/iPhone to your computer via USB cable. After done, the iPod/iPhone icon and its library and playlists will appear in the Device list.
2) Open the library/playlist that you want to export files, and then check the music/movie you want to export in the file list to your computer.
3) Click the "Export to PC" button to select the destination of the exporting files and start ripping files

Otherwise, you could also choose the Export to local option from the Actions menu, and then export the files from your iPod/iPhone to actual device.

Tip: Use “Track filter” function to help you quickly browse your library by genre, artist and album. If you are using Mac, please use the iPod Rip for Mac software.
iPod Rip for Mac download.

How to Add Limewire Songs to iPod

Many people download music from Limewire, but they can only listen them on computer. Put songs from Limewire to iPod touch is really difficult to many iPod users. Yes, you need to convert Limewire songs to iPod audio format by iPod Music Converter; actually, it is iPod mp3 converter or audio to mp3 converter, because iPod accepts mp3 audio files.

This article will share you how to add Limewire songs to iPod.

Part 1: For Windows users, how to add Limewire songs to iPod.
Step 1: Download Aiseesoft iPod Movie Converter
You need to download an iPod Music converter:



Step 2: Add Music
Click “Add File” and find your Limewire songs to load into iPod Music Converter
Step 3: Choose output format
You can choose output audio format from profile drop-down list—MP3
Step 4: Start to convert
Click “Start” button to begin your conversion.

Then you also need a tool to transfer your songs to your iPod.
Here I recommend you Aiseesoft iPod Transfer.



It is very easy to use:
Step 1: Connect iPod.
Plug your iPod to your computer via USB cable.
Step 2: Add songs
Click “PC to iPod” button to pick up the songs you have already converted and click “OK”. Now, you can enjoy your Limewire songs on your iPod at will.

Part 2: For Mac users, how to add Limewire songs to iPod
For Mac users, I recommend you Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter for Mac and Aiseesoft iPod Manager for Mac.


Step 1: Add file
Click “Add File” to load your music
Step 2: Choose output audio format
Click “profile” to choose your output audio format.
Step 3: Convert
Click “Start” button to begin your conversion.

To transfer converted songs to iPod, Mac users can use iPod Manager for Mac.


Step 1: Connect iPod
Plug your iPod to your computer
Step 2: Add music
1. Click “Music” (1)
2. Click “Mac to iPod” (2) and pick up the songs on your Mac you want to put on your iPod and click “Open” (3)
Few seconds later, the songs will be on your iPod.

Some problems the new iPod touch users may meet

1. How to change iTunes to recognize the new iPod touch
Some New iPod users may meet the situation that your iTunes can not detect your new iPod nano, iPod touch, or iPod Classic. It should recognize it immediately. If it doesn't, download the latest version of iTunes. The problem will be solved:
1) Re-launch iTunes, with and without your iPod plugged in.
2) With iTunes open, reset your iPod Touch
(here:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305743 ) Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds until the Apple logo appears.
3) Restart your computer leaving your iPod touch plugged in
Note: If you uninstall iTunes from a computer, it will be uninstalled for all the users. But it will show up again for all users once you re-install it again. Before uninstalling each user should backup his/her playlists so they can bring them back when the re-install is completed.No music for any of the users will be removed by iTunes. It will remain intact where it is saved.

2．'I can't turn on my iPod'
I have a 1st or 2nd generation video iPod (80 gig).
My computer is windows 2000 so I downloaded the windows 2000 iTunes. So I decided to update my iPod, it was updated and it was fine. It ran out of power. Then it won't turn on? I tried to charge it but it just keeps saying please wait such and such. I left it there for like 2 hours already, and still it didn't charge up... Is the problem because I updated my iPod or something else? And when I opened my computer, iTunes asked me if I can format my iPod into windows. I put yes, it didnt do anything.So I have to problems, its not charging.. and its not turning on.
by Ashley :'My friend had this same problem a few years ago.She just left it plugged in to her computer for a few days, waited it out... eventually the problem fixed itself on its own. I'd say just wait it out for a day or two, and if it's still having problems, take it in to your nearest Circuit City or something.”
by Karat :'its the most popular iPod problem. If you drain the battery fully, you're screwed. Basically the battery is down, but the darn thing wont charge unless you connect it to the usb and the usb wont detect it unless it has charge! So please take it to your nearest apple outlet.”
by Kylla :'The one thing you never want to do with an iPod is let it run out of power, not good for it at all :P I've done it a few times but try to avoid it. What you want to do is hold the menu button and the play/pause button at the SAME time and just wait for it. It should restart it. Thats how my iPod works, yours could be different so experiment with the buttons. Try holding perhaps the center button and the play/pause button? or center button and the menu button? Try to see which two buttons will restart it, its bound to work. But hold BOTH of them down at the SAME time with one hand..and be patient, wait for about 10-15 seconds or so. :)”

3. Why does my 30G iPod video always die quickly?
Even when I am just listening to music. It shuts off after about 45 min. And that is a problem because I am going on a plane trip soon and I plan to watch a movie on my iPod, but movies eat your batttery. Does this happen to anyone else???? How can I make the battery life last longer. btw, it is only like a year old.
by dipin :'In an iPod the battery life is different.
it doesnt depend on how old it is rather it depends on how many times you have charged and discharged it.
for increasing the battery life you should fully charge the battery every time you are charging it . and secondly you should never let it discharge completely . put it on charging just before it shows the red signal and disconnect it only when it is fully charged.
sorry to say but now u'll have to get the battery replaced from apple reseller if you want to watch complete movie the battery life as said by apple is 500 complete cycles of charging and discharging”
by sugadoll :'The same thing happened to me. The problem is that your computer can't detect a completly dead iPod, but you need the computer to charge it so your screwed. j/k I solved it by pluging it into my ihome dock that plugs into the wall. So if you have a wall iPod dock or a car one you can charge it enough so that the computer can detect it. Problem solved.

Recommended Products For you:
DVD Ripper for Mac
Convert DVD to any video or audio formats on Mac OS X. Aiseesoft DVD Ripper for Mac is a professional Mac DVD ripper software.
Video Converter for Mac
Convert all video formats from one to another on Mac OS X. Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac is a specially designed Mac video converter.

Hot Potato Finds a Place at Facebook

The deal was tipped late last month, and now Facebook has confirmed the purchase of Hot Potato, a social check-in and chat service focused on activities and real-time events rather than specific locations. Hot Potato itself will shut down, but its technology and small team are likely to find a role in Facebook’s newly launched Places location service.

HP to Ship webOS Tablet Next Year

Hewlett Packard’s (HPQ) webOS tablet will arrive at market in early 2011, after the company ships its Microsoft-powered sibling — presumably that Windows 7 Slate Steve Ballmer uncrated during his CES 2010 opening keynote. “As we look at tablet sales and slate sales that was a big part of the reason we acquired Palm.,” Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP’s Personal Systems Group, said during a company earnings call Thursday. “You’ll see us with a Microsoft product out in the near future, and a WebOS-based product in early 2011.”

Noticeably absent from Bradley’s list: that Android device that was supposed to arrive at market in the fourth quarter of 2010. As I reported in July that tablet has been tabled–at least for the time being.

HP Fortifies Application-Security Services

So much for Fortify’s plans to go public.

This morning the software-security-assurance company was acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but this was clearly a small acquisition for HP. Fortify was founded in 2003 on a $40 million investment from Kleiner Perkins. That said, it’s an important one that will allow HP to intergrate vulnerability-assessment and security-assurance services into its Software and Solutions business, and better compete with rival IBM (IBM), which acquired Fortify rival Ounce Labs last summer.

How to download torrent video and put torrent video to iPod, iPhone, etc

This article includes four parts:
Part 1. What is torrent?
Part 2. How to download torrent files to computer?
Part 3. How to put the torrent videos to iPod, iPhone, PSP, etc
Part 4. Top torrent sites and iPod torrent sites

Part 1. What is torrent?
Torrent is a small file with the suffix .torrent, which contains all the information needed to download a file the torrent was made for. That means it contains file names, their sizes, where to download from and so on. You can get torrents for almost anything on lots of web sites and torrent search engines.
Torrent is the most popular way of downloading large files, including movies and games (remember legality of downloading). Downloading with a torrent is advantageous especially when downloading files, which are momentarily very popular and which lots of people are downloading. Because the more people download the file, the higher speed for everyone.

Part 2. How to download torrent files to computer?
Downloading with a torrent is actually very simple. You just need a rightly set torrent client (setting your connection speed is usually all you need to set). Then you open the torrent file inside your client, set a place where you want to download desired files and then just wait till it's downloaded. Downloading with a torrent is no more complicated than using any other p2p application, but even simpler.
Here are some free torrent clients:
1. A BitTorrent client is a program that manages torrent downloads and uploads using the BitTorrent protocol. BitTorrent is the global standard for accessing rich media over the Internet. It supports Windows, Mac, and Linux.


BitTorrent Ports Tip to Speed Up Clients

2. µTorrent (uTorrent) is a free BitTorrent client for Microsoft Windows written in C++ and localized for many different languages. It is designed to use minimal computer resources while offering functionality comparable to larger BitTorrent clients such as Azureus or BitComet. The program has received consistently good reviews for its feature set, performance, stability, and support for older hardware and versions of Windows (For Wine, Windows 95 (Winsock2), 98/ME, NT/2000, XP, 2003, and Vista).
3. BitLet: this is a web-based Torrent client that can download a Torrent file for you if you provide it with the Torrent URL. The obvious benefits of doing this are:
(1) If you are using a computer that doesn't have a Torrent client installed
(2) You can point Torrent-challenged friends who can never figure out how to download torrents to this web service and it just may be the solution to their rare Torrent-downloading needs
(3) You can use it to download torrents in places (work, school) where p2p and/or Torrent clients are blocked.
Bitlet requires that your browsers has the JAVA VM plugin installed.
You can get more free Torrent clients from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_client

Part 3. How to put the torrent videos to iPod, iPhone, PSP, etc
After you finish downloading the torrent (Video, Song what ever it is) you might need to use winrar or winzip if it is compressed then put it on your iPod. The torrent videos that you download from iPod torrent sites do not need to convert. You can transfer them to iPod using iTunes.
But if they are not in a format the iPod, iPod, iPhone, Zune and other players can play, you might have to convert them. You need to download this best video converter (Mac/Windows PC) which works perfectly for almost all popular video players like iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, PS3, Youtube (web), Creative Zen, iRiver PMP, Archos, various video mobile phones and many other digital video and audio players. Install and use it to convert the torrent videos. After conversion, you can put the torrent videos to iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, PS3, Youtube (web), etc.

Part 4. Top torrent sites and iPod torrent sites
The Top Torrent Sites:
Torrentportal.com
Bitsoup
BiteNova
Torrentscan.com
LegalTorrents.com
Isohunt.com
Torrentspy.com
Torrentz.com
Torrents.to
Snarf It!
Torrentmatrix.com
Mininova.org
FileMP3.org
TorrentBytes.net
Torrentreactor.to
Torrentbox.com.
BTjunkie
TorrentTyphoon.com
Yotoshi.com
The Pirate Bay
TopTorrents
Scrapetorrent.com
Meganova.org
Torrent-damage.net
ByTorrents Meta Search
FullDLS.com
Thinktorrent.com
FileList.org
Torrentlocomotive
bittorrent.com
Fenopy (formerly Bitoogle.com)
BTbot.com
Special mention: Torrents.co.uk
Special mention: LokiTorrent.com
Special mention: Commonbits.com

iPod torrent sites:
http://podtropolis.com/
http://www.iPodnova.com/
http://www.elroyonline.com/

How to backup DVD movies to DVD for free

This is a tutorial that explains the process of backing up a DVD on a PC using DVD Shrink. While there are many software solutions for backing up DVDs, the one on Windows I like is DVD Shrink. On Mac OS X, I like this DVD Copy for Mac.

that can copy DVD movie (D9 to D9, D5 to D5) with the entire movie in 1:1 ratio perfectly. This tutorial will be a concise explanation of how to backup DVD movie to DVD for free. There are many reasons to make a backup copy of DVDs one has purchased, keep reading to learn how to improve the quality of your re-encoded backups.

Step 1, download DVD Shrink
You can download DVD Shrink from: http://www.DVDshrink.org/.
For Mac users, you can download the DVD copy for Mac from here.

Step 2, Run DVD Shrink and insert your DVD movie into the DVD drive
The first thing you will need to do is open the disc. Click on "Open Disk" at the top-left of the program window. A small window will pop up. There is a drop down menu - select the drive and disk that you are going to backup. Then click OK. When you click OK, the DVD will be “analyzed”–this process will last for 1-3 minutes, then DVD Shrink will “suggest” a level of compression.



If you receive an error while trying to rip the DVD (like the one shown in the screenshot above), you will need to use another program such as DVD Decrypter to copy the DVD files off of the disc on to your hard drive. You need to minus the copy protections first. Click here to read how to use DVD decypher to minus the copy protections of DVD.



Step 3. Adjust compression for individual Titles (optional).
DVD Shrink will automatically select the highest possible quality settings that will fit on your disc. You could accept the settings that DVD Shrink chooses. You can also increase the quality of the main movie file by reducing or eliminating other video and audio files on the DVD.
Many modern DVDs will contain bonus footage, trailers, multiple surround sound modes, and other settings that one can reduce or eliminate to improve the quality of the main movie feature.
The main movie quality setting is reported to the left of a slider bar in the top right of the screen. In the screenshot below we see that the default setting requires that the main movie be compressed to 48.2% of its original level to fit on the disc. You can increase this percentage to improve the final quality of the backed-up DVD. But the output file will be larger.



The way in which one goes about improving the quality of the main movie will be different depending on your specific needs. For example, when “Dolby Digital” and “DTS” 5.1 audio tracks are available, you can remove “DTS” (to save hundreds of megabytes), you can also choose to preserve “DTS” and reduce or eliminate other items from the DVD.
Some of the settings I made to this particular DVD were:
--Removed “5.1-ch French” audio track (went from 48.2% to 55.4% compression for main movie).
--Replaced certain Titles with “Still Image” (keep reading for more on this).
To improve the quality of the main movie, you'll need to reduce or eliminate other DVD features, each called a “Title” in DVD Shrink. Click the “plus sign” next to “Extras” in the menu to view the other titles.



The Title I've selected below was 72MB. In this case the video was a “behind the scenes” feature that I did not wish to keep. Since one cannot completely remove any of the “Titles,” the next best thing is to replace them with a still image. In order to do this, select the title you want to replace, and choose “Still Image” from the drop-down menu in the top right. In this case the file went from 72MB to 66MB. The still image is configurable, simply drop an image of your own into the aptly named Still Images directory found under Program Files > DVD Shrink.

Step 4, Burn the re-encoded files to disc.



Click “Backup DVD” and Now select the folder where your temporary files will be saved. DVD Shrink needs to save a bunch of files on your computer (that actually compose your movie) so that it can burn that movie back onto another DVD. This is why you had to clear 5 gigs of space on your hard drive. Once the DVD backup has been burned, you can go ahead and delete these temporary files (the program does not do this itself).
You may as well select “Region Free” (default) under the DVD Region tab.
on the Burn Settings tab make sure “Maximum” burn speed is selected in the drop-down menu.
Once you have the settings the way you like them, begin the burn process. You'll see the “Encoding” happening first. There is a video preview that will show you where you are, but I believe that the encoding process goes slower with this setting enabled.



Once the files have been copied to your hard drive, your original DVD movie will eject from your computer.
You will also have a pop up asking you to put a blank DVD into the DVD burning drive of your computer that you previously selected.
Exchange the original DVD movie for a blank, burnable DVD. Push the blank DVD into the drive. DVD Shrink will begin burning the new DVD automatically in a few seconds. Now you will get a pop up that shows the progress while the program burns your new DVD movie. Once the new DVD has been burned, you will get a window that tells you that it's done. Click OK, close the program, and take your new DVD movie backup. All Done!

Note: DVD Shrink is only for PC users. If you are a Mac user, Please download DVD copy for Mac .

iPod Compatible Video

This article is divided into four parts separately introduce what is iPod Compatible Video, which video format is better for Apple iPod Video, is my video iPod compatible and how to make the video compatible with your iPod.

Part One: What is iPod Compatible Video?
Part Two: Which video format is better for Apple iPod video?
Part Three: Is My Video iPod Compatible?
Part Four: How to make the video compatible with your iPod?

Part One: What is iPod Compatible Video?
Firstly, I will introduce you what is iPod Compatible Video, iPod Nano Compatible Video such as iPod Video MP4, iPod Video H 264, the specifications page lists the following:
Apple iPod video specifications from their official website:
H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.

That’s a little confusing, but there’s only a few numbers you’ll need to remember for each format.

The highest video bitrate with the H.264 codec is 768 kilobits per second. The biggest picture size for your H.264 movie is 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high, the exact dimensions of your iPod’s screen. Your iPod can play H.264 video at framerates up to 30 frames per second. Every one of the applications that we’ll be using encodes with the Baseline Profile. Your audio needs to be encoded as AAC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, and it can be in either stereo or mono. As long as you follow all the guidelines, your movie can be a QuickTime movie or an MPEG-4 movie file.

Your other option, MPEG-4 video, supports a much higher bitrate than H.264 video - 2,500 kilobits per second. Using higher bitrates will also create larger files. The result: you’ll have less space for additional songs and movies. The biggest picture size for your MPEG-4 video is 480 pixels wide by 480 pixels high - three times as many pixels as your iPod’s screen is capable of displaying. Your iPod will shrink the picture proportionally so that everything fits on the screen. Again, the iPod can play videos up to 30 frames per second and our audio and file format options are the same as H.264 video.

Part Two: Which video format is better for Apple iPod video?
That’s a tough question. H.264 is arguably better because it offers high quality and a much smaller file size when compared to MPEG-4. However, both formats look quite good when you encode your video at the higher supported video settings. One thing that most people will agree on is that H.264 video takes longer to encode than standard MPEG-4. This means that converting a two hour movie to iPod video can take considerably longer using the H.264 codec (especially with QuickTime Pro’s pokey Export: Movie to iPod video option). Still, I prefer the H.264 codec in most instances.

Part Three: Is My Video iPod Compatible?
Some of the video files that you download from the web or from file sharing networks like BitTorrent may be iPod compatible - even if they’re not marked as such.

The easiest way to determine whether a video can be played on your iPod is to open the file in QuickTime and select Window: Show Movie Info. In most cases your video should be iPod-ready if the format is H.264 or MPEG-4, the audio is AAC, and the size of your video is 320 x 240 (or smaller) for H.264 or 480 x 480 (or smaller) for MPEG-4. Also, look at the data rate and make sure it’s not over 900 kbits/sec for H.264 or 2600 kbits/sec for MPEG-4.

Part Four: How to make the video compatible with your iPod?
If you have QuickTime Pro ($30 and worth every penny) or the latest version of iTunes (free!), this is, by far, the easiest conversion that we’ll talk about.

In iTunes, after you’ve added your video to the library, right click it. Select Convert Selection for iPod. iTunes will let you know if your video is already in the correct format. If it’s not, your video will slowly be converted to an H.264 video.

UPDATE: I’ve heard several complaints of iTunes creating iPod videos without sound. You should probably avoid using iTunes to convert your videos.

In QuickTime Pro, open your movie and, in the file menu, select Export… and in the export drop-down, select Movie to iPod (320 x 240) and click Save. QuickTime will create an optimized H.264 video with AAC audio.

You may want to go pour yourself a cup of tea or take a nap. If your file is large, QuickTime’s slow conversion process can take several hours.

If you’re an inexperienced user, I recommend using QuickTime Pro or iTunes because they’re absolutely foolproof. However there are other much faster, more powerful applications for converting your videos. Read on!

Don’t have QuickTime Pro? Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter!
Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter supports so comprehensive video formats including converting MPG, MPEG, MPEG2, VOB, MP4, M4V, RM, RMVB, WMV, ASF, MKV, TS, MPV, AVI, 3GP,3G2, FLV, MPV, MOD, TOD to iPod Video MP4, iPod Video H 264. You can customize your own output video by the settings function. For example, if you want a high quality video you can raise the values of Video Biterate, Audio Biterate and Audio Sample Rate, if you want a smaller file you can reduce the value.



If you want to make your DVD compatible with your iPod and even transfer your iPod video to Computer, you can choose Aiseesoft DVD to iPod Suite which is an all-in-one solution to convert DVD to iPod Video MP4, iPod Video H 264 and convert video to iPod Video MP4, iPod Video H 264. Moreover, it can transfer video from iPod to computer. You don’t need to worry about losing anything.
For Mac user, you can choose Aiseesoft iPod Video Converter for Mac and Aiseesoft DVD to iPod Suite for Mac.

Anyone Want to Offer Free SEO Advice to a Former Businessweek Editor?

Former Businessweek editor John Byrne has a new site up, and he’s understandably proud: PoetsandQuants has an impressive-looking survey of the top MBA programs and a slew of related stories. (Not a coincidence: Business school rankings are a big asset for Businessweek too.)

The problem, as Byrne explains in a blog post, is that Google (GOOG) doesn’t seem to care. Or at least not in the way he’d like it to: Search for “poetsandquants” and you’ll find many references to the site, including the site’s Twitter and YouTube accounts, but no direct links to the site itself.

And, frustratingly, many of the links that Google does show searchers are simply scraping/Google gaming sites with no connection to Byrne’s site at all. Byrne:

As you go through the first five pages of Google results, there are all kinds of websites that have essentially highjacked Google, rendering its search product less useful and helpful to users. There’s a so-called weblog that is little more than a place to advertise Viagra and Cialis. There’s links to TweetMeme, Interceder, tweetcepts, twapperkeeper, rallyclips, and whotechpunditstweet, among many others. Most of them are search traps that have gamed Google. There’s even a link to one fool who has no idea who I am yet calls me a “douchebag” on page three of Google’s results for PoetsandQuants. (See the screenshot below to get a real glimpse of how bad Google’s results are.) Get through the first ten pages of results and there is still not a direct link to the site.

Two thoughts:

• Join the club, John. You’re now one of many publishers who have a gripe with Google.
• The fact that you’re one of many doesn’t make your gripe less worthy. And this sort of thing really should be worrisome for Google. It’s not that the search engine is ignoring your site–it’s that it is sending searchers to the wrong place. This happens much too often, and it’s a huge hole for a competitor to exploit.

I assume that Byrne, and Google, will sort this out fairly quickly–Bryne doesn’t tell us whether he’s been able to get ahold of a human in Mountain View to hash this out. And perhaps a link from this site will help!

But I also assume that Byrne, as a bootstrapping publisher, has less advanced SEO help than he had at his last gig, which means he’s always going to have some version of this problem.

So. Any generous SEO experts want to offer some advice about ways to solve his problem? You’ve got an open forum in the comments section below.

Big Tech IPO of the Day: Skype Tries to Dial Up $100 Million

After Demand, the deluge. Here comes the next big brand-name public offering: Skype, which used to be owned by eBay (EBAY) but was sold off to an investment consortium last fall, is going back on the public market again.

The Internet communications company says it will raise up to $100 million in the offering. The investment group that bought the company for more than $1.9 billion last year includes Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

UPDATE: Someone who wants to remain anonymous suggests that the $100 million “Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price” that Skype’s owners have filed with the SEC is merely a placeholder. Which means the company may ultimately seek to raise much more. (And of course they could simply sell the whole thing to a single buyer without ever going public). But until we hear otherwise, we’ve got to go with what they’re telling the government.

Unlike Demand Media, Skype is profitable–in the first six months of this year, it netted $13 million on revenues of $406 million. But like Demand, Skype would like investors to look at different “non-GAAP” metrics that portray it as a very, very profitable company. If you accept “adjusted EBITDA”–and much of Wall Street will–Skype generated profits of $115.8 million during that same time frame.

And as with Demand, Goldman Sachs (GS) is leading this one too. Other underwriters include J.P. Morgan (JPM) and Morgan Stanley (MS).

For those who asked: Most of Skype’s users don’t pay the company a penny, but some pay for extra services, such as the ability to connect to a landline or wireless line. Skype says it has 560 million registered users, and 124 million who use it at least once a month. Of those, 8.1 million are paying an average of $96 a year.

One last interesting tidbit: As a result of a complicated settlement with Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, Skype has ended up in the digital music business. It has put $6 million into Rdio, the new streaming music service the duo founded.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for the next big-name, big-dollar tech IPO, a good candidate would be Glam Media, which has been laying track for an offering for some time.

More Money for iPhone Ads: Medialets Raises $6 Million

We don’t know how the mobile ad business will look like and how big it will be. But it’s a pretty safe bet to assume it’s going to be a lot bigger than it is now. Which makes investors quite happy to throw money at it.

Latest example: A $6 million B round for Medialets, a two-year-old New York company best known for making “in-app” ads for Apple’s iPhone (AAPL) platform, as well as Google’s Android, (GOOG) etc.

Existing investor Foundry Group, which led a $4 million A round a year ago, leads this one as well. DFJ Gotham is also in again, and new money includes Dave McClure’s 500 startups incubator and Chris Saridakis, who until recently was Gannett’s (GCI) chief digital officer.

A good chunk of this deal already closed months ago, and leaked out via a Series D filing; I assume that since then new investors have joined the round, but don’t have details.

August 10, 2010: NEW YORK, NY – Medialets, the most widely deployed cross-platform rich media advertising provider for mobile, today announced the closing of a $6 million Series B financing round led by investor Foundry Group, with participation from DFJ Gotham, 500 Startups and Chris Saridakis. Medialets will use the funds to expand the capabilities of its mobile rich media ad platform and supporting tools in order to bring rich media ads to the broadest range of advertisers possible.

“Medialets was founded in 2008 on the understanding that mobile would unleash a powerful engagement opportunity for advertisers,” said Medialets CEO Eric Litman. “Since then, not only has Medialets enabled the industry’s most compelling mobile rich media for premier publishers, agencies and brands, we’ve also built out a one-of-a-kind cross-platform infrastructure that brings greater efficiency and scale to mobile rich media campaigns. This Series B funding allows us to continue to evolve the Medialets’ platform to meet the phenomenal demand for high-value mobile rich media.”

Since its inception in June 2008, Medialets has pioneered the creation, delivery and measurement of the most highly engaging rich media ad formats for mobile. In 2009, Medialets created and served the world’s first rich media ad for mobile apps. Earlier this year Medialets followed up on the release of its Universal SDK for iPhone and iPad with the launch of Android advertising support, making Medialets the first provider of cross-platform rich media ads for mobile apps. More recently, Medialets introduced Medialets Enrichä, a partner program that significantly reduces the complexity of mobile advertising for buyers by enabling them to deliver and measure the same creative campaign on different mobile platforms and across Medialets’ partner ad networks, mediators and ad servers.

“Medialets has set the standard for creative and technological innovation in mobile rich media,” said Seth Levine, Managing Director of Foundry Group, Medialets lead investor. “By providing a scalable platform that uniquely addresses the challenges of mobile for both publishers and brands, Medialets has staked out its position as market leader early in the game and will continue to be a driving force in the rapidly growing mobile advertising market.”

A world-class executive team, assembled within the past year, has spearheaded Medialets’ tremendous growth. Keith Gelles, co-founder of PointRoll, joined Medialets as Chief Technology Officer joined the team in July and Aaron Mittman, a former executive at Panther Express and DoubleClick, joined the team in September as Vice President, Global Sales. More recently, Andrew Eisele, formerly of TargetSpot, joined Medialets as the company’s first Chief Financial Officer. The executive team is supported by an advisory board that includes Greg Tagaris, former CIO DoubleClick, Andy Ellenthal, CEO Peer39, Ari Paparo, VP Digital at Nielsen and former Group Director of Advertiser Products at Google, Shervin Pishevar, Chairman SGN, and Colin Crawford, former CEO MacWorld/PC World.

How to convert FLV to iPod, iPhone, PSP, etc. on Mac OS X

What is FLV?
Flash Video (FLV) is the name of a file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player and has extension FLV. The most recent public release of Flash Player supports H.264 video and HE-AAC audio. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. Notable users of the Flash Video format include YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, Reuters.com and many other news providers.
How to play .FLV files on Mac?
If you want to play FLV (Flash Video) files on your Mac, you'll need to use a player that can handle FLV files. Here are two recommendations (both of them are FREE):
VLC Media Player
The VLC Media Player is a free, cross-platform media player that supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs. It can handle FLV, WMV and VOB files to name a few.
Perian
Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular media formats including FLV, MKV, AVI, DivX, 3ivX, FLV1, FSV1, Flash ADPCM and many more.
How to Convert Youtube FLV Videos to iPod, iPod touch, iPhone on Mac OS X?
As we know, most of the video files downloaded from these online video hosting sites are in the format of Flash Video (.flv). For whatever reasons, such as prefer to view and store the videos in mpeg format, or want to play the offline video clips in portable player such as PSP, iPod, and iPhone, or simply don’t like to view it with FLV Player, then there is a need to convert the .flv video format to another format such as .avi, .mov, .wmv and .mpg. So, how can you convert your flv video to all popular video formats easily and quickly? Please follow this step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Download FLV Video Converter for Mac, then run this program.
We recommend you Aiseesoft FLV Converter for Mac, which can convert all video files (including .flv format) from one format to another perfectly. Compared with other FLV converters, this Mac FLV video converter provides you with better output quality, more advanced functions and higher conversion speed(>300%), it also has more friendly and easy-to-use interface.
You can download free trial Version here: for Mac intel users, for Mac PowerPC users.
Then install and run this program.
Step 2: Load the FLV files you want to convert.
Click the "Add File" button to browse your computer hard disc and add the .flv video files you want to convert to the program.
Step 3: Choose the output format
After you added FLV files, you can select an output format for each video file and specify a directory on your computer to save the output files. This Mac FLV Converter supports comprehensive output video formats including AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4, XviD, 3GP, etc. You can choose "*avi", "*mpg", etc. as the output format as you want. Apart form this, You can just select the format according to the device name.
for exapmle, you can select 'iPod Touch MPEG-4(*.mp4)' when you want to convert FLV to iPod touch on Mac.
Or you can select 'iPhone 3G Video MPEG-4(*.mp4)' when you want to convert FLV files to iPhone 3G on Mac. The default setting works well.
Step 4: Advanced settings(optional)
Of course, if you don't want to use the default video and audio encoding settings, just click the "Settings" button to customize these settings.



Step 5: Edit your flv files(optional)
Aiseesoft FLV Converter for Mac can help you set video brightness, contrast, saturation, Hue, volume, crop video, trim video and even merge multiple files into one single file before the conversion.
you can know more here: How to crop, trim video files on Mac OS X ?

Click the “Start”button to start conversion.

How to download flash videos from video sites for free?
You can download the flash video (.FLV files, the default video format that most video social sites are using) from online video host into your local hard disk. With some tricks, it’s now very easy to download the videos hosted and shared on online video sites such as YouTube and Google Video.
You can follow the 2 guides:
Guide : How to get videos from video sites for free?
For windows users, use Free YouTube Downloader

How to import music from iPod to iPod without iTunes

Ever since iPod was released, millions of people have been crazy about it. There appeared some assistant tools to manage iPod without iTunes:
1. Aiseesoft iPod Manager for Mac is one of the best Mac tools that can transfer Mac to iPod Shuffle, iPod backup for Mac. It is the best for iPod iTunes Mac software.
2. Aiseesoft iPod Transfer is another Windows all-in-one tool including iPod to iPod Transfer, computer to iPod Transfer and iPod to computer transfer.

Part One: How to manage iPod without iTunes on Mac. (Transfer Mac to iPod Shuffle, iPod Backup for Mac)
1. Download and install Aiseesoft iPod Manager for Mac.
For Intel:http://www.aiseesoft.com/downloads/mac/ipod-manager-for-mac.dmg
For Power PC: http://www.aiseesoft.com/downloads/mac/ipod-manager-for-mac.dmg
2. Connect iPod to Mac via USB.

Transfer Mac to iPod Shuffle:



Select “Music”, “Video” or “Picture”. Then click “Mac to iPod” to choose the files you want to transfer to iPod. Click “Open” to finish the transfer.

iPod Backup for Mac:



Select files you want to backup. Click “iPod to Mac” and find the place where you want to transfer your iPod files to your Mac and click “Open”.

Part Two: Computer to iPod Transfer, iPod to iPod Transfer, iPod to Computer Transfer for Windows users
1. Download and install Aiseesoft iPod Transfer.
2. Connect iPod/iPhone to computer.

Computer to iPod Transfer
Click “computer to iPod” button to seek the files or folders that you want to import to iPod and click OK.

iPod to iPod Transfer
Pick the files that you need to transfer. Just click “iPod to iPod” button and it will show you the folder of another iPod that you want to transfer to. Click OK. The transfer can be finished automatically.

iPod to Computer Transfer
Check the file(s) you want to export in the file list. Click “iPod to computer” button to select the destination of the exporting files and start exporting files.

Hope it helps you!

Where to download free iPod Videos

Free iPod Videos, Legal nano Videos, Places to get iPod, iPod nano Videos
1. The Internet Archive is great for old videos and movies. The Archive’s 256Kb MPEG4 Downloads are unfortunately not iPod-ready as previously thought. The format’s correct, but there are audio pops when played back on the iPod. You’re probably better off downloading the MPEG2 videos anyway. The 265Kb files were pretty low-res and it’s a snap to re-encode the MPEG2 files for your iPod with Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac.
2. The Chronic..What?..cles of Narnia.
3. The iTunes Music Store’s podcast section is loaded with free videos.
4. Channel 101 and Channel 102 offer up some brilliant downloadable videos.
5. PodGuide.tv
6. Channel Frederator offers up some of the best short animations anywhere.

Illegal Places to Get iPod Videos
You’re probably familiar with most of these options, but if you aren’t then they’re new to you!
1. Search the BitTorrent network for iPod.
2. Check Podtropolis
3. The Pirate Bay!
4. Seriously, you should probably stick to LEGAL sources for iPod videos.

Downloading Free Music Without Fear
3hive.com: A great blog-style listing of free iPod-compatible songs offered by record artists and labels in an attempt to entice full-album purchases. Songs are in the MP3 format in a variety of bit-rates generally ranging between 128kbps and 192kbps.



Epitonic.com: Offers highly professional, artist-focused presentation of free digital music downloads in MP3 format, with biographical details and short previews for songs across a narrow collection of genres.



Freekidsmusic.com: Along with its sister site Freechildrensmusic.com, provides a large variety of free MP3 format songs for young listeners.



Garageband.com: Not to be confused with Apple’s music creation application of the same name, Garageband.com collects and provides popularity charts of independent music, featuring over 125,000 bands.



MFiles.co.uk: Provides free downloads of well-known classical music in MP3 format.



MP34U.com: A clean, professionally designed interface to individual free songs sorted by genre, selected by site “sources” who pick and post only music they like.



Music.download.com: The music-dedicated expansion of popular software download site Download.com offers free full-length MP3 songs across all major genres, even including Children’s, Spoken Word, Comedy, Folk and Religious tracks. Most tracks are indie.

PureVolume: Offers over 100,000 free songs for download, and captured many of the best users of what used to be MP3.com (before it was scrapped, sold, and completely changed).



RCRDLBL: An exclusively-online record label which provides free MP3 downloads of exclusive music from emerging artists.
Of course, if you can’t find the song you’re looking for on one of these free sites, you can always visit Apple’s iTunes Store or Amazon’s MP3 Store and make a purchase there. Though these aren’t as cheap as some of the questionable international sites listed in the prior section, they are an entirely safe and legal way to get access to over a million songs.

Free Music with a Catch: Ad-supported Sites
Years ago, the most common source of free music for your listening enjoyment was the radio. Radio stations were able to broadcast music from a wide range of artists at no cost to the listener. Instead they made money through advertising services. The “price” a listener paid to listen to free music in those days was having to endure listening to advertising interspersed with the music.
Recently, some web sites have begun to offer a similar business model: You can download free music, but this is either done through a client or web site with very proactive advertising (as opposed to the standard advertising on most web sites), or the music tracks themselves contain brief advertising spots placed at the beginning of each track.
Unfortunately, most of the sites that offer these types of services, such as SpiralFrog and Ruckus Networks (for U.S. college students) only offer their downloads in a Windows Media Audio DRM-protected format that is incompatible with iTunes or the iPod (or ironically, even the Microsoft Zune). Further, these tracks may not be burned to a CD. These sites are therefore generally of no value to iPod owners.
A notable exception is We7, a UK-based ad-supported site whose founders include Peter Gabriel. We7 provides downloads in a DRM-free 192kbps MP3 format, with the catch being that each track has a 6-12 second advertisement grafted onto the front-end. Ad-free tracks may be purchased outright, and We7 also offers a credit system whereby you can convert some of your tracks to ad-free versions once they have been in your library for 28 days or more. Since these tracks are in an open MP3 format, they can be played on just about any digital media player available.



Although primarily a paid subscription music service, eMusic.com provides a free ad-supported music service as well. In this case, the advertising is directed at the user via the ALOT toolbar which is installed in your web browser (compatible with IE6, IE7 and FireFox 2 only).

Downloading Free Podcasts: Radio for your iPod, iPod nano.
In addition to free music for your iPod, you can also download “Podcasts,” short radio-style programs produced by individuals and companies around the world. Many of these podcasts include music selections, and some are even dedicate to showcasing independent artists and providing music commentary and review.
While podcasts were originally organized in several independent podcast directories out on the Internet, the ITunes Store now includes an extensive catalog of podcasts which you can subscribe to directly via iTunes completely for free. Podcasts available through iTunes include both audio and video podcasts, and cover an extensive range of topics. Basically, anybody who has anything to say on a regular basis can create their own podcast and get “on the air” via iTunes quite easily.
A selection of music-specific podcasts can be found right in iTunes in the Music Podcasts Directory, which includes a comprehensive selection of music-related podcasts from music reviewers, traditional radio stations, and even directly from both small independent and more mainstream artists. So it helps you download your favorite iPod Videos

Barnes & Noble Goes on Block

Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) has put itself up for sale, struggling amid a changing landscape for book sales.

The nation’s largest bookstore chain announced Tuesday that it was reviewing strategic alternatives and ways to boost shareholder value.

Chairman Leonard Riggio said he will consider the possibility of putting together an investor group to acquire the company, which had a market value of slightly above $700 million as of Tuesday’s close.

Barnes & Noble’s stock had been down 32 percent this year, but it leaped 26 percent after-hours to $16.15.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

ITunes in the Cloud Is Still MIA, May Stay That Way

Ever since Apple bought Lala in December, tech prognosticators have told us that an “iTunes in the cloud,” featuring all the streaming music you could dream of, was just around the corner. But it has yet to show up, even though Lala has gone away. And it doesn’t seem to be coming any time soon, CNET’s Greg Sandoval reminds us–Apple doesn’t have deals with the labels and doesn’t seem to be pushing hard for them (but Google seems keen on launching its own service). So what is Apple up to? One clue: The Lala team is now reportedly working on a video project.

Singapore’s ‘Over-the-Top’ iPhone 4 Launch

Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhone 4 went on sale in Singapore Friday, and its debut in this city state may have been more over-the-top than its U.S. debut last month.

Singapore Telecommunications, known as SingTel, Southeast Asia’s biggest phone company by revenue, held its midnight launch party at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center. The venue, with its almost concert-like atmosphere, was blasting with loud music, colored lights, fog and even a VIP lounge, where waitresses served hors d’oeuvres such as sea scallops with green olive tapenade.

At the stroke of midnight, SingTel revealed a giant rotating model of the iPhone on stage, along with a flashy pyrotechnics display.

Jacky Heng, 18 years old, was one of the first customers to collect his phone on stage. Heng had been waiting in line since 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

“I already sold off my Nexus One, which had reception problems,” he said. “I’m very determined to get this phone.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Everything to PSP

How to watch YouTube on PSP, convert videos for PSP and put DVD movies on PSP? Many PSP users don’t know that. As a crazy PSP fan, I collect some tips that I think are the main steps to go into the world of PSP and share them with all PSP fans here, hope everyone can fully enjoy the fun of PSP.

It will include the following parts:
1. How to watch Youtube video on PSP directly with wifi internet
2. How to rip DVD and convert video to PSP
3. How to download and convert youtube video to PSP for free
4. How to transfer video to PSP
5. How to downgrade PSP
6. How to download free limewire music and video to PSP
7. Where to download free games to PSP

Part1. How to watch YouTube video on PSP directly with wifi internet?
As PSP's web browser only support the older version of flash while YouTube uses flash 9, if you want to watch YouTube on PSP directly with the wifi, you must upgrade to the newest firmware f and install a flash player on your PSP. A Japanese developer NekoMiMi has achieved that with PSPTube. Here are the steps:
Download the PSPTube from here http://www.PSP-hacks.com/file/1225 and open the zip file. Now before putting it in your PSP open the PSPTube.cfg file and press ctrl + F, and type in "DEV" press until you find Dev id="".
Ok now go to http://www.youtube.com/dev create an account and insert the account in between the arentheses.
Extract the PSPTube from the 200over folder and put it in GAME352 folder (Set the Kernel to the 352) Now open it in the PSP and choose an internet connection with the Circle button, it may say no videos, press circle and you'll be able to search.
Here is the control info:
X: Cancel; O: Accept; L/R: Last/Next Page; Start: Pause;
Select: Change aspect ratio (Original Size, Full screen)

Part2. How to rip DVD and convert video to PSP
PSP can play only MP4 video, DVD movie is MPEG-2 video and has CSS protected, so you have to rip the DVD movie to MP4, and then transfer it to PSP, If you stick with freeware, you can use DVD Shrink to rip the DVD to computer, and then use PSP Video 9 to convert the ripped file to MP4 video. As for me, I’d prefer using Aiseesoft PSP Movie Creator, it can rip protected DVD movie and convert video to MP4 video, more over, you can also trim or crop the DVD movie to enjoy the video on PSP with full screen, that’s really cool. What you have to do just put your DVDs on your DVD drive, and then click start button to begin the conversion. If you want to learn more about it, you can refer to its official site:
http://www.aiseesoft.com/psp-movie-creator.html

Part3. Download free YouTube video to PSP?
YouTube is a place everybody knows for free videos, I often download free videos from it, but the downloaded YouTube video is flv format, so a flv converter is necessary, you can go to this website: http://vixy.net/ .It's a free online FLV converter. Then go to YouTube and find a video that you loved. Copy the URL that in the Red box. Like this format:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs

Then Paste your video URL to the input box (figure above), choose the right format you want. If you want to edit the video, AVI is a good choice. And MP4 is fit for iPod, PSP and other MP4 players, click “start” to start the conversion. When the conversion finished, you will get the download link of the output video. Click the download link to download the video and save it in your computer, then copy the MP4 video to the “Video” folder in the PSP memory stick.

Part4. How to transfer video to PSP
You can download this free PSP video manager, it’s totally free, it can help you transfer MP4 video to PSP directly; fully support all firmware versions of PSP. Here is the download link
http://www.youtubetoipod.biz/software/psp-video-manager.html
what you have to do just add your MP4 video files to the software, connect your PSP to computer via the USB model, and then click Move, done.

Part5. How to downgrade PSP
All downgrades have a chance of bricking PSP, so if you want to, you must aware that there is always some level of risk.

Part6. How to download free limewire music and video to PSP
If you like to download free music and video to PSP, limewire is surely your right hand; you can download limewire software free from its official site: http://www.limeware.com, install and run it, then type key words to search the music and video you’re interested in, and then download it.



When you finished download the video, export and located it on your computer. Coz PSP can play only MP4 video, so you have to convert your video, I’d prefer using Aiseesoft PSP Movie Converter to convert video, and help you transfer video to PSP, so you will not be confused by the complicated PSP rule. If you don’t know how to use it, here is a step by step guide about how to use it.
http://www.aiseesoft.com/article/psp-movie-converter.html

Part7. Where to download free games to PSP
I collect some websites to download free PSP games, you can take them for reference, because some just provides a part of free games, please take care of the virus embedded in free games you‘d better install anti-virus software.
http://www.gamespot.com
http://www.PSPblender.com/PSP_games.php
http://www.allPSPgames.com
http://www.bigfishgames.com/
http://www.play4freeonlinegames.com/
http://www.khemer.com/
http://www.gamersenterprise.com
http://www.gamesjax.com/
http://www.playitontheweb.com/
http://www.topstylegames.com/
http://www.playgames2.com/games/Turret-Pong

Free Trial: Download Aiseesoft PSP Movie Creator