Today we are going to discuss something related to search engine optimization for websites. We have already optimized our site for SEO in the best way we can. We tried adding more keywords to our posts,

maintained meta tags and wrote unique and quality content. But we knew we were falling short somewhere. Last week I had a talk with an acquaintance who is an SEO consultant in Dallas and he suggested me Global Runner SEO for professional SEO solution for my site. It is a Dallas search engine optimization company.

Well, I had tried many SEO tools but never approached a firm specializing in SEO. But TechExplorer’s been gaining popularity and steps were required to be taken for site’s visibility in search engines. I took a free analysis of Global Runner SEO and I must say the reports were precise and to the point. I accept, I am not much into SEO and I really liked what Global Runner SEO has to offer so I went for it. I wanted a complete SEO package rather than simply a tool that suggests meta-tags and keywords. Global Runner is actually an seo web design company that offers custom social media branding, direct to share facilities, Youtube marketing, advertising on Facebook, mobile marketing, dynamic call tracking and even Google TV ad campaigns. I chose the regular features and was quite happy with the results.

I have been using Global Runner SEO for about the month now and I thought I’d review if it shows some results. And besides, the company has been around for more than a year and has many satisfied clients. Google and Bing has very strict algorithms and it’s simply not a piece of cake for amateurs. At some point of your site’s online presence, you feel the need of a professional SEO service. I’d suggest you give Global Runner SEO, a shot. Moreover, if you are locally searching for Dallas search engine optimization, this is the place to be.

Later today in the MIX10 developer conference, Microsoft has revealed the first ever public preview of Internet Explorer Platform. No matter how hard Microsoft tries to name it in a politically correct way, it is what we’ll soon call – Internet Explorer 9!

Currently it’s just bare bones but rather impressive one at that. I downloaded the preview version, which pretty much is just the rendering engine and not the full fledged browser and am having my hands on it. Let me tell you folks if this is what the preview is, IE9 is definitely going to be ‘huge’.

First of all, IE9 Preview supports majority of the web-standards like HTML5 and thereby CSS3. For example the ‘border-radius’ property of CSS3 is now beautifully rendered in IE9 Preview. The much anticipated GPU powered sub-pixel layout capabilities will now be a part of IE9 which will use the Windows 7 Direct2D and DirectWrite technologies.

The figure to the right shows the performance graph of IE9 Platform Preview against other browsers. It clearly surpasses Opera 10.10 and even Firefox 3.7 Alpha.

In the ACID test however, the kid scores 55/100 which is in fact not too bad for a pre-alpha.

IE9 Preview basically gives the demonstration on how latest web standards will be incorporated in IE9. However, you can surf and test other websites too. Just click ‘Page’ > ‘Open’. Enter the URL of the website and click OK.

IE9 Preview hints at major breakthrough in overall performance boost compared to its predecessors and complying to the latest web-standards. Although, the developing team has declared that they will roll out browser code updates every 8 weeks with first such roll out in May, it is yet unclear when IE9 Beta will be made available to general public.

As of now, this is all you have –

Download Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview

For more details on IE9 Platform Preview, visit the official MSDN IEBlog.

Jan 27 was the day when iPad happened and shortly after we caught a glimpse of it’s look-alike on a French company’s website – The ExoPC Slate and this is what it looks like:

Too much of resemblance to the iPad eh! Even we think so. Now here’s the interesting part. It just doesn’t look as awesome as the iPad, it even claims to perform as good as (if not better) than it. We’ve got the specs of the ExoPC Slate and would love to have a one on one with Apple’s iPad.

* 32 GB model costs $599 ($499 + $100).

** 64 GB model costs $699 ($499 + $200).

More information about the ExoPC Slate can be found at the official website.

The ExoPC Slate surely does have some strong features to put one into a dilemma, like the Windows 7 OS, the webcam, SIM Port, 2 GB RAM, USB ports and not to forget the widescreen experience. Both iPad and the ExoPC Slate will be out roughly at the same time.

So finally it narrows down to what you feel about the ExoPC Slate. Do you think it can give a tough fight to Apple iPad?

Avast is one of the well-known names in free antivirus category since years. It has been repeatedly ranked amongst Top 3 free antivirus products and now to add to its glory, Alwil has slipped out its stylized revamped avatar, Avast 5.0.

I have been really happy with Avast and am using it since my college days. Mainly because it is free, less annoying, can be updated offline with installable virus definitions and shows no pity to the bad guys. So obviously when a new version comes out, I am urged to speak a few words about it.

New Interface:

Avast 5.0 Beta has a lot of visible changes compared to previous versions. The new interface is awesomely intuitive, everything’s handy and has a great work-flow. Unlike version 4.7, if you remember, the main interface is large, has most of the crucial options visible at all times. However, it gives a faint impression of Kaspersky’s interface but that’s not a big deal when under-the-hood functionality is way different and simple too.

Ergonomics:

As you can see in the above screenshots, the interface is ergonomically designed keeping ease of use as the top priority. Large buttons with collapsible menus make is easier to perform tasks. During the scan it also provides additional real-time information about the current activity. Even the virus definitions update and the program modules update has been differentiated well. In earlier versions, I have seen people getting confused amongst them because of lack of proper differentiation.

Additional enhancements:

When a program does a makeover, at least I look for some additional features beside optimization of the regular ones. Alwil added new and useful functionality like the Silent/Gaming Mode and the Real-time graphical representation of Shields.

• Silent/Gaming Mode, once activated, stops popping of messages and notifications. This comes as a life-saver when playing games or watching movies.

  

• The Real-time shields option, reminiscent of Kaspersky, gives real time graphical representation of the scanning activities performed by its shields.

  

• Apart from this, the speed and the efficiency of Avast 5.0 Beta indicates better heuristics and many other under-the-hood changes. Not only for the local files, but Web activity is thoroughly and efficiently monitored real-time.

  

TechExplorer verdict:

The features offered by the new Avast 5.0 are really too good to be true for the $0 price tag. One can take the liberty to compare Avast with most paid antivirus programs out there. Considering it still in the Beta and the features offered, Avast 5.0 Beta deserves a generous 4.2/5 

Download Avast 5.0 Beta

While watching movies with subtitles it is very important to have same framerates for both – the movie file and the subtitle file. Although it does not apply to hardcoded subtitles, unsynced framerates is one of the most common annoyances when we use an explicit subtitle file to overlay on the video. Here, the change of delay to a positive/negative value simply doesn’t work. You need to sync up their framerates and not the timing of the subtitles.

Problems due to unsynchronized framerates:

Suppose if you have a video with framerate 25.000 and subtitles with framerate 23.976, then the subtitles will slowly lag in time as the video continues.  The only solution is to change the subtitle framerate so as to sync it with the framerate of the video.

Here is a nice utility that comes to the rescue – Subtitle Framerate Changer. Now I don’t need to say what it does right? Just enter the path to your SRT file (subtitle file) with ‘bad’ framerate, specify the new framerate and click ‘Convert’.

The results are really good. I have tested this utility with different videos and subtitles with different framerates and I’ve found it very good. The only glitch is that it only accepts SRT files. But that won’t be much of a problem I guess!

Download Subtitle Framerate Changer / 212 KB

I was unable to post for almost a week and there is a reason for that. A happy reason. Uptill now, TechExplorer was hosted on blogger platform and we recently made a switch to BlueHost and now using WordPress as our CMS. During the whole process I frequently dealt with online money transactions and which made this post possible. I made some apparent conclusions on what browsers one should use while dealing with sensitive online transactions.

Although most browsers have evolved themselves and are quite capable for online transactions and the security measures that come alongwith, here are the top 3 browsers one should use irrespective of what your favorite one is.

#3 – Opera 10.x

Opera is certainly one of the highly anticipated and much loved browser with great features. However, I felt the browser being a little slow while making online transactions. It takes quite a time to load a page during a transaction and urges you to hit the refresh button again (which is a terrible thing to do while the transaction is in process). Moreover, I felt that Opera is a bit tacky in handling and displaying Ajax content that reloads a specific content on your webpage. So, Opera goes at #3.

#2 – Mozilla Firefox 3.x.x

My personal favorite. Mozilla Firefox is unarguably the best browser I have used. But when it comes to online transactions, it ‘sometimes’ behaves unexpectedly. The worst thing is, you never know when. We know that Mozilla Firefox is notorious for being resource hungry and chokes your computer if lot of tabs are open or if an addon misbehaves. This can ruin your work. Otherwise, the transaction itself is a smooth process in Firefox. You just have to be a bit careful on opening multiple instances of Firefox windows and tabs while doing some important work. Hence, #2 for Mozilla Firefox.

#1 – Internet Explorer 7+

Not so happy about ranking IE as #1 but when it comes to compatibility with almost all websites, specifically the ones involving money transactions, IE is an out-n-out winner. The reason lies not in the capability but the popularity of IE. Web devs design their websites keeping the compatibility with IE at the top of their list. This is reason enough to use IE when dealing with online transactions. Moreover, it is my personal experience that certain websites of banks and financial institutions are rather shoddy and can only be used with IE if you seek a glitch free experience. Hence, #1 for IE.

Finally, it’s needless to say your browser should be up-to-date with a good antivirus running on your computer while performing an online transaction.

When we switch over to a newer operating system, we ought to look for the compatible programs that work optimally with the new OS platform. The final release of Windows 7 is just around the corner and that makes it important for the user to know the compatible software applications. Well, I can safely say that Microsoft tops the list when it comes to backward compatibility and support for legacy programs but the people at Microsoft doesn’t seem to take any chances and that is why Microsoft has tested most of the applications out there under strict conditions. The software/application that passed all the tests were given a ‘Compatible with Windows 7’ badge.

Following are some of the Antivirus applications which are perfectly compatible with Windows 7 and I hope the list would help you make a wiser choice. The prices indicated are for 1 year license and are subject to change. Please refer the official websites for exact figures.

Kaspersky Antivirus for Windows 7 (RC available for download)

Expected Price: $65, INR 1500/- [Reduced prices for India]

Avast Antivirus

Price: Free (Home Edition) / $39.95 (Professional Edition), INR 2000/- (approx.)

ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4

Price: $39.99, INR 2000/- (approx.)

AVG Antivirus

Price: $34.99, INR 999/- [Reduced prices for India]

McAfee Antivirus Plus 2010

Expected Price: $34.99, INR 1750/- (approx.)

Norton Antivirus 2010 with Antispyware

Price: $39.99, INR 2000/- (approx.)

Bitdefender Antivirus 2010

Price: $29.95, INR 1500/- (approx.)

Then there are bunch of other antivirus applications which are also favored by Microsoft: TrendMicro Antivirus, F-Secure, Panda Security, Webroot, Bullguard, Rising Antivirus, GData, Ahnlab Antivirus and Sunbelt’s Vipre Antivirus.

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Once you get properly acquainted with the web, you feel the need for a utility that can ease down your tasks. One such task is to get regular updates from your favorite website or blog aggregated for you. This is where Feed Readers come into picture. RSS Feeds are actually a convenient and hassle-free way to read website and blogs as and when they get updated. It needs to be powerful yet very low on resources, quiet but feature-rich. I have used many such ‘feed readers’ and would like to present the best of them all.

1) FeedDemon :-  My personal best. FeedDemon is a RSS news feed reader which is very light on resources and highly customizable. It is very comprehensive, easy to set-up and has a clean interface.

2) Windows Live Mail :- It is actually a mail program but does the job of an RSS news reader quite well. With just a downside of being a little heavy on the system, it is very stable, mature and powerful RSS news reader on Windows.

3) Google Reader :- Without any doubt the most used, a stupidly simple RSS reader out there. It is very convenient to use and configure. Google Reader is web-based RSS reader so you don’t have to install a separate program for it.

4) Omea Reader :- Unknown but very powerful with top-notch features. Omea Reader is a freeware and it also does the task of a bookmark manager. It also provides browser integration.

5) BlogBridge :- With OPML support, synchronization feature and user-friendliness, BlogBridge is yet another free RSS reader. It has something called Smart Content Processing and has plugins too. It can run on Linux too.

There are also some other paid RSS readers like NewzCrawler, Blog Navigator, etc. but the mere price tag on them deprived them to show up in the above list.

There are loads of websites that are now talking about the available Windows 7 upgrade options. Initially it seemed that Microsoft is going to release just one Windows 7 flavor but it turns out, we now have 3 options to choose from and that is surely going to add a dilemma to users which one to go for.

Well, here’s the thing, if you currently own Windows Vista then depending upon the flavor of Vista, you can use the corresponding flavor of Windows 7 upgrade. For example, Windows Vista Home Premium can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium through Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade. Similarly Windows Vista Business goes with Windows 7 Professional Upgrade and Windows Vista Ultimate goes with Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade. I am mentioning the word ‘upgrade’ explicitly because the ‘full version’ discs are also available for Windows 7. They are basically used to make a clean install on PCs running on Windows Vista, Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows. Here’s the pricing chart of every flavor of Windows 7 out there:

The above table clearly shows that the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade is the best value for money for Indian users. There is one more reason to back me up on that. The only features the Windows 7 Home Premium lacks which are there in the other two versions are:

1) Virtualization technology to run Windows XP Mode. (This feature is just for those applications that run only on Windows XP. An average home user won’t be using such legacy programs else he would not have upgraded to Windows 7 in the first place)

2) Domain Join for easily connecting to company networks. (If you are the home user, you don’t even need to know what this means. This feature will connect your network to your company’s network)

3) Automatic backup (There are plenty of alternatives available to back-up your data. The simplest being to regularly burn your important data on a DVD disc)

4) BitLocker to safeguard your data in case of theft. (Well, password protecting your folders using folder guard software gives you similar protection)

5) Switching between 35 languages (Let me tell you, Windows looks best when it is in English)

According to me, considering the money-sensitive Indian population, the above features don’t justify the difference in price between the Home Premium and the other two. Hence, the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade is the best option for upgrading if you have Windows Vista Home Premium. If you own Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Ultimate or Windows XP and earlier for that matter, I would recommend to go for Windows 7 Home Premium Full Version.

After much anticipation, Samsung finally released NC20 laptop and added a charm to its mini notebook family. Samsung NC20 is reviewed so much positively that I personally wanted my hands on it. So I visited the Samsung store in my city and did my best to accurately test it.

First of all, Samsung NC20 is for all. I mean, this is a complete notebook, power-packed with all the necessary features that anyone would need. Choosing a laptop is very complicated task these days, but Samsung NC20 is something which will urge you to make it yours. Why? Here’s what I felt while I experienced it for complete 2 hours.

The glossy screen of 12.1 inch WXGA (1280 x 800) is just perfect for everybody. When I travel in trains, I want something large enough to see my HD movies crisp and sharp but also it should not occupy more space. Samsung NC20 is slim and can fit in your lap so perfectly and comfortably. With 1.6GHz VIA Nano U225 processor and VIA Chrome 9 HC3 Graphics, I am sure it will play my Blu-ray 1080p Hi-Def films so smoothly without any lags.

Now, as I travel a lot I want my laptop to run for long hours and Samsung NC20 was able to impress me a lot. It has a mindblowing battery life of 8 hours. That surely can make a journey interesting. I also found out that it has an anti-bacterial keyboard which provides hygienic computing environment. Other features include a 1.3 MP camera and an integrated mic for video conferencing and chatting, Bluetooth and it comes with a Genuine Windows XP Home edition.

So, after 2 hours of experiencing the awesomeness, I would say that Samsung NC20 is more than just a notebook. It can be a companion for me while travelling, for my Dad to do his office work, for my Mom to keep it in the kitchen and learn cookery tips over the wireless internet, for my grandparents to talk to my relatives abroad using the integrated camera and mic. It is really made for all.

Know more about Samsung NC20 and its features.

You can read more Samsung NC20 reviews here.