From covering the tablet with a paper to sprinkling talcum powder - I’ve tried it all. Taming the tablet can be a task -that is until you play smart. I’ve had a very hard time trying various things to get it going. But it always used to falter - until I trained it from scratch with these tricks. Try the following and see the difference for yourself.

1. Download the advanced handwriting practice template and use the inking feature of Ms. Word to get used to the feeling of writing on a tablet - This will help you to get to ease on the tablet.
2. Avoid cursive writing - the tablet considers the entire word in the cursive writing as a single stroke making it difficult to interpret and learn individual letters.
3. Draw the letters in the correct style and direction - The OS is trained on the standard way of writing.
4. Set the tip setting to firm if you press too hard while writing. The small round curve in the letter v whould be visible to the tablet.
5. Make sure your handwriting is legible on paper - else you are giving the wrong training.
6. Train the tablet - you really can’t use it without it. Go to Tools > Personalize handwriting recognition > Teach the recogniser your handwriting style.
7. Use the following to tame the tablet by force.
   • All the letters of the alphabet (lowercase) in a single go.
     

     the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

   • An the letters of the alphabet in upper case.
     

     THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG

   • All the letters twice
     

     aa bb cc dd ee ff gg hh ii jj kk ll mm nn oo pp qq rr ss tt uu vv ww xx yy zz

   • And combined with their uppercase counterparts.
     

     Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

8. Taming by force - use meaningless words not in the dictionary to override the guessing game
   

   god yzal eht revo spmuj xof nworb kciuq eht

9. Frequently used special characters
   

   .,:;-_”"

10. Dont’ loose your patience.

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Ping.Fm is an online service with a sole purpose of making it easy to share your posts with the world. You can use it to update all the social media sites at once. It supports a whooping 28 social media services. You need the beta code to register (free) which I’ll share at the end of this post. So instead of publishing a post and then notifying social media about the new content on one at a time basis, head on to Ping.fm. But Wordpress bloggers have more good news. There’s a Wordpress plugin that saves you going to the Ping.fm site and login every time you post. Grab this incredible plugin named PingPress.fm from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/pingpressfm/

Here’s the humungous list of social services that it supports.

1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. Plurk
4. Pownce
5. MySpace
6. LinkedIn
7. Tumblr
8. Identi.ca
9. Brightkite
10. FriendFeed
11. Jaiku
12. Blogger
13. Plaxo Pulse
14. LiveJournal
15. Bebo
16. hi5
17. Mashable
18. kwippy
19. Xanga
20. WordPress.com
21. A Custom URL

If you thought that was the and of it, think again. Here’s a list of other services that it supports.

1. AOL Instant Messenger
2. Google Talk (GTalk)
3. Yahoo! Messenger
4. Windows Live Messenger
5. iGoogle Gadget
6. Facebook Application
7. iPhone Web App
8. Mobile App (WAP)

Now while you may eagerly want to registerand go posting, they are in beta andregistration is not public. You would need a beta code to register. To take part in the beta, the current code is “pingitlikeitshot”. So what are you waiting for?
Photo by jyoseph

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In the MBA language they call it the “mission statement”. I’ve spent half my life in the company of MBAs. But I’m not an MBA myself. I’ve thus been able to conserve my ability to think out of the box (eh ehhmm…). You don’t need a mission statement to blog. But you certainly need a tagline to emphasize, project and underline your blogs mission and value.Why not a mission statement? After all my arguement and reasoning I’m still not convinced how investing time and brains into creating a catchy mission statement justifies the effort or the purpose. Keep it simple - a mantra - the tagline of your blog.

Where does the word “mantra” come from? Here’s a brief history to better define what a mantra means. The word comes from the Indus valley civilization – arguably the oldest in the world. It’s a word from the Devnagri language also known as Sanskrit. The mantras are considered to have spiritual powers when pronounced correctly. Their effect is not in the meaning of the mantra but in the sound that emanates from pronouncing them. The sages chanted mantras in solace worshiping God to achieve salvation. The root “man” stands for the mind and the suffix “tra” means “tool” thus the “instrument of thought”.

As a blogger your identity should not be limited to the niche that you focus on. It in fact should underline the value you bring to your niche and in which direction you wish to carry your blog. So define a mantra - a tag line, a purpose of your blog. As a mantra it should carry you through all the confusion and help you focus your attention on the purpose of your blog. There are times when you have too many topics to blog about and others when you run out of ideas. The mantra shall bring you back to focus and carry your blog to attain its purpose. Here are three qualities of an effective mantra

1. It should be easy to remember

   You should be able to memorize and remember it out of the hundred other things that echo in the mind.

2. It should justify the existence of the blog

   A mantra stands as the reason why your blog exists and stands for. It should thus be meaningful and project the value you bring to the community and the niche.

3. It should be unique

   If it’s not unique it’s better to form a community and start a social networking site which stands for a purpose. You have your own blog to voice your expressions. It needs to have a “unique” purpose. If not (or may be if you are running it for money) you should focus on making meaning and not money.

A mantra is all you need to start blogging. And finally one day when you have 10000 subscribers you may want to create a mission statement. Guess what - the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator is at your service. Give it a try.

Mademoiselle Paty

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It’s a constant endeavor for bloggers to focus and write on the latest and popular topics to sustain the interest of the readers. Also niche blogging can help you monetize your blog better by drawing targeted advertisements with value. Here’s a list of 15 sites which you can use to analyse the latest trends and keyword analysis and to assist you take a look on what’s the latest, hottest and the most popular.

1. Google Zeitgeist
2. Lycos 50
3. Yahoo Buzz
4. eBay Pulse
5. Google Trends
6. NicheBot
7. Shopping.com
8. AOL Hot Searches
9. Google Groups
10. craigslist
11. Popular Bookmarks on Delicious
12. Digg
13. Google Catalogs
14. Google Suggest
15. Technorati
16. ClickBank marketplace (a bonus as always)

Photo by jamelah

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So far we’ve taken a look on how focusing on your niche helps to add value and uniqueness to your blog’s presence. While you are focusing on your niche you will certainly find similar blogs who have already touched upon the subject. It thus becomes important to cut out of the cliche. It’s time to focus on making meaning.

I have come to believe that these are the basic steps to make a difference whatever one can. And the same three tips work wonders in the blogging arena as well. Here they are.

1. Prevent the end of something good

   Those of you who frequent this blog regularly know that I work on Firefox extensions. Back then there used to be a Firefox extension called cutemenus – developed by a team of interested developers, the extension was stripped of all advanced functionality on the insistence of the lead developer. I then created a fork of the extension called CuteMenus2 and added back all the advanced features. Blogging is not unlike this. For eg. there are an increasing number of blogs coming up all the time. But the overall number of the blogs remains the same. A majority of the blogs close down in the first three months. I want you all to blog and pursue blogging. I want you to share the kinks to your blogs here. And I want you to encourage other deserving bloggers by subscribing to their blogs.

2. Increase the quality of life

   I created ColorfulTabs and “increased the quality of life” in my own little way. ColorfulTabs was of the top 50 extensions with the highest downloads on the day of Firefox 3 release. And in a similar way I bring to you my notion of blogging and tips to help you become more productive and successful.

3. Right a wrong

   There are a thousand other blogs that preach about making money. While making money is not a bad thing, the majority of blogs out there run solely for the purpose of making money. I’ve decided and chosen different. I wish to make a difference by enlightening my readers and subscribers about tips on blogging, writing and much more. The theory goes like “if you make meaning you’ll make money.” If you solely start out to make money- there are a hundred and one other blogs doing the same thing.

What else would you like to add to the list?

Photo by ~jjjohn~

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Design must serve the purpose

A clean and elegant design can have a direct impact on your readership. You must have noticed how some of the popular blogs out there have an elegant and beautiful layout. But they say that one size doesn’t fit all. What gives? You have a header, a sidebar, a footer and content (of course else what brings the readers in) -But how effectively is all this laid out? Is your layout aiding the visitors or standing as a barrier? Here are some power-points to let you decide.

The first thing you need is a SEO’d theme. SEO (as you must have guessed) stands for Search Engine Optimization. A theme that is search engine friendly makes it easier for the search engines to find information from your site. In this case these are the specific keywords that your content contains. People use search engines to find information. And they use keywords to search for the information they are looking for. A site which is optimized to search engines makes it easier for the visitors to find your content. Also keyword or content based advertising rests on the keywords in your content. So more relevant ads show up when the search engine has induced the keywords.

1. Accessibility

   The web is no more limited to the desktops or the laptops. It can be accessed by any and all devices which have an internet connection. This brings in an interesting angle. These new devices are not computers in the complete sense. They are largely evolving and bring with them a gamut of technologies and pot-holes. What does your site look like when viewed in a smartphone? The variety of screenings can play havoc with your theme. So open up your site in a mobile device and take a look. Or you can use one of the mobile emulators like the Opera-mini demo at http://www.operamini.com/demo/.

2. Customization

   Until and unless you are a designer, developer or a coder of some sort, you don’t wait to be messing up with the code every now and then to make minor changes. Use plugins or theme options to manage your theme, layout, design, widgets. You must have enough customizability at your disposal so that you spend less time managing and focus more on blogging.

3. Features

   The term can have as many meanings as its context. Here we are talking functionality. Plug-ins are nifty killer tools that can transform the way you blog or the way visitors use them. If your CMS supports them, take out some time to review some plug-ins you can use to ease up things and fire up your blog.

4. Layout

   There’s no one single layout that fits everyone’s purpose. A 2-column 3-column 4-column or a single column _they all work with varying degrees of success. Take the minimalist approach (there are good chances that you’ll still land up with some clutter). A header for the logo, a sidebar for the navigation, ads and widgets and a footer for other links, copyright information. Yes, we missed the obvious. The content has to be there by default (unless we are talking about 404 pages). With all this stuff here’s a sketch of what the final thing will look like. From a minimalist layout, your flog shall accumulate a lot over the time. Once in a while, just take off all the clutter and see if you really need it.

   

   A minimalist layout

   

   More regions

   

   Maximum regions

   You of course can try all permutations and combinations like a sidebar on each side or both on the right side etc.

5. Simplicity

   Your blog should be as simple to use as it can get. Now that you can manage it well and focus on content creation, time to empower the readers to make use of your biog. Keep a familiar design. Fancy designs no matter how attractive they are, only distract visitors from the content. I remember when I was on blogger in very early days and I created this fancy dark design and posted about Firefox. The first comment on that post was “nice design”. Make sure content always remains the primary focus. Bogs are meant for reading, so visualize a newspaper or a book and bring that ease and feel into the design. This is the definition of design.

There can be many more in the list. But it would be interesting to know what tops your list and what works for you. Have something to say?
Image Courtesy: dullhunk

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StumbleUpon is a social media site which allows you to share your bookmarks. It’s one social media site with a difference, it lets you share your favorite sites. Thus it allows a different kind of leaverage for your blog if you want to tap into it. Here’s a short list of how you can benefit from StumbleUpon.

• A bookmarking site is different from a news site or a blog. The listing remains there instead of scrolling down the list of days hottest hits. I relate to it as the “Digg phenomenon”. Thus bookmarks at StumbleUpon provide a constant visitors to the bookmarks. In this case this bookmark is your site. So you get constant traffic.
• It’s different also in the effect it has on your site traffic. Unlike the “Digg effect” which can burry your web servers for a popular hit, StumbleUpon sends reasonable traffic for less “thumbs” (the equivalent of a “Digg”). Thus you don’t need to speculate and wait for Diggs to happen and the post to reach the top. You share a site and leave it there. Traffic builds over a period and stays.
• You can find more sites like yours. The term is “networking” and “linking”. You are finding content that is relevant to your domain. You can build you information, use that information and of course link. That’s called a “Stumble” - you Stumble upon sites as per your preference.
• It’s all about sharing and what better way of sharing content than to do it from within StumbleUpon - you can choose your contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail and AOL. So it’s a short process and an easy one at that. This is a powerful tool that allows you to “pitch” your bookmarks to other users. Few sites allow this. (I really miss this kind of thing on Digg)
• Site reviews really make a difference. They carry the explaination of why the site is popular and you get to hear how others liked it. A review is more than a number. It is a reason why you would or wouldn’t want to visit a site. So a review has more chances of building up the popularity of a site (and thus the numbers) than the numbers alone.

Did I miss something? Have your say.

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A Gravatar is a globally recognized avatar.  A gravtar appears alongside your name on all gravatar enabled sites (like this one). So if you have a gravatar and you leave a comment here, your gravatar will appear besides your post. Gravatars are like your identity on the web and you can get one for free from http://www.gravatar.com

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Now these exactly are the kind of ideas that I fall for. You setup a blog and spent night and days to promote it. You have tried all the tips and tricks mentioned by that 2098th site on “Make money blogging”. You tried Adsense and Chitika and Analytics to see how things work out. Here’s another one to your assistance.

whos.amung.us let’s you track your visitors and their locations in real time. The best part of it is that this one comes free. You get a small code snippet which you can include in your site and bingo. It appears as a small graphic telling you the visitor count. You can click and navigate to the main site to know who’s doing what on your site and where are they from.

Isn’t it simply neat!

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I figured it our the hard way that migrating from Drupal to Wordpress is not at all easy. While numerous attempts have been made by people to create SQL scripts to make the transition easier, the structure of databases has changed over a period of time. I was following the instructions at http://www.rufuspollock.org/2005/10/10/migrating-drupal-to-wordpress/ and failed to import the posts. Thus I made my own SQL script for importing the posts. Essentially Drupal now uses an extra table called node-revisions which contains the body. Everything else goes in the table called node.

Here’s the script. “wp” is the name of the wordpress database and “drupal” is the name of the drupal database.

INSERT INTO wp23.wp_posts (
ID, post_author, post_date, post_date_gmt, post_content, post_title, post_excerpt, post_name, post_modified, post_modified_gmt, post_type)

SELECT node.nid, node.uid, FROM_UNIXTIME(node.created), FROM_UNIXTIME(node.created), node_revisions.body, node.title, node_revisions.teaser, concat('node/', node.nid), FROM_UNIXTIME(node.changed), FROM_UNIXTIME(node.changed),'page'
FROM drupal.node, drupal.node_revisions WHERE node.type = ‘page’ AND node.nid = node_revisions.nid

Use it in conjunction with the other scripts to import comments, etc.

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