The official application can be downloaded from the following link:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook/id284882215?mt=8

The fact that such a popular application was missing from such a popular device was extremely strange. Add to that the fact that the app was available for more than two years for the iPhone, and therefore it being missing for the IPad for a year and a half is nothing short of baffling. There has been no official reason given for this, but if speculations are to be believed, there apparently was a rift between the two giants – Facebook and Apple. However speculations can be put aside for now, as the app is finally here much to the delight of IPad fans.

The official version of the app comes with the expected standard interface, which allows split screen views. You can simply swipe across your screen once to access the control panel. This is the heart of the application, as the news feed, messages, profiles etc are all found here. If you have a number of groups on Facebook, you will be happy to know that groups are also supported in the app.

An addition to the app, which has been positively welcomed by the users, is the ability to store log in information for multiple users. When you wish to sign in, you will see a large photo of yours, tapping which will require you to enter your password and hence take you to your account. Also, you can easily manage your account information and modify your privacy settings directly from the app itself, which makes it quite convenient indeed!

While the app having arrived after a long and surprising wait must have delighted iPad users, it surely would have jolted third party app developers who made the most of the absence of the official Facebook app by developing and selling their own version of the app. While there were many such applications of varying quality, the one that became the most popular was known as Friendly Plus for Facebook. So much so that it got the status of being the unofficial Facebook for iPad app! But for now users can bid Friendly Plus goodbye, as the official Facebook app is here to stay!

Aakshey Talwar
Technical Writer

The Excel sheet acts as the database and will contain field names for each type of information that needs to be added to the Word 2007 letter. The field names again will vary with the kind of form letter that is being produced and can contain name and address information. The cells across row 1 will be the ones where the user will be able to add their arbitrarily chosen field names into (A1, B1, C1 and so on). Then you can continue to add details in the adjacent cells. The size of columns, rows and cells can be adjusted according to the data that needs to be entered, either by dragging the columns and rows to increase the space or a ‘text wrap’ option can be used to adjust the cell size according to the data entered in it. Always remember to save the worksheet after entries are made.

Once the database is created and populated with desired entries, user can then proceed to Microsoft Word and begin the mail merging process. Following the procedure below will enable the process to run swiftly.

First, go to the ‘Mailings’ tab on the top ribbon and then to the ‘Start Mail Merge’ section and click on ‘Start Mail Merge’. A dialog box will emerge and a number of checkboxes will be needed to be selected according to the purpose of using mail merge.

Second step, is to go to starting document and selecting the recipients of the mail. The user will have to browse for their data and select the table containing their required data. The wizard allows the user to change the recipients of mail merge process.

As step three indicates, user needs to follow Mail Merger Wizard’s suggestions and proceed to writing their letter. As the letter is being constructed, the user will able to insert fields and data by selecting ‘More Items’ first and then moving on to the selection.

Once finished, letters can be previewed and then mail merging can be completed by selecting ‘Complete’ option. User now has two alternates available to them; either they can save and print these letters or they can save and email the letters drafted.

Additional Resources on Mail Merge

To get more conversant with this mail merging feature kindly go through the following sites:

http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/office/mail_merge/Mail_Merge_Tutorial.pdf http://www.gmayor.com/merge_labels_with_word_2007.htm

When it comes to switching a WordPress theme, what I prefer is to setup a test blog. It has several benefits as you surely don’t want your users to experience difficulties while changes are being made. Therefore, setting up a test blog is the best way to make changes to the WordPress Blog. Moreover, it also provides you a real environment to test changes you are willing to make. All you need to do is to create a new folder and install a new WordPress Blog on it which takes no more than a few minutes. Make sure that you have robot.txt file with ping deactivated because you don’t want the test blog to be indexed by search engines.

Now, when you are done with setting up a new test blog, you can change the theme of your new test WordPress blog and try other modifications. Once the theme is transferred, start entering test posts and use all those options that you intend to use in a real blog post. Once you are done with the postings, check the site by visiting it through different browsers.

Go through the analysis and analyze your current blog and test blog. Most importantly don’t forget to check the test page loading speed because visitors give no importance to themes that looks magnificent but take long time to load. Therefore, make sure that your theme is loading promptly.

After analysis and testing, it’s time to apply new theme to the main website. Here you need to choose the best time when traffic is comparatively lower than any other time of the day. Don’t dump your previous theme unless the newer one runs smoothly for some time.

Install a new WordPress theme

In order to switch and install a new WordPress theme properly, just follow these simple steps below:

1. Download the theme of your choice. Typically these themes are available in .zip format, so you have to extract them before you can move on to the next step. Skip this step if you have designed your own theme.
2. Next you need an FTP client like FileZilla to connect with hosting account. Connect through FileZilla or any other client with your account and upload the theme to the wp-content/ directory.
3. Finally you just need to apply the new WordPress theme. Simply log in through WordPress Admin Panel and go to the presentation tab. There you will be viewing the latest theme you uploaded on the hosting account. Simply click on it and your theme will get installed.

This is a three step tutorial through which you can switch WordPress theme within no time. Moreover, keep the tips in your mind while switching your WordPress theme and for more information visit:

http://mcbuzz.WordPress.com/2009/09/07/WordPress-tutorial-how-to-change-install-activate-new-WordPress-theme/

At this point of time, there is very little known about this Olympic phone, as Samsung has been tight lipped about this device. However for those of you eagerly waiting to find out more, we have put together a few things you can certainly expect from this exclusive phone.

•    With Visa’s involvement, there are high chances that the phone will come with (near field communication) NFC enabled, which will make the phone quite special. In other words, users will be able to make mobile payments with this mobile device, making it extremely convenient!

•    With Samsung’s recent trend of producing top-notch Android phones, it is quite likely that this ‘Olympic phone’ will also be an Android device. And unless Samsung comes out with a cheap device, in all probability this phone should run on one of the latest Android versions, making the phone quite capable and impressive.

•    There is also a lot of speculation that this phone will be based on an existing successful Samsung model. Even if that turns out to be the case, one should certainly expect the phone to be distinguished with a visible Olympic, and probably even a Visa branding.

•    In terms of pricing, one just gets the feeling that given the exclusivity of the device, and the speculation that it will be a high-end Android phone, the price too will be exclusive. However there has been no official word by Samsung yet, so only time will tell!

While the concept is unique, there is always a certain amount of uncertainty regarding the appeal of such occasion-related products. And especially in the case of a smart phone, where people will be stuck with a device with the Olympics branding much after the event is done and dusted with, it will be interesting to see how desirable the device turns out to be. But for now, the flame in Samsung’s torch continues to burn with expectations!

If you are still interested to find out more, the following link might come handy http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/10/samsung-to-launch-london-2012-olympic-phone/

Aakshey Talwar
Technical Writer

Of course, like many other elements of business, SEO takes work-it is not just a onetime job that once you do it, you can mark it off your list never to do again. In fact, regardless of how one approaches and uses SEO, there are some basic steps to follow.

Steps for Search Engine Optimization

There are two ways to prepare for search engine optimization: strategizing and implementation. The strategizing helps you determine how to best use Internet Marketing practices and what elements are most needful for your site. Here are the beginning steps of SEO.

Create a list of SEO friendly keywords.

• Talk to friends and family and ask them what words/phrases (also known as long tails) they would use if they searched for your website.
• Use tools such as Wordtracker.com, Google Adwords.com, or KeywordSpy.com to help you determine what words or long tails rank the highest for your industry or site.
• As you create the list of keywords, keep in mind what you want to rank for on search results. For example, if your focus is monogrammed travel accessories the words such as “weekend travel” are less valuable to you.

SEO Implementation and Site Prep

Once you have your list of SEO friendly words, you are ready to implement them into your site using White hat Internet Marketing practices. (White Hat SEO is accepted as correct; Black Hat search engine optimization is much like cheating. Yes, you may get quicker results, but they are short lived and viewed poorly by search engines.) There is a variety of ways to implement your SEO friendly keywords into your site. Some of these are:

• Using them in your page’s name, i.e. “About Monogramed Travel Accessories”
• In the title tags and headings
• Underneath pictures
• Video clip descriptions
• Navigational links which include info that relates to your keywords!

Of these search engine optimization steps, one of the easiest and best ones is to include the keywords as part of the title of your homepage. In addition to these basic SEO steps, several other actions should be taken to create a search engine optimized website. These SEO friendly practices are:

• Choose web content carefully. If you are targeting a specific location (i.e. Plano, Texas web design) then include the Plano address on the page(s) whenever possible.
• Use keywords often, without overkill. Keywords should make up 3-5% of the word count for your site.
• Add new web content often as search engines love to “see” new posts-whether it is pictures, videos or text, this new content improves your SEO
• Make sure that your website loads quickly, as slow loading websites are penalized for search engine optimization purposes.
• Don’t quit! SEO is something that successful websites are always improving. Make it a priority to spend time every month working on increasing your site’s search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization is one of the most vital skills the website developer has, but it is not some mystical language. Take the time to implement SEO and boost your company’s presence on the Web.

Related resources on Internet Marketing:

-Beginners guide to SEO
-Search Engine Optimization for small business
-Internet Marketing for your website

To fix this problem, you can use website wireframes. Website wireframes can be used to show the client what the website is going to look like when it is finished. Clients are able to comment on the site and make changes before the web developer has completed the work.

In many cases, a simple wireframe is sufficient to meet the needs of the client and is much less expensive to build. More complex wireframes will allow a user to click through the different pages of the websites, but this can be very expensive to implement.

The main purpose of a wireframe is to show the client the overall look and design of the site, how to navigate through the website and the basic feel of the website when it is finished. Hyperlinks on the website will not work properly in the wireframe pages.

Creating Wireframes

Most commonly, the person whom you hire to design your website for you will create the wireframes. You also have the option to create the wireframes yourself, if you desire. This can be simple to do; it is much like creating a hand-drawn picture of what you want to see on each page of the website. In most cases, you would use software to create the wireframes, such as Photoshop or PowerPoint. Each page of the wireframe should include some sort of reference number so that the designer can easily mark any changes that need to be made.

Wireframing is the first step and one of the most important steps in the entire process of your website design. When creating your website wireframe, there are some tips that you should follow in order to ensure that it is the best wireframe that you can create.

You should be clear from the start as to what your objective is for your wireframe. The biggest mistakes that developers make when creating website wireframes typically occur during the planning stages. A developer should never just start coding without planning first. Planning the wireframe before the coding process gets underway will help you to foresee any problems that may arise and to identify the issues that you might come across during the process of creating the website.

When you start creating the website wireframe, set a deadline right away so that you can keep your project flowing. A wireframe for a simple website should only take a few hours, but a more complicated website wireframe can take up to a few days to complete.

Think about the people who will use your website as you create the wireframe. Would you want to read a registration page that was pages long or would one page be better for you? Most people will not take the time to fill out a long registration page, so keeping it as short as possible is best.

When you are finished with your wireframe, it should include everything that is on the website. This includes all elements from the Log In button, if the user has to log in, to those at the very end of the site. You should be able to step through the wireframe as if you are looking at the finished website. Make use of a wireframe tool as you set up your website wireframe.

What exactly is Cloud computing?

Cloud environment can be of many different types. They mainly include public or community cloud, private cloud setup and hybrid cloud setup. Each of these have individual characteristic and attributes. The cloud computing services are offered by service providers who deliver the resources through the internet network. The end users can use these cloud based services through web browsers. The essential software and data however will be stored in a server in a remote location. Using cloud computing brings down the cost of operation of organizations and institutions at large. There are far too many benefits of cloud computing and many more new technologies are still in the process of development.

There is however a darker side to cloud computing because of which it has been the recipient of criticism over the past few years. This darker aspect of cloud environment primarily relates to security and privacy of data. Being in the “cloud” the data or cloud database that is accessed, used or, stored by the users can be accessible to the service providers at will. It is not about whether the data will be misused by them for sure, however the risk of data exposure still remains. This has made the concept of cloud computing and resources dubious to many and as a result has been facing criticism from many people in Information Technology.

The reliability of cloud computing has also been under some scrutiny. Cloud setup and database work only when there is a viable web connection. This means that the end user will have to solely depend upon the web connection for anything and everything. What if he or, she cannot avail the web for some time? One can say for sure that the work at hand will not be done.

Issues of data protection in cloud computing is among the other reasons which may be delaying its widespread adoption by companies. While the people are convinced about the scope of benefits that cloud computing can offer, they are equally doubtful about what disasters cloud computing can do to their data. There have been a few cases already where user’s data was not only misused by unauthorized persons, but was also misplaced and lost in the worst scenarios. This dark side of cloud computing is not its predominant characteristics. These happen as isolated cases that can be effectively handled. However, as the concept is still under development process, one can be assured that the security concerns will disappear sooner than expected.

Related Links to Cloud computing:

To know more about cloud computing you can go through an interesting article at

-What is Cloud computing

-Is cloud computing really a service?

-Difference between distributed and cloud computing

Neha – Seo friendly content

With her years of experience in writing different types of content, Neha also serves as a professional Content Consultant.

1. No startup cost to setup WordPress on your site
2. Thousands of plugins that can make your website powerful yet easy to use
3. Zero dollars spent on website design and development
4. As blogging is “Content Heavy”, this is an excellent means of getting ranked high Search Engines.

More information on WordPress can be found at these sites:

WordPress.Com – If you want to just blog
WordPress.Org – If you want WordPress to power up your site

How to setup and install WordPress on your website?

For today’s tutorial on WordPress, we will guide you on how to use WordPress as your site’s platform. Today we are going to use our domain, www.ehowis.net. It is a brand new website that we registered with icdsoft.com, the company that is hosting our website. Today we will show you how to install WordPress 3.3.1 and setup it up as your website. This will totally eliminate the need for any website design and expensive web development services that you do not need. Regarding ICDSoft, it is an excellent web hosting company with great price packages and 99.9% server uptime. Currently they are using MySQL database and PHP version 5.3 which works well with WordPress. Contact us at info@datatechnologyllc.com and we can get you domain and basic hosting package for just $4 a month!! Details on the hosting can be found on this webhosting page.

Let’s cut to the chase and jump into how to setup WordPress as your site, shall we?

1. Backup the files

As with an IT related task, it is always a good idea to the backup the database or website files before any major changes. We log into our website control panel using this address www.ehowis.net/cp.

This is what it looks like on our computer screen.

We click on Backup first. This brings a new screen where we have the ability to select Mail and Files. We do not have a database so we do not choose that selection. We click Backup Now. We get this message and then wait for a few minutes.

The backup files for “Mail” and “Files” will be created in a few minutes.

2. Download WordPress software

Next we need to install WordPress on our site. Basically we are going to download the files (WordPress-3.3.1.zip) to our computer and then upload it to the web hosting server. You can download the installation files from WordPress at this location:

http://www.WordPress.org

Here is what it looks like on our computer display.

We download WordPress version 3.3.1 it to a folder c:\WordPress on our machine

3. Upload WordPress software to your hosting

Once you have downloaded the archive that contains the WordPress installation to your site, you need to upload it on your web hosting account. You can either extract all the WordPress files or upload them to the web server, or you can upload the archive and use the web hosting Control Panel’s File Manager to extract the zip package. We decided to extract files to our computer first and then upload.

This is what the screen shot looks like on our computer monitor.

The best way to upload multiple files to a web server is via FTP (File transfer Protocol). If you are installing the WordPress application in the main folder of your domain, you may have to delete the default index.php file first. You can do this either via FTP or through your web hosting File Manager. We are going to upload to the main directory using Filezilla, an excellent free FTP software.

Here is what it looks like on our end when we upload the WordPress files to our server.

4. Configure WordPress software next using wp-config.php file

Next you need to access the URL (website address) using the browser where the extracted WordPress files are located. In our case the site URL is as follows:

http://ehowis.net/index.php

You should see the first page of the WordPress installation as listed below. Go ahead and click the “Create a Configuration File” button. This is what our computer screen looks like.

After we clicked on that option, you will get something that looks like this. It is basically asking for the MySQL database information. Remember WordPress needs MySQL database to run. We have included a screen capture from our WordPress installation here.

Follow the “Let’s go!” link. On the next screen it is going to ask you to enter the database information. Don’t worry we walk you through the steps on how to do that.

5. Create a MySQL database for WordPress software

Next you need to create a MySQL database for the WordPress software application. You can do this through your web hosting Control Panel section. In our Hosting, we click on MySQL databases. We create the database first (using name WordPress) and click Create.

We have shown what it looks like on our puter.

6. Create a specific MySQL database user for WordPress

Besides the database, you also need to create a MySQL user for WordPress. You can create it from the “MySQL Databases” section as well. Be sure to grant all privileges to this MySQL user. Following this we create the user as listed in the figure below:

Database name: ehowis_WordPress
MySQL User: ehowis_user
Password: ******
Privileges: All

Click on Add

7. Configure your database settings for WordPress

Next you need to configure your database for the following settings.

Database Name: You need to specify the MySQL database you created for your WordPress application.
User Name: You need to enter the MySQL username you created at your web hosting Control Panel
Password: You need to enter the password you assigned to your MySQL user.
Database Host: localhost
Table Prefix: You do not need to modify this setting

Here is what it looks like on our end.

Click Submit after you enter all the information. On the next screen, click on the “Run the install” button.

8. Enter information on your WordPress site

Site Title: You need to specify the name of your WordPress site. This should be a name of your choice, could be related to the content of your blog, company name, or domain name for example.
WordPress Username: Specify a username for the administration of your blog. (Save this please)
Password, twice: Fill in a password for the administration username, and repeat it.
Your E-mail for WP: You need to specify an administrative e-mail address for managing WordPress.
Check the option “Allow my site to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati.”

This is what it looks like on our computer display.

They do have a sense of humor over at WordPress development team, as we get this friendly message.

Success!
WordPress has been installed. Were you expecting more steps? Sorry to disappoint.

9. Log into your WordPress site

Click on the Login button and use the credentials that you had just setup earlier. Bingo!!

Here is what it looks like on our binary machine.

10. How to Add a new WordPress post?

Let’s go ahead and create a test post. Click on Posts in the left Navigation Bar and then select Add New. Go ahead and create a title for the post, add some text in the body and click Publish. Congrats, your blog is active just like that.

Here is a screen shot of what we see.

The blog post is now active. If you want to check it just open up a new web browser window and type in the URL address. For us it is our website address:

www.ehowis.net
Notice that now WordPress is running our site, no more web development or web developers needed! Woohoo!!

This is how it looks like on our computer window.

Related Links on setting up WordPress on your website:

-Installing and setting up WP on your site

-Step by step approach to getting WordPress set up

The use of JavaScript SDK is, thus essential to make sure that Facebook plug-ins such as the Like Button or Like Box is compatible and usable with secure HTTPS pages. Begin with creating a PHP page which will run the JaveScript SDK on an HTTP pag. One of the most commonly used Facebook social plug-ins is the Like Button. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work perfectly in an HTTPS environment, without the use of JavaScript SDK.

Once this is working, you will have to go to the following page:

https://developers.Facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/

Here you can configure your own Facebook Like Button code. Then, you will have to get the XFBML version of the button which will be again in the form of a code. After alterations as you may like, embed/ paste the button code within the PHP version. Then, try saving the script, and then upload it on web server and then, open it in the browser as follows:

https://www.yoursecuredomain.com/(savedfilename).

This will remove any warnings that you may have seen before, when you were using conventional iFrame method. You can then move on and integrate it in any CMS such as WordPress or Joomla. After this implementation, the code in your single.php, page.php or in any other templates will make the button appear on the web page. Remember to save any changes that you make!

To make use of Facebook Comments in HTTPS websites, you can again use the JaveScript SDK. Begin with logging into the CMS administrator panel and then decide the position of your comments plug-in. Then, add the comments code (XFMBL version). You can generate one here:

https://developers.Facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/comments/

Save the template and add meta property. Then you can move on to configuring the Facebook comments. Here is a site that is helpful in this regard:

http://www.devshed.com/c/a/PHP/How-to-Add-Facebook-Comment-Boxes-with-PHP/2/

Soon the installation of your plug-in will be completed.

According to the security team that exposed this vulnerability, the issue is with those phones running HTC’s latest software version, which includes the EVO 3D, the EVO 4G and the Thunderbolt in particular. Basically HTC had made some recent modification to the Android OS, and a result of that a number of tools can now collect loads of information about the user. Not only that, but this private information can also easily be made available on the web.

The security team that exposed this flaw has contacted HTC, and though there has been no official word from HTC regarding this, there is little doubt that they are working around the clock to rectify the issue.

With this issue being exposed, the debate between open source software, such as Android versus the closed source software, such as Apple has once again risen to the surface. There is no doubt that an open system allows users to download numerous apps from a variety of third party developers, giving the users a lot of flexibility; however this issue has just highlighted that the flexibility can indeed come at a cost. For the time being, closed system users must be sniggering and saying ‘We told you so’. But even after HTC manages to fix the issue, there is little doubt that the debate will ever be put to bed.

Also, since HTC has been notified of this flaw, users are hoping that HTC will release an update of the OS to solve the situation soon. Till then if users want their private information to be safe, rooting the device is the only option. But that could mean your warranty will be void. Hence HTC users are certainly left in a tizzy for the time being, and hopefully HTC will respond the soonest possible to fix this pressing issue.

Aakshey Talwar
Technical Writer