Teen girl scores $4 million through her website

Web2.0 & social networking is big enough to produce millionares.The wonder phenomena scores one more time when a 17year old girl,Catherine Cook recieved $4.1million in venture funding for the website she founded myyearbook.com.It's a social networking site not as big as Orkut and myspace.Its functionality,almost same as it popular counterparts.It has a personal storage space,you can share music,photos etc.One thing i particularly noticed is a flash movie is playing on the sidebar.It says "52% of myspace users are older than 35.My space is getting older".Overall an interesting site to check out and don't forget to vote for the 'best butt':).

BLOG MANAGEMENT BIBLE-I

This article will cover few basic tools,smart tools & smart ways of blogging.I truly wish my readers profit from it.

The first step to eternity starts when you choose right from wrong.Blogging field is no exception if you ponder the philosophy there.Tools ranging from bloghosts to blogediting softwares and photoposting softwares to feed providers do matter in the long run.And tools alone not determine the results your blog produce.There are areas which seem unimportant yet the are capable of turning the blogging experience upside down.Blogmanagement bible-I will cover toolselection,organization,monetization
and maintenance.Blogmanagement bible-II will cover tips&tricks you didn't know.You can leave your questions and suggestions as comments.

Lets get some smart tools
1.Bloghosts:This is the first decision any blogger would evertake.While many opt for personal domains bloghosts become the option for many.Choosing a bloghost can be confusing where many heavyweights are offering free blogging platforms.The most popular in the business are:
a.Blogger Beta
b.Wordpress
c.Typepad
d.Movable type
e.Live journal
f.Yahoo360
g.Msn spaces
My personal reccomendation will be 'Blogger Beta' because after recent bugfixes and declaration of completion it defenitely is here to stay.[why choose blogger beta?].Simplicity is a notable factor in the beta version and managing it is a cakewalk.Beautiful dashboard,impressive layout and decent compatibility,it is an excellent choice.

2.Blog-editing softwares:Smart blogging starts with blogediting softwares.These editors not only equip you with ability to do off-line blogediting but also gives you other excellent options you wont regret.Blogediting softwares are attaining impressive popularity.Some are simple and handy while some are complicated and brilliant.Here also the competition is tough with each editor having wonderful features.And what makes them even better is that they are free.Three best ones you will find are:-
a.Windows livewriter beta
b.w.bloggar
c.Qumana
Windows livewriter comes from the microsoft stack and requires .Netframework to run.It has excellent features.Its a 5mb download.The opensourced w.bloggar is simple and cool yet very efficient.Its a 2mb download.Qumana is equally good and requires java for its running.And this one is a 10mbdownload.My personal reccomendation will be windows livewriter beta for its impressive interface and functionality.It makes authoring a cakewalk and the publisher can know how the post will look exactly when published.It supports a web preview mode as well as a html view mode.Here you won't have to preview your blog each time after you make a change as in the case of conventional blogging.As far as photo-publishing is concerned,livewriter allows you to modify size of the pic,apply borders or even add graphic effects to it.

3.Picture posting softwares:Though blogger has an inbuilt photoposting feature,it is not so productive when resizing pictures to fit in.There comes the need of using professional tools to get the job done.One tool which does the job brilliantly and yet is free is "Hello" from picasa.It allows you to post photos directly to your blogs.And moreover its a free software.You may also need to cut and crop the pictures or do some editing.I would reccomend Picasa for this purpose.Its easy to handle.Gimp is also a good option but picasa is outstanding.

4.Web browser:One important tool which will ease the blogging process is a right internet browser.While internet explorer is good we need much more than that.I would recommend mozilla firefox.Its functionality is bravo.Bloggers need a multi-functionality browser and firefox is the one.


5.Online scrapbook.Majority of blogging ideas arrive when bloggers stumble upon something while surfing .If you're not in a mood to blog about it at that moment,the chances are you type about it in your notepad and name it "to blog".Well there's a better idea.Why not copy the stuff to an online scrapbook.Google notebook is such a thing which you cannot ignore.You may ask how unproductive is this stuff when you need to copy something and go to another website log into it and paste the item.Here comes the relevance of the browser i mentioned earlier.Firefox has a google notebook plugin which you can get at the mozilla website.It will stay at the bottom right corner and when clicked will open into a small popup window where you can paste the 'item to blog'.

6.Feeds:Giving option to readers is essential to get loyal readers.Feeds are certainly growing faster than expected and reading posts in your feed reader is much more convenient compared to visiting the sites at browser.There are many feed providers in the business,the best one i could find is feedburner.Highly impressive interface,decent statistics & reports and lots of stuff to customize,feedburner is smart&sexy.link


Lets go to the next level

7.Content:The basics to smoothen the process of blog-management is over,now we will move to advanced stages.One thing you should never compromise is your content.Never write in a superficial manner.Its very important for every blogger to know that there are readers for every content.Write you passion.Keep it original.Give it a personal touch.Content is indeed the most important requiste in getting traffic and ofcourse the basic idea of blogging is to get readers for what you write.

8.Blog monetization:Bloggers also need to eat and drink.Blogs are certainly a good source of income if you know what to do where and when.Thanks to google adsense,chitika and a few others that bloggers have been kept alive not only with bread and water but with good remuneration for the hardwork.Blogs are advertiser's paradise and they know it.You need to sign up for a publisher account and wait for the e-mail.Google adsense remains the best when it comes to blog/website monetization.Since there is no obligation that you cannot display ads from different providers you can choose the ones you like.Chitika e-mini malls,blogads and yahoo adcenter are a few good alternatives for adsense.

9.Traffic:Blogmonetization is incomplete without traffic.The best way to get traffic is search engines.Once you get listed in search engines give time for the results to show.In the mean time you can work to give your blog some exposure.The techniques i can reccomend you will further lengthen the article.So i will post is very soon as a seperate article.


10.Monitor:The next thing you will want is to monitor your blog traffic i.e. how many people visit your blog,when do they come in herds,which ads they click.The best way to know all these is to get a google analytics account.As the name suggests its all analytical.

11.Stay organized:This is generaly a tip.Keep a folder dedicated to your blog in any drive of your harddisk with considerable amount of space.This will do a lot good in the long run.Make a folder for posts,one for pictures and one for other multimedia.Make one more folder and copy installation files of the blogging softwares you use into it.Never know when it comes handy.


Blog management bible-I ends here.Hope it was useful.If you wish Tips180 to include any subjects in Blog management bible-II,leave it as a comment.Tips180 always appreciates comments.

INTERESTING FIREFOX ADD-ONS & INTERESTING USES

Firefox extensions are one of the reasons why many people opt for it.
This article is about few firefox extensions i found really interesting and why they are interesting.

-Gmail space:Everthought of an online storage drive other than rapidshare or megaupload.Well many will say that g-mail is a good option.But i can assure that there aren't many whose first thoughts are g-mail.May be this is because the other options are more easy to use.But now we can't complain about the easiness because the
task of a personal sharing space is only at the reach of a free firefox extension.G-mail space or G-space lets you use your g-mail space of nearly 3gb which one is never going to require,unless he recieves thousands of emails daily,as a personal storing and sharing space.Its interface is like a FTP window.One smart use of this service will be to use this to create a backup for your windows drive or your favourite multimedia drive.You can also listen or preview the multmedia content in g-mail space.You can even back up your system without spending a single byte from your pc harddisk.


-infoRSS:You will love this plugin if you're a guy who feels the need to be updated about the lastest or if you are into blogging.This one can also function as a g-mail notifier.Now they have listed about 59 features it comes with.And there are
a few features that matters in the daily run like:

1. Customized refresh time per feed.
2.Pre-defined blog search feed (technorati, blogger, ,...).
3.Customized filter per feed : filter on title, subject, headline number, published date, received date etc.
4.Full associated HTML article in a simple click on the headline.
5.Scrolling feeds in the headline area.
6.Manual scrolling with the mouse wheel.
7.Right to left or left to right scrolling direction.
8.Customized scrolling speed.
9.Mark all headlines as read.
10.View all headlines at once
11.Option to play/mute podcast.
12.Delete a feed in the menu with drag and drop on the trash bin.
13.Thumbnail image of the main URL in the option dialog.

This one is an excellent choice if you don't want to go for feed readers.




-Click!:

Softwares have been made for the purpose this extension offer and you should haveit when it comes free and in kbs.It lets you take snapshots of webpages and blogs.Its a handy tool for those who love to keep records of webpages like newspapers or even just for fun.Many more uses can be there depending on how
creative you are.

-Live writerfox:

Microsoft will hate it,but bloggers will love it.Its what i have been expecting blogger to do.Atleast for the time being i will happily be satisfied with posting blogs using livewriter in firefox.You need to have windows livewriter installed to run this extension.

-Wikipedia toolbar:This one is a must have plug-ins if you wiki for information.Toolbar to internet's own encyclopedia will
not come alone.It has a privacy protector and popup blocker with it and one can add links to windows programs on the toolbar.

-Cooliris Previews:This one is for those don't want to click the link but want to know how the page will look like.This extension will allow you to preview how a page will look like without clicking the link.Just place the mouse pointer over
the link and a preview window will appear.The preview window is customizable.
Very useful for those who use search engines frequently and want to know whether the page you're going to view is useful or not.

Adsense warning:Don't preview your adsense links,there are chances that it may be counted as fraudulent clicks.

-Clipmarks:This extension is a google notebook alternative.It lets you clip text and images you find interesting on the net to your clipmarks account.Useful for those who don't use google account.

-Mailman:As the name suggests it's a candidaite for presidential elections.Just joking,it's a mail notifier which is compatible with all major e-mail providers.Handy tool if you're having multiple e-mails.There is no limit
to the number of accounts that you can add.Also the frequency of checking mails ie the time interval between which mailman will check your accounts for new e-mail can be configured.

If you would like to add your favourite firefox addon to this list,leave the name of plugin in comment area with the reason why it is your favourite.

HOW RICH ARE YOU?

Where do you stand when compared to the richest people in the world.Don't know?.Find it out at Globalrichlist.com.If you are in the less fortunate group you will get a message of motivation.If you fall among the group of richest you will get a sensible message of philanthropy.And if you belong to the mediocre earning category you will still get a message of philanthropy because even a low annual income of $850 will make you richer than 50% of the world population.

INTERESTING FACT FIGURES.
I tried to calculate where do average earning persons of few countries stand in the richlist.

Indians.India having a average per capita income of $620 makes an average indian richer than 31% of the world population.

Americans.US having an average per capita income of $41400 makes an average american richer than 97% of the world population.But yet americans aren't the richest people in the world.

Luxembourg-ians.Average per capita income of a luxembourg citizen(luxembourg is an independent state under Netherlands) is $56230 which makes an average earner there richer than 99% of the world population.Switzerland with an average percapita income of $48230 and Norway with $52030 falls between america and luxembourg in the rich list.

People

William Henry GatesIII who earns $250 dollars a second,about $20million a day and about $7.8billion a year makes him richer than ofcourse 99.99% of the world population.Don't be suprised thats Bill gates' original name.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE STILL WAITING FOR AN ORKUT INVITATION

I noticed in several forums people asking for an orkut invitation at eleveted levels of desperation.If you are one of them you are at the right place.Tips180 is giving away orkut invitations for all those people who still are waiting to join orkut.All you have to do is leave a comment with your full name and email address and your invitation will reach you.
{Offer valid till invitations last. :)grin}

I recommend firefox for enhanced browsing experience.

FIREFOX PLUGIN RSS TICKER:RSS READER ALTERNATIVE

Firefox's new addon Rss ticker will be a worth installing stuff for you if you don't
want to install rss readers for keeping up with news around the world.Its a 56kb download.This is how firefox explains its agiltity.

RSS Ticker loads your Live Bookmarks and scrolls their entries across your screen while you surf. It's perfect for staying informed without having to actively browse entries in an RSS reader.
You can decide which of your Live Bookmarks you want scrolled in the ticker by checking or unchecking the box in the bookmark's properties dialog (right-click on the Live Bookmark in the Bookmarks menu and choose Properties), or by managing all of your feeds in the ticker's feed manager (in the RSS Ticker options dialog).

You can choose to have RSS Ticker shuffle all of the entries from all of the feeds so that you always have a variety of links showing in the ticker, and since RSS Ticker shows the feed's favicon (favorite's icon) next to each entry, you'll know exactly which feed each entry is from.

How to add live bookmarks or rss feeds to firefox?

There are two ways to add a Live Bookmark in Firefox:

1. If the page you are looking at in your browser offers an RSS feed ( http://digg.com/ , for example), there will be a small orange icon on the right side of the address bar. If you click on that, it will open the "Add Live Bookmark" dialog.

2. In the Bookmarks Manager, (found under Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks), there is an option under the File menu for "New Live Bookmark." Here you can put the location of the XML feed in the Location field.

After doing either of these steps, restarting Firefox or choosing "Refresh Feeds" from the Ticker's context menu will show the feed in the ticker.

TRANSFORM YOUR BLOG WITH GOOGLE GADGETS

Next time welcome your readers with a transformed page of your blog and this is how you do it.Go to google gadgets and choose your gadget from a range of 100s.Get the code and paste it on your template.You are done.You have the option of adding google videos,google clock,google map,Wikipedia,Google calculator,daily horoscopes and even driving directions.These are only some of them.You also can change the width and height to match the position you want it to be displayed and also has 10 different borders to choose from.I will advise to stick with the first one.Check it out.

HOW TO GET YOUR BLOG A FEED AND LINK LINES TO SOCIAL BOOKMARKING SITES LIKE DIGG,TECHNOCRATI,FURL

This tip targeted at beginner-bloggers will help to add a feed{ofcourse with a feed button}and add link lines like "digg this","Add to del.icio.us","Add to technorati" and link lines of lots other social bookmarking sites.The most easy way by which you can do all these stuff together and transform your blog is mentioned below.
1.First lets choose a feed provider site.I will reccomend feedburner.com.Its the best and free.So i will mention the process in a hope that you are currently at the feedburner homepage.
2.Create a feedburner account.All you have to do is type your blog address in that cream box.Click next.Choose your feeder type.If you use atom feed i will recommend you to get an Rss feed because feedburner and atom are just not made for each other.You can get an rss feed from rssfeedreader.com.
.If you already have an rss feed then select it an move to the next step.
3.After a couple of nexts you will reach your 'feed editing page'.Click on
optimize and then on smartfeed and activate it.This will make your feed compatible with all feed-readers.Go to publicize and click on the friendly graphic button on the 'chickletize your website' paragraph.Choose an icon.The standard ones are most popular.
4.Copy the html code.If you use beta blogger then go to template>add a page element>html/javascript>Paste the code.People normally expect it on the sidebar rather than the bottom bar.But doing this will prevent you from adding link lines.So if you want both revert to classic template but you will loose your current settings.Classic template is more practical.After reverting paste the code any where after the 'Begin sidebar' line and preview it before saving.Move around and check it out at different locations on the sidebar.
5.Now view and check whether the feedbutton is there.
6.Now lets add link lines.Before that click on pingshot and activate pinging on social bookmarking websites.That will help you popularize your blog.
7.Now click on optimize to start adding link lines.
8.You would see the checkerboxes and stuff.Lets start adding the sites of your choice.Click on 'browse the catalog'.Click on the link which is beside 'copy the url'.
9.You will get an xml screen.Dont get scared,just leave that xml stuff and copy
the address from the address bar.
10.Now paste it on the box before 'Add new flare' on the edit page.
11.Select the stuff you need and save.The items on the 'Personal feed flare' will
dissappear if you left it unchecked.
12.Now get the html code by choosing the blogging platform.{its just above the save buttom}.Follow the directions.Bingo
Hope this article was helpful.There will be more articles for beginners at tips180.
Press Control+D to bookmark this blog.Thank you.

EARN CASH SUBMITTING VIDEOS ON METACAFE

Now you can earn money while acquiring popularity through the videos you submit on Metacafe.Metacafe has introduced a new program ccalled producer rewards.This is how your video will earn you money.Your payment
starts when 20000 people view your video which will put $100 in your pocket.When views reach 200000 you earn 1000$ more and on reaching 2million views you earn $10000 which will be about 4.5 lakhs in indian currencies.The first thing is to get your video approved by metacafe team and then you are exposed to a an audience of above 1million per day.There are also few do's and dont's stated by metacafe.

Do
Do submit videos that are entertaining, funny, amazing and cool. If you and your friends think it's great, it probably is.
Do make sure you are the sole owner of the video. This may mean getting signed permission from all the people in the video.
Do video your pets. People love pets and they speak a universal language.
Do check the site regularly. Come and see what works... and what works less.
Do think about what you and your close friends would enjoy watching and see if you have anything like that in your video archives. You may be sitting on buried treasure.
Do keep a backup of anything you submit to Metacafe. We cannot return any of your videos and we cannot guarantee that they will be suitable for presentation on Metacafe.
Don't
Don't submit videos that are not your own. You won't get paid for them and your account may get cancelled.
Don't submit videos to Producer Rewards unless they are suitable for all audiences. That means no adult, erotic, violent or hateful content.
Don't plan any dangerous stunts or set up any perilous pranks in the hope of catching something great. Metacafe bears no responsibility for any injuries to your person or your pride.
Don't worry about promoting your video - our unique rating system will make sure it reaches the audience it deserves. Outstanding videos will quickly rise to the top.
Don't get discouraged if your video isn't accepted to Producer Rewards. Keep trying. You can submit as many videos as you want until you create that runaway hit.

GOOGLE ADSENSE SECRETS:BETA BLOOGER PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

This is second among 'Tips180 Google adsense secret series' and in this article we will throw some light on restrictions put by Blogger in its beta version and overcoming it.
1.How to add adsense code in blogger beta?
If you have just begun blogging and adsensing your blog this will help you.
Firts go to template.You will see add a page element on the sidebar and on the
bottom on the illustrated blog view.Click on it and then select add html/javascript.Paste your adsense code and save it and you are done.
2.Where should i put the refferal button?
The refferal button is more noticable when it is on the top of side bar.
3.What type of ads are good to be placed in sidebar or bottombar?
Google may advise you certain positions which may earn you bucks.They might be true but have you noticed those ads google put on the search result page.Yeah right on the right hand side and you might have noticed it and may have clicked it.So blogger gives and advantage there though it was supposed to be a minus point.Adformat which will look good and more noticable will be the 160x600 WIDE SKYSCRAPER.And as far as the bottom bar is concerned image ads are more appealing there.
4.What to do if i want to go to the good old blogger?
You won't have to struggle to get back to good old blooger even if you signed up
for blooger beta.Just go to the template section,then the edit html section and at the bottom you will see revert to classic template.Just click on it.You will back to the normal one.
5.What if i have any more question regarding this subject?
If you have any queries on pasting codes in blogger or want interesting ideas for pasting adsense codes.Leave your question as comment with your e-mail.

More on the subject:Google adsense secret untouched subjects