SocialLink currently works with major social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter which I was impressed with as I often see a lot of social media applications that tend to miss out Instagram and LinkedIn. At first you need to set up your social media accounts with the SocialLink application. Once you have done this you can search using Bluetooth for nearby devices to connect to and then select the social networks that you which to connect on.

The interface of the SocialLink is minimalistic and professional. All of the steps are easy to follow and you do not need to be an expert to use SocialLink. What I liked is the small number of steps that it took for me to get set-up with SocialLink and start connecting with friends. The interface has a Link button on that you use to connect with other devices once you are set-up on the app. When you press this your device starts to search for nearby devices to connect to so that you can begin connecting. There is also an Email option which allows you to instantly send an email to someone not using the app; the email will also include a link for the recipient to download SocialLink to their device.

For me I can imagine this app being most useful when I am out in places such as restaurants or conferences and want to connect with friends on social networks. The main advantage for me will be how time-saving the app is as I will not need to waste time searching through social networks to connect with my friends which can often be difficult when using a mobile.

The SocialLink application is FREE to download from the app store now and the current version is 1.3. SocialLink is compatible iOS 5.1 onwards and is also iPhone 5 optimised so iPhone 5 users can get the benefit of using the full length of the screen.

Get SocialLink

1. Cloud Computing & Storage

Although the wide plethora of different systems that make up commercial clouds is growing enormously in popularity, many small business and even their more tech friendly startup counterparts are still not using it anywhere near enough.

If you’re just getting your startup off the ground, this has got to be a habit that you don’t fall into for a number of good reasons. For one thing, the cloud, be it in the form of remote storage options, remote computing power and access to powerful hardware tools, gives your little company the potential for access to far more services and tools than you could normally afford as a newly formed startup. All of these become available to you at a relatively low access cost and little in the way of any actual systems maintenance costs.

Furthermore, by buying access to cloud services, you can more cheaply and easily compete with other players in your field who are almost certainly going to do the same thing eventually if they haven’t done so already; it’s better to beat them to the punch.

Finally, the cloud, as provided by companies like Oracle, Microsoft and Google, or on a smaller scale by services like DropBox, makes sharing data, saving information and collaborating internationally with company partners much, much easier than ever before; both information and tools can be shared instantly across numerous different, geographically separated machines.

2. Video Conferencing and Calling

The technology of video calling and conferencing has truly matured during the last few years, and with the wider availability of high speed internet access, more powerful computers and far better video coding and rendering, it has become accessible to even startups with the lowest possible budgets.

This means that you have no effective excuse for not using this powerful communications and collaboration tool in your new business.  If you’re doing any sort of partner based work or dealing with employees and contractors that are separated by any sort of distances, using video calling technologies like GoToMeeting, Skype, Intercall and more robust systems like Jabber, maintained by Cisco, can be an enormous cost saver.

Applied well, especially in conjunction with other remote sharing technologies like cloud computing and storage, video conferencing can really allow you to create a completely decentralized location free office. In essence, you could turn your startup into a “micro multinational”, a small business with the international sharing and communications capacities of a much larger company.

3. The Mobile Web

Most of already access the mobile web individually through our numerous personal devices such as smart phones and even tablets. However, taking advantage of it personally is not the same as systematically building it into our startup as an established growth tool.

To do this, you need to develop a more fleshed out philosophy about the mobile web and implement it firmly in your company’s practical activities. What does this mean? For one thing, you should make sure that you and every other employee or partner are mobile connected through 3G, 4G or at least Wi-Fi mobile access through your own or company issued smart devices (tablets, phones). You should be using high quality mobile devices and working together to share a core series of collaborative mobile apps and communication tools so that you can not only be in full contact whenever needed, but also able to work together even if everyone is on the go.

Special company issued phones would be a great idea and you should connect them with at least some startup friendly apps like DropBox, mobile video calling tools (Skype, Tango, ooVoo, etc.), social media mobile apps and finance tracking apps like Mint. All of these would be a great starting point for integrating your startup with the mobile web’s collaborative power.

4. A Mobile Friendly Website

Your startup should be working towards getting itself visible to customers and making sales as quickly as possible. Not only will doing this create some really useful early cash flow that you can support yourself on, it will also develop your brand presence from an early point that builds momentum that much faster as you grow.

One of the key tools for developing this brand visibility is your own company website. But, to take this old and basic business tool a step further, you should focus on creating a site that’s as usable as possible to as many people as possible on all their diverse devices. This means a mobile startup site and you can develop this either by creating a website whose design is mobile responsive (responsive design) creating a redirecting mobile URL of your site (an m. site along with your usual www. Site) or by turning your web presence into a downloadable mobile application through which your fans can pick up the latest your company is offering and even buy it in-app.

Whether your company is still in development or already nicely fleshed out, you need to get it visible and creating actual customers/users/fans as soon as possible, and a flexible, mobile friendly website is the best way to do it.

5. Social Media Presence

Social media isn’t too new but it still gets forgotten by a surprising number of startups, despite being one of the best viral, person-to-person marketing tools ever seen. For a newly founded –or funded—startup, creating a social networking presence is vital.

You need to kick start your social media presence as soon as you have a message to deliver to your target market and a product or service to explain to them. Start with the major social networks like Twitter and Facebook, and work your way into others like LinkedIn (ideal for professional networking) and nicheier, specialized social media that might be just right for your company’s industry. Connect all of your accounts to your actual business site and share updates or content between the two regularly.

With social media, you can slowly build a vase of fans with which you communicate regularly, have conversations and explain what you’re all about. Doing this effectively and sincerely can create willing customers that are ready for your businesses cool new product or service even before it’s on sale.

Best of all, you can use this wide two way conversation between startup and fans to develop a better product by actually testing the water and asking everyone who’s interested about what they’d like to see you sell, how they’d like to see you price it and what would really help them out.

 A colleague of mine, Andy, who is also a Master Practitioner of NLP, was teaching a variety of psychological change approaches to a group of sports science students some years ago and he had given the class the assignment of researching and making a short presentation on an approach they had been given.

One young man had been given the subject of NLP and Andy waited with curiosity to hear what description would be given of this approach that was particularly close to his heart.

“NLP…” the student announced to the listening class, “is a cult!”

Andy didn’t actually tell me what his response had been but I suspect he experienced something of a ‘heart-sink’ moment.  It is an experience that may have been shared by others involved with NLP when we realise that this particular misconception is held by some people about NLP.  Well, I want to look at the claim and see whether it is at all justified.

Before I start I want to freely admit that some people within the NLP community would probably like it to be a cult.  Some of the NLP trainings we see out there by a few of the best known names in NLP (i.e. the best self-publicists) certainly bear a resemblance to some of the Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGATs) or evangelical religious missions, but these gatherings are in no way representative of the true nature of NLP and most serious-minded NLP Trainers and Practitioners that I know shudder at their very mention.  So in this article I would like to look at some of the key characteristics of cults and then see how the field of NLP compares.

Different sources on cults will give different key characteristics but I want to look at a number of characteristics that most authorities will agree on.

1. Cult Characteristic: Zealous, unquestioning loyalty and commitment to the cult Leader, living or dead.

NLP: Since NLP does not have a Leader, but is rather a dynamic, developing field of interest with a multitude of contributors and developers, this characteristic is clearly not evident.  Certainly there were some key originators and co-creators, one or two of whom have attempted to control the field, but such attempts were quite rightly thwarted and NLP is ‘open source’ material with no one arbiter of ‘the Truth’.  Innovations and developments within NLP tend to gain traction or be discarded depending upon whether they are useful or not, rather than whether they have been ‘blessed’ or ‘endorsed’ by a Supreme Leader.  NLP actively encourages autonomy and independence of thought, rather than mindless compliance.

1. Cult Characteristic: Questioning, doubt or dissent are actively discouraged or even punished.

NLP: We have implicitly looked at this in the first point.  The NLP community is an open one that is not controlled by any one figure, group or hierarchy.  There is no ‘Credo’ (although there are a number of generally agreed-upon principles) and innovation, creativity and appropriate challenge are encouraged and judged on their merits.  This does not, of course, mean that some NLP Trainers don’t establish their own cliques or attempt a bit of Empire Building but such activities tend to be a side-show that are looked at with some derision by the majority of those in the NLP community.

1. Cult Characteristic: Members are encouraged to live apart from society and subject their lives to the complete control of the Leader or Leadership, down to the smallest details such as eating, sleeping, dress, socialising etc.

NLP: NLP is a set of skills that people train to acquire and then use in their lives to the extent that they personally choose. Training in NLP is no different from taking a course in basket-weaving, a language course or cookery lessons (except I would suggest it is perhaps more useful in a greater range of contexts).  Some people will use the skills a little, some will never look at them again and some will find that a passion has been ignited and NLP will become something more significant for them.  People do not live in ‘NLP Cults’ with locked gates, dormitories or the like.  NLP offers skills for people to take away and use in the lives that they choose to live for themselves.

1. Cult Characteristic: Members are discouraged or forbidden from leaving the cult and, if they do leave, attempts are made to lure them back.

NLP: As mentioned above, people who train in NLP do not join anything (except perhaps a professional body that they can leave at any time) so there is nothing for them to leave.  I have yet to meet an NLP Trainer who is interested in the living circumstances of their students or their life beyond the training context other than to give support, by invitation, to help students integrate NLP concepts into some part of their life where they think it can help.  On the contrary, I suspect that if NLP Trainers as a group had any complaint, it would be about the occasional less-than-boundaried student who takes up too much of their time and intrudes outside of training hours.

1. Cult Characteristic: The cult is pre-occupied with recruiting new members, making money for the Leadership and expects members to devote an in-ordinate amount of time and other resources to the cult’s activities.

NLP: I suspect that some of the points made above will already have addressed this characteristic.  NLP does not have a Leader (although there are a few self-appointed ‘Gurus’ who are viewed with disdain by the majority) so there is no ‘membership’ as such or ‘drones’ making honey for the Queen Bee.  Some NLP Trainers who make a living of sorts from teaching NLP will push students to take more and more training and may use rather unethical hard-sell methods, but this is really no different from any other type of business.  You will get ethical and professional builders and you will get unethical, ‘cowboy’ builders.  This is no reflection on the nature of the building industry – it is a reflection on human nature and how people choose to ply their trade.  Perhaps I delude myself but I suspect that the majority of NLP Trainers and Practitioners market themselves reasonably ethically and certainly do not have legions of minions recruiting new members and lining the ‘Leader’s pockets whilst neglecting their own interests.  I doubt that the vast majority of NLP Trainers have any involvement with their trainees outside of the training room or beyond the end of the course, with the possible exception of some form of mutually agreed mentoring or supervision relationship.

Clearly there are many other common characteristics of cults that we don’t have time to go into now but I suspect that those I have discussed above are the major ones and we can see by a simple contrast that whatever NLP is, it certainly isn’t a ‘cult’.

So what is it?  NLP is simply a body of skills, concepts and knowledge that constitutes a useful way to interact with the world because it is often effective and empowering.  People from many different walks of life choose to train to acquire these skills because they want to be more effective, successful or happy.

It’s as simple or as complicated as that.

For more information visit NLP Training & Courses at Watt Works

Christmas Tale

The Christmas Tale application is designed for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. It is designed as an interactive Christmas storybook for kids.  The app comes with the options like- “Read it Myself” and “Read to Me”. Moreover, the kids can discover little gems that are hidden in the pictures.  The little gems earned can get the user a Christmas wish list that will lead to find presents under the virtual tree.  The app is available for $1.99 for the full version and has been developed by TabTale Ltd.

Christmas Tree Maker

Without decorating the Christmas tree, the spirit of the festive season is incomplete. Decorating the tree is one of the main family events, especially for kids. Now to give your little ones a good practice over decorating the tree, the Christmas Tree Maker app for iPhone and iPad is the best option. The app lets the user choose the tree type, lights, decorations and much more. Above all, once you finished decorating your Christmas tree, you can share it with your friends via email. The app is free and has been developed by the Sunstorm Interactive.

Waitrose Christmas

With the festive season arriving, a run for explicit and super Christmas recipes start. Waitrose Christmas is the app specially designed for setting up the special Christmas meal. It is not just an app designed for Christmas recipes, but the app includes tools, planners and gift guides that help the user to plan the Christmas party much in advance. The app is the best option to avoid all the last minute rushes in your kitchen.

Christmas Carols by iChristmas

It’s Christmas time and without saying you are in the mood for Christmas carols. This handy application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod gives you some of the best all-time favorite carols. The app also provides the lyrics so that even if you forget the words you don’t have to worry.  The app is available for $0.99 and has been developed by Light in the Attic Software

RedLaser iPhone App

Christmas time is shopping time and all you need is an app to make your shopping experience fun and easy. RedLaser is an app designed and developed to search millions of products through various online and local retailers to find the best prices available. The application comes with a Barcode Scanner, Shopping Assistant and QR Code Reader. The barcode scanner helps the user to scan the product and search for the lowest price available for the product. The app also helps to review the customer feedback on a particular product. The user can also search for market places, nutritional information, and share the feedback and comments. The app plays a perfect time saving option during this festive season. The application is free of cost and has been developed by eBay Inc.

It’s common knowledge that every time one of the major global brands releases a new product, even if it’s just an update of the predecessor, the queues outside the stores can be enormous – just like the price tags – but it still doesn’t put people off, with many queuing for days and nights in the pouring rain last month to get their hands on the iPhone 5. Madness!

For a business, either up and coming or established, it’s vital that you have not necessarily the newest, but the most productive technology at your disposal. If you find that certain packages could be the difference between success and getting by, then you have to invest. But how do you do that without blowing the annual budget? After all, you can hardly fill an office of 100 employees with brand new Mac’s, for example, and not expect that to make a sizable dent in the company bank account.

Here are three tips for finding the latest and greatest tech without paying full price:

 Online discounts

A lot of retailers will offer substantial discounts on products online that you may not find in stores. You’ll probably find that these are mostly the brands that have both online and high street shops as opposed to just an online presence, but you can get some amazing deals. For example, if you’re a photography company, doing a search for something like Jessops promo codes could give you a good chunk off the overall price tag, free delivery or other useful extras. The same is true in any industry, whether you’re looking for new laptops, textbooks, desks, just about anything.

Bulk discounts

We all love a good haggle – or the theory anyway, even if we’re not very good at it – and sometimes just enquiring about the possibility of a discount on your purchase of more than of a certain item, like office furniture, could work in your favour. As opposed to paying £50 per chair 100 for instance, you could pay significantly less, get discounted or free delivery, it all depends on your negotiation skills and the mood of the retailer!

Shop around and research

While it sounds very simple, a lot of people hear about something new or innovative being released onto the market and hand over the money almost straight away. They “need” the product for whatever reason and subsequently buy it from the first place they find. However, sometimes there are much cheaper alternatives – or even versions of the same product – out there, that just need a bit of a look at first. You might see this as a waste of time, but there are significantly cheaper versions of the iPad out there that are perfectly good tablet computers but because they don’t have the Apple branding, they’re often overlooked. But if you can get something beneficial to the workplace, without breaking the bank, you’ll keep the employees, customers, clients and accountants happy

Because today’s entrepreneur simply cannot ignore the impact and importance of technology in the process of developing a business idea, the intelligent entrepreneur will carefully select the technology that will benefit their business the most.

Ten techie tips for entrepreneurs include:

 Consider Cloud-Based Applications on Which to Build Your Business

Cloud-based applications are applications that are offered over the Internet to business users for a fee. Many cloud-based applications are available that utilize the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. This model enables a business to access sophisticated products without major investments in hardware and software. Let’s assume the entrepreneur needs an effective customer relationship management (CRM) application. Their choices even 10 years ago were limited to purchasing a complicated software suite, installing the application on a server and training users to use the product. In todays’ cloud-based world, CRM packages are offered that allow entrepreneurs to offer the same benefits of an expensive stand-alone package to employees, only these SaaS application live in the cloud and may be accessed through a simple web browser on any device.

The entrepreneur may supply thin client devices to employees instead of full-blown workstations to access cloud-based applications. The business saves money not only through the SaaS application offering, but on hardware for the workforce.

Enable the Workforce to be Mobile

Build your business around the concept of mobility. Mobility allows employees to work from any location at any time. Gone are the days when employees were tethered to their computers at a desk in the office. With smartphones, tablets and laptops, employees are able to work from anywhere and at anytime, increasing productivity and profits.

Cloud-based applications enable employees to perform their job functions from any location and on any device. Cloud-based applications are becoming more and more diverse, with cloud offerings for email, data storage, business applications and even network performance management suites. Cloud-based applications support mobility of the workforce.

Before Purchasing Traditional Software Applications, Research the Cloud-Based Options

Most applications are now offered via a cloud-based model. Business save money by utilizing applications in the cloud. In addition, the thin client, smartphone or tablet is the only hardware required by workers to access cloud-based applications. Never assume that a cloud-based, SaaS version of the software required for the business is not available Research the cloud-based options for every business application.

Use Technology to Its Fullest to Market Your Brand

Social networks are a popular and easy way to promote a brand. Entrepreneurs may want to start with one platform to test the waters. Once one platform is mastered, the business owner may seek to move to additional platforms to promote the brand. For example, create a Facebook business page. Master the techniques and strategies for brand marketing on the platform. Once the business owner has mastered brand marketing on Facebook, move on to Twitter and explore the possibilities with this social network.

Master the Art of SEO

The business’ online presence is extremely important. Master the art of Search Engine Optimization so that the brand is easily found in search engine results. Many marketing firms specialize in getting businesses ranked high in search engine results. Solicit the advice of professionals to establish and promote the brand’s online presence.

Master the Art of Content Creation

Once the businesses’ website is optimized and live, master the art of content creation to keep the site ranking high with the major search engines. Brand sites that offer regular and relevant expert blogs and useful articles rank higher in search engine results than brand sites that are static and rarely publish new content. In addition to higher search engine rankings, customers appreciate how-to articles, tips and tricks that are relevant to the brand.

Utilize the Press Release to Its Full Potential to Promote the Brand

Hopefully, the entrepreneur is entering the venture with a new and better product than is currently offered. Press releases generate buzz with those who will promote the brand without compensation, such as bloggers and reporters. In addition, sites such as PRWeb.com enable brand managers and evangelists to publish press releases that draw attention. PRWeb also offers several helpful posts and articles about creating press releases that get attention. Utilize well written and attention-getting press releases to generate a buzz about the brand.

First, create a template using the standard press release format that will be used for all press releases for the business. Write a boilerplate about the company and place the text in the appropriate location in the press release template. Include the website address, physical address and any other important information about the company. Always use the standard, industry accepted format for creating company press releases.

Manage the Brand’s Online Reputation

Online reputation management is becoming increasingly more important. Customers review products and services, and these reviews garner attention from potential customers. Positive reviews carry more weight than advertising efforts, in most cases. However, negative reviews may have a very harmful effect on the brand, especially for business that are just starting up. Manage the brand’s online reputation in a proactive way. Perform Google searches every day using the brand name as a search term. If a negative review or social media comment is found, address the concerns of the poster right away. Court the poster by offering them special consideration in some way. Those who post negative comments and reviews may be converted to dedicated brand evangelists with some effort and personalized attention.

Master Analytic Tools for Brand Management and Online Reputation Management

Google Analytics is a free tool that provides the user with a wealth of information about the traffic to the brand site. Other tools help brand managers monitor online conversations about the product. Twendz is a tool that monitors Twitter posts that are positive, negative or neutral, about a product or service. Blogging tools, such as Technorati, help the brand manager to take the temperature of the brand across blogs.  You can find more information about Dell Thin Client solutions here.

Utilize Mobile Marketing Strategies to Promote the Brand

Mobile marketing is an inexpensive way to reach current and potential customers. Because individuals carry their smartphones with them at all times, the potential for reaching customers through mobile marketing is great. Mobile marketing allows business owners to promote just about any product or service.

Today’s entrepreneur must integrate current technologies in all aspects of a fledgling business. Not only will technology provide ways for the entrepreneur to save money, the business is also perceived as being “in touch with the current times” when technology is utilized to build the business and promote the brand.

These .renders have to be the best ones we have seen so far so it will be interesting to see what the final design will actually look like.What you have to remember is that no one actually knows what the latest iPhone will look like and these renders are just based on rumors. So what are your thoughts ? I personally like the new design.

If you have not optimized your YouTube videos then exactly the same effect is going to happen as what would happen to a websites that has not been search engine optimized. Views will be a minimum. Contrary to what many people may think; optimizing your videos is actually pretty easy.

Keyword rich titles and descriptions 

Keyword research is well, key for YouTube to see what keywords that your competitors are using. Spend some time searching for related videos and making a list of the keywords that they are using that are suited to your videos. Once you have these you can start to write your titles and descriptions.

Your Title is key on YouTube. Firstly for SEO and getting the highest possible rankings but also this is what people see when looking through search results and deciding what video to click on. I like to use my keywords at the start of the title as they seem more relevent and get the best results i find, however you might want to do some experimenting and see what works best for you.

Never neglect your Description. Time and time again i see videos with either a short or non existent description. Your description is key and i like to have at least on good strong paragraph that is full of keywords. There is no need to repeat you title but instead you can use some keywords that you was not able to use in your title. If you are creating a lyrics video then you may want to add the lyrics to your description so that if people search for a songs lyrics then you are still going to rank highly.

Furthermore many people do not use Tags. Tags are just like your Meta tags when you are optimizing your website for search engines and best rankings. I like to use between 8 and 12 tags for best results as you do not want too less as they will not have much effect, and there is no need for too much.

Powerful YouTube channel

Just like when first publishing a website, you are not going to have much web authority at the beginning and probably a very low Page rank to go with that. Well this is exactly the same with YouTube. A channel with hundreds of videos in a niche and loads of views is going to rank a lot higher than your YouTube account if it does not have a lot of views and visits. It is worth spending time publishing more videos and growing your YouTube authority before you expect to see a lot of views coming your way.

Create high quality videos

Many people either upload videos with poor content or poor quality standard definition video. Think of video quality like a blog post. If you have a high quality and interesting blog post then more people are going to click onto it as well as share it with their friends and build backlinks to it. Furthermore the quality of your videos is also very important. It has been proven numerous amounts of times that high-definition videos will out rank standard definition videos every time. With camera quality getting better all the time no-one wants to see videos in low quality from your old 2003 camera.

Backlinks

Just like your website, having backlinks to your YouTube video is also going to make it have more authority online. If your video has links coming from other videos and social sharing websites then it is going to have more authority. As well as this do not forget to link out. I like to add my website link to all of my YouTube videos. This helps boost my targeted traffic.

Social media

Okay, this may not exactly be search engine optimization but it is going to help get your views up. Be sure to share your videos via Twitter, Facebook ,Google+ and any other social media websites you use. By doing this you can convert your followers into YouTube traffic and easily boost your views.  On the other hand they may also want to subscribe to your channel and view your other videos, making your YouTube channel have more relevance and importance.

Ratings and comments

unlike what many people may think, your video ratings and comments can actually have an effect on your SEO and rankings. If your video has a load of high ratings and a substantial amount of views then it must be a better and more important video than one with less views and maybe a lot of dislikes. Also, the amount of comments your video has can also help. I like to try to increase my comments by replying to other users comments and then try to get a discussion going on.

Final Notes

What you need to remember is that you are not going to suddenly get thousands of views overnight (unless you go viral). Building up your YouTube channel takes a lot of time and hard work. If you can it is a good idea to try to post a video on a regular basis, just like you would with a blog post.

Analyzing your videos is also a good idea. Take note of where your views are coming from and where they have been embedded. Furthermore you can also see how much views you have got from Facebook and other social media websites.

However this is all about to change. Microsoft announced its Surface tablet earlier this week and i (like many other people) was both surprised an amazed. I never thought of Microsoft as a major hardware company; never the less the Surface tablet looks amazing and the hardware is something that could rival Apple.

Windows 8 Operating System

Just like most laptops and computers today, the Surface tablet will be running windows. This means that we can get access to all of the programs that we use for blog publishing and photo editing. I like to write my articles up first in Microsoft Word and I will be able to do this on the Surface tablet before I publish my article so I can easily proof-read my article . Furthermore we will also have access to image editing programs such as Photoshop. This means that images can easily be edited and adjusted before being inserted into a post.

The fact that this device is running Windows should also mean that we can view websites from a tablet in desktop mode instead of being stuck with mobile view. This also makes this tablet great as we can surf the internet like we would on a normal desktop computer.

Portable 

Being an ultra-thin tablet the Microsoft Surface is going to be very portable and light so it can be easily carried around without any real problems. This is great for bloggers as we can write on the go. I will no longer have to be at home writing articles, but instead I can be out and about perhaps in a restaurant and I will still be able to write on the move. This could lead to many bloggers publishing more content than before if they are willing to invest in a Surface tablet.

Keyboard

Microsoft shocked us all when they announced that the cover for the Surface will double as a keyboard. This is going to give it a huge advantage over many other tablets on the market. The keyboard just fits into place by a magnetic strip on the bottom of the tablet and there you have a rubberized keyboard that can be used instead of a touchscreen keyboard, providing a comfortable experience.

Furthermore Microsoft also announced a standard plastic keyboard cover, just like the keyboards that you find on laptops today. This means that there will be no difference between typing on a laptop and typing on a Surface. This I am really looking forward to.

Camera and Kickstand 

This tablet features a HD camera as well as a kickstand. The kickstand creates a perfect viewing angle for using this tablet on a table, just like with any laptop. This is great as you can easily work away anywhere with this and means that I can literally use this tablet anywhere which has a flat surface.

On the other hand the camera means that I can easily Skype people in HD whilst on the move so I can keep up to date with my friends and other blogger. This means that overall this tablet is going to be a great option for almost any blogger  and I can see myself getting a lot of use from this.

With all these romours going around many people have come up with iPhone concepts which perhaps could be the next iPhone 5. Most of these probably do not look anything like the next iPhone but here is 5 great iPhone 5 concepts.

This design published by Gizmodo is what is probably going to most resemble the iPhone 5. This design is based on the prototype cases that we saw not long and actually looks great. This concept is very similar to the iPhone 4s design, however now has a 4 inch screen which many people are predicting to see on the new iPhone. The casing of this concept is made out of a nice metal shell on the side and back, as well as as plastic.

This not so realistic design sports a tapered edge which is designed to give a comfortable feel to the phone itself when it is being held in the hand. It is also much thinner than previous iPhone models and also has a greatly improved screen. The design itself is shown in both white and black and looks gorgeous in both. If you look near the bottom of the device you can see that it has a speaker on the left an the right of the device.

This concept, labeled the new iPhone is a major over-hall compared to any other iPhone we have ever seen. The speakers are on the back of the device  and the huge screen size is great. This is not very realistic to expect apple to have a screen this big after many other sources have reported a 4 inch screen. Furthermore this design shows a new dock at the top of the device for notifications, as well as a headphone jack in the centre.

This is an unusual and fantastic design for a mobile which has a transparent screen so that you can see where you are walking whilts you are looking at the screen. I can not see this technology coming to us anytime soon.

This design by 9 t0 5 Mac is a mock-up based upon the suggested romours of the new iPhone. This design has extra home screen icons for applications as well as a bigger screen. The home button has also changed the shape according to many suggested romours, however is is still very similar to the iPhone 4s and maybe just a bit too similar.