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Friday, February 5, 2016

Online Jobs to Earn extra Income

Online and work from home jobs mostly have an opinion of being scam but legitimate online jobs do exist. Online jobs are slowly gaining prominence across the globe because they let you utilize your skills in the best possible way, plus they bring the comfort of your own house, flexible timings and saving on travel expenses.

 Whether you are a student, housewife or even an employed person, online jobs can bring you that extra income you have been looking for.

Things to keep in mind before taking an online job
  • Any online job asking you to pay up-front is a scam.
  • Don’t look for easy money, as shortcuts don’t work! Have patience and if your skills are good enough, you will earn a good amount with time.
  • These jobs can be addictive but don’t let them hamper your studies.
  • There are online jobs available for everyone! So, don’t worry if you don’t have a fancy degree because if you have skills, you’ll do fine.
  •  
Best Work From Home Jobs
 
Writing Jobs
Every website across the web needs content and thus, writers are an important part of the web ecosystem. There are usual writing jobs like creative writer, copywriter, editor and article & blog writer along with more advanced jobs like technical writing and ebook writing etc. A writing job will easily fetch you a decent amount of money depending on your skills. You can apply on various freelance websites or you can even approach websites & blogs you follow (tech, travel, news, productivity, DIY, movies, etc) and we are pretty sure you will be paid well enough. You can also try ProBlogger for specific online blogging work or you can also join various Facebook groups where people post various job postings for writers.

Designing Jobs
If you are a budding designer, you can easily get a decent online job. People on the web look for UI/UX, web and graphic designers for their apps and websites. There are also jobs available for illustration, business card, logo, banner, infographic, social media and merchandise designers, so you can choose whatever suits you best. While you can search for jobs on most freelancing websites or Facebook 

Programming Jobs
There are various companies looking to outsource their smaller coding projects to freelancers and that’s where students well versed with programming can get a part-time online job. It all depends on what programming languages you know. There are programming jobs available online for mobile & desktop apps, games, web development, website building, software/app testing etc. Along with the freelance websites, you can checkout Upwork for diverse online job openings for programmers.
Tuitions (Online Tutoring)
With the rise of online education, there is a rise of online tuitions and tutor jobs. So, if you have good teaching skills, you can teach students from home and earn a handsome amount. Tutor jobs are available for various skill levels, be it different subjects & courses from school, college or even something that is of general interest. You should give CheggTutorsa shot for a tutor job and you could easily make $20/hour or more.

Data Entry Jobs

If you believe in your typing skills, a data entry job should be good for you. There are various companies looking for people who can enter all their physical data online or to keep an online record. There are plenty of data entry scams all over the internet but there are some legit jobs available on good freelance websites like Upwork and Freelancer. So, don’t get caught in scams and apply for these jobs only on legit sites like Upwork, Freelancer, etc.

Translation Jobs

There are some great translation jobs available online for people who are multi-lingual or well versed in more than one language. With companies going global, there’s a need to translate their work to cater to different languages and they are on the look out for good translators. The job includes translating a document, movie subtitles, interpreting different languages, proofreading etc. You can get a number of online translation jobs at Translatorscafe or Gengo.

Voice Over

Doing voice overs for interesting videos sounds like a really interesting job and if you think you have the voice and the skills to do it, you might as well give it a shot. You can add the languages you know and the accents you can do to get freelancing voice over jobs. People look for voice overs for narration, dubbing, impersonation, audio books etc. You can try for voice over jobs on Fiverr.

Customer Service and Tech Support Jobs

While call center offices are still the main stay of tech support and customer services, virtual call-centers are slowly gaining traction. At a virtual call center, a tech support or customer service call is routed to the home number of an agent. This job requires you to have a quiet environment at home, good & professional speaking abilities along with some training for tech support. There are different jobs available like tech support specialists, customer service managers, live chat agents, phone support etc. Along with the freelance websites, there are specific tech support websites like LiveOps that offer work from home tech support jobs.

Video Services and Animation Jobs

Video consumption is on the rise and that has made sure to increase jobs aimed at video producers. These freelancing jobs require people to create video commercials, intros, edit videos, do the post-production and add animations or graphic designs. So, if you have the skills to create some cool videos, you should give this a try. You can look for video animator jobs on freelance websites like PeoplePerHour.

Sell Your Photos or Art

Great photos and arts have tremendous value and if you are a good photographer or an art creator, you will have no problem selling your collection online. You can sell your art images on websites like DeviantArt and your photos on SmugMug. These websites should fetch you a good amount for all your creativity, plus give you confidence in your talent.

Virtual Assistant Jobs

If you are an organized, time managing person with a skill to juggle between tasks, then a virtual assistant job should be perfect for you. The job is similar to what a real-life assistant would do, like handling emails, travel schedules, meetings etc. Virtual assistant jobs are available on most freelance websites like Guru. If you think you can be a good assistant, try it out online.

Social Media Marketing and SEO

With the growth of online businesses, social media has become an essential platform to grow the user base and thus the need of social media marketers. The social media marketing jobs are pretty simple if you are good with communication, marketing and understanding behaviour of people on the Internet. These jobs require you to interact with people, build brand awareness and bring traction to the company. There are also SEO jobs that require you to optmise websites to play well with various search engines and bring in more traffic. Social media marketing and SEO specialist jobs are available on most freelance websites like Upwork. Also, be sure to check out on Facebook groups for job openings like these.

Mobile Apps to Earn Some Extra Income (Accomplish Tasks to Earn)

Along with these jobs, you can try out some mobile apps to make money. Swagbucks is a very popular app that gives you credit points when you shop online, watch some videos, search the web, fill out surveys etc. Once you have a good amount of points, you can redeem them for gift cards or get cashback through Paypal. There’s a similar group of apps under Perk, which rewards you with easy money for doing some simple tasks like watching videos, playing scratch card games etc.

Ready to earn some extra income through these online jobs?

Are you a student looking for some handy pocket money? Well, these jobs are the way to go. Any extra income is handy for a student and these legit online jobs make sure you earn that whilst working in the comfort of your home. Along with the money, these jobs make sure to enhance your skills and bring you some much needed experience, which is certainly a win-win situation. Be sure to check them out and let us know in the comments section below if these jobs worked out for you.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Windows 10: tips and tricks

1. Speak to Cortana

Cortana is Microsoft’s digital assistant, in the vein of Siri and Google Now, and with Windows 10 it’s breaking out from Windows Phone on to desktops, laptops and tablets. You can turn Cortana on and tweak its settings from the Start menu, then use your voice or the search box on the taskbar to run Web queries, set reminders for yourself, check the weather forecast and more. 
It’s available in the US now and coming to other parts of the world soon — to test it out in advance, set the system region and language to US in the Time and Language section in Settings.

2. Log in with a finger press

Microsoft has added a new feature called Windows Hello to its newest operating system: it lets you log in using facial recognition, a fingerprint or even an iris scan, if your computer has the necessary hardware attached. To change the way you gain access to your machine, go to the Settings app, then follow the Accounts link and choose Sign-in options from the menu on the left. The options listed will vary depending on the various bits of tech attached to your computer, but new laptops and desktops made specifically for Windows 10 should include at least some of the new options.

3. Save on battery use


For laptop users, Windows 10 comes with an official Battery saver feature for the first time, which you can find in the System section of Settings (there’s also an estimate of how long your battery is likely to last). You can turn the Battery saver mode on or off manually, or have it kick in automatically when your battery gets down to a certain level — click the Battery saver settings link to change this level from the default 20%, and to specify certain apps that are exempt from the various power-saving features. 

4. Add extra desktops

 

Windows 10 brings with it native support for “virtual” desktops — that means you can set up your app windows across a series of desktops rather than sticking with one (the taskbar and desktop shortcuts remain constant). You could have one desktop for work and one for entertainment, for example. Click or tap the Task View button (next to search on the taskbar) or press Windows Key+Tab on the keyboard to view, create and remove virtual desktops. You can also click on the individual app thumbnails to switch between them.

5. Snap to corners

 


Sticking with the theme of screen layouts and organisation, Microsoft has upgraded the window snapping function introduced with Windows 8: as well as snapping windows to either side of the display, you can now snap them into the corners too. To try it, drag an open window into the corner of the display; you can also hold down the Windows Key and tap the cursor keys if you prefer. If you like having your Windows 10 apps precisely arranged and want to make full use of your screen’s resolution, it’s a handy feature.

6. Save maps for offline use

 

This is a tip that’s more useful on smartphones, but tablets and laptops can benefit from it as well: Windows 10 lets you save maps to your device in case you should lose a Wi-Fi or data connection while you’re trying to scout out the nearby area. Head to the Settings app then choose System and Offline maps to choose which maps to download (each region comes with an estimate of how much storage space will be taken up). You can then launch and use the Maps app whether or not you can get online.

7. Analyse the hard drive

 

Windows 10 brings with it a new interface for viewing the contents of your hard drive, making it much easier for you to see how all of those gigabytes are being used. From the Settings app, click or tap on System, pick the Storage option and choose the drive you want to take a closer look at — the next screen breaks up used storage space into pictures, documents, videos, email, music and so on, provided all of this content is saved into the appropriate folders. Click or tap on a particular entry in the list for more details.

8. Fix default app associations

The default app for a particular file type is the one that opens when you double-click on a file saved in that format (so Word opens for .doc files, for example). The Windows 10 upgrade process can break some of these associations, and the easiest way to get them back is by opening the Settings app from the Start menu and following the System link. Head to the Default apps page and you can make any necessary changes, as well as resetting file associations back to their “Microsoft recommended” ones if required.

9. Access the alternative Start menu


Right-click on the Start menu button to bring up an alternative one — it’s not quite as user-friendly but it offers quick access to some of the most important areas of the system, including the Device Manager utility, the command prompt window and the old legacy Control Panel. You can access the Task Manager as well as the system search and the Run box from here too. This alternative menu was available in Windows 8 as well, and you can also launch it by pressing Windows Key+X.

 10. Turn off Wi-Fi sharing

One of the more controversial new features in Windows 10 is Wi-Fi Sense, which lets you automatically share Wi-Fi passwords with your contacts on Facebook and Skype. The idea is that they can quickly get online when they visit your home or office, but some have expressed misgivings about the feature. To turn it off, or just take a closer look, head into the Network & Internet section of Settings, then select Manage Wi-Fi settings. At the bottom of the screen you can turn sharing on or off for all of the networks your computer regularly connects to.

 





Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones Rs 10000 to Rs 20000

8 Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones Rs 10000 to 20000
Full HD (1920*1080) resolution is optimal resolution you can have in your next smartphone. Most of the smartphones in the range of Rs. 10,000 to 15,000 have the HD (1280*720) resolution.

While the latest smartphones like Samsung Note 5, Galaxy S6 or Google Nexus 6P have the 2K ( 2560*1440) or 1440P resolution.

The full HD resolution has more pixels per inch like a 5 inch smartphone with HD display will have 293 Pixels per Inch (PPI) while a Full HD mobile will have 440 Pixels per Inch (PPI) while a 2K smartphone display will have 587 PPI. Better the pixels per inch , better is the text, video , image display on the smartphone, beyond 400 PPI difference is less noticeable.

Lots of experts say a HD screen for smartphone is enough or a FHD is enough and human eye can’t differentiate. There are counter views to this theory as well that we find that high resolution screens are easier to read and text appears more clear and there is no pixellation of text/images on higher resolution screens.
While moving from a HD or lower resolution to FHD you will find your reading experience much better, if you currently own a device with HD or lower resolution.
Latest Bonus Addition 

1). Asus Zenfone 2

Price Rs. 14,999
Asus Zenphone 2
Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones  –  The latest Addition to our list of Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones is the Zenphone 2.  The Asus Zenfone 2 is one of the best buy deals below 15K with Full-HD screen with a pixel density of 403 Ppi.
The smartphone has a 5.5 inch screen with Full HD display protected by Corning’s gorilla glass 4,
The Zenfone 2 allows you to take control over the display with its set of inbuilt display modes like reading Mode which allows better readability, vivid mode for better color contrast and also includes custom mode to set Hue and Saturation for the display.
The phone is powered by Intel 3560 processor and 2 GB RAM. there’s also a 4 GB RAM version and it’s the first smartphone to come with 4 GB RAM.
The phone runs on Asus’s Zen UI on top of Android lollipop 5.0 The Zenfone 2 got a 16 MP Primary camera with dual tone LED flash and a 5 MP front facing camera with selfie panorama mode for taking wide angle selfies
Key specs of Asus Zenfone 2
  • Processor – Intel 3560 for 2 GB version, Intel 3580 for 4GB version.
  • RAM – 2 GB/4 GB RAM.
  • Display Resolution – 1920*1080 Full HD Display.
  • Screen Size – 5.5 inch IPS LCD display.
  • Storage – 16 GB expandable via micro-SD.
  • Rear Camera – 13 MP Rear Camera.
  • Front Camera –  5 MP camera.
  • Operating System – Android Lollipop 5.0.
  • Battery Capacity  – 3000 mAh.
  • Dual Sim – Yes
  • 4G LTE Support – Yes
PROS 
  1. Low Price – Great FHD Display , Ideal for gaming.
  2. Full HD Display, Good battery Life.
CONS
  1. Smartphone is a bit bulky.
Related – All best Smartphones with 4 GB RAM India – Android Unleashed.

1) Micromax Turbo A250

Price Rs. 14,900
Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones – It is one of the top selling smartphones in the price range of Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 15,000.  Compared to some of the cheaper smartphones like the Yureka Plus and the Lenovo K3 Note which also comes with Full HD 1080P display the Micromax Turbo A250 boasts of a better build quality and user experience.
The smartphone has a great Full HD Display with a 5.0 inch screen which translated in to a very high pixel density of 440 PPI. Reading and watching videos is a delight on the Micromax Turbo A250 smartphone.
Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones
Key Specifications for Micromax Turbo
  • Processor – 1.5 GHz MediaTek MT 6589T Quad Core Processor.
  • RAM – 2 GB RAM
  • Display Resolution – 1920*1080 Full HD Display.
  • Screen Size – 5 inch screen with 440 PPI.
  • Storage – 16 GB non expandable memory.
  • Rear Camera – 13 MP Camera with Autofocus and led flash.
  • Front Camera –  5 MP camera for taking selfies.
  • Operating System – Android Jelly Bean Upgrade able to Android Kitkat.
  • Battery Capacity  – 2000 mAH
  • Dual Sim – Yes
  • Connectivity – 2G /3G.
PROS 
  1. Low Price – Cheapest smartphone with Full HD Display.
  2. Full HD Display, Good processor and 2 GB RAM.
CONS
  1. Lack of Android Lollipop.
  2. Modest Battery Life.

2) XOLO Q3000

Price Rs. 13,999
Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones
Having the low price tag in the list of Full HD smartphone the Xolo Q3000 got a 5.7 inch screen and a 4000 mAh battery to perfectly match the power consumption of its 1080p display.
Since the display is stretched over a large screen the Xolo Q300 have little less pixel density of 386ppi compared to other Full HD smartphones. But still it’s hard to notice the difference.
The processor is a 1.5 GHz MediaTek Quad core and comes with 2 GB RAM. The internal storage got 16 GB space and can be expandable upto 32 GB  via microSD slot.
The Xolo Q300 also have 13 MP camera at the rear and a 5 MP camera at front. The phone still runs on Android Kit-Kat with Hive UI on top. The phone doesn’t have 4G and only have basic connectivity options like 3G and EDGE
Key Specifications for Xolo Q3000
  • Processor – 1.5 GHz MediaTek MT 6589T Quad Core Processor.
  • RAM – 2 GB RAM
  • Display Resolution – 1920*1080 Full HD Display.
  • Screen Size – 5.7 inch IPS LCD display.
  • Storage – 16 GB expandable to 32 GB via Micro SD card.
  • Rear Camera – 13 MP Rear Camera with BSI 2 Sensor.
  • Front Camera –  5 MP camera for taking selfies.
  • Operating System – Android Jelly Bean Upgrade able to Android Kitkat.
  • Battery Capacity  – 4000 mAH
  • Dual Sim – Yes
  • USB OTG (On the go) Enabled.
  • Connectivity – 2G /3G
PROS 
  1. Low Price – Low priced Full HD Display.
  2. Great Battery Life with massive 4000 mAh battery capacity, Full HD 1080P Display, Good processor.
CONS
  1. Lack of Android Lollipop.
  2. Lacks 4G connectivity.
Xolo Q3000 is a great phablet if you wish to buy a 5.7 inch smartphone with excellent display and great battery capacity Xolo Q3000 is a good affordable mobile.

3) Huawei Honor 6

Price Rs. 14,999
Huawei honor 6 HD image
Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones  – The honor 6 features a 5 inch screen with Full HD JDI display. The JDI display offers better visiblity under sunlight so you don’t need to shade the screen with hands while using it out doors.
The screen is protected with corning’s gorilla glass 3 with anti-fingerprint coating to reduce smudges and finger imprints. The honor 6 have thin side bezels with a screen to body ratio of 75.7%.
The phone got a good set of hardware, the processor is Octa-core clocked at 1.7 GHz which is combined with 3GB RAM for seamless multitasking.
The camera includes Sony’s BSI sensor with 13 megapixel resolution and for the front it has a 5 megapixel sensor.
The phone packs a 3000 mAh battery with ultra power saving mode allowing 10% charge to last for a day.
Key Specifications for Huawei Honor 6
  • Processor – 1.7 GHz  Kirin 920 Octa-core Processor.
  • RAM – 3 GB RAM
  • Display Resolution – 1920*1080 Full HD Display.
  • Screen Size – 5.0 inch IPS LCD display
  • Pixel Density – 441 PPI
  • Storage – 16 GB expandable to 64 GB via Micro SD card.
  • Rear Camera – 13 MP Rear Camera with Sony’s fourth generation stacked BSI sensor.
  • Front Camera –  5 MP camera for taking selfies.
  • Operating System –  Android Kitkat with Emotion UI 2.3 , upgradable to UI 3.0.
  • Battery Capacity  – 3000 mAH
  • Dual Sim – Yes
  • USB OTG (On the go) Enabled.
  • Connectivity – 2G /3G/4G
PROS 
  1. Great Design, 4G LTE Support.
  2. Great Battery Life with huge 3000 mAh battery capacity, excellent processor and 3 GB Ram is overkill.
CONS
  1. Lack of Android Lollipop.
Beautiful design, very easy to hold and use Honor 6 is a great performance smartphone at a good price, with 1920*1080 screen, excellent for reading, net surfing and watching movies.



Price Rs. 14,999
Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones  – Samsung galaxy S4 is a true premium smartphone which you can buy cheaper now after the recent price drop from Rs. 19,999 to Rs. 15,999. The smartphone has one of the best build quality in this price range. The rear 13 meag-pixel camera is fantastic and offers great picture clarity compared to some of the cheaper 13 Megapixel camera smartphones.

The display is one of the best with superior Super AMOLED screen which are usually expensive to manufacture compared to the low cost IPS LCD displays found on cheaper smartphone. You may feel that you are paying a bit extra of the Galaxy S4 but again you get a better brand, better service and reach of distribution with Samsung.


Key Specifications for Samsung Galaxy S4 True Falgship
  • Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 1.6 GHz quad and 1.2 GHz quad core processors.
  • RAM – 2 GB RAM
  • Display Resolution – 1920*1080 FHD super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen.
  • Screen Size – 5.0 inch Super AMOLED
  • Storage – 16 GB expandable to 32 GB via Micro SD card.
  • Rear Camera – 13 MP primary camera with auto focus, flash, zero shutter lag.
  • Front Camera –  2 MP camera for taking selfies.
  • Operating System – Android Kitkat, Upgradable to Android Lollipop.
  • Battery Capacity  – 2600 mAH
  • Dual Sim – No
  • Connectivity – 2G /3G/HSPA.
PROS 
  1. Currently available on a great discounted price earlier was Rs. 26,500.
  2. Great Build Quality, balanced smartphone with excellent hardware and software optimization, Excellent camera.
CONS
  1. Lacks 4G connectivity
The next smartphone on the list of Best Full HD 1080P smartphones is the Lenovo Vibe X2.

5) Lenovo Vibe X2

Price Rs. 15,499
8 Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones Rs 10000 to 20000
Best Full HD 1080P Smartphones  -v The lenovo Vibe X2 is a performance beast with it’s mighty Mediatek Processor 6595M. The smartphone was earlier priced at Rs. 19,999 which has now dropped to Rs. 15,499 which actually makes it a great deal for buyers

The Vibe X2’s Full HD screen measures 5 inches and is protected by Corning’s gorilla glass 3.
The phone comes with an unique layered design, in which each hardware sections like display, processor, camera and battery are layered separately and combined to form a stack.
The vibe X2 is the first smartphone to come with a layered design
Key Specifications for Lenovo Vibe X2
  • Processor – 2.0 GHz MediaTek 6595 M True Octa Core Processor.
  • GPU – Power VR G6200; 450MHz Speed.
  • RAM – 2 GB RAM
  • Display Resolution – 1920*1080 IPS LCD touchscreen.
  • Screen Size – 5.0 inch
  • Storage – 32 GB non expandable storage
  • Rear Camera – 13 MP primary camera with auto focus, flash, zero shutter lag.
  • Front Camera –  5 MP camera for taking selfies.
  • Operating System – Android Kitkat, with Lenovo UI.
  • Battery Capacity  – 2300 mAH
  • Dual Sim – Yes
  • Weight – 120 grams, only 7.2 mm thick
  • Connectivity – 2G /3G/HSPA/4G LTE.
PROS 
  1. Most Powerful 2.0 Ghz MTK 6595 , smartphone is excellent for gaming.
  2. Very light weight weighs only 120 grams and thin stylish device measuring 7.2 mm.
  3. Good internal Storage of 32 GB.
CONS

  1. Modest Battery Life.



List of 40 FREE Educational Websites



  1. ALISON - over 60 million lessons and records 1.2 million unique visitors per month
  2. COURSERA - Educational website that works with universities to get their courses on the Internet, free for you to use. Learn from over 542 courses.
  3. The University of Reddit - The free university of Reddit.
  4. UDACITY - Advance your education and career through project-based online classes, mainly focused around computer, data science and mathematics.
  5. MIT Open CourseWare - Free access to quite a few MIT courses that are on par with what you'd expect from MIT.
  6. Open Culture - Compendium of free learning resources, including courses, textbooks, and videos/films.
  7. No Excuse List - Huge list of websites to learn from.
  8. Open YALE Courses - Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University All lectures were recorded in the Yale College classroom and are available in video, audio, and text transcript formats. Registration is not required.
  9. Khan Academy – Watch thousands of micro-lectures on topics ranging from history and medicine to chemistry and computer science.
  10. Zooniverse - Take part in a huge variety of interesting studies of nature, science, and culture.
  11. TUFTS Open CourseWare - Tufts OpenCourseWare is part of a new educational movement initiated by MIT that provides free access to course content for everyone online. Tufts' course offerings demonstrate the University's strength in the life sciences in addition to its multidisciplinary approach, international perspective and underlying ethic of service to its local, national and international communities.
  12. How Stuff Works? - More scientific lessons and explanations than you could sort through in an entire year.
  13. Harvard Medical School Open Courseware - The mission of the Harvard Medical School Open Courseware Initiative is to exchange knowledge from the Harvard community of scholars to other academic institutions, prospective students, and the general public.
  14. VideoLectures.NET - the title says it all - amazing video lectures on many topics.
  15. TED - Motivational and educational lectures from noteworthy professionals around the world.
  16. Shodor - A non-profit research and education organisation dedicated to the advancement of science and math education, specifically trough the use of modeling and simulation technologies. Included in this site are instructional resources, software, interactive lessons, explorations and information about workshops for students, teachers and learners of all ages on mathematics and science. Make sure you check Shodor Interactive - a great collection of interactive math, geometry, fractal, probability, algebra and statistics activities.
  17. Udemy FREE Courses - hundreds of experts teach on Udemy every month including New York Times best-selling authors, CEOs, Ivy League professionals and celebrity instructors. Courses include video, live lectures and tools to help teachers interact with students and track their progress. There are many free courses that can teach you business, law, programming, design, mathematics, science, photography, yoga and many more.
  18. Maths & Science - Courses, tests and learning materials about mathematics and science for students from 1 to 12 grade.
  19. edX.org - Free courses designed specifically for interactive study via the web, provided by MIT, Harvard, Barkley, Georgetown, Boston University, University of Washington, Karolinska Institute, Kyoto University and many more.
  20. iTunes U - Apple's free app that gives students mobile access to many courses. It offers many free video courses, books, presentations and audio lectures.
  21. Liberty Classroom - Owned by bestselling author Tom Woods. Offers some free courses in history and economics, but at the price of one movie ticket a month you can gain access to a lot of useful information. Not completely free, but totally worth it...
  22. Drawspace - Hundreds of free drawing lessons.
  23. Codeacademy - Easy way to learn how to code. It's interactive, fun and you can do it with your friends.
  24. Duke U - Duke offers variety of free courses on iTunesU.
  25. Scitable - A free science library and personal learning tool that currently concentrates on genetic, the study of evolution, variation and the rich complexity of living organisms.
  26. My own business - Offers free online business administration course that would be beneficial to new managers and to anyone who is interested in starting a business.
  27. Kutztown University's free courses - The Kutztown University of Pennsylvania's Small Business Development Center offers more than 80 free business courses online. Kutztown's courses are individualized and self-paced. Many of the courses feature high-end graphics, interactive case studies and audio streams.
  28. Open Learn - Gives you free access to Open University course materials.
  29. Free Computer Books - Free computer, mathematics, technical books and lecture notes.
  30. Academic Earth - Free video lectures from the world's top scholars.
  31. American Sign Language Browser - Teach yourself sign language online.
  32. BBC Languages - Teach yourself a new spoken language online.
  33. unplugthetv – Randomly selects an educational video for you to watch.
  34. Lifehacker – Learn to hack life! Tips and tricks for improving all areas of your life.
  35. JustinGuitar – Hundreds of free guitar lessons as well as some basic music theory.
  36. DuoLingo – Learn a new language for free while helping to translate the web.
  37. Layers Magazine - Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash, Premiere Pro, In Design and After Effects tutorials.
  38. Creative Flow - list of OVER 950 Photoshop tutorials to keep your skillset up to date.
  39. Open2study - Open2Study delivers free, high-quality education online. You can study subjects with real value, and in just four weeks you can learn something new, explore the next step in your career, challenge yourself or simply satisfy your curiosity. These subjects are provided by leading Australian institutions, and are taught by academics and leading industry professionals who love to teach. All you need is an internet connection and the desire to study.
  40. OEDb - Choose from over 10,000 free online classes.







Please leave a comment with any other good links that you wish to be added to the list, let's get together, make the ultimate educational list and help others beat the system too.

Gmail Tricks Everyone Should Know

Gmail is one of the most popular email service providers available on the world wide web. It’s definitely become the top email service provider leaving behind other email giants like Yahoo! and Outlook in the race. 

Gmail being one of the simplest and easy to use email service doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any advanced features. There are many amazing features that are hidden in plain sight. If you want to enhance your Gmail experience then you must definitely learn all the amazing hidden features that the service has to offer. We bring you 19 Cool Gmail tricks that will definitely alleviate your email experience when using Gmail.

1. Enable Personal Level Indicators


If you want to know whether an email was sent only to you, a group of people, or a complete mailing list then you need to turn on the “Personal Level Indicator” feature in your Gmail account. In order to turn on the Personal Level Indicator follow the steps below.
  • Click the gear icon in the top-right corner and choose Settings.
  • In the General tab, scroll down to find Personal Level Indicators.
  • Click Show Indicators to enable the feature in your account.

(>) Single arrow means that the email was sent to you and a group of other people. (>>) Double arrow means that the email was only sent to your email address. No arrow means that the email was sent to a mailing list.

2. Undo Sent Emails


This is one of the most amazing feature Google has introduced for Gmail accounts. You can now undo send within Gmail. It means that after sending an email you can actually cancel it so that the recipient doesn’t get your email at all. This comes in really handy when you send an email to the wrong person or when you make a mistake within your email and want to rectify. Enabling this feature can save you from making any blunders. Undo Send gives you up to 30 seconds to cancel the sent email. Follow the steps below to enable Undo Send feature in your Gmail.
  • Click the gear icon and go to Settings.
  • In the General Tab, find the Undo Send feature and enable it.
  • You can also choose the cancellation period which suits you.
  • Save changes to enable the feature in your Gmail.

3. Add Your Emails to Tasks


Sometimes you just don’t feel like responding to emails right away. If that’s the case with you then you need to make sure that you respond to the emails within a proper time frame otherwise you risk never responding to the email at all. You don’t need an alarm clock to remind you that an email requires your attention. You can add the email to Tasks that will regularly remind you about all the emails that are in your Tasks list. To add an email to the Tasks list follow the steps below.
  • Select any email (or multiple emails).
  • Click the “More” button on top.
  • Click “Add to Tasks” and your emails will be added to the task list.
  • To check your Tasks list, click the “Gmail” drop-down menu in the top left and select Tasks to open the list.

4. Read Gmail Offline


How many times have you wished to read your emails even when you don’t have an active internet connection? If you have wished for it at many occasions then you will be glad to know that you can actually read all your emails offline. All you have to do is install the Gmail Offline extension in Google Chrome and you can start reading all your emails offline. To install and enable Gmail offline follow the steps below.
  • Go to Settings and Click the Offline tab.
  • Click Install Gmail Offline and let it install.
  • Once installed, let it sync all your emails for Offline viewing and you are all set for Gmail Offline.

5. Import Mail and Contacts From Other Accounts


If you want to use only one Gmail account for all your email needs then you will be surprised to know that you can actually ditch all your other email accounts in favor of Gmail. You can also Import all the emails and contacts from your other accounts before ditching them. To Import Mail and Contacts just follow the steps below.
  • Go to Settings > Accounts and Import
  • Click Import mail and contacts
  • Follow the instructions for different email service providers
  • Enjoy all your mails and contacts in one place

6. Clean Up Longer Replies

When you keep sending and receiving emails in a single thread then the responses can get pretty messy quickly. A longer thread of replies can be very irritating when you want to find a specific response and quote it. However, Gmail has a new feature that lets you select specific sentences and quote them in your reply instead of the whole email. Just highlight the text that you are referring to and hit reply to send an email with the quoted text. To enable Quote Selected text feature follow the steps below.
  • Go to Settings > Labs
  • Enable Quote Selected Text by clicking it
  • Save changes and you’re done.

7. Canned Responses Make it Easier to Reply Quickly

If you find yourself sending the same email over and over again then you should not be doing it manually. Gmail has a great feature called “Canned Responses” that lets you add custom email templates in the library and send them to anyone with just one click. You don’t have to write the same emails over and over again when you can just send it with a single click.
  • Go to Settings > Labs
  • Enable Canned Responses by clicking it.
  • Save your changes.
When composing an email, just click the more options button and select your preferred canned response. You can also set-up filters to send automatic canned responses.

8. Send Email from Another Email Addresses

With this Gmail trick, you can also send email from multiple other email accounts directly from inside Gmail without having to open other email services individually. Follow the steps below to enable this feature.
  • Head over to Settings > Accounts and Import
  • Click “Add another email address you own”
  • Add your email address and you will be able to send email via the new address as well.

9. Schedule and Track Your emails

This should have been a built-in feature in Gmail but unfortunately it isn’t. However, you can install the amazing Boomerang plugin to help you schedule your emails and also keep track of your emails. You can schedule your emails and Boomerang will send it exactly at the date and time that you specify.

You can also request receipts which means that you will receive a notification when your email is opened and read by the recipient Once installed you will get a “Send Later” button to schedule your emails and a “request receipt and track clicks” button to know if your emails have been read or opened.
You can also use SideKick by Hubspot to track email opens.

10. Enable Send and Archive button

If you want to unclutter your inbox and archive all the emails that you have already replied to then you should enable the Send and Archive feature in Gmail. This will move all the emails you have responded to the archives. Keeps your inbox clean.
  • Go to Settings > General
  • Click “Show Send and Archive button in replies”
  • Save your changes.

11. Advanced Search

If you want to search something specific in your Gmail inbox then you can use the advanced search feature. Just click the grey drop-down arrow in front of the search box and a new menu with advanced search features pops-up. You can now search specific emails by including the keywords in the boxes. There are other search keywords that will help you narrow down your search.
There are numerous other keywords that you can add to your searches to narrow them down and pinpoint that specific email you’re looking for. Learn more about all the keywords here.

12. Add Beautiful Themes to Your Inbox

If just changing the feel of your inbox isn’t enough then you can also change the complete theme of your Gmail inbox. Click the gear icon and then choose Themes. You can choose from hundreds of beautiful themes or upload your own photo and use it as your inbox theme.

13. Use Keyboard Shortcuts to Save Time

You can save a lot of time by using keyboard shortcuts in Gmail to make thing quicker and simpler. Press Shift + ? to open a pop-up with all the keyboard shortcuts and click Enable to use all these shortcuts in your Gmail inbox.

14. Authentication Icon for Verified Senders

Many scammers and spammers try to send emails by faking reputable sources. If you want to make sure that your emails are actually from authentic sources then enable “Authentication Icon for verified senders”. Go to Settings > Labs and enable this feature for your Gmail inbox.

15. Last Account Activity

If you are suspicious that someone else might have access to your account and reading your emails then you can easily check your account’s activity to see if anyone else has been accessing your account without your knowledge. Scroll down on the main page and you will find “Last account activity: x minutes ago”, click “Details” to open up a new pop-up window where you can see every IP and device that has been used to access your account. You can also sign-out all other devices from this window.

16. Get Rid of Emails Taking up Extra Space

If you’re running low on your Gmail storage space and don’t want to invest in extra storage then you can actually get back some of your storage space by deleting emails that have larger attachments. You can initiate a search “has:attachment  size:5mb” to find all the emails that have an attachment of 5 MB or larger. You can mass delete all these emails to save some storage space in your account.

17. Enable Vacation Auto Responder

When you’re out of town or don’t have access to the internet for any reason then you can turn on the Auto responder feature in Gmail to reply to all the emails with a simple template specified by you. To turn on Vacation Auto Responder follow the steps below.
  • Head over to Settings > General
  • Scroll down to find Vacation Auto responder and turn it on
  • Insert your personalized email message that will be sent to all the incoming emails as a reply.
  • Save your changes and you’re done.

18. Let Others Access your Gmail Account

When you are too busy to check your emails and reply to them you can actually let other people access your account and perform these tasks without having to give them your personal details (password). You can add other email accounts in your Gmail to let them read all your emails and reply on your behalf. This Gmail trick comes in very handy when you’re too busy to check your inbox.
  • Go to Settings > Accounts and Import
  • Click “Add another account” next to “Grant access to your account”
  • Follow the steps to add another account and give it access to your Gmail.

19. Gmail Mail Merge

When you want to send the same message to all your recipients but also want to give it a personalized touch by addressing each recipient with their first and last name then you have to do it manually. However, you can use the Yet Another Mail Merge to send personalized emails to all your recipients automatically. All you have to do is create a spreadsheet in Google Sheets with the prefix, first name, last name, and email address of your recipients and this amazing extension will automatically personalize your email for each person by fetching the data from Google Sheets.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

How Does Google Make Money? The Most Expensive Keywords in AdWords

How does Google make its money? On the heels of Google's blow-out Q2 2011 earnings announcement last week, we wanted to find out the most expensive keywords - what keywords demand the highest costs per click and are most competitive in terms of high search volume.
Since the vast majority of Google's profits come from AdWords advertising, these high CPC keyword categories are responsible for a large part of Google's profits. The results of our research are illustrated in an infographic of the most expensive keywords. (Click the image to enlarge the google adwords keywords infographic.)


Table of Contents:





The 20 most expensive keywords categories with the highest search volume (i.e. the most used keywords) and highest costs per click, thereby netting Google the most money, are:
  1. Insurance (example keywords in this category include "buy car insurance online" and "auto insurance price quotes")
  2. Loans (example keywords include "consolidate graduate student loans" and "cheapest homeowner loans")
  3. Mortgage (example keywords include “refinanced second mortgages” and “remortgage with bad credit”)
  4. Attorney (example keywords include “personal injury attorney” and “dui defense attorney”)
  5. Credit (example keywords include “home equity line of credit” and “bad credit home buyer”)
  6. Lawyer ("personal  injury lawyer," "criminal defense lawyer)
  7. Donate ("car donation centers," "donating a used car")
  8. Degree ("criminal justice degrees online," "psychology bachelors degree online")
  9. Hosting ("hosting ms exchange," "managed web hosting solution")
  10. Claim ("personal injury claim," "accident claims no win no fee")
  11. Conference Call ("best conference call service," "conference calls toll free")
  12. Trading ("cheap online trading," "stock trades online")
  13. Software ("crm software programs," "help desk software cheap")
  14. Recovery ("raid server data recovery," "hard drive recovery laptop")
  15. Transfer ("zero apr balance transfer," "credit card balance transfer zero interest")
  16. Gas/Electricity ("business electricity price comparison," "switch gas and electricity suppliers")
  17. Classes ("criminal justice online classes," "online classes business administration")
  18. Rehab ("alcohol rehab centers," "crack rehab centers")
  19. Treatment ("mesothelioma treatment options," "drug treatment centers")
  20. Cord Blood ("cordblood bank," "store umbilical cord blood")
We found that that 97% of Google's revenue comes from advertising on Google sites. In the last four quarters alone (Q3 2010-Q2 2011), Google brought in $32.2 billion in total advertising revenue.

Google CPC: Google's Highest Cost Per Click Keywords

Google AdWords is a dynamic, auction-based marketplace where advertisers bid on keywords to compete for top ad placement. The minimum bid per keyword is 5 cents, but this research shows that in highly competitive categories, Google can make up to $50 per click from PPC keyword bids. Despite a diversified product portfolio, advertising on Google sites accounts for the vast majority of its billions in annual revenue.
The google adword keyword categories with the highest volumes and costs represent businesses with very high lifetime customer value – in other words, these industries can afford to pay a lot to acquire a new customer. These most expensive keywords comprise businesses such as lawsuits, mortgage applications, and server hosting. Some high-volume keyword categories have lower CPCs because advertisers have slimmer margins to expend on PPC advertising.

The Most Expensive Keywords: Survey Methodology

We compiled data from our own trillion-keyword database and the Google Keyword Tool to determine the top 10,000 most expensive English-language keywords over a 90-day period. This keyword list was then organized into categories by theme, such as "Insurance." The largest keyword categories were determined by weighting the number of keywords within each category, as well as the estimated monthly search volume and average cost per click for each keyword.

Tips for Bidding in a Super-Competitive, Expensive Google Adword Key word Niche

If you or your client are struggling to compete in a high-volume, high-CPC keyword category such as the most expensive keywords identified in this study, the PPC best practices are the same as always, except of course, the stakes are 1000x higher if you’re paying on average $50 per click vs. $0.05 per click. Here are a few tips to consider:
  • Quality Score: High Quality Scores can help lower your average Google CPC. Tools like the Keyword Niche Finder and Keyword Grouper to break up larger keyword lists into smaller, more targeted lists which will enable you to write more targeted ad text and landing pages which should help improve relevancy and Quality Score.
  • Be Specific: Target specific, 3-5 word keywords. Use a keyword tool to generate specific keyword ideas, and use keyword match types to ensure you’re only paying for keywords that are very specific to your business.
  • Use Negative Keywords: Use a negative keyword tool to help figure out what kinds of words you’re likely to be matched against and weed out keywords that aren’t relevant to your business.
  • Be Relevant
  • Landing Page Optimization: The average conversion rate for just about anything on AdWords is around 2%. But we often see landing pages converting at the 20% or even 30% range. The key to landing page optimization is to keep trying out different types of offers and testing how people respond to them.
  • Grade Your AdWords Account For Free: Use the AdWords Grader to get a free, instant audit of your AdWords Account to see how your AdWords account stacks up to the competition.
Google CPC

More AdWords PPC Keyword Bid Info

Visit the "Where's Google Making Its Money?" infographic for the full list of the top 20 most expensive Google CPC keyword categories and to embed the graphic on your own site.
Update (July 22, 2011): Check out the follow-up article to this study: Where's Mesothelioma, What Is Cord Blood & Other FAQs About Our Most Expensive Keywords Study.
Update (July 27, 2011): Click here to download a PDF version of this infographic.