Viral content is any content that gains popularity overnight. You can create viral content inform of a Facebook post, a tweet, a YouTube video, or a blog post. For content to be viral, it has to be shared thousands of times. In some cases, viral content gets shared millions of times. (more…)
Author: greysmoke
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How to Monetize Your Blog (Why Blog Ads Do Not Work!)
It is the new dream – everyone is starting a blog and dreaming about how they will be waking up when they want, brew coffee, sit on the couch with a laptop on their laps, run blog ads and start earning, wearing their pajamas! It is appealing, right? Well, dreams are always far from reality, and the most successful bloggers will tell you how that unrealistic your dreams are. (more…)
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Why is Content The Heartbeat of SEO?
Look at two websites or blogs targeting the same audience, what would you say is the reason why one blog or website performs better than the other? Most of the time, you’ll think that the underperforming site isn’t using the right keywords and maybe, its flouted some rules set by Google or that, it isn’t well optimized. However, a keener look reveals that the variation in performance lies in the content. (more…)
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Top 2 Best Free Website Builders
Creating a website is no longer a domain for coders and professional website designers because technology has made it possible for anyone to build their website from scratch. You don’t need to understand FTP or HTML scripts, and with the right idea in mind, you will come up with the best website design without paying anyone for their skills.
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Should You Get An App For Your Business? Here Are 3 Reasons Why
In 2017 if your business does not have an app, you are slowly being phased out. It is very necessary if you want to improve your business performance. There is an app for almost everything and every service in the market. This is because Americans are spending more than 5 hours per day on their phones, specifically using their apps. (more…)
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Is Your Browsing Safe? 3 Reasons Why You Should Hide your IP Address
In the information age, it is better to be safe than sorry. Your Internet service provider is always looking over your head and so is every scammer and hacker online. ISP doesn’t care if you are a slip and fall lawyer or just a hawker on the street, the highest bidder on call can buy your details in five minutes. (more…)
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2 Simple Reasons why You Need a Business Website
Which side of the statistics do you want your business to feature in? Most small business hold on to the small mentality for so long that they are left behind when the world revolves. It is how most of them close shop and the few like slip and fall lawyer Toronto weather the storm. What is the trick? They have a functional website. (more…)
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How Inbound Links Contribute To Your Online Success
If you have ever filed a personal injury lawsuit, you certainly hired the best lawyer to represent you to increase your chances of a win. The same logic applies to a website with several high-quality inbound links. (more…)
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Top 5 Marketing Tools for All Digital Marketers – A Handy Guide for All Marketers
Do you ever think that you would be far ahead of the marketing profession curve if you had some tools to make the whole process easier? Well, there are. You may have heard about some tools, but you may never have heard of others. With the constant changes in the digital marketing scene, you will get confused about picking one tool over the others hence this smart guide.
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8 Ways To Increase Your Social Media Marketing Success
As a social media manager, your role is to increase the company’s sales by bringing in more people. That means that your mannerisms on social media and your ability to reach the right audience mater. Done right, social media marketing can be the biggest source of income for the business. How to do things right: (more…)
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Ahrefs Tools – How to use This Tool and Its Roles in Digital Marketing
Your digital marketing success depends on your SEO techniques, the quality of content published, the technical functionality of the websites as well as the type of links present on your site. While a lot goes into digital marketing, the whole process is simplified when you have the best tools guiding you. (more…)
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7 Technical SEO Tips for Digital Marketing
While most experts place more attention on on-page and off-page SEO, most of them overlook the technical SEO aspect. For success in digital marketing, you need cohesion in on-page, off-page, and technical SEO element. A look at the important elements of technical SEO (more…)
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6 Must-Have Apps For The Modern Executive
Mobile phones have become the main means of communication for top executives. They are as important as finding the right Slip and Fall Vancouver attorney during the rainy season. Executives need a host of Apps for checking and responding to emails online as well as chatting with project managers and employees while on the go. Luckily, developers are responding promptly to that, and they have come up with these apps that many top executives swear by. (more…)
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5 Things To Look For in A Digital Marketing Company
For every business looking to increase their online presence, ‘who should run marketing’ remains the million dollar question. For your profitability, it is important that you outsource marketing services to an agency working as your partner for an improvement in business outcomes. The agency must deliver real value. You should, therefore, choose a digital marketing agency whose marketing process aligns with your business objectives. (more…)
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3 Reasons Why You Should Pay Taxes In Time
In life, at least two things are certain: death and taxes. Both of these are not fun even to think about, but they are inevitable. Property tax, unlike other forms, is a prerogative of individual State governments. While you can legally avoid paying other types of taxation, this one is a hard nut. Income tax, on the other hand, is the forte of the federal government.
Why Pay Taxes In Time?
Even the sale properties Cityplace people will advise you to pay your property taxes in time to avoid a brush-up with the law. Taxes go to improving roads, parks, and schools, as well as paying those in public service.
Avoid Penalties
The set date to file your returns is 15th April of every year. If you file later than the date, you will be liable to a penalty, depending on whether you owed Uncle Sam money or not. The penalty will not exceed 25% of your unpaid taxes. Seeing as you had the whole year and three months to plan this, it would be best to be done well before the deadline.
Easy To Process Refunds
If you start the process early, you will have enough time to go through the required documents and to gather everything you will need to present for a potential refund. Also, you will reduce the chances of making mistakes, seeing as you will have enough time to review your returns before filling.
Americans overpaid taxes by up to $1 billion by failing to itemize deductions. When you itemize deductions, you capture everything and avoid leaving potential refunds on the table as you would when working at the last minute.
Prevent Identity Theft
The recent times have seen several cases of identity theft brought to the surface. In a rush to beat the deadline, you may be a bit sloppy with your information, losing it to an identity thief who will claim fraudulent refunds in your name. You can beat them to it by filling your returns early enough. The IRS paid over $3.1 billion to fraudulent claimers last year, and this could be prevented if we all guarded our tax information better.
Peace Of Mind
If you plan to apply for financial aid at any time, you want your documents with the federal government to be in order. FASFA, Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is used by both private and public institutions to determine eligibility for funding. You are better safe than sorry.
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4 Things Canadians Should Consider When Filing Income Tax Returns
Filing your income tax return as a Canadian citizen is a big responsibility. Whether you’re filing it at home or somewhere abroad, you still need to file it before the deadline. Individual taxpayers would need to file their income tax returns before April 30, while business owners have until June 15. (more…)
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6 Travel Companions That You Should Never Be Without
The travel bug has caught everyone these days, and almost every millennial is opting for homes on the wheel as they figure their next destination. If you love traveling, you will want to document every moment, not only as a way of preserving those memories but also as a way of earning some money for the next adventure. (more…)
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How to Get Out of the Deep Debt Den the Easy Way
It looks like you are already in disagreement with this statement because, in your book, there is no easy way to get out of debt. That is understandable given the high cost of living and your poor habit to spend more than you earn.
Well, you may think that way but, allow us to show you how you can pay off all your debt while having fun. Even guys with seemingly impossible CRA issues get out of the trouble smiling. Your case can’t be that difficult.
Make use of your talent or hobby to make money
Are you a talented writer, software developer, app developer, or a craftsmaster? What are you doing with your talents? In this day and age, you can make good money off any talent, and the best part is that your talent won’t feel like work because you enjoy doing it. So, instead of being broke all the time, look out for freelance opportunities, make money, pay off old debt and when done, save and live up to your dreams.
On that note, why not try learning a new skill then using it to offer services to others? No, you don’t have to get a formal education in a college. Just use the internet.
Buy. Fix. Sell
When was the last time you visited a thrift store? If you don’t like rummaging through old items, think of it as digging for gold. You can get great pieces of furniture, home décor accessories or clothes that need minor fixing. Buy those items, take them home or to a carpenter, fix, paint, clean or buff and sell it. We promise good profit.
Stop hoarding and sell
Do you need all those clothes and shoes in the wardrobe? What about the furniture and the kitchen electronics in the basement/ garage? One, they take up space which you could convert into a rental guest room. Secondly, you can sell those items to pay off debt. Just make sure that you stop buying more unnecessary items.
Sell your hair
No kidding! Well, it seems like an extreme move but, hey, it pays, and you need the money. If you have locks or longer and fuller hair, you can sell it online. People pay a lot more for natural and chemically untreated hair.
Do you need it?
This isn’t an easy one especially if you are a shopaholic but, you have to cut down some costs. If you need something now, wait three days, if you still need it then, get it. You can save a lot by denying yourself a few pleasures.
Final debt clearance tips from the experts, stop creating more debt, create a spending budget, get a debt consolidation loan or speak with a credit counselor.
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3 Effective Methods To Grow Your Blog Following
Blogging is a crowded space, no matter the market. It’s a challenge to find ways to get people to notice your website and to stick around long enough to become a follower. I ran an active blog for years and spend countless hours working on growing my following. Some days after toiled away I brought in only a handful of clicks, other days I brought in thousands. (more…)
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3 Methods To Make Money With Your Blog
Are you interested in earning actual money with your blog? I’m not talking about making pennies through spammy looking ad sales either, but actual hard cash that you can use to turn a great profit on your website. If you run a website that gains quite a bit of organic traffic, blogging can actually be a fairly locative business that earns you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a month. (more…)
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Understanding The Most Important Marketing Tactic
If you have a website or a blog that you’re trying to market, but you’re not quite sure where to start, then you’ve come to the right place. Marketing a website or blog can be a challenge, especially when you’re new and unsure of what the best strategies are for approaching early marketing. (more…)
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4 Ways To Market Your Law Firm Blog
Many law firms these days have gotten more into blogging as a way to keep their clients informed and as a way to make themselves to be a higher profile expert in their type of law. We spoke to one auto accident lawyer on how they increased traffic to their blog and this is what they had to say. (more…)
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5 Tips To Develop A Law Firm Blog
Credit: Markus Tacker
Blogging has been a trend that has been going on for a while now, but even after all these year it still manages to continue growing as more and more people start one. If you’ve been thinking about starting a blog for your law firm, it may be a worthwhile endeavor as more and more begin to. So if you’re running a site like St. Catharines Person Injury Lawyers, then a blog may be right for you. Here are some expert tips.
Find Your Niche
So we know that you’re a law firm, but what exactly is your law firm going to blog about? You can say ‘law’, but that’s fairly generic. One thing that attracts people to blogs is specifics. So first decide if you want to blog for your clients or for professionals in the industry. Once that is determined, it’s time to choose a list of topics that will appeal to the group you chose. Spend some time creating your niche and write a few test articles in it to make sure you have enough to say about it.
Advertise It
Advertise your blog posts when they come out by putting some money behind them on Facebook and Twitter. This will significantly increase your readership so when you start you don’t write for an empty audience.
Create A Share Option
Your colleagues on LinkedIn and clients on Facebook and Twitter may want to share your content, so make sure to give them the option to. It will help you to grow your blog for free and the more shares your article has, the more credibility viewers perceive it as having.
Attach Your Blog To Your Website
Instead of creating a whole new website for your blog, just launch it within your current law firms website. Make it as a tab so that people can easily peruse it. Also, make sure to divide your blog into sections so it can be navigated well. Anytime you can embed links to previous articles within your newly published articles as well so that you can keep readers on your blog for longer.
Invite Guests
Invite your colleagues and peers from other law firms to post on your blog from time to time. This will be a refreshing break for your readers to hear a new voice weigh in on issues and it can strengthen those valuable bonds with your peers as both of you benefit. Plus, they can share their article with their clients, allowing it to be seen by two audiences.
Creating a blog may be the most valuable new initiative you can set out on to bring more people to your website and to make yourself appear as one of the top experts in the field.
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Top 5 WordPress Themes For Lawyers
Building an interactive and sleek website is incredibly important in the world of law today to show potential clients what you can do for them. A beautiful website will not only represent you well, but it will also increase the number of clients you receive as well. (more…)
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Strategies to Select a Suitable Web Hosting Service for Your Business
How do you select a suitable web hosting service for your company’s website? You can start by reading the in-depth reviews of leading web hosting providers in a reliable SaaS directory. To select a good quality web hosting service, however, you’ll need to go beyond looking at disk storage and bandwidth features. This article will help you out by listing the key features you need to consider in your search.
To start with, be aware of your needs. What type of website do you have? Do you require Windows applications or special software? How large is your website traffic? Answer these basic questions before you embark on your search. Initially, shared hosting is enough for most sites. You can upgrade to dedicated hosting or VPS later on as your website starts attracting more traffic. Look for the following features in a web hosting provider:
Uptime and Reliability
Your website needs to be up 24/7, so it is essential to select a host that provides at least 99.5% uptime guarantee. Do not accept anything less than 99%. You can find the uptime info on the service’s website or by reading reviews. Plus, you can also use easy-to-use server monitor apps to track the uptime of the web host.
Server Upgrade
Shared hosting is sufficient if your blog or website attracts about 30,000 to 40,000 unique visitors per month. This type of hosting is also suitable if your database connections are less than 20. However, if your blog or website is growing fast, then you need to upgrade to dedicated server or VPS. This will provide you better security, and more disk storage, memory capacity, and processing power to keep up with the growth.
Multiple Domains
Many people own multiple domains that they hope to sell at a good rate some day. This survey by Web Hosting Talk reveals that 80% of respondents own more than five domains and over 20% own more than 50.
You need extra space to accommodate the domains. Therefore, ensure you hosting account allows you to add multiple domains. You should not have any worries on this front as most shared hosting services permit 25 addon domains or more. But be sure to get info on the number of domains allowed before you shell out your money.
The Cost
Signup is usually cheap, but you need to pay a higher amount when you renew the deal. For shared hosting, it is normal to pay $10/month. But check the provider’s terms of service to know how much you need to pay when you renew the account. Compare the signup price with the renewal cost to know what you are getting into.
Refund Policy
Get to know the details about the provider’s refund policy. Can you get your full money back if you cancel the service during the trial? What is the refund procedure after the trial period ends? Do they levy cancellation charges?
Our advice is to select a service with a guaranteed refund policy so that you don’t lose money if something goes wrong and you wish to switch. Avoid providers that charge a lot for cancellation. Go for a host that offers a money back guarantee and gives a pro-rated refund even after the trial period.
Bandwidth and Disk Space are Not that Important
Most providers offer unlimited data transfer and storage. Though “unlimited” comes with fair use policy, you should not worry about these features as most services provide more than sufficient capacity for data transfer and storage. These features do not matter a lot these days you can store large files in the cloud, videos on Vimeo and YouTube, documents and files on Google Drive, and your images on Flickr.
eCommerce Features
If you are operating an eCommerce site with shopping cart solutions and process financial transactions, then you need support for your operations. Pick a provider that offers easy installation of shopping cart apps, dedicated IP, and SSL certification.
Control Panel
The control panel should be functional and user friendly. It can be a popular one like cPanel or Plesk or a third party panel as offered by GoDaddy. The main thing is the control panel should enable you to easily perform all the needed functions. Without a good control panel, for even basic changes you would have to depend on the tech support agents. So make sure to select a web host that offers an easy-to-use control panel.
Account Suspension
The provider will suspend your hosting account if you use too much processing power. As mentioned earlier, unlimited hosting comes with a fair use policy. So read about the usage policies of the web host before you sign up. Find out how much CPU power, bandwidth, and storage you are allowed to utilize.
Green Hosting
If you are green-friendly, opt for a company that offers green hosting. Science studies reveal that a web server generates greater than 630kg of carbon dioxide and consumes a great deal of energy too annually. On the other hand, a green hosting service generates zero carbon dioxide. Thus, there is a big difference between a green host and a normal one. So if you care for the environment, go for a host such as Greengeeks that uses green certificates to offset their energy usage.
Your Company Email
Check out the email features before you sign up. Can you offer email@yourdomain.com? However, it is not a big issue if you do not get the email feature. You can easily sign up on a service like Google Email Apps to use an email ID at your domain. The big advantage is you get up to 10 email accounts free of cost.
Do Not Opt for Long Subscription Periods
Many services lure customers for long subscription contracts by drastically reducing the price. However, it is not advisable to sign a contract for a period of more than two years unless the host offers a reliable money back guarantee that can be availed any time. So, do not get taken in by discounts, but look at the bigger picture when signing a contract.
Site Backup
Reliable site backup is essential in case of emergencies or natural disasters so that you don’t end up losing your valuable data. Therefore, select a provider that does regular site backups so that your data is restored in case you happen to lose it during an emergency. Find out if you can do the site backup using the control panel and whether you can do an auto backup easily using an appropriate program. The web host should allow you to restore backup files on your own so that you don’t need to depend on the help of support agents during the emergency.
Customer Support
Finally, select a vendor that offers reliable support round the clock via multiple channels such as phone, email, and live chat. You should be able to get your queries and doubts resolved easily and use the tech support to make effective use of the facilities provided by the web hosting service. It is also ideal if the web host offers comprehensive self-help resources such as a knowledge base, FAQs, and documentation so that you can find solutions to your issues quickly and easily without needing to contact tech support.
Conclusion
Remember that big brand web hosting services may not always be the right one for your needs. Be sure about what the current needs of your website and select a suitable host accordingly. If your website is growing fast, opt for a scalable hosting service. Feel free to share your opinions on the web hosting service you are currently using.
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Filing Taxes Online? Here Are 4 Of The Best Tools
Filing taxes online is becoming one of the quickest and most efficient ways of getting your taxes done and best of all it’s mostly painless. More and more people are ditching the formal meeting and sticking to their PJs in order to get their taxes done and seemingly in less time. This week we spoke to a Toronto Tax Lawyer about the most reliable and trustworthy tools that you can use safely.
Turbo Tax:
The Tax Accountant said his favorite of all the online tax platforms was Turbo Tax due to its easy-to-use interface. Turbo Tax goes through each step of the process effectively and with plenty of tips along the way. Perhaps the best part is the online presence of people who are able to assist you whenever needed.
Credit Karma:
Credit Karma is known for mostly telling people their credit score, but did you know you can file with them as well? They promise to be completely free (whereas Turbo Tax still charges) and promise the same benefits as you get by going through Turbo Tax. They are a worthy contender, so they are worthwhile to check out for this next tax season.
H&R Block:
H&R Block has recently put a lot of effort into hitting the digital market after being one of the main in-person tax filing services in town. They also claim to file for free and much like Credit Karma, seem to make their whole marketing scheme around being better than Turbo Tax. With H&R Block you can snap a photo of your W-2 and have it auto-complete into the form, making for a smooth filing year.
IRS
The IRS now has a platform for you to file online as well! Their website is not as user-friendly and ‘fun’ to use as the websites above, but the process is mainlined by using them. What I mean by this is that there is no middle-man in this regard, so if quick and reliable filing is your concern, then the IRS website may be the way for you to go.
Taxes can be complicated however, so even though these sites are well and good, it’s important to be safe while filing. If you are more than a small business or have a more complicated filing year than a W-2 it’s advisable to go talk with an expert.
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5 Smart Home Devices to Have Now
The Internet of Things holds the promise that one day everything will be connected to the internet and their functions can be entirely driven by information. Think about it, perhaps the ultimate success is reached when people’s brains are connected to the internet. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate smart device? Until then, here are 5 smart home devices to have now. According to Jeremy Diamond, lawyer at Diamond and Diamond, “Some features provided by smart home devices not only provide utility, they can provide safety improvements as well.”
Amazon All-New Echo Dot (2nd Generation) $49.99
The Echo Dot is one of those things that are incredibly interesting but you think you can do without because you’re not sure if you really need it. This is good and well until you actually get one. You’ll think it’s the most awesome thing ever, at an incredibly good price to boot. The only reason to get the Echo at more than 3 times the price is if you have no better speakers. With the Echo Dot you can route music to any Bluetooth speakers at home. The laws of physics cannot be defied here – many dedicated speakers will sound better than the Echo’s minute 2.5-inch woofer and 2-inch tweeter.
So the Echo Dot is a voice-controlled device that connects to the Alexa Voice Service to do a lot of cool things – music, information, news, weather, locations, and online orders, all at the tip of your tongue. It’s also a home automation hub that lets you control supported devices with your voice. The list of compatible smart home devices grows virtually by the day.
Samsung SmartThings Hub (2nd Generation) $99.00
If you wish to control your smart home devices from anywhere with an app, then add the Samsung SmartThings to your inventory. This hub is developer friendly and can potentially be tweaked to work with any smart devices. There’s no clear-cut rule of what’s not possible but that also means you must be willing to tinker.
MagicLight Pro Smart LED Light Bulb $38.95
No hubs needed for these smart light bulbs that connect to your router. Android and iOS apps come with 20 pre-programmed modes to control one or a group of MagicLight Pro bulbs. They are compatible with Alexa voice control – just add the “Magic Home” skill. This 10W LED bulb (incandescent light equivalent of 80W) can be personalized from over 16 million colors with individual dimming of every color and various tones of white. Set timers and sync whatever light combination to music, this smart bulb is the coolest and screams value.
Sensi UP500W Smart Thermostat $129.00
This is a Wi-Fi smart thermostat with a mobile app for controlling the temperature of your home from anywhere. It’s the easiest to set up and compatible with Alexa voice control. What’s more, the Sensi UP500W also works like a traditional thermostat. Isn’t it refreshing to see that in with the new doesn’t have to mean out with the old?
Logitech Harmony Companion Remote $149.99
This smart universal remote (compatible with Alexa) lets you replace the IR remote controllers of all home entertainment devices and it can also be used to control many smart home devices, over 270,000 devices in all. The Harmony Hub is included for controlling hidden devices not in the line of sight.
Find Necessary Hi-Tech Product Easy on http://www.4prototypes.com
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HP Widens Recall for Fire-prone Batteries
Laptop batteries posing a fire risk continue to plague Hewlett Packard. The company has widened its call for owners to return batteries for replacement in more laptop models brought in the last three years. A US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall notification thought to involve some 101,000 computers.
Computers affected include a range of HP, Compaq and ProBook models among others, purchased between early 2013 and late 2016Oc. HP is asking owners of those with black lithium-ion batteries to check the cell’s bar codes and contact the company for a free replacement. The Palo Alto, California company, says owners should only use AC power with their laptops until they receive a replacement. Luckily, there has been no wrongful deaths to date.
The recall involves HP models with lithium-ion batteries made in China and containing Panasonic cells. The models affected cost between $300 and $1,700. Some batteries were sold separately for between $50 and $90.
The renewed recall comes after HP received a report of a overheating battery melting and causing $1,000 in damage, according to the CPSC statement. It is understood the batteries affected are at risk of catching fire, causing burn damage to the computer and potentially its user.
The latest recall comes hot on the heels of a similar HP announcement affecting 41,000 power cells in June 2016. The CPSC statement said the new recall affected batteries not included in the previous one.
During the past few years, observers estimate that HP has recalled hundreds of thousands of lithium-ion batteries due to fire hazard reports. The company has previously issued recalls for batteries in laptops sold in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008.
However, HP is not the only company to suffer from Lithium-ion battery problems. Some Samsung and Apple models with similar power cells have also been prone to cause fire damage, in some cases even bursting into flames. Lithium-ion batteries in other gadgets such as phones and toys have also proved to be a fiery problem. According to a Pickering Mortgage Broker, “We are seeing families become more cognizant of the products in their homes.”
As a whole, the electronics industry is trying to develop better, and safer, batteries. Companies are exploring new battery technology and ways to prevent Lithium-ion related fires.
Early this year, researchers from Stanford University built lithium-ion batteries that would immediately self-extinguish if they overheated. The group claim their method can stop cells from burning up within 0.4 seconds of the start of a battery fire.
The Standford researchers incorporated the widely-used flame retardant triphenyl phosphate into a lithium battery. The group added the chemical to the fibres of the component that keeps apart the battery’s negative and positive electrodes.
If the battery overheats past 150 degrees Celsius, the plastic melts and releases the chemical compound. Unlike previous attempts to build a similar mini fire extinguisher systems, the Stanford group their method does not significantly affect computer performance.
HP Laptop owners concerned about their lithium batteries can contact the company at www.HP.com/go/batteryprogram2016
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Enjoy iPad Home Theater with Amp by OIO
There will soon be a mind-blowing way to enjoy the iPad. And it doesn’t require going out of your way – it’s nothing like enjoying the iPad while skydiving or swimming with dolphins at SeaWorld Dolphin Cove. This one is a natural extension. You only have to slide your iPad into a case, open up the case, and boom! What you get is a home theater system.
The object in question is an ingenious iPad accessory called Amp by OIO. Amp is like a heavy-duty case for the iPad that also converts it into a full-blown home theater system. It is precision-built to fit perfectly the iPad Pro 9.7, iPad Air and iPad Air 2. It was one of the hottest products at CES 2017.
The Portable Home Theater
Open up Amp and what you get is an elegant stand that holds the iPad in the middle like a home theater screen and stereo speakers on both sides. While it makes your iPad as big as a laptop, it is a small inconvenience for the huge advantage and cool factor of having a home theater system on the go.
An iPad equipped with Amp is an Amped-up iPad that’s guaranteed to be a conversation piece everywhere you go. Put on a movie or any video clip and real home theater experience can be enjoyed by more than one person.
Real Home Theater Experience
This is because Amp is not just any Bluetooth speakers, it is a pair of electrostatic speakers designed to deliver the stereo imaging and soundstage of a hi-fi system. Stereo imaging is the ability of two front speakers to deliver spatial musical details with depth and width as if they’re coming from a single point source, while soundstage is the precise placement of voices, musical instruments and sound effects in the sound field.
In addition, built-in DSPs for the multiple audio codecs allow Amp to simulate various sound enhancements and surround sound settings for a truly satisfying home theater experience.
Specifications and Fun Facts
The speakers are two electrostatic panels made of resin-impregnated carbon fiber in honeycomb construction protected by sturdy and durable aluminum frames. The built-in stereo amplifiers power the two ultra-low profile electromagnetic exciters, each located behind a speaker panel, which in turn generate sound out of the speaker panels.
So the sound quality is awesome, but can the speakers play loud enough? OIO, the company known for designing acoustic systems for Samsung and LG Electronics, rated Amp to play up to 96 dBa or A-weighted decibels. How loud is 96 decibels? For your reference, 96 decibels is louder than a jackhammer 50 feet away or an approaching subway train from 200 feet. That’s pretty loud. It woke up the neighbours at my King West condo…
Amp is based on Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 technology with assisted auto-connect at 10 seconds or less. It is equipped with a 2000mAh Lithium ion rechargeable battery lasting up to seven hours between charges. Despite all its features and solid construction, Amp weighs in at just 1 pound 10 ounces, which means with an iPad Air installed it is still lighter than a MacBook Pro.
After making quite a splash at its CES debut, Amp by OIO will be available commercially soon.
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Amazon Adds More Dash Buttons for Easy Buying
Amazon is taking Alexa “To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Has Gone Before…” The ecommerce giant has added the Star Trek inspired ‘’computer’’ as a wake word to its voice assistant platform.
The new wake word joins the current ‘’Alexa’’, ‘’Echo’’ and ‘’Amazon’’ as commands to get Alexa’s attention.
To change your wake word follow these steps:
- Open the Alexa app
- Open the left navigation panel and select Settings
- Select your device from the menu
- Scroll down and select Wake Word
- Use the drop-down menu to select a wake word, and then select Save. When you change the wake word, the light ring on your device flashes orange briefly.
In the two years since its launch, Alexa has emerged as the go-to voice platform for any connected device. Alexa has progressed from home-helper and office assistant to car buddy. And it’s unlikely to stop there. Amazon is aggressively looking to embed its popular voice recognition into more and more tech products.
At January’s Las Vegas, Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Volkswagen and Ford revealed their new cars will incorporate Alexa. Among other things the system will tell you the best route, weather and traffic bullet-ins, and even if you have enough fuel. Once on the road, Alexa will also access your calendar and confirm appointments to make sure you’re on schedule. However, it still has a long way to go before you can say “Alexa,
Amazon believes the intelligent voice-recognition platform will be central to autonomous cars of the near future. The company eventually wants to use vehicle-to vehicle communication and data sharing. In other words, cars talking to each other.
Alexa already has more than 7,000 applications that link with other manufactures’ equipment. Or in Amazon speak ‘’third-party integrations’’.
The on-line seller’s voice platform has proven itself one of the most reliable around. Unlike other brand’s similar systems, Amazon has solved many of the problems regularly associated with voice recognition.
Amazon fine-tuned Alexa’s ability to recognize commands by limiting it to the (US) English language during the first two years. It has only recently become available on the UK English speaking market.
Amazon claims Alexa’s language capability means it will understand you even if you ask for something in five different ways. Alexa also has far-field microphones with built-in noise cancellation for noisy environments. It is circular so can be used from any angle.
Amazon’s aim, according to its executives, is to ultimately develop Alexa into something you use everywhere you go. Whether walking through the home or on the move microphones, potentially hidden will pick up and answer any question or need. In fact a bit like Star Treks ever-present ship-wide computer.
And if that’s not enough for you, why not out-fit your entire home with a Star-Trek branded custom wall mural?
“The ultimate vision is that this is like a Star Trek computer….and I can just ask Alexa for things. There may not be devices that you can even see,” John Scumniotales, Amazon’s Automotive Alexa managers told reporters at the CES.
“Hailing on all frequencies!” anyone?
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The Most Banging Tech Products of CES 2017
Since 1967, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off the year in consumer electronics and technology products every January in Las Vegas. This year we scoured the nine venues of CES 2017 to bring you the most banging tech products of the year. “Banging” is any permutation of cool, awesome, innovative, high-end, useful, trendsetting, and wow, how come no one’s thought of it before.
- LG Signature W OLED TV
Toward its goal of making organic light-emitting diode (OLED) the next generation technology of large-screen televisions, LG broke the $2000 price barrier last year with an entry-level 55” OLED TV. This year LG introduced the Signature W OLED TV for another purpose – to take our breath away! Available in 65” and 77” models, W is dubbed Wallpaper for its hang-on-the-wall design. Both models are so light that they can attach to walls as flimsy as plastic and glass with the supplied magnetic brackets (which add only 4mm protrusion to the 0.2” thin TV frame). Audio and video connections are handled by a soundbar that comes standard. It is an upward-firing high-end soundbar equipped with the latest 4k UHD video upscaling and Dolby Atmos audio processing.
- Monoprice Delta Mini 3D Printer
3D printers have a way of looking as if they were made in someone’s garage. The cheap ones further give the impression they might fall apart if we as much as yelled at them, except the ones made by value leader Monoprice. This year Monoprice once against pushed the affordability envelope with the $149 Delta Mini 3D printer. At this combination of quality and low cost, there is little excuse left for designers and hobbyists not to take the plunge and invest in a 3D printer to better visualize their ideas and creations.
- Toyota Concept-i Future Car
The Concept-i is Toyota’s take on a car of the future. It is pretty out there but not as far out there as the other future cars at CES 2017 that threatened to make the cars in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World appear tame. The Concept-i is a smart car and its user interface is Yui with continuous learning capability. The wheels are integrated into the chassis and the single wide windscreen gives the driver an unobstructed field of vision.
- Soraa Helia Smart Light Bulbs
Lighting company Soraa showed off its Helia smart LED light bulbs. These light bulbs automatically adjust the emission of different light colors according to the time of day. As a day progresses, blue light is gradually cut down with a skew toward violet light. This manipulation of light is believed to benefit the eyes and aid with nighttime sleep. There’s an optional Smart Snap feature that can turn on the light bulb at the detection of people in a room.
- Focal Utopia by Tournaire Headphones
The Focal Utopia by Tournaire is an impressive statement of designer jewelry and the world’s most expensive headphones. Focal is one of the world’s most respected manufacturers of high-end speakers and Philippe Tournaire is a French jeweler extraordinaire, and when they come together, jaw-dropping fireworks are produced to the tune of $120,000 for a pair of Utopia by Tournaire headphones. This is amazing stuff with gold and diamonds and Focal’s proprietary Beryllium speaker drivers.
- Willow Breast Pumps
The relatively low-key Willow breast pumps generated one of the biggest buzz at CES. They are hands-free, cordless and almost noiseless breast pumps that insert into a mother’s bra for unobtrusive pumping on the go! They are FDA-approved and dishwasher safe. Everything is too good to be true save for the rather steep retail price of $429 a pair.
- Mohu AirWave
America has just about the best programming of free TV in the world. While many countries have moved their major sporting events to pay TV, Americans continue to enjoy the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA and Stanley Cup Finals on free TV broadcasts. This is the best country for cord cutters and the $149.99 Mohu AirWave is the best device toward that end, with one-stop wireless access to free broadcasts and streaming content.
- Sleep Number 360 Smart Bed
At the spacious Sleep Number display in Sands Expo and Convention Center, many people were very curious about the 360 Smart Bed that can measure the sleeper’s biometrics and predict the onset of snoring for auto-calibration of sleep numbers in various sections of the bed, but few were brave or willing enough to try it. The thick memory foam top is supposed to be so comfortable that the sleeper can feel the blood pressure calming, and when the bed begins to adapt, it’s been compared to going to heaven. What’s more, this miraculous bed can even warm the sleeper’s feet! Better not find out the price. Just hope that one day everybody might be able to afford one.
- Ewaybot MoRo Robot Assistant
MoRo is a robotic assistant by Chinese robotics company Ewaybot Technology. The product displayed was a prototype with a proposed selling price of $30,000 but yet without an official production date. This version stood 4 feet tall and tipped the scale at 77 pounds. Its cylindrical shape resembles a white fire hydrant or a rather petite R2-D2, complete with motion, voice recognition, and functioning arms. This will be great around my Liberty Village condo.
- Happiest Baby SNOO Smart Sleeper
The SNOO Smart Sleeper bassinet was all the rage back in October after appearances in the digital editions of The Daily Mail, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and more. Three months later SNOO came to Las Vegas to demonstrate to CES-goers its awesome ability to soothe a crying baby with varying levels of white noise and rocking motion. Elimination of sleepless nights for parents and child may be worth its price of admission of $1,200.
This is all we have for now, but needless to say, it is nowhere near an exhaustive list. CES 2017 was a wild jungle in which one never knew what digital beasts might have lurked just around the corner.
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Internet of Things Set to Revolutionize Insurance Industry
The term Internet of Things (IOT) was coined at around the same time when the number of devices connected to the Internet first exceeded the total world population. The total IOT devices have been projected to balloon to 50 billion by the year 2020, according to an oft-quoted Cisco IBSG white paper, and as many as 200 billion according to a joint study by IDC, Intel and the United Nations. (more…)
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Acer Predator – CES 2017
It’s the New Year, and while people around the world are suddenly cutting carbs, picking up a musical instrument for the first time or learning how to speak Mandarin, serious technophiles have other things in mind. Forget resolutions, the 2017 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show has happened and all the latest and greatest innovations in audio, video, gaming and more have been revealed.
CES 2017 ran wild on Las Vegas from January 5-8 and it had a little something for everybody. However, serious PC gamers (with serious cash flows) may be particularly interested in the latest from Acer’s Predator line of gaming machines.
When I say serious, I mean it – the Acer Predator 21 X checks in with a $9000 price tag. But if you’re a part of the laptop crowd and you’re looking for a new rig to jump into the world of VR gaming, Acer has you covered. You’ll probably even be able to forgo the new gym membership if you’re lugging it around; the Predator 21 X is just under 20 pounds. Can’t wait to have this baby in my Toronto Condo!
Nevertheless, it’s worth its weight in pure performance.
According to the Taiwanese tech giant, the Predator 21 X will help you “Go beyond the horizon to discover the world of curve. A world that bends and pulls you in to experience top-tier gaming.” That may me marketing mumbo-jumbo, but this laptop has the specs to back it up.
The machine has an overclockable seventh generation Intel Core Kaby Lake i7-7820HK processor with 64 gigs of DDR4-2400 RAM, two Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 video cards, two power supplies, five internal fans, nine heat pipes, an array of speakers and subwoofers, an SD card reader, one HDMI port and two display ports.
Speaking of displays, the Predator 21 X also has a 21-inch 2000R curved display with NVIDIA G-Sync and boasts a 2560 x 1080 pixel resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate with an aspect ratio of 21:9. In other words, just the kind of screen you want to have while you’re putting the beatdown on baddies in Destiny 2 or Final Fantasy XIV.
If you’re getting a new laptop exclusively for virtual reality purposes, the Predator 21 X also has Tobii eye tracking, so others can watch your vision go into overload as it struggles to cope with a new level of immersion.
Even the mechanical keyboard will stimulate the senses with its Cherry MX switches and RGB LED-infused keys.
Acer’s creation seriously looks like something out of science fiction. Just the kind of tech that would be right at home in the hands of Master Chief as he does battle with the Covenant or Jeremy Diamond as he reconfigures the warp drive aboard Enterprise-D.
Now, according to Gizmodo, you could probably build a similarly powerful machine for more than a few dollars less. However, if you’re looking for style points in your gaming exploits and have thousands of dollars laying around, Acer’s technological terror is the way to go.
The Acer Predator 21 X is scheduled for release in February.
