Many of us are familiar by now with the small pictorial presentations that accompany messages we receive online or through other communication gadgets we have.  These are the so-called emoticons which convey a feeling or emotion usually to put emphasis on a particular message.  Since an electronic message comes with a supplied emotion, receivers are able to assess the general mood of the sender, helping him or her react with a suitable response.

Electronic messages are usually difficult to interpret because of the lack of first hand access to real-time emotions.  This is sought to be remedied in part with the use of emotion widgets that enable online communicators to convey emotions to drive home a point.  Initially used in casual writing, emoticon use has been observed in more formal communication. Emoticons are generally basic in form as shown by the smiley face or a sad face.  There are variations seen between the Western and Eastern styles of presenting emoticons.

A most recent innovation seen is the emotion battery widget which can show different emoticons depending on the state of the battery of android phones.  So instead of diminishing bars, you will learn how badly needed recharging is through the emotions portrayed by emoticon faces.  There are actually many versions of this.

Why the need for this kind of widget?  Aside from being more fun to look at, emoticons put a certain degree of life in our way of communicating that has become way too mechanical because of technology and time constraints.  Although it can never take the place of the real thing, emoticons are able to animate our almost automatic way of living, reminding us constantly that there are humans at each end of the communication line, having feelings and emotions that should be considered when sending out messages or replying. 

Leave a Comment

Reciprocal commenting has been used by many blogs to increase their online activity. It is based on the premise that a favorable comment or the mere act of commenting would merit a response through another’s comments. Displaying comments of readers after blog posts provide a semblance of audience participation and therefore implies activity.

Incoming comments may mean increased traffic. It is highly possible that a percentage of reciprocal commenters may develop into regular readers and

followers. Of course, this is not assured.

Commenting of this nature also hopes to form a more permanent relationship than a casual commenting agreement. It does open a venue for this although long-term success would largely depend on the contents of the site. If there is nothing in the site that could sustain long-term interest, then regular readership may be a long shot.

Differences in interests, tastes, and views between a blogger and the target regular audience may make it impossible for permanent following to occur. This is of course except when commenting is largely based on contradicting stands. If this is the case, then a lively exchange of ideas can be expected.

Given the expected benefits of reciprocal commenting, there are also risks associated with the practice. Aside from the possibility of having a comment burnout because of the “required” back comments, it also opens up opportunities for spammers and plain troublemakers to do their thing. This has prompted many sites to opt for the off-comment option. However, choosing this option closes the chance of hearing valid feedbacks from readers. Relevant comments can enrich a site tremendously if bloggers are able to react accordingly to well-founded views and opinions.

Leave a Comment

One of the most obvious reasons why people surround themselves with the latest gadgets available in the market is that they look beautiful to look at.  There is pride in carrying them around since appreciation from others is always good to hear.  Some gadget owners go further by providing enhancements such as beautifying homescreens of their Android devices. 

Through beauty widgets, many have chosen to customize their devices’ homescreens according to their personal preference.  It is an app that is fairly simple and easy.  It doesn’t pretend to do anything but to add aesthetic appeal to devices people look at daily while providing information for things that people naturally check on a regular basis such as the time and the weather. 

The clock and weather widgets have both beautifying and functional offerings to users.  Weather forecasts are animated so that you can watch rain on your phone if the forecast is for a rainy day.  Forecasts can be programmed for multiple locations.

Beauty widgets also offer an assortment of toggle buttons that will enable owners to change the features of their devices as often as they want.  These may include brightness change, timed silence, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Plane Mode, Auto-rotate, and many others.  Customizing options are fairly wide, allowing for changes in widget skins, text and backgrounds colors, or manner of notification.

It is not as if our devices would run less efficiently if beauty widgets are not activated on them.  The sense of pleasure in seeking these kinds of apps is just one of the finer things in life that makes the daily grind more interesting.  It does not offer any excuse for being but just offers itself to those who want to have it.

Leave a Comment

Websites offering their take on the world financial market would do well to provide widgets that offer easy access to related information to its readers and customers.  Aside from making the site more interesting, readers find it more convenient when they don’t have to go back and forth between sites containing information they need.  The so-called financial widgets are worthy add-ons to sites dealing with the subject of finance. 

One such widget features the World Market Summary that provides a quick view of what is happening in the major markets around the world.  This widget offers real-time data from major financial markets in Europe, Asia, and the Americas with the option to include other markets when required.  Like most widgets, it is easily integrated into a site or blog by copying and pasting the code.

Other financial widgets can make monitoring of personal investments portfolio a lot easier.  Since they are customizable, the watch list can be configured to include stocks relevant to the user.  Still others allow users to manage their portfolio from a single site or chosen mobile device.

If users are simply interested in finding out the top gainers, a suitable widget can be installed for the purpose.  Stocks that gained the most in the latest trading are easily identified.  Information about current market price and the changes that occurred in between are likewise provided.

For those having interest on particular market sectors, a widget that provides information to what is actually needed can be installed.  There is an option to view this either on a local or global scale.  There is also an option to gain access to a clear picture depicting the global market, easily identifying what is moving up or down.  There are many financial widgets to choose from.  Sites just have to determine which works best for them.  

Leave a Comment

A game widget is just one of the many ways to encourage readers to visit your site.  Depending on what niche your site specifically caters to, you can choose the most appropriate which you believe can get the attention of your target readers.  Installing the widget to your site usually only requires you to embed the tag and paste it where you deem applicable.

Educational game widgets are just what the name implies.  They are games that provide interactive and engaging scenarios for improvement of various skills, academic or otherwise.  Some games are even within the standards of formal learning centers offering topics that allow children to learn and practice problem-solving, comprehension, vocabulary building, and others.  This game widget is especially suitable for sites about kid’s learning and development. 

Most game widgets provide opportunities for players to engage in multi-player online games.  Aside from the fun and excitement that comes with games, there is also the chance to develop skills in interacting and dealing with other people in the online environment.  This is considered a good supplementary training ground for actual social interaction.

There are games that will involve not only skill but strategy and luck.  There are also solitary games that can be played by single players without competition from other players.  Others would require some artistic skill, run a race, catch a monster, or outsmart a villain.  Sports-oriented games are always available as well as those that simply tests visual memory.  Whatever game is chosen, site owners should take time to consider what would be most useful to their target readers so game widgets are not merely seen as other things to do but related things to do.

Leave a Comment

With just about everything going global today even in the contents of our readings, an instant translator can prove to be quite handy.  Writers are increasingly making use of foreign words and terms in their articles especially if using the English counterpart lessens the impact of the words itself.  Readers however, who are lost in the translation would like to have the ready option to check their meanings.  

Although there are several online sites that offer translations, wouldn’t it be more convenient if translations are made more accessible such as in widget form.  When such widget is found in the site itself, readers will not have to leave it to find the desired translation.  The WordPress Multi-Language Translator Widget offers such convenience. 

The Indo-European Translator Widget allows for the translation and transliteration between different languages including English, Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Traditional Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, and Yiddish.  It is a very popular widget which just proves that readers do not want to be limited by any language barrier.  Lack of knowledge in a language should not be a hindrance to getting the required information. 

Placing a widget that offers instant translation in a site is very much in keeping with the global trending to overcome traditional obstacles and limitations.

Leave a Comment

Not a few people dream of wielding enough influence as to constitute real power over events and happenings.  Many have discovered a venue which when properly utilized can allow them to have such clout as to initiate a trend or awaken genuine awareness for a particular cause.  Not everyone will have the chance to be national or world leaders and be heard but anyone who has the right mind-set and sufficient determination can create a willing audience to listen through a blog.

Online influence can make things happen faster.  It can educate an audience and call them to action when necessary.  It can also build relationships and encourage a group or community to pursue a specific goal.  Online businesses will surely appreciate the power to influence purchases and increase favorable recommendations.

The power to influence through the online environment has to be earned with professionalism, expertise, integrity, respect, and honesty.  A professional commands attention while an expert attracts respect.  Users will not waste their time on sites authored by nonprofessionals and novices who obviously do not know what they are talking about.  Online users are naturally wary of unscrupulous online presence and will tend to stick with sites that have proven to possess integrity and honesty in their dealings with customers.  Respect cannot be demanded.  It is an automatic response to a site which respects itself and the public.

Blogs that have managed to rise up to become influence-wielders have done so through sharing, teaching, and building.  In essence, it is necessary to invest in the right efforts to the right market to expect to enjoy the fruits of labor.  Bloggers should consider going beyond their self-imposed boundaries to discover the true power that their blogs possess.

Leave a Comment

Social Media platforms are showing just how much people want to communicate with others, whether known or unknown. People are now able to freely communicate with each other without being constrained by time and place.  New social relationships are quickly developed while existing ones are reinforced by the availability of a means of communication.

It is an understatement to say that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have made their mark in society.  People are now finding more new friends through this venue compared to the traditional way of being introduced personally.  The primary reason why this set-up appears to work for most is the perennial lack of time to interact socially in the more conventional manner. 

Social media use has made it possible for physically-challenged or disabled people to communicate. People can now form groups based on similar interests without having to physically assemble which is usually difficult to do with the busy schedules of most working professionals.  Knowledge and information can be obtained from communicating with other people.

Like in all good things, there will always be disadvantages.  The threat to privacy is very real with most participants not realizing enough that some information meant for consumption of close friends and family are actually out into the open for everybody to see.  With the current revelations about privacy intrusion among members of different social media platforms, it can be surmised that absolute and full control over provided personal information is not possible.  Many members have learned the hard way that there are risks in relying solely on security features that can be violated at will by determined offenders.

At the end of the day, we should know that there are still some things best kept to ourselves or at least revealed personally to only those who need to know.

Leave a Comment

Widgets have become another form of advertising and entertainment.  These small applications when placed on websites and blogs provide owners opportunities to earn money specifically as a form of advertising.  With the wide options for widget choice, there is bound to be something for every site. 

Earning is made possible in the course of the usual route of page views and clicks through a site.  The requirements are very basic – a website or blog and a PayPal account.  With these two requirements in place, website owners can now concentrate on choosing the best applicable widget to place in relation to the nature of the site. 

Not all widgets will fit a site, not only because of the sheer number of options but because of their relevance.  Besides, who would want their  site to be so riddled with ads that it turns off readers?  Site owners should make sure to place the widgets where they are most likely to be clicked by viewers.  As they go along,  they will discover which ones actually work and which don’t.  Those that don’t work can be removed and replaced by more suitable options. 

There is a choice of making use of widgets developed by others or making one’s own.   Widget developers will need to have a widget editor, a widget converter, a text editor, and an image editor.  A plain text editor can be used to write the widget code.  A simpler application is better.  Knowledge of HTML, XML, JavaScript, and Applescript will be needed to write the code.

Widgets should be developed to run on various computer platforms to enable access to more users.   Widget developers can choose to share their widget once it is uploaded in their website.   They can make it available to others by submitting it to an online widget gallery in the same manner that  they can have access to others.  The main point is to use widgets that can make money for the site.

Leave a Comment

As we say goodbye to the current year, we are unable to bid farewell as well to the destructive and malicious malware that made their mark.  We are expecting to have malware with the same underlying platform which are made by attacking other vulnerabilities and weaknesses within the system.  Attacks through mobile devices commonly used by people easily come to mind.

Vulnerabilities and weaknesses are usually exposed by users themselves when they abandon all security concerns in their daily activities.  Many people will not think twice of revealing personal information on popular social media platforms without realizing that it is almost equivalent to personally delivering critical information to cyber criminals.  The usual targets of this type of threat are the people surrounding a person of authority or having privileged access status in a company or organization.  The information obtained can be used to come up with a probable profile of the real target, knowing the inclination of most people to use passwords related to persons, places,  and dates important to them.

The wide availability of mobile devices in the hands of people contribute to the vulnerability of the whole security system.  These devices are riddled with apps that although are useful, increases the chance of bringing in malware.  Anything and everything can be transformed into digital form making it easy to penetrate security protection that are in place.  Global systematic linking between financial institutions opens up the system of every participating bank or enterprise to threats that can easily spread out to the rest.  Threats from insiders are as deadly, if not deadlier than external threats because of the big risk in having critical information fall into the wrong hands of people who are expected to work in the best interest of the company.  In the face of all these threats, people have to strengthen their defenses even while enjoying mobility at its finest.

Leave a Comment