Blogsy Now Supports Posterous!

My favorite iPad blogging application Blogsy now supports Posterous making it very easy to create posts that incorporate images and videos etc and publish to your Posterous site. This is a fantastic development as while it is relatively easy to publish to Posterous via email or through the web interface etc, the management of images and the creation of links is not always so straight forward. Being able to use Blogsy on the iPad makes this a lot easier.

Now, if only Blogsy would support Tumblr…it would indeed be the perfect blogging app on the iPad.

It is…as it is!

GuruBob

Some New iPad/iPhone apps

There have been some recent fantatsic app releases for both the iPhone and iPad. I have been using and can enthusiastically recommend the following three apps:

Tweetbot - A new Twitter client for the iPhone. You would have thought that there are more than enough Twitter clients by now but this new client from Tapbots, the makers of some great Twitter clients, is a fantastic addition and has even caused me to switch away from my previous favourite – Twittelator Pro.

Click here to find Tweetbot on the iTunes App Store

Mr Reader – An ipad only RSS news reader app for the iPad. I have been, for a long time, a strong supporter of Reeder for iPad and continue to love the iPhone version of Reeder. But there is a significant feature of Mr Reader that has caused me to switch for the time being. This is the ability to manage and add RSS feeds to my Google reader account from inside the app on the iPad. This is a feature that Reeder for iPad doesn’t have.

Click here to find Mr Reader on the iTunes App Store

Blogsy – An iPad blogging app. There has so far been a dearth of blogging apps for the ipad and those that do exist are either lame or not very useful including the WordPress iPad app which is average at best. The recent release of Blogsy is a god send and I really like the functionality, the user interface and the interaction with sites like Flickr, Google images and YouTube for finding and integrating images and videos into blog posts.

Click here to find Blogsy on the iTunes App Store

Take a look at these apps they have been a great addition to my app collection.

It is…as it is!

GuruBob

Back To SEO Basics

It’s been a while since I posted on my main blog at http://www.gurubob.co/ so I thought it was about time to describe the process I use to troubleshoot SEO issues that website owners have with getting their pages and websites to rank in the search engine results pages (SERPS).

I have found in, almost all cases, that the solutions are much simpler than people assume them to be. Focussing on the fundamentals is the key and ensuring they are implemented properly. The full post can be found at the link below:

Back To SEO Basics

It is…as it is!

Guru Bob

Tim Cook – Apple COO

In light of the news that Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) is taking another medical leave and will be replaced in the CEO position by Tim Cook, I thought I would take a few moments to find out more about him. I have been incredibly impressed by the scale of Apple’s success over the last few years and amazed at the supply chain logistics that must have been overcome in order to bring such products as the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad and the iMac to market. The success of this operation must be in no small part due to the commitment and efforts of Tim Cook.

During my search I found a recent commencement speech by Tim Cook to Auburn University graduates (Auburn is Tim Cooks Almer Mater). I have embedded a video of the speech below:

During this speech Tim points out the value of intuition, the need for preparation and the importance of a strong work ethic so you can be ready to succeed when the opportunity arises. These are all values I believe in myself and it is not hard to see why Tim is an importance and critical member of the senior Apple executive team.

It is…as it is!

GuruBob

 

The Mac App Store has arrived….

And so after a long wait the Mac app store has arrived.

On Day 1 over a million apps have been downloaded and it looks, as expected, that the store will be an unqualified success. The store will certainly make it easy to find and install Mac applications and having purchased an app the licensing model allows you to install and use the apps on ALL of your Macs, apparently without limitation.

There have even been some tremendous pricing benefits, particularly from Apple themselves who have offered Aperture (high end Photo editing software) at $80 (in the US) which is well under 50% of the normal price.

There have been a few unwelcome developments however. If you have purchased an app independently of the App store then you are unable to take advantage of the future upgrades functionality that the app store offers. This MAY mean that you will need to re-buy the app again through the app store if you want to take advantage of the licensing and upgrade benefits that the store offers. This is certainly the case with the app Pixelmator although fortunately the developers are offering the app at a discount price at present partly to encourage people to re-buy.

I was personally disappointed that the 2011 version of iWork (Apples office suite) wasn’t available through the store at release so I guess we’ll have to wait for that in the near future.

All in all I think the Mac App Store is going to be a positive enhancement for Mac users going forward and I for one can’t wait to see how the store develops.

It is…as it is!

GuruBob

iPad App Of The Month – Flipboard

Flipboard (@flipboard on Twitter), the innovative social media review app for the iPad is here. Imagine being able to review all the activity on your Twitter and Facebook accounts not just the posts but a review of the content those posts link to all in an attractive easy to consume layout with a drop dead easy user interface. Well that functionality has arrived…and it is called Flipboard!

In short, it is an interactive digital magazine for your life…a magazine that updates daily even hourly!

The potential of this iPad application is enormous and Version 1 while good only hints at what this may become in the future. Right now it only interfaces with your Twitter and Facebook accounts…imagine when it can interface with your RSS feeds via Google Reader. I love three aspects of the app.

1.  The ease with which you can review the content your friends, family and associates are sharing in Twitter and Facebook

2.  The app provides a brief review of the content inside Flipboard with a link to the full web version but it seems to pre-load the full version in the background so if you decide to read the full version it is there instantly.

3.  You can interact with the content inside the app so you can share or reply on Twitter inside Flipboard (and see who else is doing the same) or like on Facebook.

If you are a regular user of Twitter and/or Facebook then you are going to want this app. Once the app interfaces with your RSS feeds, EVERYBODY with an iPad will want this app.

It’s an amazing time right now. Technology and creativity are colliding big time to create some amazing solutions.

It’s almost like everyday there is something new.

Robert Somerville

ps the demand for the app is crazy at present and the company behind the app are instituting an invite system to manage the registration of your Twitter and Facebook accounts into the app. But don’t don’t worry they are adding extra servers to cope with the load so all will be sorted soon.

Is the new iPhone the most Beautiful piece of Tech ever created?

So the recent Apple keynote has come and gone and the new iPhone 4 is now officially released to the world despite the odd test model getting ‘lost’.

In reading the specs and having watched the videos on the Apple website I can’t wait to get my hands on the phone. Apple have added the A4 processor (the processor that makes the iPad so fast) coupled with a larger battery so we will be able to enjoy a long lasting and speedier experience. The addition of the better rear camera (now 5 megapixels) and a VGA front facing camera allows for video conferencing (Apple even have a new app called FaceTime) although only over WiFi initially.

The better camera allows for HD (720p) video recording and there is finally digital zoom (5x) a feature I am always looking for every time I try and take a picture with the current 3gs phone.

But beyond all that good stuff…this phone must be the most beautifully designed piece of tech I have ever seen. Johnny Ive has worked his magic yet again, who wouldn’t want to hold and use one of these baby’s.

The only negative for me is that Apple are going to be instituting a phased rollout meaning we will have to wait a month to get our hands on the new phones here in Australia

It is as it is!

Guru Bob

Jessica Watson – Savouring Every Second

For some time now a courageous 16 year old Australian girl has been challenging the world’s oceans in her attempt to become the youngest ever person to circumnavigate the globe.

She is within days of her goal and soon to prove all the whiners and naysayers wrong. I have been following her journey all along on her blog and her postings and thoughts have been very inspirational.

Any rewards and kudos that will come her way have be earnt the hardest way and with grace and constant undying optimism. I can’t wait for her to make a triumphant landfall in Sydney Harbour.

http://jessicawatson.com.au/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=3749&PostID=79976

I don’t normally bother addressing critics because someone’s always going to be saying something, no matter what I say or do. But I thought I’d have my 2 bobs worth on these claims that I haven’t ‘officially’ sailed around the world.

(via Instapaper)

Sent from Robert Somerville’s iPad

10 Ways All Employees Can Contribute to Link Building

While there are many aspects to SEO and getting your website to appear in the search engines, in the end it comes down to building links. The article below suggest 10 straight forward ways how people in your organization can participate in this process to benefit the exposure of your website in the search engines which should lead to more traffic.

10 Ways All Employees Can Contribute to Link Building | Search Engine Journal
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/10-ways-all-employees-can-contribute-to-link-building/19147/

It’s not a hidden secret that link building is an essential part of SEO, but how you go about building links can make a huge difference in your organic visibility. Having your company buy into the fact that actively building links to your site can help your bottom line can help make your efforts a lot easier. Instead of having an in-house SEO or marketing department focused on link building, why not leverage the power of the entire company and have everyone contribute.

(via Instapaper)

 

Sent from GuruBob’s ipPad

 

 

Blink – Malcolm Gladwell

I’ve long been a fan of Malcolm Gladwell and his books such as The Tipping Point, Outliers and What The Dog Saw so it was inevitable that at some time I would get around to reading his book Blink which I have just finished reading using the Kindle App on the Apple iPad.

While in many of his other books Gladwell focuses more on the external world and forces us to challenge our assumptions, Blink is focussed internally and more specifically on how are brains work both consciously and subconsciously. Blink is a fascinating read as by the end I had much greater respect for the importance of snap judgements and hunches as Gladwell throughly exposes why those are usually founded on a much stronger platform than we might suppose.

As in all his books the examples he uses to prove his points are fascinating and certainly kept me engaged throughout.

Our minds are wonderful and mysterious but Gladwell manages to offer just that little bit of insight that makes it seem understandable why we do the things we do.

I highly recommended Malcolm Gladwells books, they make compelling reading.

GuruBob