Email is Dead! Or Not?

Just 20 years ago, very few people used email as communication method, and now there are strong voices of the i-savvy young people, grown up on the social networks background, claiming that email is dead.

But do not believe them. Based on the 2012 Harvard Business School study, email is far from being dead, it is evolving. People still spend half their workday dealing with it, they trust it, and overall they’re satisfied with it, according to the 2012 survey of 2,600 workers in the U.S., UK, and South Africa who use email every day. In spite of all the limitations, email is becoming more than simple communication tool, it was developed for - a searchable archive, a manager’s accountability source, a document courier, and more. And for all the love social media get, email is still considered as most effective work collaboration tool. It is far from being perfect, but it has a strong potential for growth and development.

Still, you want to know, what youngsters think about email? 

Using Infographics in your Blogs

Information graphics or infographics is a graphic visual representation of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly in one page. Infographics take complex information and data sets and make them easy to digest in a visually stimulating design. This allows the viewer to quickly grasp the main points from the data or information, which is important in our 30-second society. In a way, it is like making entire PowerPoint presentation in one long page, with nice design and consideration for overall visual attractiveness and easy comprehension.

And if you got the idea, and want to make your own project with idea to boost your Internet presence and promote your resources, you can use several free resources, which will help you to prepare the visually appealing project:

1. Infogram

Infogr.am is considered as one of the best, if not the best, free infographic project designer. It has nice and user-friendly interface, however there are multiple features for the author to make outstanding posters.  For example, you can design more than 30 different types of graphic charts (while Excel offers just 11).

As your presentation is ready, you may download it in PNG or PDF format and publish online with supplied code. If your data is sensitive, you make restrict its distribution, securing it with password, and getting a private link.

Website: http://infogr.am/

If you do not like infogram for some reason, you may choose among the following services:

2. Visual.ly: http://visual.ly/

3. InfoActive: https://infoactive.co/

4. Easelly: http://www.easel.ly/

AnyTech PageRank for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera

AnyTech PageRank Checker is an efficient and simple browser extension that would display Google PageRank while you surf the web.  The extension is available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

Main Features

* PageRank extension fetches information directly from Google servers, allowing for maximum possible speed. Every fetched result is also cached for one hour. The caching mechanism minimizes traffic and makes extension even faster.

* Unlike other similar applications, PageRank extension provides surprisingly accurate results. Rank reported by PageRank is the same as rank reported by the official Google Toolbar.

* Yes, PageRank does only one thing and does it very well. It is lightweight and not overwhelmed by various unneeded features.

* Rank is displayed in the top right-hand corner of the browser as a number and a green bar. The number is displayed immediately, so there is no need to hover the mouse over the extension icon or click on it. When a user clicks on the extension icon, a popup is opened, and a table with ranks for all tabs is displayed in the popup

Functionality may vary depending on the browser.

Direct download page (chose your browser, while selecting appropriate link): http://any-tech.ws/page-rank/

Publish and sell your eBooks with XinXii

Just ten years ago, many people could not imagine that they ever give away paper books. While eReaders are not complete replacement, the advantage is overwhelming from many perspectives. Can you increase fonts in a paper book? Or take with you on a plane more than 300 books?

With growing amount of people using such gadgets, it also becomes one of the major distribution channels for authors. Today, we are going to present the platform for those who plan to publish new books on different sites and sell them for profit.

The biggest advantage of the XinXii-platform is its extremely convenience and simplicity. You can publish and sell your masterpiece just in 3 steps, tapping into the US and international markets:

1. Select your preferred distribution channels.

Considering just free options, you have actually two: At XinXii, you have the choice: selling your publication on your XinXii author page only (XinXii Basic), or distribute your eBook to major international eBook retailers - the ones you have chosen (XinXii Plus). Again, both options are free for you.

2. Create an account and set up your author page

Fill in the provided fields: category, title, summary, pages, keywords, your profile etc., enter the sales price and upload your eBook (in one or multiple formats).

In order your eBook to be released for distribution it should comply with the following basic requirements:

- belong to the genre fiction, biography or specialized/fact books (namely no patterns, samples, presentations).
- have a book cover that is uploaded to XinXii in at least 1400 pixels in width (only in jpg-format).
- have an imprint / copyright page.

3. Sell your book around the world

After you completed step 2, your eBook is available on your XinXii author page. If you have decided to distribute your eBook through XinXii, the book will be converted by developers to most usable ebook formats (like epub and mobi) and will arrange distribution. You can modify your entries on XinXii and check your sales reports at any time. XinXii will also take care of your billing duties and customer support.

Main advantages of using XinXii

* You can start your publishing and selling right now with minimum efforts for books conversion, distribution, selling, and orders processing. You don't need any technical skills, web hosting account to store your files, or online shop.

* XinXii is an international platform, offering 7 languages and payments in 3 currencies (USD, GBP or EUR).

* If you are from the USA, you are not asked to give a tax ID number, just name and address, so reporting your earning to IRS will be your own responsibility.

* There are almost no limitations for the books to publish: no minimum page length, no exclusivity, no contract duration, and no DRM restrictions.

* You just need one single XinXii account to publish under multiple pen names, eBooks from different authors, eBooks in different languages or at different eBook retailers.

Commission Rates

XinXii lets you keep a high percentage of your sales, while you set your own prices. Your earnings will not be reduced by fees such as payment processing fees (by PayPal e.g.). Publishing and selling on XinXii is completely free, so there is nothing to lose.

There are two options for the commission rates:

* Option A: You sell your eBook through your author page on XinXii.

As said, you can determine the price of your eBook yourself - and thus your commission rate as well. From each sale of your eBook through your XinXii Author page, you receive: 70% of net sales for works with a price greater than EUR 1.99 / US$ 2.49 / £ 1.59, or 40% of net sales for works with a price at or between EUR 0.99 and EUR 1.98 / US$ 0.99 and US$ 2.48 / £ 0.89 and £ 1.58.

* Option B: You sell your eBook through your author page on XinXii and additionally on leading eBook shops worldwide.

The standard commission, transferred to the author, is up to 85% of the amount, receive from multiple distribution channels, including Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and others.

You can request your royalties theorugh PayPal or Bank Transfer. Please note, transactions via Bank Transfer are available only in the European currency zone and in Euro, once the minimum amount of EUR 20.00 (~ US$ 27.00 / £ 17.00).

Statistics

XinXii allows you to gather real-time sales reports about how often your eBooks are bought at XinXii. Accordingly, you can react by changing the description or the price. An alert system notifies you via e-mail about any activity concerning your eBooks such as when someone has purchased one or comments on one of your eBooks. Additionally, XinXii weekly uploads your sales reports from the retail outlets to your account.

Website: http://www.xinxii.com/