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One of the biggest reasons for Twitter’s growth and success is that the Twitter team allowed the service to be morphed and re-shaped by the user-base from the very beginning. We saw it happen in the way that the Twitter community instituted replies, retweets, and #hashtags.

But the real kicker was the fact that Twitter released an open API for developers. That allowed programmers to extend Twitter in lots of different directions and experiment with different tools and utilities to improve Twitter.

In 2007,  Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told ReadWriteWeb, “The API has been arguably the most important, or maybe even inarguably, the most important thing we’ve done with Twitter. It has allowed us, first of all, to keep the service very simple and create a simple API so that developers can build on top of our infrastructure and come up with ideas that are way better than our ideas.”

This is part two of my three-part series on Twitter. Here are links to the other two parts:

• Part 1: A quick Twitter guide and glossary for business users
• Part 3: Directory: 100 technology experts on Twitter

Today, over three years after Twitter originally launched, there are now thousands of different tools developed from the API, and many of them are extremely useful. Below is my list of the top 15 most useful Twitter tools for business users.

1. Bit.ly

This URL shortener not only shrinks links down to about 20 characters, it also keeps track of your links for you and provides some basic analytics to see how many people click and retweet the links and where those users are coming from.

2. Twitpic

The most popular tool for sharing photos on Twitter is Twitpic, which allows you to take a photo on your mobile phone and email it to a customized Twitpic email address. You simply type your tweet into the subject line of the email. (See also: Flickr2Twitter)

3. Tweetscan

If you’ve ever used Google Alerts, then you’ll understand Tweetscan. It scans Twitter for your keywords and sends you a daily or weekly email of all instances where your keywords were used. This can be especially helpful for tracking brands. However, the service is not free. It costs $20/year.

4. Twitterfeed

Twitter is great for promoting blog posts and other types of content. If you have a blog and you want to automatically send out a tweet every time there’s a new post, then Twitterfeed can do it for you. It also has some nice customization options.

5. TwInbox

If you live in Microsoft Outlook — like many business professionals — and would prefer to interact with Twitter from there, TwInbox integrates Twitter into Outlook. And, the product is free. It was formerly known as OutTwit.

6. CoTweet

CoTweet provides an entire business workflow for companies that are serious about using Twitter for business. CoTweet allows you to manage multiple Twitter accounts, it allows multiple users to access a single account, it can assign tweets to employees for follow-up, it can monitor keywords and trends, it can track clicks to links, and it can allow employees to schedule tweets out into the future. This is not a free tool. (See also: HootSuite)

7. TweetStats

This site provides statistics for individual Twitter users. Simply plug in the person’s Twitter username and you’ll get a plethora of stats, such how often a person tweets, when the person tweets the most, who the person replies to most often, who the person retweets the most and which interface the person used the most to post on Twitter. (See also: TwitterGrader)

8. Twuffer

This free tool allows you to schedule tweets out into the future. For example, I like to post an inspirational quote of the day on Twitter. But sometimes when I’m looking up quotes I’ll come across with several good ones at a time. So, I use Twuffer to spread them out over several days.

9. Twtpoll

One of the most useful things to do on Twitter is to crowd-source a question or ask a quick straw poll. Twtpoll is a tool that makes it very easy to officially do a poll. (See also: StrawPoll)

10. Twendz

If you want to see watch how a keyword has been viewed over time, Twendz provides a very simply and useful chart. The chart is updated in real time. (See also: Twazzup, Twist, and Twittercounter)

For more insights on technology, you can also follow my Twitter stream: @JasonHiner

Jason Hiner is the Editor in Chief of TechRepublic. Previously, he worked as an IT Manager in the health care industry. You can also find him on Twitter, LinkedIn and at JasonHiner.com.

5 Reasons Why Bing Is Better Than Google

By Gail Howard

Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer introduced the company’s new search engine, Bing.com, two weeks ago. While the software giant is hopeful the new name and service can stand up to other search engines, it knows its modest share of searches, according to comScore, in the U.S. (8.2 percent) against Google’s 64.2 percent offers a huge challenge. Nevertheless, let me recommend five fresh features on the Bing site, which will help Microsoft to make the march up the search-engine mountain.

1) Microsoft’s Bing.com has faster, more efficient search robots than Google.com.

Microsoft launched its new search engine Bing.com on June 3, 2009. I posted one of my travel Web sites, www.EgyptTravelAdventures.com, on the following day, June 4. By Friday, June 5, Bing.com’s robots had already found and listed my new Egypt Travel Adventures Web site, when using “Egypt Travel Adventures” or “Gail Howard” as a search keyword. As of June 9, Google still has not listed this new Web site. Compared with the new Bing.com, it appears that Google has become “old technology” in the fast-moving, high-tech world.

2) Microsoft’s Bing.com gives more generous Web site description than Google.

Microsoft’s Bing allows title plus 142 characters of description, while Google allows title plus only 133 characters of description.

3) Microsoft’s Bing.com shows extra free information about each Web site.

One of the most valuable and innovative features of Microsoft’s Bing.com is the use of hover text. This gives a Web site an additional 286 characters of descriptive text usually taken from the first paragraph of the Web site. Furthermore, Microsoft’s Bing.com has a hover text description for every single page of a Web site. (And my lottery systems site, www.SmartLuck.com, has several hundred pages!)

4) Microsoft’s Bing.com speeds the searching process in two incredibly unique ways.

Simply slide your mouse down the right of the page and quickly scan the hover text. Below the hover text description are five categories from the site that can be clicked to take you to a specific page of interest. If this use of hover text is a patented process that Google cannot imitate, then Microsoft’s Bing.com will soon become the number one search engine.

5) Microsoft’s Bing.com is a sheer pleasure for advertisers to deal with.

If an advertiser has a question or needs help, a phone call is quickly answered by a knowledgeable American English-speaking rep. Google has no such service – or, rather, no service at all. Google answers e-mailed questions or concerns with canned responses that lead to nowhere. Two years ago, Google started charging me $10 per click for every one of my keywords, including my own name, Gail Howard. After many e-mails back and forth, the problem was never resolved. So, I finally gave up and stopped trying to advertise with Google.

Microsoft’s Bing.com has many other new technical features, but the five points listed above are those that are most important to me business-wise – and personally. Once Web surfers discover the ease and speed of using Microsoft’s Bing, I believe that Google will forever be yesteryear’s hot stock.

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© 2009 Gail Howard ( books@smartluck.com)

Gail Howard, world traveler, is the author of “Lottery Master Guide” and other quality lottery books as well as lotto software with scientific strategies and easy-to-use systems to help the lottery player bet smarter.

Gail Howard, Smart Luck Publishers, Las Vegas, NV 800-945-4245

***Note:  the opinions expressed by the writer do not necessarily reflect the views of BoomerDivaTV.com***

A wide range of free, ready-to-use printable agreements and contract templates for home and business arrangements are the focus of a new Web site, PrintableContracts.com.

The site launched in July 2009 with nearly 20 sample contract templates for events, household services, professional services, real estate and more.

“PrintableContracts.com offers samples of contracts commonly used by homeowners and businesses today,” said Kevin Savetz, the site’s creator, who plans to add even more contract templates as the site grows.

There are several household services contracts, such as a yard work contract as well as contracts for swimming pool maintenance and house cleaning.

Also available is a photography contract, model contract, rental contract, car selling contract, horse boarding contract and more.

The sample contracts are professionally written and address the issues commonly faced in such business arrangements, including, for example, details on pay rate, time frame and the conditions and scope of the work, job or situation detailed. The user simply fills in the blanks with the appropriate information. The contracts are also formatted with lines on which the parties can sign and date the agreement.

The sample contracts can be previewed (or even cut and pasted) directly from the Web site, and the preformatted text can also be instantly downloaded in .DOC format and filled in or further customized in Microsoft Word.

“These sample contracts are clear, concise and attractively presented,” Savetz said. “However, the contracts at PrintableContracts.com are not to be considered legal advice”

There are more than 50 sites in the FreePrintable.net family of free printables sites created by Savetz Publishing, Inc., a company devoted to creating useful and informative web sites of interest to consumers and small businesses.

Kevin Savetz ( savetz@gmail.com)
Savetz Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1205, Blue Lake CA

In branding, whether it is for your company or for yourself, consistency is crucial. The idea of branding and brand is to engrain a certain image or idea into the minds of viewers. If you keep changing the words and images you use in your branding campaign, how can it succeed?

Hence, I have put together the following list of ways you can keep your brand identity consistent in any online marketing campaign using social networking and communication websites, social media websites, blogs, e-mail addresses, IM clients, and beyond.

Always Keep a Consistent Username

No matter what service you sign up for, keep the same username and stick with it. You should use the same name over every instant messaging client you use (Skype, AIM, Windows live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, etc.), on any social networking sites where you create profiles or groups or fan pages (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, Bebo, etc.), and on any social media websites you use (Digg, Stumble Upon, Reddit, del.icio.us, etc.). In addition, this name should also be the e-mail address you use when communicating with others and should be apparent on all company documents and marketing materials.

Pick a name and stick to it. Spell and structure it the same way every time (capitalization and spacing, ie. For my blog I use AM Beat , not ambeat or AMBeat, or Ambeat) and do your best to ensure that others do it the same way (without being pushy).

Always Keep a Consistent Image

Whenever you create an account on a web service, chances are you have the ability to upload a profile picture. Always make sure to use the same picture with every service you use. If you are branding your company, use your logo. If you are branding yourself, then use the same profile picture across all web services.

For a company, there are two main logos you can use, the actual logo itself and the symbol portion of your logo (or a certain smaller element which clearly resembles the full logo). This smaller portion should serve as your website’s favicon and can be used as profile pictures if the service only allows room for smaller pictures (Instant Messaging clients for example) where the full logo would not fit.

Maintain a Consistent Design

Some services such as Facebook won’t allow you to do this; however on other websites such as MySpace and Twitter it could be a worthy investment to create a custom template for additional branding. This means a background to your profile that features your logo and some other elements of your company. If possible use the same design templates that you have for your blog or website for templates on other websites.

Use E-Mail Signatures

This may not sound like much but e-mail is still the most popular way to communicate and get work done online. If you are going to be constantly e-mailing all day, you should take some steps towards being consistent in your e-mails. The easiest way to do this is by creating an e-mail signature that is automatically added to the end of every e-mail you send.

The same advice can hold true when participating on forums.

Widen Your Presence

In order for branding to be successful you need to become a prominent user on a number of different internet platforms and communication platforms. First ensure you have taken care of the basics from developing a website and creating an e-mail address. From there you can expand to creating profiles on social networking websites and social media websites. You should also ensure that you have at least one instant messaging account. After this point, you should search your industry for other relevant blogs and participate through the use of comments, again using the same image and username. Services like Gravatar can automate this.

Lastly, take time to browse your niche for smaller community oriented websites where anyone can join and create profiles. This can include forums, niche social networking websites, industry conference websites databases, etc. and get involved.

However, remember not to overdo it on the number of websites where you dedicate your branding efforts. While it is great to be present via a number of diverse platforms, it is also important that you are visible on these platforms. The only way to be visible is through becoming an active participant and kit is difficult to do this if you are on too many platforms.

Overall, while branding won’t send direct traffic to your blog and its success rate is hard to measure, history has proved that having a well branded company is essential for gaining recognition and traction in any industry. However, branding efforts are completely dependent on consistency and having one idea or message to brand. The web features a variety of vast and affordable platforms on which you can brand yourself and your company and the guidelines included above should help you with branding online.

This post was written by Aditya Mahesh, founder of AMBeat.com, a complete resource for entrepreneurs dedicated to “innovation entrepreneurship” and small business opportunities.

Also special thanks to Guy Kawasaki for leading BDTV to this article.

Like red wine, so-called love foods — chocolate, oysters, cucumbers, strawberries and cream, licorice, alcohol — may taste great, but will these foods tickle your libido as much as your taste buds?

According to Lawrence Cheskin, M.D., director and founder of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, there are some foods that can keep individuals in good sexual health, but as far as aphrodisiacs are concerned there is no scientific evidence that they do the trick.

“The reputed sexual effects of so-called aphrodisiacs are based in folklore, not fact, and there is no scientific proof that any food or beverage can treat sexual dysfunction or increase desire,” says Cheskin.  “In health, there are some food recipes that promise to spice up your food and love life, but the ingredients do not lead to better chances of sexual intercourse.”

Cheskin does point out that chocolate contains certain interesting chemicals, such as phenylethylamine (also known as the “love-chemical”), that do stimulate the brain. They are found in high amounts of people who are in love, which is how we get the idea that chocolate is an aphrodisiac.  “However, eating chocolate does not raise levels of phenylethylamine in your brain and increase your libido,” says Cheskin.  “Candy may be dandy but it doesn’t enhance your chance for romance.”

Healthier alternatives to chocolate, with the same sweet taste, are fruits like pineapple, banana and strawberries, which contain plenty of vitamins and are high in antioxidants.  “The healthy value of fruit may not be sexy, but they are at least healthy,” stresses Cheskin.

Oysters are another food with a reputation for increasing the libido.  Cheskin calls oysters “good food” because they are low in fat and high in protein, vitamins and minerals and because they contain some nutrients that are important for the production of hormones that can improve fertility.  “There is no proof that oysters have an aphrodisiac effect,” he says, “but they are good for your sexual health and your overall health.”

Part of good sex health is having a good body weight because being overweight can contribute to a decreased libido and fertility.  For those who want to increase their libido, Cheskin says the best approach is “to exercise and eat the right foods.”

Yoga practices and sex are proving to be a great combination when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle… A good number of yoga asana and exercises are specifically meant to enhance your sexual energy, stamina and drive.

Yoga’s sexual philosophy says to enhance sexual pleasure, your mind and body should remain in a rejuvenated state and this rejuvenation can be brought about by various yoga practices. These yoga practices include all forms of yoga, which is known as asana, pranyama or dhyana.

Among various types of yoga, Tantra Yoga is said to be closely linked with a sexual act.  Tantra Yoga was a preferred practice in ancient India to help improve one’s sexual prowess. This practice has recently gone through a transformation as more and more people now prefer it over Viagra and other medications to gain desired level of erection.

Various sexual dysfunctions can also be effectively cured by yoga. Yoga is even believed to offer a cure for male impotency. Because of yoga’s efficacy in improving your sexual life, yoga is being practiced by many people for the sole purpose of enhancing sexual drive. But Yoga never advocates excess of sex. It sticks to the conventional concept that the act of sex is primarily meant for procreation.

Asanas of Tantra Yoga bring in required physiological changes to propel more secretion of sexual hormones. These hormones, in turn, help gain desired sexual potency. In addition,   Tantra Yoga also contributes to an increase in flexibility. Kama sutra offers around sixty yoga positions for ideal sex. These sexual positions have been proven effective in solving marital discord arising out of sexual dissatisfaction. Therefore, some say yoga could be a very effective way to improve your conjugal relationship.

Various yoga breathing techniques are particularly helpful in creating sexual ecstasy. These breathing techniques, along with Yoga asana, will enable you to new levels of sexual potential.

So gear up, and make the best use of the various yoga poses to enjoy a healthy and better sex life.