Top 10 Google AdSense Alternatives

If you make money from your website or blog, chances are you've heard of or at least used Google’s CTR-based advertising network – Google AdSense.

Google Adsense has, if we may, 2 distinctive type of publishers. Those who constantly receive monthly cheques from Google, we call them the happy publishers. The others, the not so happy publishers.

This article is catered for the latter group. Publishers tend to look for an alternative for all sorts of reason. Here’s a list of contextual ad networks similar to Google Adsense, meaning they reward you monetarily when visitors clicked on the contextual ads displayed on your website.

In short – they are the Google AdSense alternatives. We hope you find them useful.

Disclaimer: We have not used most of the ad networks here before. This is an attempt to discover and bring to your awareness more options of contextual ads publishing. We urge you to spend time carefully checking out more details (ad performances, ad size/format, payout threshold, payment method, online reviews, etc) of any particular ad network you intend to use on your website.

The Infamous 3

Chitika

Chitika is probably one of the top choice when publishers come to seek for an Adsense alternative. Chitika’s ads are search query driven, that means your visitors will not see the ads unless they are coming into the website via search engine.

The image below gives you an idea how a Chitika ad would look like:

Despite being one of the most popular AdSense alternatives, Chitika’s ad performance are still a bit on the low side for most publishers. Publishers ought to have a high quality site and apply for Chitika’s Silver level or Gold level ad program in order to see surge in terms of revenue.

Yahoo Bing Network

This new ad network is a collaboration of two of the biggest search engines on the internet, and it should not be confused with Yahoo’s existing YPN and Microsoft’s adCenter. Publishers of the Yahoo Bing Net manage their ad units via Media.net.

One of the advantages of Yahoo Bing Network compare to Google AdSense is perhaps its ability to allow publishers to customize their ad units in terms of style (size, color, shapes) so it blends better with their respective website.

The Yahoo Bing Network is currently not open for public sign up, but if you are keen enough and most of your website’s traffics are coming from United States, Canada and United Kingdom, you can request for an invitation.

Kontera

Kontera uses the in-text advertising model. In a nutshell, in text ads do not take up additional ad spaces, rather, they analyse your site’s content and turn relevant keywords or phrases into hyperlinked text ad.

Here’s how a Kontera in-text ad would look like:

Kontera is based on a CPC model, in another words publishers get paid when visitors click on the ads. The ads customizable, that means you are able to alter the color of the hyperlinks, control the density of text links or even restrict turning any specific keywords into a text ad.

Related links:

• Sign up
• Publisher’s page
• FAQ

Misc Info:

• Minimum payout: $50. Paypal, Wire or Cheque.
• Payout time: Net 30

A Few More:

If you’ve tried the above mentioned 3 and they don’t quite work out for you, here are more advertising networks you can explore.

Clicksor

Clicksor has a range of different types of ad formats. The two popular ones you may want to look into are their text ads (Google AdSense alike) and in-text ads (Kontera alike).

Clicksor’s payout term is Net 15, and you can opt for cheque or Paypal payment option as long as your earnings exceed $50.00

[Sign up] [Publisher's page]

Vibrant Media

Similar to Kontera, Vibrant Media is another ad network notable for their in-text ads. Vibrant Media has recently launched two types of ad formats for extra revenue streams, respectively the in-image ads which integrate text ads within images, and display ads which works on a Cost per-thousand Impressions (CPM) model.

[Sign up] [Publisher's page]

AdSide

AdSide’s banner ad format looks very similar to Google AdSense with one exception – it has a thumbnail on the left side of each row of ad. The following image gives you an idea how the ad looks like:

AdSide ads target heavily on United States, Canada and United Kingdom visitors. If you have an amountful of traffics coming from these mentioned locations, it may work for you.

[Sign up] [Publisher's page]

Infolinks

Infolinks is yet another in-text advertising network. They can also be considered a good alternative if the current in-text ad network is not performing well.

[Sign up] [Publisher's page]

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Top 7 Important Elements of a Good Web Design Portfolio

The best way to show clients what you can do is to show them what you’ve already done. Direct them to your online portfolio.

If you’re a new freelance web designer, creating an online portfolio is one of the very first things that you need to do. As soon as you complete a project that you can be proud of, you can start to build your portfolio.

If you’re an experienced freelance web designer hopefully you already have a portfolio. However, don’t make the mistake that many experienced freelancers make and let your portfolio sit untouched for months–or even years. Your portfolio should be a changing online document that always highlights your very best work.

While looking at the portfolios of other web designers can certainly give you some good ideas, it’s also helpful to have a checklist of elements you should include on your own portfolio. That’s what this post is for. This post lists seven vital elements that every good web design portfolio should include.

Element #1. Your Very Best Work

You may think this is obvious, but if you haven’t updated your portfolio in a while the work that you display may no longer be your best work.

Your skills have likely improved with your growing experience. Also, technology changes. What was once stunning may no longer be impressive.

Don’t let your portfolio get stale. Make a point to review it every few months. Whenever you complete a major project ask yourself whether the work you just finished should be included in your portfolio.

Element #2. Challenges You’ve Overcome

Did you just recently learn a new skill? Maybe you just solved a client’s major problem with your web design?

These achievements can certainly become selling points for your web design business, but only if prospective clients know about them. The only way they can know about your successes is if you show them.

So, when you update your portfolio remember to including challenging samples and samples of any new skills you have mastered.

Element #3. Explanatory Text

Your portfolio may indeed be visually stunning, but you can’t assume that your prospects will understand the significance of what they are seeing.

Adding some explanatory text with your web design samples can help. Explanatory text helps your prospects to understand the back story behind your portfolio samples. Explaining why each sample is important also gives you a chance to market your abilities.

For example, another web designer may realize that a particular portfolio sample uses jQuery–an important new skill you’ve recently mastered. But a potential client probably won’t know this unless you point it out.

Element #4. Your Contact Information

In an ideal world, potential clients would always access your portfolio through your website or blog. Since your website contains your contact information, they would always know how to contact you. However, on the Internet you can’t take this for granted.

While your main site should definitely link to your portfolio, you also have to assume that some potential clients will wind up on your portfolio pages without ever visiting your main site. There are many ways this could happen. A blogger could link directly to your portfolio. A client could refer another business to you and send that business a link directly to your portfolio instead of your website.

Whatever the case, every portfolio page should have a way for prospective clients to contact you. Including your social media contact information is also a plus.

Element #5. Your Logo

If you’ve branded your web design business, your logo is a critical part of that brand. It only makes sense to have your logo on every page of your portfolio along with your contact information.

However, the main focus of your portfolio is your work. While your logo needs to be there, it shouldn’t take center stage.

Element #6. Awards Received and/or Education

Your portfolio should include your most marketable recent accomplishments. Naturally, that means your best design work.

What many web designers fail to include, however, are awards they’ve received or relevant courses they’ve recently taken. Yet, a list of your accomplishments could mean the difference between hiring you and hiring your competitor.

You can list your accomplishments directly on your portfolio site. For longer lists of accomplishments or for less recent accomplishments, you may want to create a separate page for the list and link to it.

Element #7. A Brief Bio

People like to know who they are dealing with, and your web design clients are no exception. That’s why including a brief bio with your portfolio can help market your design business.

The bio you share with your portfolio shouldn’t be your complete, unabridged life story. In fact, it doesn’t need to be very long at all. Just write a few sentences explaining who you are and what make your web design unique.

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South Korea's 5G: To Let You Download A Full Movie In One Second

South Korea's science ministry wants people on the fastest bullet trains to be able to surf the Internet.

The country's science ministry is investing $1.5 billion in building 5G wireless service for the country by 2020, AFP reports.

Some of the things the ministry wants 5G to do include downloading an 800-megabyte movie in one second, and providing Internet access to people onboard 500-kilometer-per-hour (310 miles) bullet trains. Yes, I would like to live there, too.

2020 seems to be the deadline many groups are taking for developing the next generation of data networks. Samsung, the European Union, and Chinese device manufacturer Huawei have all said they'll work on commercializing 5G by then. There's plenty of work to do. Beyond improving speed to hundreds of times faster than today's 4G, 5G should have fewer dead zones and use less power than 4G, VentureBeat reported last year.

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Top 10 Ways To Automatically Share Your Blog Posts To Various Social Networks

When you publish a new blog post, how do you get the word out? Do you manually go to several different social networks and share your post, or do you let a WordPress plugin or Web service do the work for you?

Sharing manually is nice because you can add a personal touch to each post, as opposed to sending out the same thing to all of your social networks. However, it’s also a time-consuming process. Some days, you just may not have the time to share your new content manually. This is why many bloggers opt for automatic sharing, which is not only easier, but more convenient.

There are many ways that you can automatically share your content on the Web, and we’ll go over 8 of those methods below.

Jetpack Publicize

Publicize is part of the popular Jetpack plugin. It’s an obvious choice for automatically sharing your posts on several social networks at once, since many blogs are already using Jetpack. You can currently share to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Yahoo. Setup is easy and done via the Sharing sub-menu under Settings. You can choose which posts to share and which social networks to share to on a post-by-post basis.

WP-AutoSharePost

This plugin automatically shares your posts to Facebook and Twitter, along with a predefined message. WP-AutoSharePost is a bit more technical than Jetpack Publicize, since you’ll have to create a Facebook app and Twitter app in order to share your posts. However, it supports Bit.ly URL shortening, which is great for tracking your links.

Additionally, the plugin grabs comments from Facebook (related to the post) and adds them to your blog comments section.

1-Click Retweet/Share/Like

1-Click is a plugin with many features, including the option to automatically share your blog posts on 30+ social networks. You can automatically share to: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Delicious, Diigo, Tumblr, Foursquare, and more. You can also customize the message to be included with your shares to Facebook and LinkedIn, on a post-by-post basis.

SocialPublish

SocialPublish shares your blog posts to Facebook and Twitter as soon as they’re published. You don’t have to create any Facebook or Twitter apps to use this plugin. Simply sign up for a SocialPublish account (it’s an actual Web service) and then connect your accounts. Like Jetpack Publicize, you can choose which social networks to share to for each post. You can also choose to add a custom message, but it’s not required.

NextScripts: Social Networks Auto-Poster

NextScripts is by far the best plugin for auto-posting to numerous social networks. It supports 18 social networks (more coming soon), including Facebook, Instapaper, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, and more. You can even post to multiple accounts on the same social network (i.e. multiple Twitter accounts, multiple Facebook pages).

The plugin makes 100% white labeled posts, meaning the posts will look as if you posted them directly – no “shared via NextScripts.com or posted by SNAP for WordPress” messages.

MailChimp Social

Social is another plugin that only shares to Facebook and Twitter, but it goes a step further by pulling in reactions (from Facebook and Twitter) and displaying them inline with your regular comments. You can publish to multiple accounts on the same social network, and you can customize the messages associated with your posts. Social requires the use of custom apps in order to share to your accounts.

Dlvr.it

Although Dlvr.it is a Web service, as opposed to a WordPress plugin, it’s still an excellent tool to automatically distribute your blog to your favorite social networks. Dlvr.it supports Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Tumblr, and App.net. Once you sign up, simply enter your RSS feed, choose the social network you want to post to, and you’re all done. Dlvr.it also lets you post to Google+ Pages, but only if you upgrade to a Pro or Ultimate plan.

IFTTT

IFTTT is my preferred method for automatically sharing my blog posts. I use recipes for each of the blogs that I own and for the blogs that I contribute to. Each recipe involves the Feed channel (or you can use the WordPress channel) along with a social channel like Twitter, Facebook, Buffer, and HootSuite. This makes it easy to keep up with all of the blogs that I’m sharing from within a single interface.

My favorite thing about the IFTTT method is that I can send new RSS feed items (new blog posts) to Buffer and HootSuite, two services that let you schedule your posts as opposed to having them all post at the same time. This helps to cut down on noise and makes your shares look more natural.

Networked Blogs

Networked Blogs is great way to reach more readers ang gain more audience. If you want to automatically post your blog posts to Twitter and Facebook, then Networked Blogs is a great friend.

How Do You Share?

So now that I’ve gone over 10 ways to automatically share your blog posts to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, let us know which method you use. Do you choose to manually share your blog posts, or do you prefer to share them automatically via a method above or another method?

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Google Shows Off Smart Contact Lens, A Small Gadget Meant for The Diabetics.

Google is working on a new project, this time its something that's going to be very close to your eyes. Yeah Google is developing smart contact lens, and amazingly it can be you personal health checker.

Through miniaturized electronics, it can apparently measure the levels of glucose in your tears, offering diabetics an easier way to monitor their condition without the needles and the blood -- something we've reported on a several before. A tiny (really tiny) wireless chip and glucose sensor are wedged between two layers of "biocompatible" contact lens material, and Google is saying that it's already working on embedding tiny LED lights for notifications, too. There's been no shortage of developmental contact lens tech over the last few years, but the clout of Google means this could well be the most realistic mainstream offering, in addition to its very practical use cases. Google is currently angling for partners with more expertise in the medical market to help make it happen and is "in discussions with the FDA" to ensure the tech ticks all the right healthcare boxes before it progresses further.

Recode's got a deep dive on the make-up of the smart contact: we've added their science textbook-grade diagram right after the break.

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5 Simple Steps to Follow To Achieve All Your Goals in 2014

Happy new year! Today, as we think about the year ahead, we have a suggestion: do not set New Year’s resolutions. So many of us resolve to change our habits as the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, but so many of us fail. So, skip that step altogether and instead set achievable goals. Here’s how to set yourself up for success in 2014:

1. Don’t rush.

Although January always signals a fresh start, as Lara Casey of Southern Weddings always points out, there’s nothing special about the first of the year. Instead, take time to sit down and decide what it is you truly want to accomplish. If you’re ready to start working towards your goals on New Year’s Day, great! But if you’re not set until March, that’s fine too.

2. Focus on tangibility.

Setting a goal to spend more time with your sweetheart is great, but it’s not clear enough. Instead, decide on a weekly date night that works with both of your schedules. Then, choose a time and activity. Also, in order to achieve a goal you will likely need to set boundaries in order to accomplish it. Saying no to one thing means making more progress toward your goal, which will likely leave you feeling better in the end.

3. Take action.

Taking the first steps toward accomplishing your goal is always the most daunting. But just as you would break down the elements of your wedding into more manageable steps, you should create steps for your other goals too. If you’re not a runner, you likely won’t be able to run a half marathon tomorrow. However, you can research and find a program to use to help you train, set aside days each week to run, and sign up for a 5K that’s a few months away. Taking small steps will reward you with bigger progress in the end.

4. Partner up!

Accountability is always needed! Encourage your beloved, sister, or best friend to set goals too. Then check in with and encourage each other. If you’ve set some of the same goals, work together to accomplish them. Also, talk to others who have already accomplished what you’re hoping to do. They’ll likely have tips and tricks they’re happy to share.

5. Keep going.

As the old saying goes: your goals don’t work unless you do. You will likely face bumps in the road and moments when you feel as though you’re not making progress. When this happens, remind yourself of all that you have done, refocus, and keep going.

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Surface Pro 2: Shipping with a faster Core i5

Here's a toast for Surface lovers. Microsoft has confirmed that newer Surface Pro 2 tablets are shipping with a faster 1.9GHz Core i5 inside instead of the 1.6GHz chip that came with the earliest models.

Sometimes, it pays to avoid the bleeding edge of technology.  The company isn't saying just why it rolled out the stealthy upgrade, although it notes that "routinely" tweaks designs based on part availability and customer value.

The move may frustrate early adopters whose two- month-old Windows slates are already behind the times, but it's good news for latecomers who'll get more for their money.

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LG to Unveil webOS- Powered TV

South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. will soon take the veils off a television model that will run on the “webOS” operating system, highlighting its ambition of creating a prominent operating system for so-called smart TVs.

LG bought webOS, a mobile-device operating system, from Hewlett-Packard Co. earlier this year. The operating system was originally developed by Palm Inc. to power smartphones that would compete with the likes of Apple Inc.’s iPhones. H-P acquired Palm in 2010 and used webOS to power a tablet and its smartphone models. But the system failed to gain traction with the developers who write apps for devices and the devices didn’t sell well.

Despite H-P’s struggles with the operating system, LG had said in February, when announcing the deal, that it was drawn to webOS because of its technology and because the company wanted its own operating system.

LG now plans to showcase an Internet- connected television model powered by webOS in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

He didn’t elaborate on the features of the operating system, but said it would retain the “cards” system, or a stack of pop-ups that allows users to navigate multiple applications, originally used in the webOS mobile devices launched by H-P.

The person didn’t comment on the company’s plans to market the webOS-powered TVs but said the operating system may be developed and later adopted for LG’s other consumer electronics, including smartphones.

LG, the world’s second-largest TV market after Samsung Electronics Co., has been busy churning out new premium TV models this year to spark interest in a segment that accounts for nearly 40% of its revenue. The company is also set to showcase a whopping 105-inch curved-screen television at CES, with a similar model expected from Samsung.

While the market for operating systems for mobile devices is dominated by Google Inc.’s Android, there is no such leader for smart TVs.

Samsung has long been working on a new operating system, together with Intel Corp., dubbed the Tizen that is expected to power smartphones and TVs. Tizen’s expected debut next year will likely intensify the competition between the two Korean conglomerates.

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Apple iPad Pro: Apple's First Desktop Touch Device

This week’s report that Apple may already be in production on a 12.9″ iPad, dubbed the “Pro,” has been the source of much speculation. In a well researched and reasoned post in ComputerWorld , Mike Elgan comes to the conclusion that it will be an “iPad optimized as a desktop touch computer for education,” specifically as reported in DigiTimes, for the U.S. education market. This, he claims, will solve two of Apple’s most pressing goals, “First: How can Apple make iOS the default platform for schools transitioning from paper textbooks and educational materials to electronic ones? Second: How can Apple gently transition the world from desktop PCs to the desktop post-PC world?”

The main rival here is not Microsoft but Google , whose Chromebooks and Chrome OS devices are similarly angling for the same prized perch. In many ways Chrome is better positioned than iOS because of its primary relationship to the open web. But Google’s track record with hardware has not been stellar, though Chromebooks are starting to come into their own and Amazon reported this week that “two out of its three best-selling laptops during the holiday season were Chromebooks.”

Rather than thinking of the iPad Pro (probably a misnomer) as a big tablet, Elgan suggests “it makes more sense to think of [it as]… next year’s first and smallest iOS desktop computer.” And I would look for a corresponding line of iPens as well. Apple has quite a lineup of patents around this and it would be a very easy way for students to carry some measure of personalization around with them if the 4K tablets are actually bolted to the desks.

If this first larger iPad is designed for inroads into the U.S. education market in advance of larger “desktops” aimed at the consumer and business markets, the 4K thing starts to make more sense. 2K is probably quite sufficient for a 12.9″ tablet, but imagine the 20″ or 27″ touch screens that would replace Apple’s current all-in- one iMacs. 4K (or more) for these would make lots of sense, especially for professionals who need to work on high- resolution technical or creative imagery.

The truth is that if this is where things are going, towards touch desktops, likely on (or swiveling in) the surface of the desk instead of perpendicular to it, there is room for Google and Microsoft—and Samsung too. Assuming that people want to interact with computers in this way, this change of form factor could lead to the wholesale replacement of all the world’s PCs. What a nice forecast for the marginalized computer industry!

Microsoft has been working on very large touchscreen tabletops designed for collaboration and equally well suited to game play once the costs come down. It is clear that with a change of this magnitude there would be many winners, not just Apple. But it does seem that the popularity of the iPad could finally be paving the way for the redefinition of the desktop computer as a touch device.

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Nexus devices still suffering from several Bluetooth bugs

Nexus devices are great. They get software updates directly from Google very soon after the new versions of Android are made available. The downside of that is that newer versions of Android aren’t always bug-free. We’ve seen Google push out minor updates to Android 4.4 right after release to fix a small number of bugs, but it looks like there are still a handful of issues surrounding Android’s Bluetooth stack that was introduced in 4.2 to replace the older, less-functional stack in prior versions of Android.
The new Bluetooth stack brought some new really cool features to Android, such as Bluetooth LE that helps power many smartwatches and wearable tech, and KitKat built on that feature set to add in a few more enhancements. Unfortunately, some really basic things have been broken in the process for many Nexus users, including Bluetooth pairing, volume control, and general inconsistency with Bluetooth devices. Audio quality can be affected, connections can randomly drop, and even the entire Bluetooth service can crash because of these issues. Overall, definitely not something you want plaguing Google’s flagship devices.
These issues affect pretty much all Bluetooth devices, but as for affected Android devices, it’s pretty much been narrowed down to three primary culprits; the Nexus 4, Nexus 5, and 2013 Nexus 7. They’re all Nexus devices, but a common point between all three is that they’re Nexus devices that specifically use Qualcomm processors. It could just be a coincidence, but it could also have something to do with Qualcomm’s supplied Bluetooth drivers. This is one of the rare cases where it’s nice to have a skinned manufacturer phone, since many of them use custom Bluetooth stacks for their devices to guarantee stability with devices.
Android Police has done an excellent job of writing up a full list of problems and possible solutions, so if you’re affected by any Bluetooth bugs on a Nexus device, you may want to check out the link below to try to get some issues fixed.
source: Android Police

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Nokia Lumia 1320 Lands in China First

Large-phone lovers on a budget, rejoice: Nokia's 6-inch, $339 Lumia 1320 smartphone is now available in China. That's a bit earlier than the January 2014 time-frame it first promised, and the Finnish company said it'll also roll out in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries (likely in Europe) in the coming weeks.

Lumia 1320 packs a whopping 3,400mAh battery for the long-winded, but otherwise has middling specs: a 720p screen, dual- core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 400 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage and a 5- megapixel camera.

Unfortunately, there's no word of an arrival date for those in the US torn between a tablet and phone -- but given the LTE bands we saw at the FCC, don't hold your breath.

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7 Tips to Revamp Your Job Search for 2014

Experts foresee the job market being more competitive than ever in 2014. With 10.9 million Americans unemployed, it is important to take a fresh look at your job search strategy. Now is the perfect time to develop an effective plan for success.

How can you set yourself apart from the competition and position yourself for finding the best next step in your career?

Here are seven tips to help you refresh and refocus your job search in 2014:

1. Don't be a copycat candidate.

Job searches are a very personal experience and one-size-fits-all strategies will not help you stand out among the competition. Even though a certain interview tactic or style was successful for one candidate doesn't mean it is the best strategy for you. Take into consideration your personal experiences, preferences and career goals and use them to position yourself as a unique candidate.

2. Learn to look at job titles differently.

Be open-minded about your preconceived notions of job titles. Roles in compliance, human resource, or administration, for example, are often perceived as being boring, career-limiting or otherwise undesirable. Such preconceptions, however, about the scope, strategic importance and long-term potential of these positions are not always true in today’s market. In many cases I’ve seen, these jobs offer exceptional opportunity for influential and attractive long-term careers.

3. First impressions are everywhere.

With 92% of employers using social media in the hiring process, the content of your social profile forms an employer’s first impression before you even sit down with for an interview.

You should take special consideration to job-proof your social media profiles. For example, use a picture that represents you as a professional. Don’t rely on privacy settings to keep your personal information safe. Your best bet is to assume everything will be seen by a potential employer, so clean up your content and edit your pictures accordingly. Ask yourself the age old question, "What would my grandmother think of this?"

4. Be prepared to land the job.

Here’s one job seeker mistake that’s definitely worth kicking to the curb this year —the idea of an interview being just informational. You should go into every interview prepared to land the job, not just learn more about the organization. You only get one shot at your first interview, and this mistake will get you caught looking unprepared and unprofessional. Instead, always come ready for a formal interview; you will never regret being prepared.

5. Be strategic with social media.

Social media is a vast resource for job seekers. The amount of content and connections thrown at you every day can become overwhelming and a time-suck if you’re not careful.

Be strategic with how you use social media to seek out job opportunities. First, know where recruiters and hiring managers for your desired industry spend most of their time. For example, in you’re looking for a job in finance, LinkedIn might be a more valuable social media site to keep updated as opposed to, say, Twitter. If you are looking to land a job at a media company, on the other hand, Twitter is a great resource. Be sure to also connect with the profiles or pages of companies you want to work for to stay up to date on job openings and announcements.

6. Network with your peers.

You should aim to network with your peers, in addition to your more senior team members. Find ways to be the person that comes to mind when recruiters ask them who they’d recommend for the job. Your peers can also offer off-the-cuff, honest appraisals about your performance and work reputation when referring you for a job. These connections have the power either to open or close doors and your relationships with them will have a direct impact on which way the opportunity swings.

7. Be realistic.

Be honest about what you can realistically offer to a new employer. It's tempting to apply for a more challenging and prestigious role, but make sure you have both the skills and the commitment to be successful. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes shooting for the stars really does pay off! However, this becomes a risky strategy when you promise more than you can reasonably deliver.

Take a candid look at your current lifestyle and think about how it would be impacted by the position you’re considering. Just because the perfect opportunity has come along doesn’t mean it is the perfect time to accept. Holding back from applying for this job right now will prevent you from burning bridges for a role that may be a better fit later in your career.

Looking for a job can often be challenging and frustrating. Taking into account these seven tips can best position you for success in a competitive job market. Good luck and here's to a successful 2014!

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Google Buys Spectacular Robot Maker, Boston Dynamics

Google has acquired robotics engineering company Boston Dynamics , best known for its line of quadrupeds with funny gaits and often mind-blowing capabilities. Products that the firm has demonstrated in recent years include BigDog, a motorized robot that can handle ice and snow, the 29 mile-per-hour Cheetah , and an eerily convincing humanoid known as PETMAN. News of the deal was reported on Friday by The New York Times , which says that the Massachusetts-based company's role in future Google projects is currently unclear.
Specific details about the price and terms of the deal are currently unknown, though Google told the NYT that existing contracts — including a $10.8 million contract inked earlier this year with the US Defense Agency Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — would be honored. Google also says it doesn't plan to become a military contractor as a result of the acquisition.
Boston Dynamics began as a spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992, and quickly started working on projects for the military. Besides BigDog, that includes Cheetah, an animal-like robot developed to run at high speeds, which was followed up by a more versatile model called WildCat. It's also worked on Atlas, a humanoid robot designed to work outdoors.
In a tweet, Google's Andy Rubin — who formerly ran Google's Android division — said the "future is looking awesome."

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SmartRings ready to take over SmartWatches

A high-tech ring that promises to replicate many of the features found in the latest crop of smartwatches, but without strapping a brick to your wrist, is now one step closer to reality. Smarty Ring, a project that launched on Indiegogo last month, has blown past its funding goal to produce a ring with a built-in LED screen that ferries information back and forth between a connected smartphone. Like the Pebble, which garnered more than 100 times as much funding on Kickstarter last year , it can display incoming caller ID, and text messages, along with updates from social networks that have been synced up using a companion app for iOS and Android. There are also physical control buttons on the side of the ring, which can be used to control apps, including your phone's camera app. Other settings let you turn on some anti-theft features, like a phone alert that goes off if the ring goes beyond a certain distance from its owner.
On paper, the ring does all this through a Bluetooth LE connection, and its creators are promising a rather dubious 24 hour battery life with standard use. That would be about on par with what Samsung boasts on the much larger (and already released) Samsung Gear smartwatch , which is just the latest in a series of wearables that aim to extend what we do with the devices that are already in our pockets. So far there have been many contenders in that arena, but nothing that's set the world on fire. One thing that could help the Smarty Ring: its creators plan to sell the watch for $275 when it arrives in stores, which is $25 less than Samsung's offering and for something that could more easily be mistaken for jewelry. Early bird buyers can also purchase it sight unseen for $175, or at a discount when bundling either four or 10 of the rings at once, with an estimated delivery of next April.
Source: The Verge

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