Paid Reviews

Search Engine Review

www.tigertom.org.uk ordered a review from PayPerPost, so this is a paid review but that won’t influence my opinion of it.

Introduction

Search engine = Google. That’s the way it is to put it bluntly.

I’m sure yahoo and msn might have a thing or two to say about that, but Google really have cemented their role as the no.1 search engine. Integrated with adsense across millions of sites, integrated into browsers like firefox, set as the default homepage for most PC’s…

So TigerTom will not replace google, it will not ‘beat’ google, nothing will… but then again i’m sure Tiger Tom doesn’t want to beat Google. The reality is google is great for most people, but there’s always a small group of people who complain about google’s love of wikipedia or blogs for example.. the integrated adsense on searches etc..

TigerTom

TigerTom offers something different, but with the same quick and simple style we’ve come to expect from search engines..

On their homepage, they display the most popular search terms, which is pretty handy if you’re up for some surfing around and want to check out what people are searching for.

TigerTom also have an audio, images, news and shopping search feature. At the minute, they all seem to be down or not working yet as the engine won’t return any results for common words like flower, eminem etc..

TigerTom displays a list of related searches along with 20 results per search. Google just displays 10 results per page.

Conclusion

Design wise and colour wise, it’s all a bit straight and boring, not very web 2.0. Results do differ from google, yahoo etc.. so if you can’t find what you’re looking for, it may be worth a shot..

The domain name, mixed with design mean TigerTom isn’t going rock the search engine world, but as i said before, i’m sure they’re just trying to get some exposure and establish themselves as an alternative to the big guns like google, msn, yahoo etc..

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More Traffic with BlogRush

BlogRush is a new traffic networking service which i blogged about a couple of weeks ago..

You signup, display a widget and other members’s posts are then displayed on your widget and vice-versa.. the more people you refer to blogrush, the more you posts are displayed across the network.

These guys have the contacts and know how, that’s for sure.. it’s remarkable how quickly it’s grown since launch as i see a blogrush widget on about 90% of blogs i visit this is a sponsored review through PayPerPost so they’re certainly getting maximum exposure in the blog world

At the minute, the stats section is down for maintainence so i can’t comment on my stats, but last time i checked i’d only received one or two click throughs from it from like 2000 impressions..

That’s pretty poor but then again we can’t be too critical here as BlogRush is literally fresh out of the box and they’re bound to have teething problems.. they’ve introduced new colours due to demand and they’ve also sent out an email to members, promising some major changes so i eagerly await those

Have a Blog? Join in and Get Massive Traffic

VistaPrint Business Cards

About a week ago, i blogged about how i’d just ordered 250 business cards from vistaprint.

So when i seen they’d ordered a few blog posts through the PayPerPost marketplace, i was grinning to myself as i’m already a customer and have used their service, so less work for me Anyway, this is a sponsored post, but as usual i’ll be honest/neutral throughout..

Business cards were something i always wanted but never got around to getting.. they’re cheap, handy to give out to people and a great way to drum up extra business and awareness… but if you’re like me, you’re probably too lazy to go into the local print shop and get some

So like everything else, we can get them on the net cheaper and from the comfort of our own home All thanks to VistaPrint’s business cards online. Currently, they are offering 250 FREE business cards. You just pay for postage which is like $5. I guarantee you if you go in to a local shop and ask for 250 business cards, you’ll be charged more than that

They are also your one stop shop for everything printed related; t-shirts, postcards, folders, envelopes, rubber stamps… you name it.

The site is easy to navigate and very straightforward so ordering something is hassle free and just a few clicks away. Another sweetener is the fact they offer an affiliate system.. $2.00 per accepted referral, plus that referral gets 25% off all products

So i’ve already ordered the free business cards from VistaPrint, and i’m sure i’ll be using them again in the future

The Speed Test

pcnineoneone ordered a PayPerPost review for their new Internet Speed Test service, so this is a sponsored blog post, but i’ll remain honest throughout

A while back my connection was super slow one weekend. It got to the stage where i couldn’t blog/open any page as it was so slow.. thankfully that was a one off.. i have broadband (2mb connection), so i guess i’m lucky as a few years ago, broadband was for the wealthy or for businesses…

Speed is something i do keep an eye on though.. for example i moved this blog to a different server due to speed issues.. in general we all have faster connection speeds nowadays so it’s not as important today, but it still plays a key factor in web design/whether you stay and wait on site to load, or how much stuff you’ll upload before cancelling etc..

PC911’s speed test is a nice way of measuring your connection speed to see if you’re really getting what you’re paying for.. If you have a 2mb connection, you won’t actually get 2mb download speeds all the time.. it depends on a variety of things but basically if there are several internet connections using the same line, speed will be reduced..

Anyway, here’s my results;

1.7mb’s download speed, 0.2mb’s upload speed. Is that good? Yes. I pay for a configuration of 2mb/256Kbps, this means that i can potentially download data at a speed of 2mb’s and upload data at 256Kbps. So my speed stats aren’t far off that, so i know i’m getting value for money speed wise..

If my speeds were say 1mb down, 128Kbps up, i’d feel a little cheesed off.. so it’s something to keep an eye on, but like i said any sort of broadband connection, for the average user, means they won’t notice any differences in speed as everything is fairly snappy anyway..

But if you’re a speed freak, be sure to check out PC911’s new speed test, plus all their tips and tricks for getting the most out of your connection

Speed tests are two a penny on the net, but i do like the rev counter design PC911 use.. very sexy

Home Camera Software

This is a paid review which i’ve been asked to write through PayPerPost, by home camera. As usual, i’ll give my honest/fair opinion which won’t be influenced by cash…

I always thought using a webcam as a monitoring system would be handy, not for me, but perhaps for an office room with loads of valuables or just to keep an eye on the baby/kids… in fact, just last month, i was toying with an old wireless security camera we found in the attic. It worked and all, but it was quite simply a brick, in size and weight So not ideal..

A webcam however is very discreet, very quiet, very camouflaged.. and that’s where HomeCamera.com comes in - transforming your webcam into a security/surveillance cam Best of all, it’s FREE!

Basically, you signup, install a bit of software (3.5mb’s), plug in all your cameras and bam..

You can now access that to camera (provided it’s on of course) from any computer/pda/phone with a web browser.. pretty cool. So if you’re away for the weekend and have let your teenagers home alone, you can check in on how the house party is going

You can also set up your camera for time lapse recording which will save files onto homecamera’s server so you can play/view it at a later date. As far as i know, you can have multiple cameras on the one account if you wish, so you could in theory have the whole house kitted out with camera’s, all linked to your homecamera account. The web interface then allows you to send images/video to your mobile or email them, so loads of options. (the mobile option does cost credits though, $5.50 for 100 credits, however you get 25 free initially. Every time you get alerts on your mobile, your credits are then deducted.)

For now, whilst it’s still in public beta, the software will remain FREE, so you’ve got nothing to lose by signing up.. it will cost something eventually, we’re told, but for now, we’ll enjoy it whilst it lasts

The site itself is very simple, glossy, curvy etc… so you’ll have no problems navigating, it’s very web 2.0.. The software takes 2 seconds to install, and automatically detects any active webcams. If you do have problems, they have a 24/7 live support service