How You Can Host your Website on Google For Free

Google offer users a simple way to host their site by using Google Sites. To do this, you will require a Google account to sign in. This can be done by creating a Gmail account. You have the option to use many pre-built templates or create a site from scratch. This is a very simple process

Navigate to the Google Sites page and enter your sign in information. Click the Sign in button and you will see the Sites page. If this is your first time on the page, click the Create button to continue. Click a template option that you want to use for your site. If you do not want to use a template, click the option for Blank template. Enter a name for your site and then type the security code at the bottom of the page.

Click the Create Site button at the top of the page to continue. Google will then take a moment to set up your site. When this process is complete, you will be taken to your new Google Sites Page. Click on the Edit Page button in the menu bar at the top of the screen. The page editor is similar to a text editor. This means that you can type text on the screen or add new elements. You should see a toolbar appear on the screen.

Click the Insert button to add elements to your new page. You have the option to add many elements to your page such as an image, a link, and other common elements. Gadgets are also available that include an option for Recent posts. Options from Google can also be placed on your page. This includes the use of a calendar, a chart, a document, a Picasa photo and even Adsense.

If you want to change the appearance of your page, click the Layout option. Once you have added your selections, click on the Edit sidebar link. This will take you to the Manage Site page. You can add many options and change features from this area. Click the Change site layout to make any changes that you require.

Click the Preview button to see your changes before they go live. When you ate satisfied with all of the changes, click the Save button at the top of the page. If you so not want to save your changes, you need to click on the Cancel button. Click the Home button to go back to the main Sites page.

Tags: Google App Engine, Google Sites, Google Webhosting, Webhosting

Source : techtalkafrica[dot]com

Apple launches new iPod ad, lots of colors and bouncing

Apple unveiled a snappy new ad for its refreshed iPod devices on Wednesday highlighting the range of colors on offer.

As Apple begins shipping the first batch of orders for its refreshed iPod range of media players to expectant customers around the world, the tech company has launched a new ad called ‘Bounce’ featuring the new devices.

The 30-second slot, posted on YouTube on Wednesday night and set to air on TV, features a bunch of iPods (touches, nanos and shuffles) bouncing around to a funky track called Yeah Yeah by London-based singer Willy Moon. It’s pretty, slick, and quick, and you can check it out below.

Apple unveiled a new iPod touch last month, featuring a larger 4-inch screen identical in size to that of the iPhone 5. Compared to its predecessor, the updated fifth-generation device is slimmer and lighter, and sports a vastly improved 5-megapixel camera. More RAM and a faster processor make for a much zippier device compared to earlier touches, too. It also comes in six colors – no longer just black and white – a feature that forms the basis of the new ad.

The new seventh-generation iPod nano, described as the thinnest nano to date, has done away with the small square design of its predecessor and returned to the longer look of the fifth-generation nano. An extra color has been added to the range, too.

As for the shuffle, three new colors have been added to the range.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Guild Wars 2, MapleStory publishers attempt Valve acquisition

Weeks after reports of EA's attempted Valve acquisition comes word that Korea's Nexon and NCSoft have made an offer for the Steam studio.

More reports of a potential Valve acquisition, this time involving some of Korea’s biggest game companies.

Valve co-founder and digital entertainment industry maverick Gabe Newell aims to keep his company independent or he’ll die trying. Newell said recently that the likelihood that Valve will be sold is slim indeed. He would rather “disintegrate” Valve than see it sell out to a larger technology company or video game publisher. That doesn’t mean that other companies aren’t trying to acquire the Steam studio. Enter Korean video game giants Nexon and NCSoft.

Korean outlet Joonang News (via MCV) claims that Valve met with both companies in Hawaii on Wednesday to discuss a potential merger. The pooled offer for Valve from Nexon and NCSoft is 1 trillion won, or around $893 million.

Nexon and NCSoft would certainly benefit from owning, or at least partnering with, Valve on a large scale. NCSoft sits right behind Blizzard as the world’s leading MMORPG company, publishing and hosting games like the recently released Guild Wars 2 amongst many successes in the genre like City of Heroes, Lineage and others. Nexon, meanwhile, is one of the biggest mobile and online game providers throughout Japan, China, and Korea. It’s currently valued around $5.9 billion. Steam, being the leading digital PC game retail platform in the US, would strengthen those companies’ interests outside Asia.

NCSoft could use the steady income. The publisher is having difficulty maintaining profits now that the MMO industry has moved away from paid subscriptions in favor of free-to-play revenue models. Its second quarter earnings saw revenue fall 12 percent year-on-year to around $130 million. (By comparison, Electronic Arts pulled in $276 million from its PC operation alone over the same period.

Nexon on the other hand is thriving, with revenue earnings in the first quarter of 2012 up 46 percent to around $480 million, and net income up 60 percent to nearly $154 million. It also already enjoys a partnership with Valve, with plans to host Asia’s Counter Strike Online community.

The long and short of it: Yes, it would make sense that these companies want Valve. The purchase price of $893 million rings false though. Electronic Arts reportedly made informal advances on Valve offering a cool $1 billion and Newell and company were unmoved. That was in the past as well. Today, Valve is valued at around $2.5 billion. With the company plotting major expansions in the next few years—branching out into non-gaming apps and hardware—Valve’s business is on the cusp of growing in value even more.

For any Korean readers out there getting pumped up, our apologies: That Team Fortress 2 MMORPG will have to remain a fantasy.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com