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How to view text-only versions of Web sites

Some Web sites have lots of ads, pictures, and other distracting things on their pages. If you're on a slower Internet connection, loading pages like these can be a real hassle. However, with the use of some quick Web tools, you can strip these sites down to their bare bones--just the text. BareSite, TinyRead, and TextMirror are some of the more popular free services that can help you clear the clutter.

BareSite This server doesn't ask for any of your personal information, or request that you sign up for an account. You can view all of your most … Read more

Mac Trojan Horse poses as Adobe Flash Installer

The latest attempt from digital wrongdoers to infect your Mac has been spotted taking on the look and feel of Adobe's Flash Installer.

Despite your feelings on whether you like Flash on your Mac, this Trojan poses a fairly serious threat to those unsuspecting users who may think they are simply updating Flash Player.

F-Secure has named the Trojan Bash/QHost.WB and have provided some insight as to how it works.

Once installed, the Trojan adds entries to the hosts file to hijack users visiting various Google sites (e.g., Google.com.tw, Google.com.tl, et cetera) … Read more

Easier AdWords

Google AdWords can be a powerful form of advertising, placing ads for your business right next to related Google search results--if you do it right. Google AdWords Editor is a simple tool that lets AdWords users manage their campaigns on their desktop. There's no guarantee that it will improve the success of your ad campaign, but it can at least make the whole thing a little easier to deal with.

The program's interface is plain and utilitarian, with its major features arranged in tabs. We easily signed in to our AdWords account and loaded our data into the … Read more

Twitter starts injecting paid tweets into the stream

Twitter today stepped up its advertising efforts with a new program that puts promoted tweets right in front of where users are likely to be looking.

The new system takes promoted tweets--which are paid marketing messages from Twitter's business partners--and puts them up near the top of users' timelines, where they'd typically find the latest updates from accounts of those they're following. Twitter says users will only see these tweets once, and only if they're following that brand or organization. The company has also included a way to dismiss these from the stream, something that can'… Read more

Amazon's 2nd quarter: Eyes on tablets, ads, and more

Amazon reports its second-quarter results later today, and Wall Street analysts will have one eye on the actual financials and another one on new revenue streams expected to emerge in the back half of 2011.

For the quarter ended June 30, Wall Street is expecting earnings of 35 cents a share on revenue of $9.38 billion. Keep in mind that the second quarter is usually Amazon's slowest of the year. According to Thomson Reuters, Amazon is expected to deliver revenue of $10.35 billion in the third quarter and $17.4 billion in the fourth quarter.

In other words, Amazon is your typical retailer that lives for the final three months of the year. The difference is that Amazon has a lot of interesting side businesses that can turn out to be big revenue streams in the future. Here's a look at some future items that will be the focus of analyst questions. Unfortunately, it's highly unlikely that Amazon will provide much comment or detail.

Amazon's tablet. It has been clear for months that Amazon is prepping the contract equipment supply chain for a tablet. And given Amazon's biggest quarter is the fourth, it's also likely that this tablet--perhaps with new Kindles--will appear in the next few weeks. Big projects just don't happen in the fourth quarter at a retailer--there's too much at stake. As noted previously, Amazon's tablet would transition the company even more toward digital delivery and boost margins. In fact, Amazon isn't likely to make any money from its tablet. Why? The device will be subsidized by e-commerce sales and ads.

Analysts are betting that Amazon's tablet may break the $299 mark. That price would undercut other Android rivals.… Read more

How to install RAM in an iMac (video)

With the arrival of Mac OS X Lion, a lot of folks are going to discover that Apple's latest operating system is more of a memory hog than Snow Leopard and that a little RAM boost may be required.

Regardless of whether you're upgrading to Lion or not, upgrading your RAM is good idea because it's one of the most affordable--and easiest--ways to speed up your machine. Also, for anybody looking to buy a new iMac, we strongly recommend upgrading the RAM yourself, because you can save a good bit of money by not ordering extra RAM … Read more

Vitamin Water offers juice for your phone

This is probably one of the most innovative and useful ads we've seen in a long time. A Vitamin Water promotional display at select bus stops can power phones and other mobile devices.

Currently decorating selected bus stops in Boston, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, Glaceau's Vitamin Water Energy Bus Shelter by ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky integrates a three-port battery-powered USB hub in an image of the bottled water. This allows waiting commuters to charge their device for free, clearly with the hope that they will juice up their bodies with Vitamin Water later on in gratitude.

The charging station is part of the brand's "You're Up" campaign, which emphasizes that the drink is formulated to provide a quick boost on the go.

(Source: Crave Asia via Engadget)… Read more

iAds tweak lets companies buy in smaller batches

It's been little more than a year since Apple introduced its iAd mobile-advertising platform, and now the company is changing up the way it sells to advertisers.

Apple is offering advertising firms a way make large iAd buys that can be doled out to companies at a lower volume than what Apple sells directly. The idea is to make the service more approachable to advertisers that want to run smaller campaigns.

Apple's first big deal is with WPP's GroupM as part of a spending commitment for more than $1 million from its clients, The Wall Street Journal says. … Read more

60GHz tech promises wireless docking, USB, HDMI

Every now and again, the rules for how to build a personal computer change. One of those moments may arrive next year with a high-speed wireless technology that could let people link tablets with big-screen TVs or dock laptops when arriving in the office.

The technology, which uses the 60GHz band of radio spectrum and is designed to transfer as much as 7 gigabits of data per second, matches what many wired connections provide, either inside a computer chassis or through the profusion of ports that perforate laptop sides. A group called the WiGig Alliance is developing it, and the … Read more