Yandex browser based on Chromium launches

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New Microsoft.com website launches

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Bing Launches Linked Pages

One of the issues that you may have when searching for friends, family or people online is that you will get all sorts of results. Depending on the person’s Internet activities and popularity on the Internet, you may get some, none or a lot of results about that person on the first pages of the search engine you are using. Other factors like the person’s name play a role as well. If you are searching for a popular name, you may have to wade through hundreds of results before you get the first hit.

Bing’s Linked Pages feature was launched today to provide Facebook users with an easier option to find friends, and to make themselves more visible in the search engine.

Here is how it basically works out. You link Bing to your Facebook account, and once you have done that, you can select web pages that you want to be associated with.

You get started here on the Linked Pages page on Bing, which on first use will ask you to enter your Facebook login information to link Bing to the account. You are then automatically redirected to your name’s search results page on Bing. Here you can start to select web pages that you want to be associated with.

Just click on the Link to me button to add a link to that page to your name. If you make a mistake, you can click on unlink me to remove the link again. You can also start searching for other pages and websites that you own or work with, to add those to your account as well.

Your Facebook friends will then see those pages displayed prominently when they search for your name in Bing.

You can also link your Facebook friends to pages, to help them “show up better on Bing. It looks as if those links are only available to the user who added them.

The service has some limitations. It first is only available for Bing US. You may be able to make use of it if you change your location to the US if you use a different localized version of Bing otherwise. The second limitation is that only your Facebook friend’s can see the links that you have added to your name on Bing.

It is likely that Microsoft will use the information to create better search results, but for now, that is all you get.

I personally like the idea of selecting the links that I want to be associated with. This gives users more control over how they appear online. Everyone should keep in mind though that it is still possible to find other pages about you.

What’s your take on the new feature?

You can read about the announcement here on the official Bing blog.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Thursday February 23, 2012 -
Tags:bing

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Audiobooks.com Launches Audiobook Flatrate Service

Audiobooks these days are usually delivered on CD or as a digital recording on the Internet. They are not cheap by any means, new bestsellers cost anywhere between $15 to $30 which often is more than you would pay for the bestseller in book format.

Why am I telling you this? Because Audiobooks has just launched an audiobook flatrate service that lets you listen to as many audiobooks as you like for $24.95 per month. The store features more than 10,000 audiobooks right now, with new books being added on a regular basis.

How does it work? You visit the website and sign-up for a free trial account. You now have seven days to test the site and its functionality.

The homescreen displays the books that you are currently reading, recommendations based on your preferences, new arrivals, and staff picks.

When you hover the mouse over a listing, a short description is displayed. A click takes you to the audiobook’s profile page that features a larger description as well as information about the play time, narrators, version, genre and publication date. You may also see user comments and ratings on the page which can further aid you in determining whether you’d like to start listening to that particular audiobook.

You can preview audiobooks here, which may be useful to get a feeling for the quality of the audiobook, or start playing the full version right away.

Audiobooks open in a new window with basic controls that allow you to stop and pause the playback, rewind or forward 30 seconds, and to add bookmarks which is useful if you want to continue from a specific position the next time you play the audiobook.

The player was developed using HTML5 which ensures that it is not only compatible with desktop PCs but also with many mobile devices that support HTML5 audio.

The site features a search that you can use to find specific books, authors or narrators. You can alternatively browse the audiobook collection by genre in case you are interested in a specific topic. Categories include history, non-fiction, comedy, politics and science & technology among others.

Tastes differ but it is not difficulty to find audiobooks that suite your taste. From Steve Jobs’ biography over Russian language instructions to marketing audiobooks and bestsellers such as Dan Brown’s Deception Point or Bond Girl: A Novel by Robin Gwyne.

There is also a bestseller listing of 50 bestselling audiobooks for fast access.

The Good

As many audiobooks as you can listen to for $24.95. If you are buying at least one audiobook a month, you will certainly enjoy the service as it gives you access to thousands over thousands of books for the price of one. Plus, you can listen to the audio books not only on your desktop PC, but on mobile devices like tablets or the iPhone.

You can browse and search the selection of books prior to signing up, which can be useful to make sure that the books you are interested in are offered on the site.

The bitrate is rather low, but still acceptable, and it means that less data needs to be transferred to the computer.

The Bad

You need to keep in mind that all audiobooks are streamed which means that you cannot make use of the service in situations where you do not have Internet or only limited Internet connectivity. If you like to listen to an audiobook during travel for instance, you may not be able to make use of the service in that situation. And since there is no way to download an audiobook to your computer, you still may need to purchase some audiobooks in CD format.

The service is also only offered to users from the United States at this point in time.

There is also no option to listen to audiobooks while offline.

Verdict

If you are living in the United States and purchasing audiobooks regularly, you may be interested to try out the new Audiobooks.com service. This service is mainly for computer and smartphone users who listen to audiobooks on their devices though.

I personally like the idea of an audiobook flatrate, and would welcome it if the developers would add offline listening capabilities to their service.

Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook or Twitter. Free Audiobooks from the Gutenberg Project
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Mp3 to iPod Audio Book Converter About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Wednesday January 25, 2012 -
Tags:audiobooks

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