Goodbye Google Gears, Hello HTML5

Goodbye Google Gears, Hello HTML5

by Jay Hathaway (RSS feed) Feb 21st 2010 at 9:05AM

We already knew Google Gears was on its way out, but Google has now basically lowered the casket into the ground. Gears powered a bunch of web apps in its day, but now Google's stopping work on it and switching to supporting its features natively in Chrome using HTML5 and other emerging web standards.

What does this mean for current Gears users? Well, support will be severely limited, but maintained until there's a way to port entire apps (including their userbases) to a standards-based approach. Some Gears APIs have already popped up natively in Chrome, which now includes geolocation and several database-related APIs.

Check out Google's blog post for the skinny on what is and isn't supported so far. If you're a developer using Gears, you can also take advantage of Google's invitation to reach out and ask questions about the future of the Gears features your apps use.

Why Flash Is Fundamentally Flawed On Touchscreen Devices

Slashdot Technology Story | Why Flash Is Fundamentally Flawed On Touchscreen Devices

"I'm a full-time Flash developer and I'd love to get paid to make Flash sites for the iPad. I want that to make sense — but it doesn't. Flash on the iPad will not (and should not) happen — and the main reason, as I see it, is one that never gets talked about: current Flash sites could never be made to work well on any touchscreen device, and this cannot be solved by Apple, Adobe, or magical new hardware. That's not because of slow mobile performance, battery drain or crashes. It's because of the hover or mouseover problem. ... All that Apple and Adobe could ever do is make current Flash content visible. It would be seen, but very often would not work."

3 Simple Steps To a Successful eCommerce Business

3 Simple Steps To a Successful eCommerce Business
Posted by Amanda Brooke on Sat, Feb 20, 2010 @ 06:03 PM

Having a successful ecommerce business is a dream shared by many, and achieved by many, as well.

Here are three simple, basic tips for helping you have a thriving, successful ecommerce business:

Promote your site every day, without fail. This might include all sorts of things. You can promote your sight through Pay Per Click and other ad campaigns, through emails and e-newsletters to subscribers, through sales, promotions, contests and coupons.

You can promote your site through social media on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and any number of other social sites.

You might promote your site by having a business blog, submitting articles to article directories, and even videos on YouTube.

You might have promotional material printed up and included with each package as sold items are shipped. Or, you might opt for tee shirts, caps or jackets printed with your website and brand logo.

There are many, many ways to promote your ecommerce website, and a smart entrepreneur doesn't miss a trick!

Another very simple step to success in an online store is SEO. If you don't know how to optimize the SEO of your ecommerce website---you need to learn.

Alternatively, you could hire SEO experts to do this for you. Regardless of how it gets done, it is absolutely essential that it is done, whether by you or somebody else.

There is a saying on the internet about any website that is all too true:

If you don't exist with Google….you don't exist.

And that's about the size of that.

So, a basic but necessary part of building a successful online business is great SEO!

Last but not least in this little series of simple steps toward achieving success as an online merchant is this: Give excellent customer service! You might have a fabulous, professionally designed website with fantastic SEO and wonderful product descriptions.

You might rank high in search engine results, pay a small fortune for PPC and other ad campaigns, and so on and so forth. But if you don't take care of your customers, your online business will go down like the Titanic, except there won't be a band playing.

Customer service is the cornerstone of any successful online business!

There are all sorts of other things you can do to be successful in your ecommerce enterprise, but you can't go wrong following these!

Tags: Grow Your Business, Tips For Ecommerce Entrepeneurs, ecommerce