The year 2010 has many new gadgets are popping and add a row of new gadgets that enliven the world of technology, such as Apple who gave birth to a tablet computer, iPad issued in April 2010.
iPad also trigger the emergence of competitors to launch similar products, Here are some gadgets that emerged in 2010.
Apple Launches iPad
iPad crowned as the most popular computer by gadget site Pocket Lint. IPAD is a tablet computer designed and developed by Apple. He was marketed as a platform for audio and visual media such as books, magazines, movies, music, games, and web content. Weighing about 680 grams, size and weight between smart phones and laptops. Apple iPad released in April 2010.
Like the iPhone and iPod Touch, IPAD is controlled with a multitouch screen - a breakthrough earlier than most tablet computers that use a pen is pressed. IPAD uses Wi-Fi data connection to surf the Internet, run the media, and install the software. Some models also have a 3G wireless data connection.
The second tablet from Apple
IPad Apple so it snaps so that almost every electronics company is rumored to be making their own tablets. Besides Samsung Galaxy Tab, there is no serious competitor to Apple iPad this year. Of course, many companies have announced that they will release tablets in 2011.
iPhone 4
Apple's reputation in maintaining confidentiality when faced with a big splashy iPhone4 leaked in April, two months before the official launch. When I first saw it, the design of the new iPhone makes people crazy. Once released, the designs back in the news, but this time for "Antennagate."
Apple's App Store
With the iPhone and iPod Touch devices that continue to flood the market - and now consumers have the iPad - sales and offerings in the App Store has grown exponentially. Until October 20 this year, more than 300 thousand applications in the store has been downloaded more than seven billion times. In October, Apple announced the development of the Mac App Store for Mac computer applications.
E-Reader
Kindle itself became the most popular device in 2010 according to the gadget site Pocket Lint. Applications Kindle popular because it allows users to synchronize between their virtual book list to various devices like the iPhone or home computer.
Innovation Kinect
Developed over many years by Microsoft, Kinect, webcam based game system, sold out faster than iPad after it was released in early November.
The iPod Touch is the iPhone without the phone and GPS features--no cellular voice calls, no texting, and no EDGE or 3G wireless service. The remaining features that the two have in common are often the criteria on which the Touch is judged. In the case of the fourth-generation Touch--available in 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities--the two come closer to feature parity than ever before.
The 4G iPod Touch is thinner still--two sandwiched 4G Touches come very close to the thickness of the iPhone 4. It's also a little less wide and lighter than the third-generation iPod Touch that preceded it. Its edges are also more angled. This angling is sharp enough that owners of iPhones and previous iPod Touches will have to train themselves to search for the volume and Sleep/Wake buttons near the back edge of the iPod rather than the side and top, respectively.
The 4G version lacks the small black plastic patch on the back's top-left corner that covered the Wi-Fi antenna. That corner now holds the iPod's built-in omnidirectional microphone and its high-definition rear-facing camera.
Voice Control works only for playing music, however. You can't use it to initiate a FaceTime call.
With the new Touch you can make such calls without a headset. Even though the mic is on the back of the iPod, it's sensitive enough to pick up your voice. And the speaker is audible enough to carry on a conversation.
The iPod's camera is more zoomed in, hinting at a smaller sensor. Also, iPhone 4's camera captures stills at 1936 by 2592 pixels, while the iPod Touch's rear-facing camera shoots at 720 by 960 pixels. That's 5 megapixels on the iPhone 4 versus less than 1 megapixel on the Touch.
Given the lower resolution and lack of a flash, it shouldn't be surprising that the 4G Touch's still pictures don't measure up to the iPhone 4's. The images it produces are far less detailed and the camera's more susceptible to being blown out when capturing bright images--vibrant yellows, pinks, and reds, for example. Inside, in under-lit conditions, the Touch's camera pushes very hard to get the image, but in the process can produce grainy and washed out results.
The iPod Touch is an extremely versatile device--media player; pocket gaming machine; productivity tool; Internet communication device; and, with this latest update, pocket camcorder, still camera, handheld recorder, and FaceTime video phone.
This article is about the relationship between your RSS feed and the Publish button, and ways of using Blogger to reduce the chances of readers seeing something that you didn't want to publish yet.
Some of your RSS subscribers only see the first version of each post that you publish, not the most recently edited one.
Even if you delete a post from your blog shortly after publishing it, the published version is still in your RSS feed and will be seen by people who read it. (I've heard that some feed-aggregator / reader tools do delete items, however some eg Google Reader, don't.)
Personally, I took a long time to understand the consequences of this: When I started blogging, I Published early-and-often while I was writing each post, so I could see what it "felt" like. (The Preview button, because it shows you the "look" but not the latest content, and editing the content was important to me.) This meant that subscribers saw very early, drafty versions of my posts, so many of them decided to unsubscribe pretty quickly.
Even after I understood, I still occasionally hit Publish by accident. And my writing wasn't good, because I find it hard to proof-read properly in the post-editor.
So far I've found two ways of using Blogger that can address this problem.
Option 1: Turn the blog-feed off, except when you publish the final version
Posts are only sent out in your blog's feed if the feed is turned on. So every time you want to work on a post:
Turn the feed off (Settings > Site Feed > Allow Blog Feeds = None)
Work on your post, Publishing it as you like
Save the Post as Draft (so it's status is back to draft again)
Turn the feed on (Settings > Site Feed > Allow Blog Feeds = anything except None)
Or you could keep Allow Blog Feeds = None, turn it on every time you publish a post for the first time, and turn it off again afterwards.
This is particularly good approach if you have a lot of email subscribers via Feedburner - because that tool is currently (Dec 2010) sending out an update every time a post is published or updated, instead of just for every "new" publication (ie one that changes the post-status from Draft to Published).
However it's very manual, and there's always a risk that you might forget to turn the feed on or off at the right moment.
Option 2: Prepare posts in a separate blog
This is my preferred approach, and now there are at least three different "blogs" for each blog I that run:
The blog (what IT professionals call "production")
A documentation blog, where I keep my notes about how it's put together
A pre-publication blog, when I keep posts that are being worked on.
Private (Settings > Permissions > Blog readers = Only Blog Authors)
Not listed (Settings > Basic > Add your blog to our listings = No)
Not indexed (Settings > Basic > Let search engines find your blog = No)
Not listed on my Blogger Profile (Dashboard > Edit Blogger Profile > Select blogs to display)
At various times, if I'm preparing for template changes or adding new features, I may also have test-blogs. These are always set to Private too.
When I'm preparing a post, I work on it in the "pre-production" blog, and can Publish it as many times as I like. Then when it's complete, I simply copy the post from the pre-prod blog to the real one, and publish it once.
A big benefit is that if I get an idea about a potential post, I can just go to the pre-publication blog and make a very quick note about it: the writing and research quality doesn't matter, because I'm the only person who sees it.
The one thing I need to do is to always check and re-check the blog I'm about to post in, every time I hit "Publish": the day after I first released this post was the first time in ages that I accidentally published a draft post to this blog (subscribers will have seen it come through the feel) .... very embarrassing indeed!
Have you found other ways to avoid problems like this?
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 one of the best fixed-lens cameras on the market today. The 10 megapixel Lumix LX5, which offers a large 1/1.63-inch CCD sensor for a point and shoot camera.
The LX5 backs up its F2.0 ultra-wide-angle zoom lens (3.8X optical zoom, 24mm to 95mm) with manual controls for both stills and video, RAW shooting, an unbelievable macro mode that lets you practically touch the lens to your subject, fast and fine-tunable focus controls, and a button layout that offers easy access to in-camera settings. On the back is a 3-inch LCD screen for framing your shots, but no optical viewfinder; instead, a proprietary hot-shoe connection allows you to connect the same eye-level electronic viewfinder (EVF) that's compatible with Panasonic's G-series interchangeable-lens cameras.
It resembles a miniaturized, fixed-lens version of Panasonic's interchangeable-lens Lumix GF1, right down to the boxy, classic-looking frame, pop-up flash, and stand-alone lens cap. Although it's quite a bit smaller than the Micro Four-Thirds GF1, it's bigger than your average point-and-shoot camera.
You can also opt to set the LX5 to a step zoom setting, which lets you jump to six predefined focal lengths (24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, and 90mm) by tapping the zoom control, and the camera's autofocus reacts immediately.
For more details, please see the specification of Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 below
Type advanced
Image Processor Effective Megapixels 10 megapixels Image sensor CCD Image sensor size 0.613 inches Image format JPEG, RAW White balance Auto, Bracketing, Manual Image stabilization Hardware
Lens Features Lens Model Leica DC Vario-summicron Maximum Optical Zoom 3.8 X Maximum Wide Angle 24 mm Maximum Telephoto 90 mm Minimum aperture 18 Maximum aperture 2 Focus features Manual Focus, Spot Focus
Viewfinder and LCD section LCD screen size 3 inches Has touchscreen No Viewfinder Electronic
Exposure Controls Maximum shutter speed 60 Minimum shutter speed 0.00025 ISO Low 80 ISO High 12800 Exposure settings Aperture Priority, Exposure Bracketing, Manual Exposure, Shutter Priority
The first phone to ship with Android 2.3 also known as "Gingerbread" as the well as the follow-up to last January's Nexus One, the Nexus S is a joint effort between Samsung and Google with some impressive features. The hardware is gorgeous, and Android 2.3 delivers some useful enhancements.
The Nexus S's design the glossy, all-black Nexus S is a lot more attractive than the Nexus One. In construction a lot flimsier and more plasticky than its HTC counterpart. Measuring 4.9-by-2.5-by-0.43 inches thick, the phone is a bit larger than the Nexus One. Weighing 4.5 ounces, the Nexus S is lighter than its sibling.
The Nexus S a 4-inch Super AMOLED display. The display is also curved so as to fit more comfortably next to your face.
Google apps like Latitude, YouTube, Gmail, Places, Google Maps with Navigation, Search (with voice), Car Home, Google Talk, and Google Voice.
The music player remains the same as the one in Froyo--boring but easy enough to use. Videos downloaded to the phone played back smoothly and looked great on the Super AMOLED display. One of the nice things about Super AMOLED is that it remains pretty visible in bright, outdoor sunlight. If you like catching up on TV shows during your lunch break, this is a useful quality in a phone.
The Nexus S has a 5-megapixel camera with a flash and the same resolution as the rest of the Galaxy S pack.
It has autofocus, macro and infinity modes, four resolutions to choose from, nine scene settings, three color modes, three quality modes, and exposure metering.
Can shoot video as high as 720-by-480-pixels at 30 frames per second. The device has 512MB of RAM and is capped at 16GB of internal memory. And unlike the iPhone, there's no 32GB model available.
Powered by Samsung's 1GHz Hummingbird processor, the Nexus S is quite speedy. Scrolling through Web pages was fluid, applications opened quickly, and navigating around the menus was smooth and fluid. Call quality over T-Mobile was very good. Calls sounded crisp and natural with an ample amount of volume and no static.
The HV18A-4G measures 3.5 by 1.5 by 0.25 inches and has a 1.8-inch, full-color TFT LCD, as well as a nifty touch-panel keypad. Featuring an audio-playback time of 30 hours, this sleek MP3 player also plays videos, offers an FM transmitter, and provides a voice recorder. The power/lock switch is on the side, while the volume buttons, fast-forward/rewind controls, and OK and Menu buttons are on the touch panel.
Video playback is decent, considering that the screen is just 1.8 inches. The player comes with ArcSoft Media Converter 3 for turning regular video files into the supported .smv format. The ArcSoft program, which took about 25 minutes to convert a 30MB file.
You can add music and pictures to the player by dragging and dropping the files in Windows Explorer or by synchronizing through Windows Media Player. Supported formats include MP3, WMA, and OGG for audio, and JPEG and BMP for pictures. You can't sync playlists from Windows Media Player,
In addition to the earbuds and the ArcSoft Media Converter 3 software, the HV18A-4G comes with a USB 2.0 cable.
The touch panel is just a bit hypersensitive (luckily, the device has a hold button), but otherwise the affordable Haier HV18A-4G is a decent little MP3 player with great battery life. The main thing that holds this device back is its small capacity--it's available only in 4GB and 8GB versions, neither of which is enough space for most people's music and video libraries.
Sony DSC-HX5V With its in-camera GPS, digital compass, wireless image and video sharing via TransferJet, accelerometer-driven panorama mode, and 1080i high-definition video capture in AVCHD format, the 10-megapixel, 10X optical zoom (25mm to 250mm)
The following specifications Sony DSC-HX5V Cyber-shot
Type point-and-shoot
Image Processor Effective Megapixels 10 megapixels Image sensor CMOS Image sensor size 0.417 inches Image format JPEG, MPEG White balance Auto Preset Modes Image stabilization Optical
Lens Features Maximum Optical Zoom 10 X Maximum Wide Angle 25 mm Maximum Telephoto 250 mm Minimum aperture 3.5 Maximum aperture 8 Lens mount Fixed Focus features Auto Focus, Multiple Point Focusing, Spot Focus
Viewfinder and LCD section LCD screen size 3 inches Has touchscreen No Viewfinder None
Exposure Controls Maximum shutter speed 1600 Minimum shutter speed 30 Exposure settings Auto Exposure, Manual Exposure, Multiple Program Modes
Storage Memory type Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo Installed memory 45 MB
Flash Flash characteristics Auto Flash, Flash ON, Flash OFF , Red-eye Reduction
Video Maximum video capture resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels Maximum frame rate 60 Video capture format MPEG-4
Connectivity Interface connection, A/V Output, HDMI, USB Has Geotagging Yes
Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR or Digital Rebel XS. has been awaited for so long, because before Canon does not have the range digital SLR camera with the same beginner class, Canon Speedlite 430EX also attended II which is a refinement of previous versions.
Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR equipped with APS-C CMOS sensor 10.1-megapixel resolution is the latest generation, the focal point of 7 locations, 2.5 inch LCD screen, RAW image format option, ISO 100 - ISO 1600, and the facility live view with autofocus capability detection phase.
EOS 1000D still inherit some of the latest facilities of the Canon EOS 450D, including the DIGIC III processor, an anti-dust system on the sensor, shooting speed of 3 images per second, the use of SDHC memory card types, and purchase a package that has been equipped lens EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and Canon software are complete.
Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR is located between the level of Canon EOS 400D and Canon EOS 450D, Canon EOS 400D above and below the Canon EOS 450D. This new camera was launched with a resolution equal to 400D is 10MP.
The features that are different from the EOS 400D is the type that uses SD cards and has a live view features such as the Canon EOS 450D and Canon EOS 40D.
Samsung SF510 Notebook that is powered by Intel Core i3 / i5 dual-core processors and offers 15.6-inch LED backlit, anti-glare display powered by NVIDIA discrete discrete graphics with 1GB video memory offering stunning 720p HD quality with 1366 x 768 pixel maximum screen resolution with processor providing faster performance.
The Samsung SF510 Notebook features a smooth, contoured clamshell exterior and Titan Silver color highlight the SF210’s sleek appearance, while a roomy island style spill-resistant keyboard with numeric key pad and large touchpad with gesture support make the SF510 conducive.
Samsung has included a premium Lithium Polymer Battery in the SF510 notebook that provides up to 7.5 hours of battery life (61Wh battery).
Under this specification owned by Samsung SF510 Notebook
- Intel Core i3 / i5 Processor
- Genuine Windows 7 Starter
- 4 GB DDR3, 1066 MHz
- 250GB 2.5-inch SATA HDD
- 15.6-inch HD LED backlit display
- Resolution: 1366 x 768
- NVIDIA Discrete Graphics with 1GB dedicated video memory
- Spill-proof Keyboard
- Speakers: 3 W Stereo Speaker (1.5 W x 2)
- Wireless: 802.11b/g/n
- 3 USB 2.0 ports
- HDMI Digital Out Port
- 61Wh Lithium-Polymer Battery, up to 7.5 hours of battery life
Nikon unveiled the Coolpix P90 superzoom with 24x optical zoom. With 26mm – 624mm (35mm equiv.) zoom range this superzoom camera sports a 12.1 MP sensor, 3.0 inch tilting LCD and includes manual and auto features such as Scene Auto Selector, Smile Mode, Blink warning and P/A/S/M exposure modes. In addition, continuous shooting mode can deliver 45 images at 15 fps, with images being recorded before pressing the shutter button.
Nikon Coolpix P90 24X has an immensely powerful 24x optical zoom that offers the 35mm-equivalent of a 26mm wide-angle to a 624mm telephoto and is capable of shooting pictures as close up as 1cm.
High-speed continuous shooting up to 45 shots at 15 fps means it is an ideal camera for sports photography and can even record images before you’ve pressed the button.
Add to this its 12.1 effective megapixels and sensitivity up to ISO 6400, and it is clear why it excels in almost any shooting situation. Users can set it to full automatic or various manual settings using the camera’s four exposure modes (PSAM) and compose their ideal picture using the electronic viewfinder. The camera offers many other Nikon-quality features such as four Anti-blur technologies, Auto Scene and Face Priority AF, recognising up to twelve faces.
It also includes the latest features, such as Smile Mode and Blink Warning, Nikon’s proprietary D-Lighting for optimising contrast and Quick Retouch. The camera can also record movies, including time-lapse movies and its 3-inch vari-angle LCD screen makes taking pictures easy even in challenging situations.
The P90 comes supplied with a USB cable, audio/video cable, strap and a software suite for COOLPIX CD-ROM. It will be available in Black All Nikon cameras come with 2GB free online image storage at Nikon’s my Picturetown service on mypicturetown.com.
Samsung Xcover 271 is equipped with 3G facilities and offers incredible 19 hours of long talk-time battery time. The quad-band GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 network ready Samsung Xcover 271 rugged mobile phone is IP67 rating certified.
The Xcover 271 phone is also equipped with expandable memory card slot supporting microSD memory card of up to 16-GB with hot-swap functionality for external memory.
Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) mobile handset also features built-in Altimeter, Pedometer, Digital Compass, integrated high quality Speaker and dedicated LED flash light. The rugged Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) mobilephone offers range of connectivity including Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, GPRS Class 10 – with upto 48 kbps speed, and EDGE Class 10 – with upto 236.8 kbps speed and 3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps connection.
EDGE network connection allows ultra fast data transmissions, and faster downloads and file transfers. Bluetooth technology enables communication with other Bluetooth compatible devices and gadgets such as color printers, PDAs and laptops for instant sync-ups, data transfer and print jobs in a flash and Bluetooth+EDR enables handset allows upto 3 times faster data transfer compared to conventional bluetooth connection.
Weighing just 115 grams, the rugged Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) mobile handset allows connect to several popular social networking sites that includes Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Google Picassa, Photobucket and Friendster. The Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) mobile phone also features a single integrated 2.0 Megapixels digital camera with maximum still picture resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels and it offers Autofocus, 3.3X digital zoom and built-in LED flash light. Only 17.9 mm thick, the Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) phone also can records up to an hour of video with sound in QVGA resolution at 15fps offers quality images. The handset also allows video playback that supports MPEG4, 3GPP and H.263 Video formats.
Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) handset also sports integrated FM Radio (stereo) and it allows upto maximum 5-minute duration live recording from FM radio. The Samsung Xcover 271 is armed with mobile tracker feature that helps users track their phone in case they happen to lose it. Other features of the Samsung Xcover 271 includes Google Maps, Organizer, Document View, Voice Memo, SOS Message, applications such as PC Studio, Calendar, Calculator, and Alarm, and Java Games.
Nokia X5-01 Mobile Phone which clad a rather unusual squarish shape and features a full slider QWERTY keyboard, 3G network connectivity, 5.0 MP digital camera and dedicated music keys.
Armed with ARM 11 434 MHz Processor the Nokia X5-01 smartphone is powered by Symbian OS 9.3 Series 60 v3.2 operating system and is Quadband GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and triband 3G HSDPA 900/1900/2100 MHz network ready.
The Nokia X5 Smartphone has a large 2.36 inch, 256K colors 320 x 240 pixels TFT display running Symbian Series 60 OS and is equipped with Proximity sensor for auto phone turn off and Accelerometer sensor for auto rotate. The Nokia X5 mobile comes with 200-MB of internal memory and offers microSD memory card slot supporting upto 32-GB expandable memory. The smartphone offers exhaustive data connectivity options under the sun including GPRS class 32, hi-speed EDGE class 32, ultra-fast 3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps connection, wireless WiFi 802.11/b/g connectivity option and comes equipped with Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support and microUSB USB port for wired connectivity.
Other features of this Nokia X5 slider QWERTY phone’s other features includes: Stereo FM radio with RDS, TV out port, 3.5 mm audio out port, integrated media player (MP3/WMA/WAV/RA/AAC/M4A) and video player with support for popular video file formats including WMV, RV, MP4 and mobile standard 3GP files.
The powerful battery allows video playing for 4.5 hours and is claimed to provide 24-hrs of continuous music playback.
The Nokia X5 slider phone with weighs 129 gms and it supports JAVA MIDP 2.0, offers organizer, document viewer for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents, has support for Flash Lite v3.0, includes WAP 2.0 with xHTML browser along with full HTML browser capability.
In addition, the Nokia X5 phone also offers integration of popular social networking services including Facebook, Twitter, Hi5, and MySpace, and Email support for multiple email accounts and Push Email support.
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone in market featuring capacitive touch screen, Easy To Use BlackBerry keyboard, full HTML browser with pinch to zoom or fluidly navigate and the optical trackpad.
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone is the first BlackBerry smartphone to launch with latest BlackBerry 6 operating system, a new operating system that retains the familiar and trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh, approachable and engaging experience that’s powerful and easy to use.
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone also features universal search, that is always accessible from the Home Screen, allowing users to search through email, messages, contacts, music, videos and more on the smartphone, as well as extend search to the Internet or to discover applications on BlackBerry App World. BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone expands on RIM’s popular messaging solutions with the support of AT&T’s advanced messaging features for SMS and MMS.
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone is powered by new BlackBerry Desktop Software 6 with integrated media sync for easily syncing music, photos and videos. It also includes Wi-Fi Music Sync, a unique feature that allows users to view their entire iTunes or Windows Media Player music libraries from their BlackBerry smartphone, create and edit playlists as well as select music for download. BlackBerry Torch Smartphone Features.
+ Tri-band 3G UMTS networks: 2100/1900/850/800 MHz + Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks: 850/900/1800/1900MHz + Touch screen with on-screen keyboard: portrait SureType, QWERTY and multi-tap, landscape QWERTY + 4 GB built-in memory storage plus a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB cards; a 4 GB card is included giving users 8 GB of storage out-of-the-box + Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR + Bluetooth Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVCRP) + Windows Media DRM 10 for music & video + Video format support: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV3 + Audio format support: MP3, AMR-NB, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMV, Flac, Ogg Vorbis + 3.5mm stereo headset jack + Hands-free headset capable + Bluetooth headset capable + Integrated hands-free speakerphone
This article is about why and how to attach keywords and related text to the pictures in your blog posts. This is helpful for both search engine optimisation (SEO), and for making your blog accessible to people who use screen-reader software.
In most cases, the other content in each post provides enough information for Google's indexing tools to know what the post is aobut.
But if your blog mainly has photos, your posts may not have enough key words to get properly indexed. And even if the image-indexing tools do some auto recognition, a description of a picture written by a human being will almost always be better.
Also, if your blog-viewers may include visually impaired people or others who use screen-reader software, you need to think about how well your content will work for them: if you put key information inside images but not in the text, then they won't be able to get this information in any way.
These two good reasons for adding "alternate text" to your pictures - and there may be more.
What's even better is that Blogger now has a tool for to make it easy to fix this.
How to add captions and alt-text to your pictures
Add the picture to your Post.
In Compose mode, float your most over the picture. This will show the picture-editing-toolbar, like this:
Choose the Properties option.
This opens a dialog box where you can enter
A title - this is shown when a visitor hovers their mouse over the picture
Alt text - this is kept in the background, and only displayed to people who (for whatever reason) cannot see the picture.
What your readers will see
People who read your blog on line, either with a standard browser or an RSS feed reader, won't see anything different, until they hover over the photo. When they hover, they will see the text you put into the Title field.
People who read your blog in their email (because you've offered a subscribe-by-email option) may see the alt text instead of the picture, depending on what setting they have in their email system.
People who use screen reader software will have the text that you added read out to them in the usual way that their software works.
And most importantly, search engines will see the text you added, and hopefully the will use it in indexing your post.
Other Alternatives:
Picasa and Picasa-web-albums captions can be included in slideshows (provided you don't use the Blogger gadget), but aren't included with individual pictures.
And the Post and Pages editor also has an Add Caption option on the photo toolbar, although I only recommend using if you're comfortable editing HTML, because it puts the picture into a table, and so to move it inside the post you need to edit the code, not just drag-and-drop it.
Mais uma vez a Fiat defende sua fama de inovadora, trazendo outra criação com altas chances de sucesso. Depois de ter criado todo um segmento com a Palio Adventure e trazido as cabines estendida e dupla para a Strada pela primeira vez numa picape derivada de automóvel, ela agora recebe uma variante esportiva. Em 2009 ela quase veio com o 1.8 fabricado pela GM, mas o atraso serviu para trocá-lo pelo novo 1.8 16v e.TorQ, muito mais eficiente que o anterior.
Ressaltando a veia esportiva da marca, a Strada tomou como inspiração o extinto Palio 1.8R para o kit de acessórios. Com isso a picapinha ganhou um visual muito interessante, digno da crescente família Sporting, que já contava com Punto, Stilo e Siena no Brasil. Os bons resultados já aparecem no exterior, com itens como faróis com máscara negra, spoilers por toda a parte inferior do veículo, rodas de liga leve de 16 polegadas e as cores exclusivas da versão, Amarelo Indianápolis e Vermelho Modena, entre outros.
No interior ela oferece volante em couro, quadro de instrumentos com novo grafismo, soleiras de portas com o nome da versão e bancos com tecido exclusivo e cintos vermelhos, além do console com novo revestimento, em preto. Tudo isso correspondido pelo atraente pacote de equipamentos de série, que traz ar-condicionado, computador de bordo, direção hidráulica, travas e vidros elétricos, coluna de direção com regulagem de altura, e protetor de caçamba.
Já os opcionais podem ser retrovisor anti-ofuscante, sensores de chuva e crepuscular, capota marítima, sistema de som multimídia, airbag e freios ABS (estes unidos pelo pacote HSD), e controle elétrico dos retrovisores externos. O motor é o mesmo e.TorQ que equipa outros modelos da marca, com 130/132 cv e 18,4/18,9 kgfm de torque (gasolina/álcool). O preço do modelo começa em R$ 46.270, apenas com cabine estendida.
E o estilosíssimo SUV da Ford finalmente desembarca no Brasil como importado oficial. O modelo já havia sido apresentado no último Salão do Automóvel, ostentando um raro caso de face-lift de meia-vida que não só deixou o modelo mais bonito que o original, como ainda preservou a harmonia do projeto. Agora ele pode ser comprado em duas versões, SEL e Limited, e em preços que partem de R$ 122.100. Tudo com o motor 3.5 V6 de 289 cv, aliado ao câmbio automático de seis marchas com opção de trocas sequenciais.
Pode-se dizer que seu desenho sofreu toda uma evolução, porque o novo Edge ficou muito mais bonito e moderno, mas preservando alguns dos elementos que viraram sua identidade; o exemplo mais emblemático é a grade dianteira, que segue o estilo do Fusion como antes, mas agora ganhou um tamanho bem maior e ainda mais imponência. Sua cabine foi totalmente reprojetada e ganhou mais requinte, mantendo uma atmosfera futurista com os apliques prateados contrastando com a cor preta, e por itens como a vistosa tela do computador de bordo.
Desde a versão básica ele já vem bem equipado, pois o Edge SEL traz seis airbags, rodas de 18 polegadas, bancos de couro e sistema de som com MP3. Mas a estrela da gama é a topo Limited, que parte de R$ 133.910 para entregar luxos como partida sem chave, ar-condicionado bizona, sistema multimídia Sync para controlar as diversas funções de vida a bordo e as belíssimas rodas de 20 polegadas. Seu único opcional é o teto solar panorâmico.
Lançado em 1986 na Europa pela Opel, o Omega era um dos carros “futuristas” da época. Seguia a tendência das linhas limpas, sem calhas ou quebra-ventos para chegar a um Cx de 0,3. Seu projeto era tão bem-feito que o desenho inspirou a (polêmica) reforma do Monza brasileiro em 1991, e no ano seguinte o próprio carro chegou aqui para o lugar do lendário Opala. Era um salto tão grande em tecnologia e estilo que não demorou a fazer um sucesso estrondoso no país.
Mas como até pra ele o tempo passa, em 1998 a Chevrolet promoveu mudanças, tirou o nacional de linha e passou a importá-lo da Austrália. Mas seja pelo preço alto, pelo estilo “sedã americano” ou talvez pelo simples fato de não ser mais produzido no país, o modelo viu seu carisma despencar, assim como as vendas. É para tentar voltar aos tempos áureos que a marca agora até aposta de novo no famoso sobrenome da nova versão (que, por sua vez, já foi usado no extinto Monza 500 EF). Seu visual sofreu leves mudanças, como o spoiler traseiro e a frente remodelada.
A cabine também mudou, trazendo revestimentos em duas cores e console central com touchscreen de 6,5”. Esta gerencia o sistema multimídia do carro, que por sua vez inclui Bluetooth e câmera de ré. Mas a estrela do novo Omega é a parte técnica. Seu motor 3.6 V6 foi retrabalhado e agora conta com impressionantes 292 cv e torque de 36,7 kgfm, trazendo marcas de 6,8 segundos no 0 a 100 km/h e 235 km/h de máxima. Toda essa cavalaria é controlada pelo câmbio automático de seis marchas, com função esportiva e opção de trocas manuais. Tudo partindo de R$ 128.600,00.
A identidade dos novos Mitsubishi agrada muito. O crossover médio ASX chega ao país de início como importado, mas com fortes chances de ganhar produção nacional em Catalão (GO) para 2012. E ele já chega ostentando um visual matador para fazer frente a rivais como Chevrolet Captiva, Honda CR-V e até mesmo servir de tentação para quem antes levaria um Ford EcoSport na versão completa, e que com isso faria uma economia não tão grande assim. Ele vem em três versões, partindo de interessantes R$ 81.890.
A agressiva frente no estilo Jetfighter dispensa apresentações, mas sempre merece um olhar bem atento. Mas no ASX ela serve de cartão de visitas para um crossover muito bonito, que segue um estilo notavelmente urbano mas sem deixar de lado o estilão lameiro que faz a fama dos Mitsubishi. Traz soluções contemporâneas como a linha de cintura alta e bem demarcada mas sem que as janelas fiquem baixas demais, e termina numa traseira cuja profusão de recortes e relevos apresenta lanternas com formato dedicado a formar identidade visual com os farois, num conjunto que dificilmente vai desagradar, pelo menos neste quesito.
Sua cabine segue o jeitão moderno, com parte da esportividade que o exterior parece exalar. Mistura a cor preta com detalhes em alumínio para formar um ambiente jovial e agradável de ver. Ele chega ao país em três versões: 4x2 manual ou automática e 4x4 com câmbio CVT, sempre com um moderno 2.0 16v que abusa de tecnologias como comando de válvulas variável e injeção direta para render 160 cv. No pacote mais equipado ele traz ar-condicionado, piloto automático, nove airbags, rodas de liga leve de 17”, e o Comfort Pack, com itens como os sensores de chuva e crepuscular.
This article is about how to add the FeedCount icon, which shows viewers how many subscribers your FeedBurner feed has, and lets them subscribe themselves. The information is targeted at Blogger users, but most of it applies to anyone who uses Feedburner.
Feedburner also provides another tool that you can use to let people sign up for your blog. This is the FeedCount icon, which shows the number of people who are currently subscribed to your RSS feed.
This is useful because of the "social proof" that it provides: people are more likely to sign up for something once they see that other people have also signed up.
How to add a FeedCount icon to you blog:
Log in to Feedburner, using the Google account that owns the feed.
Click on the name of the feed you want to provide a subscription tool for.
Choose the Publicize tab.
Choose the FeedCount option, from the left navigation bar.
Set the options for your button:
Static or animated (I recommend static, because things that flick unnecessarily are annoying)
Font colour for the background
Font color for the text
At the bottom of the screen, click the Activate button.
Either
Copy the HTML that is shown, and add it to your blog in the same way that you would add any other 3rd party HTML,
OR
Choose Blogger from the drop down list beside "use as a widget in", and click Go.
This takes you to a Blogger screen where you can choose which blog you want to add the gadget to (if your current login has more than one), and what title to use for it.
When this is done, click Add Widget.
This takes you to the Design > Layout tab, where you can drag-and-drop the widget to wherever you want it.
Note: if you want to re-generate the button at a later time with different colour or style options, just choose the options and click Save (which is at the bottom of the screen where Activate was originally).
What your readers see:
Your readers will see an item, wherever you put it, that looks like this:
It shows a count of the current number of subscribers to your Feedburner feed.
When someone clicks on it, they are taken to a screen where they choose which feed-reader software they want to use to subscribe to your site.
O mercado brasileiro é uma terra de oportunidades de ouro, mas às vezes também sabe ser cruel. Existem os ótimos produtos que fizeram estrondoso sucesso, como o novo Fiat Uno, os modelos que não “deveriam” prosperar, como o Chevrolet Agile e suas linhas de gosto duvidoso, mas também há os injustiçados. Em geral são ótimos em custo/benefício e mecânica, mas até hoje ninguém sabe ao certo o motivo do fracasso de vendas. Era o caso do Renault Mégane II.
É uma pena que ele não tenha feito parte do grupo dos “sortudos”, como os médios Ford Focus e Fiat Linea, que por pouco (leia-se adoção do motor flexível e redução de preço, na ordem) conseguiram se livrar do carma, mas o que falar de um modelo de desenho bem-resolvido, ótimos motores, cabine excelente e preço aceitável? Sim, o discurso também serviria para os Nissan Tiida e Sentra, mas fato é que o Renault Mégane ainda conta com uma grande rede da marca no país, mas não teve “milagre” que levantasse suas vendas.
Talvez por isso a Renault deixou de unificar seus modelos: o Mégane III é o sucessor europeu do modelo que tínhamos aqui, enquanto os países menos favorecidos recebem o Fluence. O desenho externo já começa a deixar claro que nós não saímos perdendo, já que o Fluence aposta em linhas modernas mas quem trazem a sobriedade que seu segmento tanto cultua, sem trazer revoluções estilísticas.
E no interior ele mantém o aspecto, oferecendo um bom espaço envolto por uma atmosfera requintada e conservadora, e com capricho nos detalhes, como o cartão que faz as vezes de chave. Herdado do antecessor, este item preserva também a partida feita por um botão, mas agora basta ter o cartão em algum lugar dentro do carro, sem a necessidade de inseri-lo no console.
O modelo vem em duas versões, ambas usando o 2.0 16v flex, de 140/143 cv. A de entrada é a Dynamique, que parte de R$ 59.990 e traz de série ar-condicionado digital bizona, direção hidráulica, computador de bordo, freios ABS, rodas aro 16’’ e sistema de som com MP3, entre outros. A versão de topo é a Privilège, e adiciona bancos de couro, controle de estabilidade, rodas aro 17’’ e GPS. Entre os opcionais, as versões podem ter teto solar e faróis de xenônio.
Hashtags can be automatically generated based on the Labels you have applied to your post: Feedburner is a Google product, so it understands and can access all the data-structures that Blogger uses to organise your posts.
You can control various other options, including excluding some categories of post from your twitter-feed
You can add some standard text to either the beginning or end of each twitter-message
It saves you time, because you don't have to manually tweet your posts.
A word about Accounts:
Using this feature can involve up to three different accounts:
The Google account that writes the post (may be an author or an administrator - of if you're using mail2Post, it could be neither)
The Google account that owns the feed (because you can burn a feed of a blog-site that you don't own)
The Twitter account that tweets the message about the blog post.
Think carefully about what Twitter account to use: if your blog is personal, then your personal Twitter account is obvious. In other cases, it depends on your niche, and the relationship between the blog and the rest of your life. If the blog isn't tied to your individual identity, or you don't want to bother most of your personal friends with it, then it may be best to set up a spearate account for it, like I have for @BloggerHAT.
As a general rule, if Facebook's rules say that you need to set up a Page rather than a Profile for what you are writing about, then you should probably have a separate Twitter account for it..
Currently the Socialise service only allows sending a feed to one Twitter account. It looks like you should be able to change the Twitter account by clicking Add a Twitter account, and having the new Twitter account replace the current one. but currently this is failing. This means that there is no way to remove a twitter account from your Feedburner / Socialise set-up. If you need to stop the auto-tweets, deactivate the service, or perhaps just delete the whole feed or Twitter account.
How to set up auto-tweeting:
Log in to Feedburner, using the Google account that owns the feed
Click on the name of the feed you want to work with.
Choose the Publicize tab
Choose Socialise (currently from the left side of the screen)
Click Add a Twitter account,.
This opens a official Twitter screen where you enter the name and password of the Twitter account that you want to use for tweeting your posts. (If you are already logged in to Twitter, it defaults to the current account, but there is a Sign-out option on the screen that lets you change accounts.)
Clicking Allow gives permission for Google (ie Feedburner) to post to this account, and returns to you the Feedburner options screen.
Each twitter message can only be 140 characters long, so the service will need to automatically summarise your post. There are options for you to choose whether this is done from the title along, or from the title+content.
There are some other options too
Include a link to the post or not (I can't think of a good reason not to do this)
Use hashtags (created from Labels) or not (this depends on how Labels have been used in your blog: I have it turned on for this blog, but not for one of my other blogs where I have used Labels mainly for internal administration purposes)
Adding some standard text and the start or end of each tweet
Leaving space for re-tweets (ie making the original less than 140 characters long): I'd suggest selecting this, as a lot of the value of Twitter comes from people sharing what you have said.
A maximum number of items (meaning Posts, I think) to include in each tweet: I think this only applies if you post more than once per day, and for BloggerHAT I've set it to 1.
Check the the Sample Item Preview section at the the bottom of the page: this shows you how your recent Posts would look in twitter with the options you have selected.
When you are happy with the options selected, click Activate to start the service.
You will know that the change has been made because the word Socialise (in the left navigation bar) has a small tick beside it. Check for this - it's very easy to miss the Activate button because it's at the bottom of the screen and you have to scroll to get to it.
What your readers see:
People who read your blog through the browser or via email subscription will not notice any difference.
People who are following your Twitter account will start to see regular tweets each time that you make a new Post, or that an existing Posts is re-sent though your blog's Feed.
Twitter users who don't follow your blog, but who happen to search for either the hashtags or keywords that are in your tweets may see your message in their search results. If it's helpful, they may click on the link to your post, and hopefully will become regular readers or subscribers.
(Remember Pages do not go through the feed, so will not be tweeted.)
Post-title == twitter-message
Once your posts are being auto-tweeted, the contents of the twitter-message depends on the title of your post. So you need to really focus on the keywords in the title, to make sure that you get a sensible 140 character message sent in your twitter-stream.
Ainda não se pode entender por que ele demorou tanto, mas fato é que a espera valeu a pena. Numa época em que a Fiat está renovando toda a sua linha brasileira, a chegada do novo Bravo ajuda a reforçar a presença da marca no segmento dos médios, que há anos tem demanda cada vez maior por aqui. Ele também tem o mérito de compensar a frustração pelo homônimo dos anos 1990, que só não veio junto com o irmão Brava por causa de flutuações de moeda.
O modelo traz um desenho arrebatador, que conseguiu a proeza de unir as últimas tendências da Fiat com os traços do primeiro Bravo. A influência do antecessor se nota na traseira bem inclinada, nas lanternas redondas e nas laterais “musculosas”, garantindo um visual que transpira esportividade. Mas como o novo Bravo também é um Fiat dos tempos atuais, a frente esguia dos anos 1990 deu lugar aos belos e grandes faróis inspirados nos do irmão menor Punto, e já recebeu os leves retoques feitos no modelo europeu há pouco tempo.
Mas o espetáculo continua na cabine. O painel é futurista, os revestimentos são de alta qualidade, o acabamento impressiona mesmo para os padrões do segmento, os bancos podem ser de couro, e como se não bastasse, o Bravo pode vir também com o teto solar SkyDome. Só que agora a enorme lista de equipamentos oferecida pela Fiat ganha um item de alto luxo: A vistosa tela de 6,5 polegadas está a serviço do RadioNAV, um opcional que gerencia o sistema de som, computador de bordo e sistema de navegação do modelo.
O Bravo aporta no Brasil em duas versões. A Essence parte de R$ 55.900 e já traz ar-condicionado, airbag duplo, direção elétrica, rodas de liga leve aro 16’’, freios a disco nas quatro rodas, piloto automático e vidros elétricos, entre muitos outros itens. A Absolute começa em R$ 62.250 e adiciona ar-condicionado bizona, freios ABS, sensor de estacionamento, rodas aro 17’’ e volante em couro. Os opcionais são subwoofer, bancos de couro, teto solar, cinco airbags e sensor de pressão de pneus, alguns exclusivos da Absolute.
Sob o capô, as versões urbanas do Bravo trazem o novo motor 1.8 16v e.TorQ, que oferece 130/132 cv. As duas versões podem ser equipadas com o câmbio Dualogic, e com ele se recebe a oferta das borboletas atrás do volante para troca de marchas.
To use it, you need to establish an ChipIn event, finalise your ChipIn widget and install it onto your blog. The following notes describe the process.
There are four steps:
Setting up the details of the specific "chipIn"
Associating the new "ChipIn" with an existing ChipIn account, or registering a new one if you don't have one already.
Customising the widget to be used for the ChipIn
Placing the widget into your blog or website.
Note: ChipIn lets you use a page on their system to promote your event. This could be handy if you don't have a blog, or want to do something good that's outside your usual niche. This facility isn't covered here, as I'm assuming that people who are reading this article want to integrate ChipIn with Blogger.
How long it should run for (ie what date it should end on)
The PayPal account being used to collect the funds
Click Start your Event
Linking the ChipIn event to an account:
Either log in to ChipIn (if you already have an account) or Sign-up. To sign up for ChipIn you need to:
Enter a valid email address (which doesn't need to the the same as the PayPal account that's collecting the funds)
Receive a validation email
Click on a validation link in the email
Enter your full name, and (optionally) the organisation name that you'd like contributors to see
Set a password (the usual security precautions apply - I wouldn't be using the same password on this as I used on PayPal, given that I just told them my PayPal account name).
Do a simple text captcha test
Clicking Get Started implies that you accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy: you should review them.
Click Get Started.
Create your widget:
Click Get a Widget,
Select which of your ChipIn's to use (you can have several of them going at the same time)
Configure the widget:
Enter a title (which shows at the top of the widget)
Enter some background info (which shows inside the widget body)
Choose a size (many of the usual sizes for advertising items are available)
Choose a colour scheme (five options: Blue, green, brown, red or grey. You can't choose the colour of individual items within this)
Select where you want to put the widget:
If you click Blogger, you need to scroll down to see the code. The on-screen instructions say how to put the gadget into a post. But you can equally well put it into a gadget - it's just like adding other third party HTML to your blog.
Select Other if you just want the HTML code so you can place it into any website that you control
Note: currently, if you select Wordpress, the system just says "Note that the widget will not work on hosted WordPress blogs (blogs at yourname.wordpress.com), as widgets are not allowed there." - this suggests that no one has developed an add-on for it yet. But you may want to check with Wordpress support to see if anyone has done one.
Copy the code that is provided, and intstall it into your blog. It might look something like this:
Notice that the gadget doesn't say that payments are done using PayPal: I strongly suggest mentioning PayPal in the text near the gadget, so that you are giving readers assurance this is is something they can trust.
Some people believe it has advantages over the PayPal "donate" button and similar tools:
It organizes giving into campaigns (which can be used to motivate donors and organisers into giving "now" rather than "one day")
It has a progress bar, so everyone can see what's been donated already - again, this is another tool that can be used to encourage potential donors to actually take action.
It has tools for reporting on who contributed, so you know who to thank later on, and
If a particular campaign doesn't meet its target (eg "Let's raise $1000 to send Jimmy to Disneyland"), the funds can easily be sent back to the donors without the organiser having to keep records about who donated what. (I don't, yet, know if the organiser finds out the details of who donated what, or if this is anonymous.)
ChipIn Inc is the company that makes and runs the widgets, aggregates donations, gives you management reports, and (eventually) pays the donations to you. Though most of us think of "chipping in" as something we do (ie a verb), they've re-defined it as noun, saying that a "chipin" is
"an event in which funds from multiple participants are pooled and are either sent to a recipient, or are used to purchase a gift."
The ChipIn approach has these roles that a person, or business, can play:
Organiser: this is the person/business who creates the ChipIn event, puts the associated widget onto a website, and, when the fund-raising event is over, receives the donations. Organisers must register with ChipIn
Donor / Participant: a person or business who gives money using the widget. Participants do not have to register with ChipIn in order to donate.
Beneficiary: this is the target of the money. ChipIn has no connection with them at all.
A ChipIn event ends by reaching a the goal amount of money that was set for it, by reaching the end date, or because the organiser decides to end it. When it ends, ChipIn transfers donations from participants to the organiser "in the form of cash, gift cards, prepaid debit cards, services or merchandise". The cash is actually transferred via PayPay (or perhaps via a credit card account - I'm not certain if this is still an option).
But if the event wasn't successful (ie it hasn't reached the target), then the organiser decides what happens to the donations: if they want, ChipIn will refund all the donations to the participants.
Is ChipIn safe and reliable?
There are plenty of dubious third-party gadgets on the internet, so I'm normally fairly sceptical about ones I haven't heard of before.
I've done some Googling, and haven't found any negative reviews about ChipIn (yet). There are some positive reviews out there, and it looks like it's been around for a while. I've had a test widget installed for a week or so, and haven't noticed negative effects on my blog. And their donations and payments are done using PayPal, which is a service that most people now regard a trustworthy.
But there are a few issues you need to be aware of:
1) Most web-services like this ask you to log in first, and then to create the "whatever" that they are offering. ChipIn reverses this, making signing-up look very easy. But it means that ChipIn Inc collect the email address of your PayPal account before you find how much other information you also have to provide. This isn't enough to stop me from using it, but it's worth being aware of.
2) The email address you use to sign into ChipIn is displayed when people click ChipIn to start to make a donation. This is a good security feature if you're collecting among a group of friends (they know that the person behind the widget they're using really is their friend Fred@Fish.com). But it may not be the effect that a blogger who's trying to stay anonymous is looking for.
This can be worked around: just set up a single-purpose email address just for ChipIn, and set it to auto-forward messages to your regular address. But it's something you should be aware of.
But another weakness of the sign-up process is that there are some quite significant ones buried deep in the fine print, including:
If the organiser is an individual, he or she is 18 years old or older, and a resident of the United States
If the organiser is a business, they are allowed to do business in the United States
Organizers authorize ChipIn to confirm that a payment instrument listed by an organizer on the service registration web page is in good standing with the issuing U.S. financial institution by submitting a request for a payment authorization and/or a low dollar credit or debit to the payment instrument and by other confirmation means. This is close to a direct quote: It's basically saying that they can check out your PayPal account when they register by putting through a low-value transaction. It's possible that this condition is from a time when the service didn't use PayPal. But it does seem like a very broad condition for initial registration, especially since it's so deeply hidden.
Organizers also authorize ChipIn to obtain credit reports and to otherwise make credit or other background inquiries on organizers as ChipIn deems appropriate to assess an organizer’s eligibility for the service, or to review the organizer’s continued use of the service. This is also close to a direct quote: It's basically saying that ChipIn can do a credit check on you when you register.
Some other terms and conditions that aren't so significant, but are worth being aware of :
You can't use the ChipIn logo etc (except as it's shown in the widget) for anything else unless you get their permission.
ChipIn events may be deleted if they have frivolous content or unrealistic targets.
You can't post anything which might be offensive or illegal, or which affect the safety or rights of other users and members. This includes:
Things for commercial purposes, (eg contests and sweepstakes), without permission
Anything that misleads people
ChipIn doesn't get involved in disputes between organisers and contributors.
NOTE: this is an excerpt of my interpretation of the T&C's as at today. It may or may not be correct and up to date. It's most certainly NOT a legal opinion or analysis. Always consult ChipIn's official documents to get the true and correct statement, and a lawyer if you need legal advice.
Transaction Fees
Using ChipIn is free - I'd guess it's funded by advertising, merchandise sales, and (the biggie) interest from donations in between the time that they're made and when the event ends.
But PayPal is used for transactions, and regular PayPal fees apply. At the moment, these are
30c plus 2.9% if you're receiving $US,
30c + 3.9% if you're receiving other currencies.
These amounts are relatively small if you're getting reasonable-sized donations (eg receiving $US10 cost you 30 + 29 = 59c). But if there's any chance that people could donate very small amounts (eg 50c), you may find that most of the donation is used up in fees. Worst case, malicious people start donating less than 30c, meaning that their "donation" will actually cost you money.
For most people, this won't be enough to stop them using the service. But it is something to keep in mind.
Other things to consider:
Other items on your blog
If you also run other advertising or donation items on your blog, you may need to consider whether seeking donations for causes could conflict with the terms and conditions of your advertising. I don't think it conflicts with AdSense, although if you are encouraging your users to click your ChipIn widget, you need to be very careful that the couldn't get confused into thinking you were saying to click the regular ads.
Declare the proportion of donations that don't get to the cause
Many people consider that it's good fund-raising practice to tell potential donors about the proportion of their donations that are used for administration and so don't reach the beneficiary. If you do this, don't forget to mention the PayPal fees.
Widget Ownership
A ChipIn event or widget effectively belongs to your ChipIn account, and is tied to your PayPal account. If you ever transfer ownership of your blog to someone else, it would be good to remove all ChipIn widgets from it, so the new owner has a clean start. Or at very least make this a part of your negotiations over the change-of-ownership.
Getting a collection started
The system won't let you contribute to your own event, so (unlike most real-world collections) you can't pop in a few dollars to get people over the "I don't want to be first" factor. So unless you have two PayPal accounts, you'll need to ask a friend to make an initial contribution.
The widget doesn't show up in feed-readers
Readers who view your article through an RSS-tool (eg Google Reader, Bloglines) won't see the gadget: you may want to put in a sentence telling them to go to your blog to see it.
See how it works:
Click the ChipIn button in the widget on the right, to see what happens when a reader starts the donation process.
There's no need to donate.
But if you do have a PayPal account and fancy putting in 50c, it would give me the opportunity to investigate how the reports work.
