If you are a SEO / SEM professional, you have considered that option more than once and as we say, no one is holy…

Google by the way, strictly forbidden that.

Patrick Altoft, Director of Search, Branded3 had a presentation today on the subject and here is his suggestion for buying links from a link provider:

Never ever do that! The reason is that Google is probably aware and familiar with the sites the link seller offer and already categorised them. In fact, a link from a Google marked suspicious site could really damage a target website. There are knowing stories of webmasters begging link sellers to remove bad links.

Despite the temptation, it is highly recommended NOT to use the service of all these Asian or local firms offering you hundreds of links.

Having said that, I just thought that the links sellers should seriously consider the following revenue model:

PR2 Link: 5$ (per month)

PR3 Link: 7$

PR4 Link: 9$

Removing a dad link: 50$…

Forget about iPhone 5, for the time being at least. What was expected to be the iPhone 5 unveiling became just an iPhone 4S announcement.

Despite the speculations and the hopes, there would be only few minor changes an the next iPhone that is rightly though called iPhone 4S.

To majority of technology and apple admirers, this is probably the disappointment of the year.  Which by the way, we have a recommendation of new spelling to the word disappointment: Di(4s)sappointment.

Our major question, despite the obvious is: how Apple being aware of the high expectations, has let that happen.

While people politely cheered in the audience, Apple’s share price plunged 3 per cent.

That official iPhone 4s release probably looked great when they did it, but now, facing the disappointment, it looks much less appealing. However, here it is anyway.

The iPhone 4s features are:

Processor: Apple A5 (Vs. A4 at iPhone 4)

Camera: 8 megapixel (upgraded from 5 megapixel in iPhone 4)

Screen: 3.5in

Storage: 16GB-64GB

Operating system: iOS

3G talk time: 8 hours (one hour improvement)

Handset looks just the same as iPhone 4

Voice control lets you ‘talk’ to iPhone ‘like a person’

Apple operating system IOS 5 is expected on October 12 and older models now much cheaper.

Further contend and remarks would be added here soon.

The following youtube video that present a new iphone 5 concept gained more than 20 million views in less than three weeks.

Iphone 5 features

The iphone 5 features presented in this video are a bit too early for their time, but maybe something to aspire to in the next version. Iphone 5 features, whatever they may come up may not be that surprising, I am afraid. It may be slimmer than its predecessors and have one or two new gadgets or features, but no breakthrough is expected.

The new iPhone 5 is speculated  to be loaded with new features like video chat on 3g and 4g face recognition and extreme downloading

This iPhone 5 may be equipped with a speedy dual core A5 chip processor and a faster graphic chips that can deliver higher video resolutions (5-9 times better) and amazing “still” images when taking pictures, it will make multi-tasking a lot faster.

We, however, have some minor basic requests, although clearly aware this is too late for iphone5:

A much stronger battery, a bigger screen and solve the damn Flash problem… is that too much to ask?

Visiting ITB in March, one of the largest travel fairs in the EU, was a Greta excuse to get back to hotel Hilton Berlin and have a taste of its new design as it was recently renovated.

Check in & out

Hilton Berlin room

Upon request, I was sent to the new executive lounge located at the ground floor at the place the Thai restaurant used to be before.

I was encountered by a very happy and smiling welcoming Linda. That early Sunday shift did not seem to influence her at all. The C.I. process was polite, concise and personal.

Checkout in my case was swift and practical. The invoice was awaiting me as I requested and I was ready to go in no time.

Late checkout, normally subject to availability, was granted.

The new Hilton Berlin design

The Hilton Berlin was recently renovated. One can still smell the “smell of new”  walking down the corridors. Everything looks and feels new, shining and clean, something that adds to the guest’s positive experience.

The executive level room offered to me was spacious, larger than the standard 25-30 square meter. My expertise are laying with management, not interior design, but I really liked the new design. The new Hilton Berlin design involving brown and silver colors with wood and metal was calming and appropriate. Actually, the exact level and design one would expect from such hotel.

The Hilton Berlin executive lounge

The newly designed executive lounge is wide, nicely designed and provides meals, newspapers, two meeting rooms and three flat screens TVs.

Hilton Berlin Executive Lounge

One can book any of the two meeting rooms for free to a certain extend. This is not common at Hiltons in general and I find it very useful.

The food and beverage location is separated by design concept from the sitting area, something that gives some feeling of intimacy. There are chairs and tables for organized eating as well as comfortable sofas for relaxing and having a drink.

Breakfast, complementary for gold and diamond level members as is the executive lounge entry, is reach and tasty. Dinner is minimized as it is in most Hilton’s executive lounges, but enough of enabling the average eater to replace a dinner.  Hot & cold beverages are offers all day long.

The lounge provides limited business services such as printing and PC to surf the Internet. There is an additional dedicated business center located on the first floor.

The issue I noticed and really found interesting was the fact that the welcome letter to the exec lounge sent by its manager, was not signed by her name but with the names of the lounge team. Since this is the first time I have noticed such approach in exec lounge, I bothered the manager for an explanation.

She said she wanted to create a team within the hotel team and the teamwork and efforts was important enough for her to singe with all the names.

So this was policy, not an accident. While the vast majority on managers at all levels would never miss an opportunity to sign their own names on a letter to customer, this one choose for the team and this is noted with respect here.

As I have spent much time at the Hilton berlin executive lounge, I can testify first hand that the service, the professionalism and attitude were on a high level and matching business guests’ needs.

The things I liked about Hilton Berlin

Hilton Berlin hotel

The new design, the spacious room, the executive lounge team and to top it up, a minute before leaving the hotel, I was given some sweets for the road… No I don’t think this is standard procedure, it was just the nice F&B lady at the exec lounge.

Welcome feeling factor: this is a factor stated by Endeavour long ago indicating the subjective feeling of the hotel guest regarding the level of being welcomed at the hotel.  Hilton Berlin scores very high on that one.

Endeavour blasted off on the next-to-last shuttle flight Monday morning under the command of Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The wounded congresswoman watched the launch in private from Kennedy Space Center. As many as 45,000 guests jammed NASA’s launch site. The crowd outside the gates was estimated to be in the tens of thousands, if not more. It was the second launch attempt. Late last month, an electrical problem halted the countdown. Endeavour and its six astronauts will arrive at the International Space Station on Wednesday. They are delivering a $2 billion particle physics experiment. The mission will last 16 days. Only one other shuttle trip remains.

The STS-134 crew led by Commander Mark Kelly are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 8:56 a.m. EDT Monday, May 16. The crew of Kelly, pilot Greg Johnson, mission specialists Mike Fincke, Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) and critical supplies to the space station. The supplies include two communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional parts for the Dextre robot. The AMS is a particle physics detector designed to search for various types of unusual cosmic matter. The crew also will transfer Endeavour’s orbiter boom sensor system, where it could assist spacewalkers as an extension for the station’s robotic arm.

We are all down here following Endeavour’s last voyage and wish it safe and successful completion of its mission.

Samsung has launched few promo movies concerning its new tabs. Unfortunately for the company, two major events clouded the celebration and posed genuine concern.

The first was the company’s claim that the new tab is thinner than its rival, the iPad-2. A second check revealed that the new tab is wider than the ipad-2 two and the statement was wrong.

If this is not enough, a second event, this time on the web, YouTube movie to be exact appears with people commenting on the new Samsung tab. A closer look reveals these enthusiastic reviewers are actually actors.

Take a look at this YouTube sample:

When the new tab was introduced by Samsung, we were happy to bring the news to you from Amsterdam IBC in September last year. It was actually before the tab went to market.

We are much less enthusiastic now bringing you this news.

A Samsung spokesman said the presentation was arranged by executives at Samsung’s headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, and mentioned it has “no official statement” on whether the company used actors in its presentation posing as excited consumers. Although Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 aren’t available until early summer, the spokesman says that those featured in the presentation used “pre-production units” with software that’s close to the final version…

Somehow, we are not convinced… and for everyone out there: technology advantage is temporary by its nature and has limited significance. Legacy and reliability are corporate assets that last long and pay well if handled honestly and carefully.

Practically, we have no doubt the two new Samsung tablets may be good devices, however, using these methods of promotion not seem to help the gadgets or the firm at all.

Today, Monday, they had a little surprise: NASA broadcasted the music from the unforgettable since fiction movie Star Trek with William Shatner’s voice recorded especially for the last mission of the Discovery.

The discovery is up there making final preparation for its final landing back on Earth. Two more flights are left for the shuttle program: Endeavour in April and Atlantis in May.

This will end a time period of forty years of The Space Shuttle Program.

Six orbiters were built: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

Challenger was lost during takeoff on January 28 1986 and Columbia was lost during reentry on February 1^st 2003.

This is not the first time Star Trek and the Shuttle Space Program are crossing each other’s way. The first Shuttle, back in the eighties, was originally named Constitution. A massive post campaign aimed at President Ronald Reagan by the fans of the Star Trek series, changed his mind and the name was changed to Enterprise.

I believe most of us clearly remember the moments depicted in the movie and clearly remember where they were and what they did at the time. Most of us were covering their mouth in shock, looking at the horrific site of the collapsing towers, refusing to believe it.

Jobs appearance was a surprise, but he did in fact make the event. He shared some stats about the iBookstore, which has 2,500 publishers. He also announced that Random House is bringing over 17,000 books to the store.  

Then came the announcement. The iPad 2 is faster with the A5 chip and a dual core processor. Apple says it’s up to 2 times faster,a nd up to 9 times faster on graphics. It’s 33% thinner (thinner than the iPhone 4) and only 1.3 pounds compared to 1.5 on the old one. This should make it a little better for reading publications like The Daily – as far as general comfort.

It comes in both black and white. There is a rear and front-facing camera. Battery life is the same as old iPad – 10 hours, over a month of standby.

 ”We have the same legendary 10 hour battery life… with all this extra stuff in it and dramatically thinner.” And the pricing remains unchanged, starting at $499 for a 16 gigabyte model.

The iPad 2 ships March 11 in the U.S., in “at least 26 more countries” on March 25.

Jobs lists some upcoming accessories. A $39 HDMI output cable (so you can plug an iPad into an HDTV without buying a dock).

A “smart cover” case that magnetically grasps the iPad 2 to protect the screen, sends it to sleep when covered and wakes the iPad when you open it. It comes in a choice of colors and with either a polyurethane (Jobs notes that they make spacesuits out of polyurethane) or leather exterior, with a microfiber lining on the inside the clean the screen. The former costs $39, the latter $69.

New iPad 2 features in short:

•Dual-core A5 processor, up to 2x faster than old iPad

•Front and rear cameras

•Built-in gyroscope

•8.8 mm thick (1/3 thinner than old iPad which was 13.4 mm thick)

•Weighs 1.3 lbs (down from 1.5 lbs)

•10 hour battery life

•Supports wireless data connections with AT&T and Verizon carriers

•Will be available in black and white

•Price: (WiFi) 16GB $499, 32GB $599, 64GB $699 (WiFi + 3G) 16GB $629, 32GB $729, 64GB $829

•Available in the U.S. starting March 11