PicApp Launches Monetization Program for Publishers

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PicApp introduced a revenue sharing program today for its publishers to share in their ad profits. This program has been a long time coming and many were wondering when the photo service would roll something like this out.

For those that aren’t quite familiar with PicApp, it’s a free photo service bloggers can access to use professional editorial and creative photos on their blogs for free. Photos from Getty Images, and a number of other professional photo and news agencies are uploaded daily for your use.

Each image you use is hotlinked to the PicApp website and when clicked on, will take the visitor to the PicApp website, where ads are present. Previously, ads were shown below your photos in blog posts, but that is no longer the case.

The revenue sharing program is just the latest improvement to be made at PicApp. Earlier this month, a customizable photo gallery was introduced, which gives users the ability to choose specific images to showcase in an organized gallery format on their blogs, as opposed to using simply one large image in a post.

Both the revenue sharing program and customizable photo gallery are open to qualified publishers of the PicApp Media Discovery Network. That means you must have at least 100,000 unique visitors to your site each month. If you quality, e-mail members@picapp.com.

Sunday Chatter – 3/14

March 2010 Domain Name Discount

NameCheap.com is running a promo this month when you register a domain name. From now until March 31, use code NCSPRING to bring your checkout total from $9.69 to $8.81. Many people still favour GoDaddy, but personally, I’d never go near them. GoDaddy has been allegedly known to side with other parties in the past if someone files a copyright complaint against your domain name. GoDaddy has taken action in the past to completely suspend a domain and hold on to it for years on end with no explanation whatsoever. Having dealt with NameCheap in the past, I haven’t had any complaints, nor have I heard about any horror stories.

Samsung First Manufacturer to Market 3D TVs

Samsung unveiled this week plans to launch the first 3D TV available to consumers — but it comes with a hefty price tag. Samsung plans to sell five LED models of 3D TVs starting March 26. The first wave of TVs will range in size from 40 to 55 inches and be between $2,500 and $4,000. Ouch! A week after the launch, Samsung will sell 3D Plasmas, including a 50 inch for $2,400 and a 63 inch for $4,100. While only a handful of broadcasters currently shoot in 3D, what are you going to watch on these overpriced TVs? Best Buy is already on board to start carrying the new technology later this month.

The Social Landscape (Infographic)

Understanding all of the social media networks out there can be a bit confusing. There are so many of them now, keeping track of what each is supposed to be used for is sometimes a task. I came across this graphic earlier this week, which some refer to as a “cheat sheet.” It lists both the positive and negative aspects of each site based on what it can and can’t do for it. Click the image below for a larger version.

2010 Homebuyer Tax Credits: What You Need to Know

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Coldwell Banker. All opinions are 100% mine.

With tax season upon us, it’s important to be aware of the tax credits you can take advantage of, especially if you’re in the market for a new home.

Coldwell Banker — one of the world’s most recognized real estate agencies — has offered up a list of the 2010 Homebuyer Tax Credits you may not know exist.

For example: Did you know first-time homebuyers can receive up to $8,000 in tax credits? The same applies to those who have not owned a home in the last three years.

If you already own a home and have been living in it for 5 of the past 8 years, you’re eligible for up to a $6,500 tax credit.

The future of extensions on these credits isn’t known, so if you’re looking to make a move, it would be wise to do so quickly. Qualified homebuyers must have a written and binding contract by April 30, 2010 (close by June 30, 2010.)

On the topic of income limits — they are now $125,000 for singles, $225,000 for married couples with a $20,000 phase-out of the credit for both.

The first-time tax credit was working, but what housing and our national economy needed was incentive for the move-up buyer. According to The 2009 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the number of first-time home buyers rose to 47 percent of all home sales from 41 percent of transactions in last year!s study, and was the highest on record dating back to 1981. The previous high was 44 percent in 1991.

–ColdwellBanker.com

All of this important information and more is summarized in the video below courtesy of Coldwell Banker.

Sunday Chatter – 3/7

What is PubSubHubbub?

PubSubHubbub. Try saying that three times fast. It’s a new plugin for WordPress that allows for push notifications to RSS feeds and search engines. How it works is whenever you publish something new to your blog, Google and RSS readers are notified instantly. The old fashioned way would be to wait for them to come looking for your new content to crawl. That could sometimes take hours, or days, if your site is new. With PubSubHubbub, you simply activate a small plugin and that’s it. No configuration to worry about — just install and activate. It’s available for WordPress.org (as a plugin) and WordPress.com users automatically. I installed it on all five of my sites and have noticed quite the difference in how fast my content gets picked up. Download it here.

YouTube Introduces Video Captioning

To make things easier for some users, YouTube rolled out closed captioning for videos this week. What it does is take any English-language video and puts subtitles at the bottom of the screen when you click the little “CC” button. It’s still in its beta stages, which became clearly obvious when I tried it out and found some weirdly formed sentences get churned out. It definitely needs some work, but for the hearing impaired, this is an excellent addition. It also supports foreign languages and can translate them to English text, but that option is only available on a select number of videos so far.

The Moment Apple Fans Have Been Waiting For

Apple finally announced the launch date of the iPad — April 3 in the U.S. and late April in Canada and other international countries. “Beginning a week from today, on March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G,” Apple said. With April 3 being a Saturday, you bet on long lines outside malls everywhere. While I certainly see the potential and use for the product, I won’t be in those lineups.

Google Adds Translation and Privacy Features to Chrome

Google is working its magic this week updating their Chrome browser by adding some new features and enhancing privacy. One of the new things you can do is automatically translate websites to your preferred language if they happen to be written in anything other than English, and vice versa depending on what you speak. If you happen to visit a site based in China, for example, a prompt will come up asking if you wish to translate the page.

Because many of my readers tend to be outside North America, this should come in handy for many of them who visit the blog.

Google also rolled out enhanced privacy options to secure your browsing habits. Similar to what Firefox has already let you do, Chrome now allows you to manage cookies, plug-ins, pop-ups, etc.

Hopefully these new additions don’t slow things down too much. That’s one of the reasons I use Chrome when performing multiple tasks online — the speed. I’m still a big supporter of Firefox, but it can lag every now and then when you have many tabs open. Generally, I have no fewer than 10 tabs open at once during a normal work day.

More on Google’s additions are available on their blog.