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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

More ways for apps to write to Drive

Today we’re introducing two new ways for apps to build even richer integrations with Drive: app data folders and custom properties.

In order to run smoothly, your app may depend on data it stores in Drive. But occasionally, users may accidentally move or delete the very file or folder your app needs to function. The app data folder is a special folder in Drive that can only be accessed by your app. The app folder’s content is hidden from the user and from other apps, making it ideal for storing configuration files, app state data, or any other files that the user should not modify.

Although users cannot see individual files in the app data folder, they are able to see how much app data your app is using and clear that data in the Manage Apps dialog.

Apps can also now add custom properties to any Drive file. The new properties collection gives your app the power to create searchable fields that are private to your app or shared across apps. For example, a classroom app could keep track of the grade for a document or a project management app could keep track of the current status of a document going through a review process.

To learn more check out the technical documentation for both app data folders and custom properties, and if you have questions don’t hesitate to post on StackOverflow.

Nicolas Garnier Google+ | Twitter

Nicolas Garnier joined Google’s Developer Relations in 2008 and lives in Zurich. He is a Developer Advocate for Google Drive and Google Apps. Nicolas is also the lead engineer for the OAuth 2.0 Playground.

2 Juicy Ways to Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint

RealPlayer
YouTube Video Wizard
Format Factory

Updated Version:
The Real Way to Download-Convert-Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint!

Today we basically have FREE access to millions (if not billions) of videos on the Internet (my personal favorites!), and surely among them you are going to find some mind stimulating videos that you would like to infuse into your face-to-face learning sessions (like this amazingly funny video: Learning English Pronunciation).

Now, I am going to share with you two (2) juicy ways to insert your favorite YouTube videos (or videos from other sites) into your PowerPoint presentations. Personally, I prefer the second (2) option.

1) PLAY LIVE YOUTUBE VIDEOS IN POWERPOINT

If you know that you are going to have a great Internet connection and are comfortable with the possibility of buffering and Internet loss during a face-to-face learning session, then running a live YouTube video in your PowerPoint is alright. So, how can we get the job done quickly?

Simply install this YouTube Video Wizard (YTV) dude. You can download versions for PowerPoint 2007 and 2003 (and earlier), so having an old PowerPoint version is totally alright.

This amazingly light tool allows you easily to insert live (streaming) YouTube videos into a PowerPoint slide. When installed, all you need to do is to provide the YouTube video URL that appears in the browser address bar, the rest is taken care of by the YTV Wizard. Installation instructions are provided on the YTV homepage.

But then again, some of us dont like installing PowerPoint plug-ins, and like doing it the hard way. Here are two video tutorials showing you how to get the job done less efficiently, but perhaps in a more IKEA satisfying way.

POWERPOINT 2003

POWERPOINT 2007

If you prefer reading a brilliant article about this instead, CLICK HERE (Yes, it even tells you how to Get Videos from Google Docs into PowerPoint. Cool!) :)

2) DOWNLOAD AND PLAY VIDEOS OFFLINE IN POWERPOINT

But, then again not all of us have the luxury of having great Internet access in the classroom. And obviously we would like to minimize the possibility from anything going wrong, which often happens when we are dealing with live video streaming from the Internet. So, to be on the safe side, I always download the videos that I want to use, and show them in offline mode.

Of course a few nutty copyright gurus are going to scream foul here, but for once please ignore them. Why should only those people that have excellent Internet access have the freedom to show amazing videos in class, while the less fortunate educators must suffer. Lets instead fight for a better world, where Internet is free for all (Read this!).

Today, we should think of Internet as oxygen for learning, and if it is not there, then we have to find other ways to breath, like showing videos offline (but giving credit and linking to the rightful creators). Ops, lets get back on track...

First, I recommend that you download RealPlayer (the free Basic Player and remember to select the Download Video option). RealPlayer enables you easily to download videos from any video sharing site you can basically imagine. You simply need to mouse-over a video, and the Download This Video option will pop-up. One click and it is basically downloading.

However, it will download the video in FLV format, and that format does not work well with PowerPoint, so you would have to convert the downloaded video into a more appropriate format.

To convert the downloaded videos (in FLV format), I use Format Factory (to convert the videos to AVI or WMV formats). Format Factory (multifunctional media converter) is simply an amazing free video converter.

If you like video converting the difficult way, perhaps you should convert online using Zamzar.com or MediaConverter.org. It is really up to you :)

After you have converted the video to WMV or AVI format, you can now insert it into PowerPoint ( Insert > Movie > "Movie from file"). I prefer running the video using the full screen mode (total immersive viewing experience!).

In addition, please remember to save the video in the same folder as the PowerPoint slides (just do it!), and remember to bring along both files (in the same folder), if you are using another computer device in the face-to-face learning session.

Personally, I always try to use my own laptop, because then I minimize the possibility of unnecessary hiccups. If you dont have any choice, hopefully my advice above helps.

Finally, if you do have a better way of getting this job done, please share it with us.

We are still LEARNING :)

The 5 Best Ways to Build Quality Backlinks for Your Website or Blog

No one can deny the fact that backlinks are vital for the success of your online business – they will play a big role in determining your search engine rankings. However, the thing you need to understand is that after the latest Google updates, the quality of backlinks is more important than the quantity of those links. It means, not only do you need some diversity in your link pool, but you also need to ensure that those links come from high PR, authoritative websites.

Also Read: Tips on How to Have Better SEO Results with Link Building
Also Read: Best Way to Easily Find and Remove Broken Links from your Website or Blog

Many people often make a mistake when judging the quality of backlinks. Unfortunately, they are not like diamonds that you can rate considering clarity, cut, color, and other features. Backlinks are different, and they cannot be graded using any simple scale. Still, when you get a backlink from a website, the search engines will rate them as okay, good, mildly good, or excellent.

As it is not easy to have one single definition of quality backlinks, you have to find another way to make your link building campaign work effectively. A better idea would be to ensure that you dont go for bad backlinks. A backlink that is not bad will be considered good for your link building campaign, and here are a few ways to avoid bad links and fetch good links.

How to Build Quality Backlinks for Your Website or Blog

Take Full Advantage of Guest Posting

Writing guest posts on other blogs is a good way of getting quality links. You need to ensure that you pick a blog that is relevant to your theme. It is worth mentioning that the links from these blogs are considered good because you will have your post approved by a human webmaster, which is something that makes Google think that you know the topic well, and might have an informative site too.

Remember, your guest posts will work if they hold some value for the blog owner, and, at the same time, are relevant to your website/blog. Therefore, you should try to tailor the content of your post to fulfill this requirement, and its not that difficult too. For instance, if your blog is about leather care and maintenance, you can easily write and publish that post on a blog that sells leather jackets and shoes.

Also Read: How to Find the Websites or Blogs that are Copying your Content?

Use Credible Article Marketing Websites

Even though the value of article marketing is no longer the same as it was a few years ago – thanks to Google Panda and Penguin updates – you can still find a few legitimate sites to publish your articles. You can use these sites to post your article and have a link placed in the article that points back to your blog. Quite like guest posting, you can again write articles on topics that have some connection with your blog. Just make sure you pick a right category on these article-marketing sites to submit your article.

Using these sites is a lot easier than getting your article published on another blog, and thats one of the reasons why guest posting holds more value as compared to simple article marketing. Still, you can use these sites to diversify your link pool. You can find a category according to the theme of your blog and post as many articles as you can – though its a good idea to stick with one-article-a-week policy.

Add Your Links to Comments Sections

For this, you can pick blogs, article sites, and websites where they have a comment section. You simply need to make a productive comment and embed your link to your key phrase. This works quite well, but the only consideration is that youre going to get the link juice only if you opt for a comment section that comes with "do-follow" tag. It may take some time to find it, but you will accomplish the task after conducting some research.

Also Read: The Top 10 Websites to create free Logo for your Blog

Get Links from Directories

This is still a good way of getting backlink, but the catch is to find a legitimate and well-followed directory – this could well be a paid directory. Although you can try some free directories like Google locations, you will be better off making use of paid directories like Yelp.

Make Use of Forum Postings

Making posts in forums, with your link attached to your keyword, is still effective. However, you dont always need to make posts; you can simply convince the forum administrator to place a link to your blog – it is difficult, but not impossible.

About Author:
Kate Funk is a writer and tutor at tutorleader.com. She loves covering writing tips and strategies for blogging.

Image source: http://www.psdgraphics.com/file/seamless-chrome-chain.jpg

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