Here’s a really useful tool in our ‘really useful tools to share’ series of posts… you like that? Good, I’ll continue… If you’ve just finished collecting the Dr Who 2010 Merlin sticker collection and you’re frantically looking for another random collection to occupy your time then why not start a social usernames collection? Just imagine, owning your chosen username account on every social site on the web! Am I selling it to you yet? No? That’s good, you’ve passed the ‘I’ve got a life’ test. On the other hand if you have a legitimate reason for owning or checking the availability of a username on social sites, domain names and trademarks then this online tool is exactly what you’re after. Do it all in one search, type in a query and see which ones are available and which ones you can secure. They’re quite literally up for grabs.

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Tweasier, the brand new Twitter management tool, went into open beta while I was on holiday. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this application (created by PR and social media guru Chris Norton), so I thought I’d join up see just what Tweasier offers.

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Today Google has released something very interesting, a Font API and directory that offers high quality open source web fonts for web developers. At first glance these fonts are extremely easy to integrate with just a few lines of code needed.

The Google Font API provides a simple, cross-browser method for using any font in the Google Font Directory on your web page. The fonts have all the advantages of normal text: in addition to being richer visually, text styled in web fonts is still searchable, scales crisply when zoomed, and is accessible to users using screen readers.

The interesting part of the subject of baking fonts into images and using font replacement scripts is actually how ‘searchable’ they are. Now with Google Font API you should be more comfortable in the fact that if Google have developed this, they ‘must’ be search engine friendly… right?

How to integrate the Google Font API

Getting started using the Google Font API is easy. Just add a couple lines of HTML:

<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Tangerine'
rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>

body { font-family: 'Tangerine', serif; }

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It seems the domain Google.com has been UNLOCKED for transfer. I wonder where it’s going? Maybe if nobody else wants it it can come and pay my account a visit. Hmmm, to request transfer or not to request transfer, that is the question.

Today all of the UK’s major airports grounded flights in and out due to a volcanic ash cloud from the Icelandic erupting volcano Eyjafjallajökull. The impact of this can be seen visually on the Live Air Traffic website flightradar24.com. What would have been frenzied airway activity over England and Scotland has now been replaced my an eerie silence and clearance of planes. The yellow plane icons represent planes currently in flight, the blue crosses represent closed airports.

Impact of Icelandic Volcano seen on live air traffic

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Opera Mini Web browser for the iPhone, iPod and iPad has only just launched yesterday but has already dominated globally Apple’s App Store in the Top 10 Free apps section. Below is a screen grab of the App Store which shows the free browser at position 1 in every country Apple currently serves.

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Web design for the world

The second you launch your brand new, painstakingly thought-out and designed website onto the World Wide Web, you’re instantly global – anyone in the world (with a web connection) can and may stumble upon your site. It’s worth considering, then, that 78% of the 1.8 billion current web users do not speak English as a first language (Internetworldstats.com).

So if your website is designed solely with an English-speaking, western audience in mind, that’s less than a quarter of your potential online audience who’ll be interested in visiting your site. Crucially, for those sites with business in mind, research also shows that 85% of consumers will not buy from a website if they can’t read about the product in their own first language (Common Sense Advisory, 2006).

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The embargo is over and I can finally announce that I have not had an iPad to play with or review for the past week (not like that Andy Ihnatko fellow). Yes, I signed an embargo to not say that I didn’t have an iPad before the release. I’m terrible about contracts (I have 8 time shares, 4 adopted children, 2 wives, and an endorsement deal from Rita’s Water Ice). Now that I can finally talk about the fact that I have nothing to talk about, I thought I’d share my (completely made up) review of Apple’s new iPad.

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Yesterday, Microsoft made a first developer preview of Internet Explorer (IE) 9 available for download from www.IETestDrive.com.

The IE 9 Platform Preview doesn’t include the IE 9 user interface; instead, it is the plumbing, specifically the new Microsoft JavaScript engine (which is codenamed “Chakra”) and the new graphics subsystem, coupled with a home page full of test sites. There’s no back button and no built-in security. It’s basically the IE 9 rendering engine and early developer tools.

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Well if you work in healthcare, or require high levels of infection control then a washable keyboard with ‘silver ion antimicrobial protection’ is for you! It’s also a pretty cool g33k office accessory! According to the BBC the average keyboard contains over 400 times as many germ microbes than lavatories, so having the option of cleaning it could be most appealing to the millions of office bound working around the world.

The Keyboard Company, a UK based company, have developed the world’s first antimicrobial washable keyboard called Silver Seal™ keyboard.

It keeps itself clean!

Silver, if you didn’t already know, is known as one of the oldest antimicrobial agents. Silver ions are thought to inhibit bacterial enzymes and bind to DNA. Humans have known about silver and its natural antimicrobial properties for thousands of years.

The ancient Phoenicians, who flourished around 1200BC, stored their water in silver bottles to prevent spoiling.

Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, noted in the 4th century BC that silver had beneficial healing and anti-disease properties.

Before the rise of antibiotics, during the first World War, silver compounds were used to prevent infection. Today, silver is widely used in water filters and in water tanks. In health care it is used in wound dressings and catheters…and now keyboards!

So…it’s up to the job Silver ion antibacterial technology rocks!

Get it bought lad

The Silver Seal keyboard retails at £29.00 ex. VAT so would make a great gift for a colleague of a self purchase. I personally would use it in the bath, or outside in the rain, just because, though I was never the smartest cookie in the jar…is that even a metaphor?