stats

Social media count shows how active the social web is

Gary Hayes little flash application shows how active the social web is. Hayes built the application based on data he pulled from a range of social media sources, which he compiled at the end of September 2009.  You can download his Social Media Count here.

Digital TVs competing with PCs as media hubs

Though more computers have been landing in living rooms, digital TVs are adding new features to help them hang onto their role as the family's entertainment center, says a report released Tuesday by In-Stat.

As DTVs replace old analog sets throughout the world, manufacturers are beefing them up with new network features, including Internet access, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi, noted an In-Stat report called "DTV 2009: Declining Costs, Increasing Shipments, and Network Capability." In-Stat predicts that 36 percent of digital sets sold in 2013 will be network-enabled.

Technologies for wireless high-definition, such as the competing 60GHz WirelessHD and WHDI … Read more

That Mac is hot. Too hot.

If you've got burnt thighs from an old MacBook Pro or you notice that your computer is always overheating and crashing from using CPU-intensive apps (like playing PC games in a virtual Windows environment), you might want to check out smcFanControl. This free, GPL-licensed utility has a single purpose: letting you increase the minimum speed of built-in fans, so your Intel computer will run cooler.

smcFanControl lets you monitor the current temperature (in Celsius or Fahrenheit), assign different minimum speeds for each fan using sliders, and even apply different settings when your power source changes (for example, going back … Read more

Socialnomics: "Social Media is bigger than you think"

The Socialnomics-Social Media Blog has compiled a comprehensive list of stats from all kinds of sources to prove that "Social Media Is Bigger Than You Think."

"Welcome to the Social Media Revolution."

Soccer stat keeper

LeaguePad helps users keep track of their football statistics and teams with a complex system of statistics. The program offers a lot of options, but ultimately fails to simply following teams online.

The program's interface looks as if it should be natural, but users will find themselves stuck in the mud more often than not. The simple graphics and layout will require a trip to the Help file and several experimental run-throughs to get a feeling for where information must be entered and how it can be extracted. Setting up leagues was the simplest part of this program. Users … Read more

Fun with numbers a boon for StatCounter

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

If you've been following the headlines of late you'll find that StatCounter's research arm, a Web tracking service most Webheads are familiar with, has gone from afterthought to player in just a few short months.

Credit a few handy Bing-happy press releases and handy browser market share stats.

There's a good bit of hubbub about IE market share, which has dropped off since March (Techmeme). The big question is whether we should believe the numbers (below is the year over year trends).

Let's look at … Read more

Explore new Android apps

Though the Android Market has been open for eight months, it lacks many important features present on Apple's iPhone App Store. Above all, you can't browse the full gallery of apps on your PC. What limited browsing features that are present on the official Android Market site only display selected applications.

But where Google has lagged, the community has stepped up. A number of clever Web sites now enables users to perform improved searches, view a complete listing of apps, and see historical rankings. You can use a combination of these sites to discover new apps and trends. … Read more

Webware 100 winner: FlightStats

Site: FlightStats.com Category: Location-based services

FlightStats mashes up the real-time flight information with Google Maps. Like other flight trackers, it shows scheduled departure and landing times, as well as actual take-off and projected landing. It will also send you e-mail or SMS alerts if the flight status changes, which is highly useful if your carrier or Web ticketing service doesn't offer such a feature.

FlightStats also has a very good mobile-friendly site and applications for certain handsets. It's the one you'll use when you're hanging around in the airport wondering just how far away a … Read more

12 ways to track traffic for your blog

Earlier this week, I listed some useful Firefox extensions that help you become more productive while you blog. Now it's time to see how well your blog is performing.

I've found and tried 12 online applicatons that track your blog's traffic. Some are better than others, but they're all designed with the same goal in mind: helping you grow your blog.

Web apps

Clickdensity Clickdensity not only tracks the number of page views and unique visitors to your site, it overlays a "heat map" on your page that tells you where visitors are clicking. It's a helpful tool. You can see if the way you place content on your site is helping you increase traffic. And it will give you insight into where to place page elements. Pricing starts at $5 per month. If you want to improve your site's design, try Clickdensity.

Clicky Don't let its childish name fool you; Clicky is outstanding. You'll find charts and graphs, but one of its best features is its visitor detail, which gives you accurate information on individual visitors in real time. It tells you which country they're from and how long they've been on your site. Clicky also has a mobile page designed specifically for the iPhone. It boasts all the same features as Clicky's online version. Plus, it's snappy, so you won't waste time checking traffic. Pricing starts at $29.99 per year.

Google Analytics Google Analytics is a free service that provides you with a graph showing how many people visited your site. The tool also lets you see which pages visitors clicked, how many unique visitors went to your site, and information on where the most people entered and exited. It's not nearly as advanced as other apps in this roundup, but it's certainly the easiest to use. If you want something simple and accurate, Google Analytics is for you.

Histats.com Histats.com sports the slickest design of any tool in this roundup. You'll find common tracking elements like page views, visitors, and referral information, but that's all displayed in the most user-friendly design I've seen in this space. The graphs are gorgeous. The app's ease of use is unparalleled, thanks to slick menus. And changing the data you want to look at is simple. I was really impressed by Histats (and its free price tag).… Read more