How to gain traffic to your website in 3 simple steps.

Step1

Here’s the answer: Your visitors are online because they’re looking for information.

Information on what or for what, you ask?

Information on products, services, anything basically that will answer their questions on specific problems, how certain products work, what others think of the products they are thinking about buying, information on anything and everything imaginable.

A popular way to entice visitors to your site is to provide information – in the form of articles – that they might be looking for. Once they get to your site because of the free information you’ve offered, they’ll look around and see what else you have to offer.

Write articles on topics that you know something about such as internet marketing, taxes, or how to get rid of those pesky computer viruses. You will want to write your articles on specific topics that range from 500 to 1500 words. These types of articles will draw you and your site to search engines like a magnet. You will also want to use other people’s articles (make sure they’re royalty free or used with permission or according to the conditions) that are related to your own articles, thus giving your visitors even more information on your specific topic.

Step2

The science and key to making articles work even harder for you is to making them so valuable that other marketers will search you out looking for other articles that you have written.

Step3

Having valuable information that other marketers find valuable will make them want to offer their own visitors your articles on their Websites. This will drive more traffic to your Website because the original marketer found it valuable and so will their visitors. Of course, you should always have a byline or signature at the end of every article you write with your own Website URL.

Open Source Softwares (Basic)

What is a Open Source Software?

Open source software (OSS) began as a marketing campaign for Free Software. OSS can be defined as computer software which the human-readable source code is made available under a copyright license (or arrangement such as the public domain) that meets the Open Source Definition. This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form. It is very often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open source software is the most prominent example of development and often compared to user generated content.

Below is a list a top Open Source Softwares.

Web Browsing

Mozilla Firefox

The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Considered by many to be the world's best browser.
Download Page

Video Player / Video Podcasting

Miro

Beautiful interface. Plays any video type (much more than windows media player). Subscribe to video RSS, download, and watch all in one. Torrent support. Search and download from YouTube and others.
Download Page

IM - Instant Messaging

Pidgin

Connect to multiple IM accounts simultaneously in a single app, including: AOL IM, MSN, and Jabber.
Download Page

E-mail

Mozilla Thunderbird

Powerful spam filtering, solid interface, and all the features you need.
Download Page

RSS

RSSOwl

Solid cross-platform RSS client.
Download Page

Peer-to-Peer Filesharing

Cabos

A simple, easy to use filesharing program. Gnutella network.
Download Page

Gnucleus

A very good Gnutella search and download filesharing program.
Download Page

Azureus

A powerful, but complicated BitTorrent client. So many features you'll lose your mind.
Download Page

Video Playback

VLC

Plays more video files than most players: Quicktime, AVI, DIVX, OGG, and more. Pretty good interface.
Download Page

MPlayer

Similar to VLC-- plays loads of video formats.
Download Page

Media Player Classic

Compact, but powerful media player. Plays anything under the sun. No install necessary.
Download Page

DVD Ripping / Video Conversion

Media Coder

Great tool for ripping CDs, DVDs, etc and converting between tons of video formats.
Download Page

Word Processing / Office Suites

OpenOffice.org

Big, full featured suite of tools for word processing and spreadsheets. Compatible with and a free replacement for Microsoft Word documents. Also supports OpenDocument Format.
Download Page

AbiWord

A word processor. Leaner and quicker than OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft Word documents and OpenDocument Format.
Download Page

Podcasting

Juice

Solid podcasting client.
Download Page

DVD Ripping

Handbrake

DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter.
Download Page

Sound Recording

Audacity

Simple sound recording tool.
Download Page

Graphics / Photo Editing

GIMP

Photo editing application that rivals Photoshop in features.
Download Page

Paint.NET

Graphics editor with a very nice interface.
Download Page

Inkscape

Vector graphics application.
Download Page

FTP / SFTP

Filezilla

Excellent FTP program.
Download Page

IRC

X-Chat 2

IRC client.
Download Page

Archiving

PeaZip

Fantastic archiving utility to extract and pack archives of an extensive amount of formats. PeaZip also features password protecting archives, keyfile support, system integration, a lovely interface, and much more.
Download Page

List of top Web Browsers.

Firefox

Mozilla Firefox has been the most successful alternative web browser since the “browser wars” ended. The flagship product of the Mozilla Foundation traces its lineage back to the original Netscape. Firefox was designed for simplicity, security, and extensibility, with hundreds of extensions available. The Mozilla Thunderbird mail & news client is a perfect companion. Both applications are open-source.

• Features: Web · RSS headlines · Email and full RSS via Thunderbird · Extensions for chat, customization, etc. · Skinnable · Phishing Filter
• Import: All settings from Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla, Netscape, bookmarks from generic HTML file.
• Download Firefox for Windows, Macintosh or Linux. Free.
• Read the Firefox Beginner's Guide and Try Firefox.
• Get Firefox Banners from Spread Firefox.

Opera

Opera has managed to weather the browser wars since its original release in 1996. Constantly innovating, this browser is now a full-fledged Internet suite with web, e-mail, news (usenet and RSS) and chat with a wealth of features for new switchers and power users alike.

• Features: Web · Email · RSS · Chat · Skinnable · Phishing Filter · Widgets · BitTorrent
• Import: Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, or generic HTML file; Mail from Outlook Express, Netscape, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Eudora, or generic mbox file.
• Download Opera for Windows, Macintosh or Linux. Free.
• Read 30 Days to Becoming an Opera Lover.
• Get Opera Banners or join Choose Opera.

Safari

Apple stunned the world in 2003 when they announced this browser for Mac OS X. It became so popular with Mac users that Microsoft stopped developing IE for the Mac! Safari is designed for elegance and speed, and is now both the default browser on the Mac and the most popular Macintosh browser. Starting with version 3, Safari is also available for Windows.

• Features: Web · RSS
• Import: Bookmarks from any browser.
• Download Safari for Windows or Macintosh. Free.

More Cross-Platform Browsers: Windows, Mac & Linux

Mozilla SeaMonkey

Originally created as an open-source testing ground for Netscape, Mozilla gained a following of its own as AOL put its stamp on Netscape. Mozilla implemented many of the features that have since made Firefox popular. Official development has moved on to Firefox, and the suite continues in the form of SeaMonkey.

In addition to Firefox and SeaMonkey, Mozilla's “Gecko” engine is the basis for a number of platform-specific browsers, including K-Meleon for Windows, Camino for Macintosh, and Galeon and Epiphany for Linux.

• Features: Web · Email · Chat · Editor
• Import: All settings from Netscape 4, bookmarks from generic HTML file. Current Internet Explorer Favorites appear in bookmarks menu.
• Download SeaMonkey for Windows, Macintosh or Linux. Free.

Flock

Flock is a “social browser” built on a Firefox core that integrates with web services for blogging, photo sharing, and bookmark sharing.

Services Flock supports include: Bookmarks sharing: del.icio.us and Shadows. Photo services: Flickr, Photobucket. Blogging: Blogger, TypePad, WordPress and many others.

• Features: Web · Blogging · Photo Sharing · Favorites Sharing · RSS reader · Skinnable · compatible with many Firefox extensions
• Import: All settings from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari.
• Download Flock for Windows, Macintosh or Linux. Free.
• Get Flock Banners.

Windows Browsers

K-Meleon

Years before Firefox, K-Meleon was launched to create a lightweight web browser for Windows using the Mozilla core. K-Meleon's strengths are its speed and customizability.

• Features: Web
• Import: Will use your current Internet Explorer, Netscape/Firefox, or Opera bookmarks.
• Download K-Meleon for Windows. Free.
• Get K-Meleon Banners.

Macintosh Browsers

Camino

This browser's slogan is “Mozilla power, Mac style.” Designed to bring Mozilla's technology into harmony with Mac OS X, Camino integrates seamlessly in a way that Firefox hasn't yet managed.

• Features: Web
• Import: Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, OmniWeb, iCab, or generic HTML file.
• Download Camino for Macintosh OS X. Free.
• Get Camino Banners.

OmniWeb

The first web browser released for Mac OS X, OmniWeb focuses on power features. Since version 4.5 it has been based on Apple's WebCore technology, the same engine used by Safari, with innovations such as thumbnails for tabs, auto-save sessions, and per-site preferences. “Sure, you can use a standard web browser, with standard features. But you didn't choose a standard software experience—you chose the Mac.” Includes RSS headline support.

Even if you're not a Mac user, it's worth reading through OmniWeb's features page just for the writing style!

• Features: Web · RSS
• Import: Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Safari, or generic HTML file.
• Download OmniWeb for Macintosh OS X. $29 with 10-day trial.
• Get OmniWeb Banners.

iCab

Launched from obscurity as the first publicly-available browser to pass the Acid2 test (the first to pass was Safari, but only the in-development version), iCab is also the only modern web browser still built for Classic Mac OS.

• Features: Web · RSS
• Import: Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Opera.
• Download iCab for Macintosh OS X or Classic. Free limited edition, $29 or €29 for iCab Pro.
• Let iCab Smile campaign and banners.

Linux/UNIX Browsers

Konqueror

Konqueror is the web browser and file manager for the KDE Desktop. This highly customizable browser gained more attention when Apple selected it as the basis for Safari. Konqueror is tightly integrated with other KDE applications such as Kontact/KMail for e-mail, Akregator for RSS feeds, etc. (Konqueror can also run under GNOME or other desktop environments.)

• Features: Web · RSS via Akregator · Email via Kontact.
• Import: Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla (and Firefox), Netscape, Galeon.
• Read about Konqueror for Linux/KDE.

Galeon

Galeon's slogan is “The web. Only the web.” It was one of the first projects to take Mozilla's rendering engine and focus on its original goal: web browsing. Galeon focuses on web features for power users. Built for GNOME, Galeon will also run under other desktop environments.

• Features: Web
• Import: Bookmarks from XBEL (Konqueror, Galeon), Mozilla (and Firefox), Netscape, Epiphany.
• Download Galeon for Linux/GNOME.

Epiphany

Epiphany is designed for simplicity and speed. An offshoot of Galeon, it is the default web browser or the GNOME desktop. (Epiphany will also run under other desktops.)

• Features: Web
• Import: Bookmarks from Firefox, Galeon, Konqueror, Mozilla, XBEL or HTML file.
• Download Epiphany for Linux/GNOME.

How to Popularize your BLOG with Simple 20 Steps.

Are you thinking of ways on how to expose your site? Well, here are some things that you should try to get more visitors. I have a list here of some traffic-building tips, some are for real, some are weird and some are even hilarious — hey, we all need a break from serious traffic-building methods, we should relax and have fun!

These traffic-building ideas came to my mind a while ago, and I really had fun imagining how to do the following stuff. So read them now and enjoy! Remember, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!

1. Submit to directories.

2. Submit to social bookmarking sites.

3. Send a bulletin to thousands of people.

4. E-mail your URL to your friends.

5. Print your URL on your favorite shirt.

6. Put your link in your forum signature.

7. While you’re enjoying in a beach, write your URL on the sand.

8. Print some brochures (with your URL in it) and give it to people for free.

9. When in a party, go to the stage (if any) and sing a song about your website.

10. Include your URL in your business card.

11. Use your URL as your username on online games, online communities, etc..

12. Send an IM to your friends and mention your website to them.

13. Put your website’s URL on your used items and sell those during a garage sale.

14. Make a funny cartoon/image, put your website’s URL in it (kind of like a watermark), and spread it to everyone.

15. Put a banner outside your house with your site’s URL and details on it.

16. During Christmas or any other gift-giving holiday, don’t forget to ask the recipients of the gifts to visit your website (meaning… put your URL in the greeting card or something like that)!

17. Give free books to your public library. Be sure to put “Donated by: www.yoururl.com” in every book that you’re donating!

18. On your local notice board, post something attractive that will make people curious about your site. They’ll visit your URL for sure!

19. Make website themes/templates, put your link on the footer area and distribute them for free.

20. Write your URL on a paper, put the paper inside a bottle and let the bottle travel across the oceans.

5 ways to speed up your PC

By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly. This article discusses how to use the tools available in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Vista to more efficiently maintain your computer and safeguard your privacy when you're online.

Free up disk space

By freeing disk space, you can improve the performance of your computer. The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk. The utility identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.
Use Disk Cleanup to:

•	Remove temporary Internet files.
•	Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).
•	Empty the Recycle Bin.
•	Remove Windows temporary files.
•	Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.
•	Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

To use Disk Cleanup

1.	Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.
2.	In the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list. Choose the files that you want to delete.
3.	Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then click OK.
4.	When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.

After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.

Speed up access to data

Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.

Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.

When to run Disk Defragmenter
In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals—monthly is optimal—there are other times you should run it too, such as when:

•	You add a large number of files.
•	Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.
•	You install new programs or a new version of Windows.

To use Disk Defragmenter:

1.	Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter. Click Analyze to start the Disk Defragmenter.
2.	In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives. Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.
3.	To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment button. Note: In Windows Vista, there is no graphical user interface to demonstrate the progress—but your hard drive is still being defragmented. After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.
4.	To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.
5.	To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.
6.	To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.

Detect and repair disk errors

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.

To run the Error Checking utility:

1.	Close all open files.
2.	Click Start, and then click My Computer.
3.	In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.
4.	In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.
5.	Click the Check Now button.
6.	In the Check Disk dialog box, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.
7.	If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.

Tip: Only select the "Automatically fix file system errors" check box if you think that your disk contains bad sectors.

Protect your computer against spyware

Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission. From the Web sites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer's performance. To combat spyware, you might want to consider using Microsoft Windows Defender, which is included in Windows Vista, and is available as a free download for Microsoft XP SP2. Alternatively, there are other free anti-spyware software programs available.

How To Make Your Desktop Very Interesting

How To Make Your Desktop More Interesting - Funny bloopers R us

Gmail Craze: 40 + Tools and Hacks for Gmail

All for Gmail: handy Firefox extensions, best Greasemonkey scripts, some desktop and lots of useful tips. Take this Gmail thingie to another level. Enjoy

FIREFOX EXTENSIONS

Gspace - multi-platform firefox addon that turns your gmail account into powerful online storage tool

Gmail Search Extension - search your gmail account directly from the firefox search bar

GcalQuickTab - toggle between gmail and google calendar with keyboard shortcuts

GTDInbox - turns your account into flexible and feature-loaded ToDo-management service (GTD = Getting Things Done)

GMail Manager - manage multiple GMail accounts right from your browser

DragDropUpload - this handy extension lets you quickly attach one or more files to your emails by dragging them over the “Attach a file” link

CustomizeGoogle - removes ads, switches you from http to https, hides the spam counter, quick contacts box, invite box and forces fixed font

Better Gmail - integrates bunch of cool features, i.e. attachment icons, attachment Reminder, mail preview, filter assistant, label colors, macros, and saved searches

GmailSkinz - powerful firefox addon with lots of cool features: (Note: some users reported having problems with this addon)

• change the colour of your inbox(from green to dark green),
• view weather, google calendar and news headlines along side your emails,
• integrate any Google IG module to sidebar menu(Awesome),
• insert images from your Picasa web album in to emails,
• insert smileys,
• change the attachment paperclip to an icon indicating the type of attachment,
• make the navigation (Inbox, Starred, Sent Mail, etc) horizontal,
• hide various page elements (invite panel, page footer and your email address from the top right of inbox).
• complete integration with Gmail: addon settings can be changed directly from the Gmail settings page.

Google Toolbar with Gmail search - Official Google toolbar featuring one-click Gmail search

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GREASEMONKEY SCRIPTS (What is Greaseamonkey?)

Gmail Super Clean - clean and distraction-free gmail. Looks great, check it out here

Gmail Spam-count Hide - hides spam count link

GMail Attachment Icons - adds attachment icons to emails, letting you see what kind of attachment an email has (HTML,JPG, PDF….) [update: 'Attachment icons' isn't a standard greasemonkey script, it's an addon for a similar Firefox extension known as Stylish. However, installing it on greasemonkey should be fine as well]

Google Reader Integration - integrates Google Reader into Gmail. Highly Recommended (demo)

GmailTo - forces all ‘mailto’ links to open in GMail

Saved Searches - lets you create ’saved searches’(aka smart folders) and display them in the separate box in the navigation menu. Clicking on a search executes the saved query. Demo

Conversation Preview - handy addon that lets you quickly preview message contents right from the main inbox window. See demo below

Google Calendar Integration - integrates Google Calendar agenda into Gmail. Demo

Label Colors - lets you color menu labels to make them stand out better. Demo

Gmail Macros - adds extra keyboard shortcuts to Gmail (i.e. “t” for move to trash, “r” for mark as read, “p” for mark as read and add to archive…etc). Read more

SSLGoogle - force google mail, docs and cal pages and their intra-links to a secure connection(HTTPS)

Gmail Encrypt - encrypts outgoing emails

Gmail Date Search - adds a Search by Date button to Gmail’s search form

Gmail Signature Float - moves your mail signature to the top of the message rather than the bottom

Following image displays all above mentioned scripts in action(click to enlarge and open it in a new windows)

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Desktop APPS and Web TOOLS:

GmailDrive (Windows) - adds a new virtual drive(’Gmail Drive’) to ‘My Computer‘ folder and uses gmail as its storage medium. Drag’n drop files Gmail Drive and it will store them on your gmail account as if on additional hard drive. More on GmailDrive

gDisk (Mac) - similar to above mentioned GmailDrive but for Mac users

Gmail ToDo - handy desktop application that stores entered todo’s in a todo label on gmail

Desktop Notifiers: GMail Notifier(official release from Google), GTray (Win XP), GCount (Mac), Gmail+Growl 2.0 (GmailNotifier addon that lets you further customize ‘new mail’ alerts)

GMail for Mobile - access gmail from your mobile

GmailFS - mountable Linux filesystem which uses Gmail as its storage medium

Google Talk - Google’s IM service which is fully integrable with GMail

You’ve Got Gmail - Gmail plugin for Trillian IM client

Why Firefox 3 is Awesome and howto make it better

Bill Gates Revealed: A Few Things You Didn't Know

Bill Gates is retiring five years earlier than planned. It’s an obscure fact, but true. Back in August of 2003, in a luncheon speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Gates said he had “a little more than 10 years” left in his software “career.” The math is simple--that would be 2013. A mere three years after that speech, however, Gates surprised the business world with his announcement of a 2008 retirement, five years earlier than indicated. New York Times reporter John Markoff caught this discrepancy. It was the first question out of Markoff’s mouth at Gates’ retirement news conference, but Gates said he didn’t recall his earlier statement, and the subject was dropped. See my blog, “Bill Gates Waves Goodbye Earlier Than Planned,” for all the details.

Bill Gates and Scott McNealy weren’t really archenemies. In January of 1996, I was on Sun’s campus for a day of interviews. This was at the height of the Sun v. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) wars, and speculation was that Sun was negotiating to acquire Apple. McNealy, however, was relaxed and eating frozen yogurt during our interview. His first son, Maverick, had been born a few months earlier, and McNealy excitedly went to a corner of his office to show me something. It was a hand-written note from Bill Gates congratulating him the new arrival.

Bill Gates dodged only one question. In 2003, IT departments were spending hours patching buggy Windows PCs. One CIO I know crunched the numbers and said he was going to bill Microsoft for the work put in by his staff. So I asked Gates whether other business customers were making their own demands for reimbursement. “Is this something you’re talking to business customers about—somehow taking some of the financial responsibility for the work they’re having to do?” After a very long pause, Gates answered: “We’re very focused on doing our best to avoid these problems. That’s our focus.” It’s the only time he completely sidestepped a question during one of our interviews.

Bill Gates has a calculator in his head. OK, so that's not a revelation, but I saw it in action when Gates walked me through the evolution from 16-bit to 32-bit to 64-bit computing. The occasion was the launch of 64-bit Windows, and Gates was walking me through the advances in microprocessor design over the years. He started with the premise that the IT industry had been gobbling up about 1 bit of memory address space per year, resulting in a need for ever more address space. During the interview, Gates came to the realization that the industry was consuming address space at nearly double the rate of the past. For more on this, see “A Trip Down ‘Memory Lane’ With Bill Gates.”

Bill Gates once gave his own software the lowest possible rating. In May of 2002, just a few weeks after Gates’ famous memo on Trustworthy Computing, my colleague Chris Murphy and I interviewed Gates for more than an hour in New York. I mention the length of the interview to make the point that Gates can be generous with his time. It’s usually the PR people who cut off an interview or try to keep the discussion “on topic.” Gates himself tends to be freewheeling. Towards the end of the interview, we asked him to rate Microsoft’s overall software quality on a scale of one to 10, where one was unsatisfactory and 10 was high satisfaction. His answer: “Is it as good as people want? One.” It was a blunt self-assessment, and the right one at the time. For the full Q&A, see “Bill Gates On Trustworthy Computing.”

Bill Gates drinks, or sips, double fisted. The scene was an invitation-only dinner for about 15 journalists in Las Vegas a few years ago. Jeff Raikes was the host of my table, and Gates was at the next table. After dinner they got up and switched tables in order to spend a little time with all the guests. Red and white wines had been served with dinner, and Gates carried a glass of each with him. Managing two drinks at once may be politically incorrect in some circles, but not in this one and not on this occasion. Windows Longhorn was in the throes of development. We all understood.

Firefox 3.0 Boosts Mozilla's Market Share

On the back of the release last week of Firefox 3.0, Mozilla's open-source browser gained market share at the expense of rivals Internet Explorer (IE) and Safari, Net Applications said Monday.

Firefox's share ended the week at 19.17 per cent, said Vince Vizzaccaro, the Web metrics firm's executive vice president of marketing. That's up 0.76 per cent from the 18.41 per cent it posted for May.

Most of that gain came at the expense of Microsoft's IE, but Apple's Safari also dipped last week. IE was down 0.8 per cent from May's final number, to 72.95 per cent, said Vizzaccaro, while Safari was off 0.1 per cent, to 6.15 per cent. Opera Software, which recently unveiled version 9.5 of its flagship browser, was up slightly to 0.75 per cent from May's 0.71 per cent.

But Vizzaccaro warned not to read too much into Firefox's early numbers. "We do show Firefox going up, but I want to caution that it may be artificially high." The way Net Applications tallies unique visitors, it's possible some people may have been double counted last week. A user who visited a monitored site with Firefox 2.0, for example, then downloaded and installed Firefox 3.0 and revisited the same site that day, would be counted twice, Vizzaccaro said.

It might take several weeks for a more accurate picture of Firefox's gains, if any, to be revealed, he said.

Net Applications derives its browser share data from traffic to approximately 40,000 business Web sites the company monitors for clients.

Mozilla, which had promoted the June 17 launch of Firefox 3.0 with a run at a one-day download record, claimed that users had grabbed more then 8.3 million copies of the browser in its first 24 hours of availability. As of 1 p.m. US EDT on Monday, Mozilla's counter showed 17.9 million downloads of the new browser.

Separately, Net Applications has been tracking hour-by-hour movement of Firefox 3.0's market share. According to those figures, Firefox 3.0 had a 4 per cent share by the end of Sunday. But with less than a quarter of that attributable to share stolen from rival browsers, it's clear that the bulk of 3.0's increase has come from existing users updating from earlier versions, said Vizzaccaro.

Based on trends, Vizzaccaro earlier this month projected that Firefox would reach the 20 per cent share mark sometime in July.

Nokia to Buy Symbian

Nokia will pay $410 million for the remaining shares in UK-based Symbian and make its software royalty-free to boost phone sales and respond to new rivals such as Google.

Symbian's software is used in two-thirds of smartphones -- handsets with computer-like capabilities -- and 6 percent of all mobile phones, but new platforms such as Google's Android and Apple's iPhone could challenge its dominance.

"The move's a shrewd response to growing threats from other providers of mobile phone software," said Geoff Blaber of UK-based research firm CCS Insight, citing the open-source LiMo Foundation as well as Google and Apple.

Currently, Symbian's closest rival is Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which has just 13 percent of the market despite the U.S. software maker's efforts to gain market share.

Microsoft charges $8 to $15 per phone, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, while Symbian charges on average $4.10.

"This puts a lot of pressure on Microsoft right at a time when they are trying to really push into the consumer space," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

"Lower price points are what operators and the market need to push smartphone adoption and dropping royalty is going to help that. For operators this offers a good alternative to Android," she said.

Nokia, which makes 40 percent of all phones sold globally, will pay 264 million euros ($410 million) for the 52 percent of British-based Symbian it does not already own, it said.

As Nokia's market share is much larger than 48 percent among all Symbian phones sold, it has been paying more to its partners in Symbian in royalties on the phones it makes than it has been getting from the firm.

The Finnish company also said it and other top mobile phone makers along with operators AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone and chip makers Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics had formed the Symbian Foundation to develop the software further.

"The creation of a unified operating system and a unified user-interface via the Symbian Foundation is classic Nokia. Its desire to develop global, standardized platforms is at the core of all its business operations," said Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics.

Nokia will contribute Symbian and its S60 software assets to the foundation, while other members will put in their UIQ and MOAP software to create a new joint Symbian platform in 2009.

"It offers us an opportunity to innovate faster on a bigger, united, more widely accepted platform," Kai Oistamo, head of Nokia's devices business, told Reuters. "It also enables us to deliver new products, we believe, faster to the market."

"I'm convinced we will sell more products," he told news conference.

Nokia said Sony Ericsson, Ericsson, Panasonic and Siemens had accepted the offer for their Symbian stakes, and it also expected Samsung Electronics to accept.

"The biggest surprise is that Nokia gets full ownership all at once, and at a good price," said Karri Rinta, analyst at Handelsbanken.

"This was a logical move. There was pressure for Nokia to increase its holding, especially since there were owners such as Panasonic and Siemens who were there for historic reasons."

Nokia said it expects the deal to be completed by the end of this year, and to weigh on earnings in 2009.

On reported basis, Nokia expects the acquisition to reach break even in 2010, and boost earnings in 2011. On a cash basis, it expects the earnings boost from 2010.

Shares in Nokia were up 0.1 percent at 15.70 euros at 0848 GMT, broadly in line with the DJ Stoxx European technology shares index.

(Additional reporting by Sakari Suoninen and Rauli Laitinen in Helsinki, and Georgina Prodhan in Frankfurt; Editing by Quentin Bryar, Paul Bolding)

Apple's 3G iPhone Costs About $173 To Build, iSuppli Estimates

The original 8 GB iPhone cost $226 to build. iSuppli attributed the 23% decrease to component price declines.

Apple's second-generation iPhone is significantly less expensive to build than the older model, a preliminary analysis released Tuesday shows.

The latest iPhone, which improves upon the original version by including support for wireless carriers' faster 3G data networks, carries hardware and manufacturing costs of $173, iSuppli said. The dollar amount is an estimate, given that Apple isn't scheduled to release the new iPhone until July 11.

The original 8 GB iPhone cost $226 to build, which is $53 more than the latest smartphone. iSuppli attributed the 23% decrease to component price declines.

iSuppli believes AT&T (NYSE: T), the exclusive wireless carrier for the iPhone in the United States, will pay Apple about $300 per iPhone. In addition, Apple will get the money the carrier charges customers for the iPhone. For the baseline model, that would be $199 with a two-year service contract.

"This means that with subsidies from carriers, Apple will be selling the 8 GB version of the second-generation iPhone to carriers at an effective price of about $499 per unit, the same as the original product," iSuppli analyst Jagdish Rebello said in a statement.

Collecting as much money as possible for hardware is important for Apple, given that the company will no longer get a portion of the carrier's revenue from service subscriptions, iSuppli said. Apple typically prices the iPhone and iPod about 50% more than materials and manufacturing costs. Therefore, the profit margin is expected to be higher for the new iPhone than the older model.

As with all electronics products, the 3G iPhone's material costs are expected to decrease over time as component prices decline. By 2009, the cost of building the device will drop to $149, iSuppli said. If the hardware remained unchanged, the iPhone would cost $126 to build in 2012.

iSuppli said it performed its "virtual teardown" using the insights of its analysis team to develop estimates of iPhone content, suppliers, and costs. ISuppli normally would wait until it could get its hands on the device. "However, due to strong popular demand for information on iPhone costs and pricing, iSuppli has decided to release a preliminary analysis to the public," the firm said.

ISuppli's teardown analysis does not represent the full cost of the device. Elements missing include the cost of software development, shipping and distribution, packaging and miscellaneous accessories included with each phone.