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My Adsense Earnings Went Up After Using SEMRush - It Really Works

I was able to increase my adsense earnings this month. Since then I am continually using Semrush to search for highly targeted keywords with high cpc. - See more at: http://techystudent.blogspot.com/2015/03/my-adsense-earnings-went-up-after-using.html#sthash.w8JswGQL.dpuf

Amazon Echo Reviews 2015 - Read Before Buying

Amazon Echo Reviews Pros and Cons
Buy Amazon Echo here - Official Store

I requested an Echo (Alexa) in late 2014 and Amazon sent me an invitation to purchase one in February. I've used it daily since then. This review is going to sound a bit contradictory. I love her. I hate her, I love her. Let me start off by saying that Alexa, while I do love her, is at times about 50% smarter than a bulldog. Her IQ is somewhere between 25 and 160 depending on what you've asked her. You will very quickly learn how to talk to her in a way that she will understand and it's not unlike speaking to a small frustrating toddler. Alexa, when was George Washington born? George Washington was born...blah blah Alexa stop. There were rumors his teeth were wood but these turned out to be false, ALEXA stop speaking! There will be many times she will not understand what you're saying which can be both frustrating and hilarious. Alexa, put tomatoes on my shopping list. I've put potatoes onto your shopping list....Well, guess I'm eatin potatoes. That said, now that I've learned how to speak to the Echo it usually does exactly what I want it to do. I think the echo is well worth the price Amazon is asking and I'm thinking of getting a second one for the living room.

Amazon Echo Reviews Pros:

Amazon has done a great job updating the Echo and adding features to it frequently. Since my purchase, they've added traffic reports, sports scores, Pandora, IFTT, voice control over the smart lights and appliances in your home, iTunes support, Spotify, and new fun features like rolling dice, and Simon says.

You can use the optional echo remote to control the volume or speak commands. It works really well from a good distance (I've tried 20-30 ft). I use it frequently and feel like it's worth the additional cost.

- The Speaker sounds great with music and gets plenty loud.
- You can teach the Echo how to understand you better using a Voice Training feature in the app.
- It integrates with Audible! All I have to say is "Alexa, play my book", and it starts off from where I was listening on my phone or PC. You can also say "Alexa go back" and it will go back 30 seconds.
- Bluetooth streaming is seamless. Just say "Alexa pair Bluetooth" and you'll be connected in 30 seconds.
- It does a great job at finding the music you want to play quickly. "Alexa play kids music", "Alexa play my 90s station on Pandora". "Alexa play American Pie".... playing American pie by Don McLean.
- Using "Simon Says" you can make Alexa repeat anything you say.
- I love the shopping list. Throughout the day my wife will add things to the shopping list as she thinks about them and then when I go to the store the list is on my Echo phone app and I don't have try to remember what she wants.
- One of my favorite things to do is mess with my kids using Alexa. My son will go into the kitchen and ask her questions. I sit in a different room and speak into the remote asking it to answer other random questions or I tell it to play country music and he gets super confused. I'll say things like "Add Landon needs to brush his teeth to the to do list." and when Alexa repeats what I've said he jumps. I find this a non-stop source of enjoyment that I am probably going to pay for one day.
- The Echo has the ability to start and stop timers and alarms. Just say "Alexa set an alarm for 8 am", or "Alexa set a timer for 15 minutes". I find the timer very useful in the kitchen when I'm cooking more than one thing.
- You can pause, stop, skip, and start music with your voice and it works really well. You can also control the volume with your voice by saying "Alexa turn the volume up." or "Alexa volume 5".
- The jokes and random facts it can answer are really fun and can also be very helpful. Every time someone comes over I'll ask it questions like "How many teaspoons are in a cup?", what's 962 x 47?, or "How much does an Adult Elephant weight?" and the Echo can usually answer me.
+ They built in a lot of funny Easter eggs. You can say "Alexa Beam me up", "Alexa I love you", or "Alexa do you find me attractive?" and you'll get pretty funny responses.
- There are lots of other random things it can do. Give you sports scores, tell you the weather, inform you of traffic conditions, order stuff on Amazon (thankfully not enabled by default), and read the news.
- The Amazon Echo SDK is coming soon! That means software developers will be able to make new apps that work with the Echo.

Amazon Echo Reviews Cons

- It's not portable. You have to keep it plugged in at all times. They should come out with a wireless rechargeable version.
- I wish you could ask the Echo to do more than one thing without repeating it's name "Alexa". For example I'd like to say "Alexa add milk, eggs, olive oil, and onions to my shopping list" and have it add 4 items to the list instead of 1.
- Currently the Echo only supports English. It will translate words for you but it puts them into your Echo app because it can't speak other languages.
- It would be great if they gave you a second keyword that would let Alexa listen until you tell her to stop listening. Sometimes I don't speak fast enough and the Echo thinks I'm done talking before I've finished my sentence.
- The shopping list is only stored in the cloud, not on your phone. I can't always get an internet connection in my grocery store, especially when I'm in the back of the store. When I lose the internet I suddenly can't access my shopping list. As a work-around you can use IFTT to copy the shopping list to another app on your phone. That said I still think they should copy the list to your phone in the echo app because not everyone is going to set up IFTT.
- When asking questions, the Echo is only good with facts. I can ask it "What is the capital of France?" but I can't ask questions like "How do I substitute Baking soda for baking powder?" or "Read me the next instructions for this fried chicken recipe.". I'd like if they expanded it's question answering capability in the future. Food and drink recipes should be on their short list of features to add.
- I'd like if the Echo had an equalizer built in. Some of my audiobooks sound just fine but others can sound muddy and I'd like to be able to bring out the voice by tweaking the mids, treble, and base on the speaker.

In my opinion, the kitchen is the perfect location for the Echo. We spend a lot of time in the kitchen and I love listening to music or my Audio books when I'm cooking. My hands are usually full and being able to control the music with my voice is very convenient. Overall this is a fantastic device. Amazon has proven they are committed to the Echo by frequently pushing free updates to it so I have no doubt that it's going to become even more useful as time goes on. Great job Amazon! Not every gadget you put out is perfect but you've got a real winner on your hands with this one.

Buy Amazon Echo here - Official Store

GoPro HERO4 Silver Review - Personal Experience


 Buy GoPro Hero4 at Amazon -Click Here

GoPro HERO4 Silver Review

 This is the first time I've ever had a high quality camera, so I will write from that perspective. I'm not going to compare it to prior models or break-down a comparison to other action cams. This review is just about the camera itself and how to possibly get the most of it.

First and foremost let me say that the quality of the video is absolutely stunning. I think GoPro cameras are mostly meant for video but even their snap shots can be quite amazing too. I have always liked photography but could never justify spending $600+ on a camera I probably wouldn't even use that often due to bulk and lenses. As a mountain biker, I've found myself craving to get some of the stuff I do on video. I've been wanting to get a GoPro for some time and have put it off until my birthday finally came around and my wife bought me the recently released Hero 4 Silver. I didn't order it on Amazon because I didn't want to wait 2 days to get it haha. We went to a local store and we almost bought the Hero3+ Silver edition but my wife convinced me to get the Hero4 instead and boy am I glad she did!

Let me say off the bat some of the problems I've experienced so far:

1. The battery life absolutely sucks. One battery is not enough to get you through almost any activity. I think it lasts even less time if its hot. You will need at minimum 3 batteries. I will be ordering a Wasabi dual battery charger with 2 extra batteries later today.

2. When uploading your vids and pics to the computer it will ask you if you want to clear the SD card. ALWAYS say no. I've lost pictures and videos that have failed to upload TWICE already. I have no way of knowing if it was due to the software not downloading it or if it just failed to record. So download everything, check to make sure it downloaded everything, and THEN delete afterwards.

3. A 16gb SD card will not be enough. You will need a minimum of 32gb and I would go ahead and just get the 64gb card to have some peace of mind. Also make sure you get a Class 10 SD card. GoPro has recommendations on their website. I have a SanDisk Extreme. It will improve the quality of your videos. Don't go cheap on the SD card, you will regret it.

4. One of the frustrating things about a brand new camera is that all the kinks are going to need to be worked out. GoPro releases some updates for this. So far some people have reported Wifi issues (though I have not had any). Its also difficult to figure out some things because they are new cameras and there is still not a lot of information out there yet. It took me an hour to figure out how to take time lapses. Basically you need to select burst mode and then hit the options button on the side of the camera. That little detail was nowhere to be found.

5. As a newbie camera owner I have come to realize that a lot of the GoPro success is due to amazing video editing. They include a software that makes the process easy enough to do some cool vids but you might end up hitting a wall at some point and yearn for some other editing (and more costly) software. I haven't hit that wall yet but I can see it happening. That being said you will not be able to get away with just buying the camera to get good shots. You will need a lot of accessories and there will be a learning curve to understanding what settings to use and where/how to mount and record. This will cost time and money but is actually a big part of the fun.

 GoPro Hero4 Pros

1. Timelapses are AWESOME and so easy to do. There is a lot of room for creativity with these.
2. Super easy to use once you learn the controls or download the app to remote control from your phone.
3. There is a video + photo mode. This is super cool because you can set the camera to take pics while its also recording video. You can end up with some really awesome photos like this.
4. I love how small and versatile this is. I plan to use this on all my vacations. Its not a burden at all. I also use it for my mountain biking.
5. My friend is a professional photographer and hates the distortion (fish eye effect) but I think its one of the things that makes this camera so versatile. You can capture so much!
6. The sound recording on this was a lot better than I expected.
7. There are tons of accessories to make this camera capable of doings A LOT.

Some advice:

1. Some GoPro (OEM/Official) mounts suck. So make sure you research and read reviews before you buy anything. Sometimes the aftermarket is better and sometimes it isn't.

2. Get a few mounts right away or you won't be able to enjoy the Hero4 the way it was meant to be enjoyed.

3. This bears repeating: Get some more batteries!!!

4. Watch GoPro videos and learn how people get good shots. Watch how they edit their vids to make them interesting. Then proceed to step 5.

5. GET CREATIVE. It is so much fun to try new shots and experiment with this camera. The shooting process and editing process should be FUN for you. Otherwise, you are spending money on a camera you will not use much. Save your money if you're not into that sort of thing.

6. Teach your significant other how to use it. It will make the story you show in your vids better when it comes from multiple perspectives.

You might be asking why is this review a 4 stars if I think its such a great camera. I would gladly give it 5 stars if it wasn't for some of the problems I mentioned above. I think if I didn't have missing/deleted vids and photos due to software/recording error I would have probably given it a 5 star despite some of the other minor issues. Overall, its a great freakin camera and I think for my intended purposes its almost perfect. If you want a convenient lightweight versatile camera for traveling and action/sports, this camera is a must buy. I will update this again after another month or two of use. Maybe by then the issue will be resolved and I will update to 5 stars. Hope this review helps!

Click here to buy GoPro Hero4 at Amazon with discount

LifeProof iPhone 6 (4.7" Version) Case - Fre Series - Soaring Blue (Light Cobalt/ Dark Cobalt)

Buy Lifeproof at Amazon - Click here
 
  • This product was designed for iPhone 6 and is not compatible with other devices, also not compatible with 30-pin to Lightning Adapters or the majority of non-Apple branded USB to Lightning cables
  • FRE: Built-in scratch protector is virtually invisible to the eye and touch; full access to buttons and controls - charge and sync through the micro USB port; profile: slim, sleek design follows your phone's precision lines
  • Water and Snow Proof: Fully submergible to 6.6'/2 m for 1 hour; Sealed from snow, ice, dirt & dust particles - meets or exceeds IP-68 Ingress Protection Rating
  • Shock Proof: Withstands drops from 6.6'/2 m - meets or exceeds MIL STD 810F-516
  • Proper installation of a LifeProof product is important to successful use so please review the installation video and check the user manual to ensure correct installation.
Lifeproof Case Iphone 6 Pros and Cons:

Pros:
Thin, good screen clarity, fully functional buttons, waterproof, shock resistant, fingerprint reader cover works a LOT better than one on the Otterbox Defender. "Free" shipping. At $79.99 for this case, a star player from your local pro hockey, baseball or football team should hand deliver the case to your home.

Cons:
High price, no belt clip as of 12/8/14, a stupid screw in and easy to lose "extension cable" required for most headphones and ear buds required to retain a waterproof seal. You really can't plug most ear buds into this case without the extension cord except for the Bose ear buds. More on that fact in a minute. You also have the "Henry Ford" color choice - any color you want as long as it's black and the fact that only original Apple lightning power cords work due to the small power connection access port. If you bought the Apple branded converter for the iPhone 4s to the lightning power tip, it won't work with this case unless you remove the phone from the case (a total pain).

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