How To Use Pinterest Analytics For Your Business

You can use all the Pinterest tools available to make your boards stand out from the crowd but if you just set your content out there and forget about it, how will you know what’s working or if anyone is even viewing and repining your content? Measuring the success of your efforts is essential to the successful use of Pinterest for businesses and that’s where Pinterest Analytics come in. With the analytic tools featured here, you can gather as much or as little information as you need. Whether it’s for business use or personal use, you’ll be sure to know every detail about your Pinterest activity.

1. PinReach

To get started with PinReach, sign up on the registry page. There are three ways to sign in; Use your Twitter or Facebook account or if you prefer, use your email address. If you use a social site to connect, you’ll need to allow the app to access your account.

Simply enter the Pinterest username you want retrieve stats for. Don’t worry if you don’t know your username, the image will show you where to find it when you’re logged into Pinterest. Press “Create” to generate the analytics.

You’ll now be directed to a neat dashboard of your Pinterest analytics. The first section will be your “Pinterest Score History” which shows how many viewers were on your account and viewed your boards. I have been a long time Pinterest user so I’ve become an intermittent Pinterest user and as a result, you can see my view count is pretty low.

The next section shows your “Repin” counts and if you hover over the colored dot, it will display what the pin was and how many repins it has.

Similar to that is the “Popular Boards” section. It displays the most popular board repins and counts. If you hover over the column, you’ll see the board name and the repin total. The board shown here with over 4K repins is a Pinterest community board. This is a great example of the potential reach and growth that’s possible with having a community board.

In the “Boards” tab, you’ll see a summary view of all the major stats for the individual boards from most popular on down.

The “Pins” tab gives a beautiful display of the most popular pins with a color image and a repin count in the lower corner.

In the Influential followers tab, you’ll see who repins your content most along with how many times they repined it. Use this section as a good place to start recognizing or thanking people who spread your content.

2. Pinerly

Pinerly is a new analytics tool that is currently by invite only. To get an invite, you enter your email address to be put on the waiting list. The more people you share the Pinerly link with, the sooner you’ll get your invite. Once you receive access to Pinerly, follow the directions in the email to register your Pinterest account and gain access to the Pinerly dashboard.

Pinerly works differently than some of the other analytic tools; You need to create a Campaign to begin tracking your analytics. You do this the same way you create any pin by uploading an image either from a website or from a file.

Enter the URL and description then click “Pinerly It” to enable the click-through tracking. This isn’t creating an advertisement, it looks just like any other pin with the added ability to easily track click-throughs, repins, and likes.

The “Pinalytics” tab will show you real time information and compare your campaigns against each other. The comparison is helpful to see if a campaign has little or no clicks. If so, you can make adjustments to the images, description, time, and board it was posted to until you achieve your goal for that campaign.

The “Suggested” pins tab is excellent for finding new and creative pins direct from the dashboard. There are 7 categories to choose from with new pins added to each regularly. Pinning new content from various sources will help your Pinfluence scores increase and keep your visitors engaged.

The “Follow” tab features a place to follow interesting pinners from 19 different categories! You’re sure to make some great connections and find some great new content to share on your boards! P.S. I told you Pinterest isn’t just for women!

Future features of this platform are set to include scheduling your pins so you can post at peak hours automatically, not just when you have time. Pinerly is a great source for analytics and so much more!

You now have some great tools and ideas for using them to your business advantage, so head over to the links and see which analytics tool will best fit your style and start measuring your Pinterest success. Do you use Pinerly or Pinreach? Tell us about your experience!

Via maketecheasier.com

Windows 8 to Shove Aero Away

For all the fans of Aero, a user interface improvement that has been introduced in Windows Vista and optimized in Windows 7, it’s a sad, sad day. Microsoft believes that Aero has taken its toll, and it’s time for a newer, cleaner interface which will be introduced in Windows 8, a new version of its operating system that will come out this fall. As far as we know, Microsoft will be releasing a new, more efficient interface in the final build of Windows 8. We assume that there will be some touch-ups done to the interface, making it slightly more efficient than what we’ve seen in the consumer preview.

What Will Microsoft Change in Windows 8′s Interface?

Windows 8′s user interface will still include a very smooth layout, but won’t include as much eye candy as Windows 7 did. The drop shadow that’s been around since XP will disappear, and so will the semi-transparent title bar as seen in the Aero interface. Only the taskbar will remain sort of transparent. To preserve program compatibility, window content remain with a light chrome background.Microsoft claims that this background will help keep attention away from the surrounding UI and focus everything on the content of all windows. It was their aim with Aero in the first place.

The new Windows 8 interface will still be smooth and eye candy-ish, but windows will no longer have rounded corners. Instead, the new operating system will have squared corners on all of its dialogs and windows.

According to Microsoft, you won’t get much of a shock when using the new interface. If it’s anything like the consumer preview showed, then we can attest to this. The interface isn’t much different, except for the fact that you won’t be barraged with visual effects. The harmony between the pleasant visual style of Windows 8′s desktop environment and the efficiency of its cleanliness is sufficient to make the transition smoother than one would otherwise expect when being told that Microsoft dumped Aero.

The interesting thing about this is that the consumer preview still calls the UI “Aero.” However, this is subject to change as future builds might do away with the nomenclature.

Why is Windows 8′s UI Different?

Today is a world in which people are moving away from desktop computers and are starting to use more low-power devices like netbooks, tablets, and smartphones. Because of this new age, Microsoft has chosen to do away with some of the demanding parts of interfaces seen in previous versions of its operating system. One of the reasons Windows 8 is changing has to do with the overwhelming amount of visual effects that would otherwise have slowed down these devices. ARM tablets don’t exactly have very powerful processors designed to run Windows 7′s heavy interface. Still, there’s another reason why the interface has changed…

Windows 8′s Metro interface needed something to accompany it. In order for Metro not to come off as too much of a shock, Windows 8′s desktop environment makes a slight tendency towards showing windows as squares, which resemble the tiles you see inside of the “Start” screen. Other elements of the desktop interface are said to include ways to “unify” the desktop and Metro experience as much as possible, even if the desktop can’t really become so touch friendly.

 

via maketecheasier.com

All About The Raspberry Pi Computer

 

The Raspberry Pi is, simply put, an ultra-cheap complete computer that can run Linux, Fedora and Arch Linux. It was developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to get the youth of today to try their hand at engineering, bringing back reminiscences of the BBC Microcomputer system which was also designed with similar objectives in mind.

 

Fact: Raspberry Pi devices are sold as Model A and Model B. These are cultural references to the original models of the BBC Microcomputer.

Functioning on a credit-card sized board, it is a bare-bones PC to which you can connect a TV, keyboard and mouse, and on which you will be able to surf the Web, play Full-HD movies and do almost anything you would want to on a "normal PC" - provided you have the initiative and patience to make it work.

An electronics enthusiast or hobbyist or even a student can easily make use of this computer to build a lot of things: Linux Desktop, Gaming Device, Home Media Center, the list goes on. As more of these boards are shipped out, you can hope to see an even greater variety of uses and functions being executed by the Raspberry Pi computer. And since all the code is open source, it makes it so much easier on the pocket.

The Tech behind it

The Raspberry Pi will run Linux kernel-based operating systems like Debian GNU/Linux, Fedora, Arch Linux, etc. Iceweasel, Calligra Suite, and Python are planned to be bundled with the Raspberry Pi.

Perhaps the most important thing that differentiates the Raspberry Pi is its computing power. This 25$ Single Board Computer (SBC) has as much oomph as the original XBOX did--demos showed the Raspberry Pi handling Quake 3 at 1080p. Now Quake 3 is a game that made even my Intel P3 choke back in 2000.

The Raspberry Pi runs on a 700Mhz ARM11 CPU supported by a Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU. This SBC has a total of 256MB SDRAM which it generously shared with the GPU. The board is powered by a 5 volt microUSB or GPIO header and consumes between 500mA (2.5W) and 700mA (3.5W) depending on the models. The SoC that hosts the CPU, GPU, DSP and SDRAM is from Broadcom (BCM2835).

Another thing to note about the Raspberry Pi is that it does not come with a real-time clock, so an OS must use a network time server, or ask the user for time information at boot time to get access to time and date info for file time and date stamping. However, a real time clock (such as the DS1307) with battery backup can be easily added via the I2C interface.

Arduino vs Raspberry Pi

Starting from the radically different naming schemes--masculine Italian name vs sweet fruit pie--both these boards are significantly different in a lot of things. For one, the Arduino is an open source single board microcontroller while the Raspberry Pi is a single board computer. Ask any electronics enthusiast and he will tell you why it is always better to take the Arduino if this is your first time dabbling with electronics. On the other hand, if you have already dipped your toes in this field you could go ahead for the Raspberry Pi. Below you can find a chart that compares the two boards. It should help you make a good decision if you are new to this field.

Arduino	Raspberry Pi
Extremely easy to get working	Less easier to get working
A typical embedded system with easy-to-develop software	Complete computer running Linux
Support is available almost everywhere	Support is currently limited but should increase over time
More suitable for controlling hardware (robotics)	Features an extremely powerful GPU and can handle hi-def content
Umpteen different kits are available	Very few kits are available now
Low power consumption, capable of even microamps with very low clock	Comparatively higher power consumption that the Arduino
Verdict: While the Raspberry Pi is a great high performance option, the Arduino is a good general use board

Different Models

There are 2 models of Raspberry Pi currently featured at the foundation. The Model A is the base model that comes with a lower power profile and is less expensive.

The Model B is slightly more expensive and fully featured. It features an Ethernet port along with 2 USB ports in addition to all the features on Model A.

	Model A	Model B
Price	$25	$35
SoC	Broadcom BCM2835 (CPU, GPU, DSP, SDRAM)
CPU	700 Mhz ARM11 Family
GPU	Broadcom VideoCore IV 256MB(Shared)
Memory	256 MB SDRAM
USB 2.0 Ports	1	2
Video Output	Composite RCA, HDMI
Audio Output	3.5mm Jack, HDMI
Onboard Storage	SD/MMC/SDIO card slot
Network	None	10/100 Ethernet (RJ45)
Power Rating	500 mA(2.5W)	700mA (3.5W)

Model B was launched first because the Raspberry Pi foundation saw a larger demand for those models.

Launch Plan

The first launch of Model Bs is aimed at software and hardware enthusiasts, makers, teachers and others who want to build exciting things with the Raspberry Pi before the official educational launch, which will happen later in 2012.

They have done this phased launch to ensure that when the Raspberry Pi is launched for the educational market there will already be a community of experienced people in place who would provide support for the newbies. This will also ensure that more mature software will be available for children to use.

Knowing Your Linux System Via the Command Line

Every Linux user will tell you the same thing: know your computer. Mine always works not because there are no bugs, but because I know enough to identify their sources every time and correct them. And one of the best ways to monitor your system is through the command line. There are some great GUI for this, but the command line has the advantage of working on every computer, and it can easily be put into a script.

I propose to you five great commands for:

1. Knowing your kernel
2. Finding hidden processes
3. Listing running modules
4. Checking disk usage
5. Locating binaries and configuration files

1. Knowing your kernel

The kernel is the core of your Linux system. It is frequently updated, and knowing its version may be important for compatibility reasons. Certain programs may require a certain version in order to work properly. It may also be important for some peripherals and modules. As an example, my Ubuntu is based on the official kernel 3.0.0. So far, the latest version is 3.2.5.

To know exactly what kernel you are using, its version, and your computer architecture, use the command:

uname -mrs

With this example, we can clearly see that I am using the official kernel, version 3.0.0. The i686stands for my computer architecture. Here it means that I am using a 32-bit computer. On the other hand, x86_64 would have indicated a 64-bit architecture.

2. Finding hidden processes

To know what processes are currently running on your machine, most people would recommend the command “top“. Joshua wrote a very good article about it last year at Linux Running Too Slow? Here’s How to Find the Cause. Personally, I find this command very useful, and as Joshua explains, it can even be used to monitor the RAM usage.

However, I am sometimes too lazy to search in the list provided by “top“, and if I already know the name of the program running, I recommend the combination:

ps aux | grep [name of the program]

This will have the effect of listing all the current processes, even the smallest ones that will not be picked up immediately by “top“, and then filtering them according to your keywords.

This method will instantly give you the name of the user responsible for this process, the PID number, the CPU usage percentage, the memory usage, the name of the process, etc.

As a side note, if you don’t know how to kill a running process:

kill [PID number]

OR

killall [name of the process]

3. Listing running modules

Modules appeared in version 2.0 of the Linux kernel. They are very useful, and you can consider them as drivers that you can load and remove from the memory. As an example, if you are using a laptop, you probably have a WiFi card. The corresponding modules for that card are probably loaded automatically at start up. If you want to save some battery, you may want to stop the card when you are not using the Internet. Removing the corresponding driver from the memory will then give you a little bit more memory (and you will also be sure that your card is disabled).

But first you need to know which modules are currently running. The command for that is

lsmod

This command is simply the combination of “ls” for listing files in a directory and “mod ” for module (I know, what a surprise).

As a complement to your knowledge, you can add modules with the command

modprobe [name of the module]

and remove them via

rmmod [name of the module]

These two commands have to be launched by a super-user.

4. Checking disk usage

Keeping an eye on your system’s volumes can save you a lot of trouble. You may want to be sure that there is always enough room in /root, and remember to periodically clean your /tmp. For that purpose, there are two great commands:

lsblk

and

df -h

lsblk displays a tree representation of the partitions of your computer. It also gives you some useful information about the size of these partitions, their type, and their mountpoint.

However, even if lsblk is more visual, I still prefer to use df -h. The latter gives you more information about the remaining space, the size of the partitions, and the percentage of memory in use.

You may have noticed that the command df alone will give you the size in bytes, which might be very hard to interpret. The option -h stands for human readable and gives you the amount of data in gigabytes, megabytes, or whatever is the easiest for a human to understand.

5. Locating binaries and configuration files

One of the first things that confused me when I left Windows a few years ago was that the file system was completely different on Linux. There is no such thing as Program Files, or a single directory for all the configuration files. But it may be very useful to know where these binaries are. For that purpose, the command:

whereis

is among the best. Similarly to

whoami

which gives you the name of the current user, or

whatis

which explains a command quickly, whereis can locate binaries, manual entries, and various configuration files. Its syntax is also very simple:

whereis [name]

In the example above, I asked where Firefox was, and the command returned the location for its binary and various directories, as well as the manual page.

But one of the greatest strengths of whereis is its ability to locate standalone configuration files. Here is another example, where I was searching for rc configuration files:

Such options can become very useful, especially if you are not using Ubuntu but another distribution like Archlinux which requires a serious amount of time to edit these files.

Conclusion

With these commands in your pocket, you will be able to see a little more of what is going on in your system. If you still prefer to have a GUI for that, I would still recommend things like Baobab for the files and Gnome System Monitor in general.

 

Via MakeTechEasier.com