Zemanta, a very useful utility and a wonderful tool which helps you write emails like news articles with ease. When used with WordPress, it also enhances your blog posts by adding useful links and images to your blog posts automatically. Currently works only with Y!Mail, Gmail and WordPress.
Zemanta finds and adds(only if you wish) interesting images, relevant links and related articles to your emails and/or blog posts very fast.

Here is how it works

1. Once installed, a small button is added to the top of your email and also in your WordPress editor.
2. Zemanta goes through what you have written and finds you related articles, relevant links and interesting images that can be used in your emails and posts.

Why you should use Zemanta with WordPress?

1. For various reasons, most of us add images to blog content. Zemanta finds relevant images from all the available Photo Sharing sites relevant to your blog content. You will avoid searching and uploading images to your site.
2. Zemanta automatically suggests the targeted tags you need for search engine optimization. Just click your selections and you’re done.
3. Adds other important links based on the content so that your readers have all the important links in one place.
4. Attract more readers to your post by linking to similar topics on other sites.
5. Copyright issues are taken care by Zemanta.
6. I’m sure you normally spend 20-30 min/post approx. to find related links, related stories, images and tags for your posts. Zemanta does the same in 2-3 seconds.

Why you should use Zemanta with Gmail or Yahoo Mail?

1. Your emails will have professional look with images and related content.
2. Receivers can find other related content easily.
3. You can easily add images from your Flickr account or from others. Easy way of sharing photographs along with your email.
4. Informative report-style interface with links to other points on Internet for further reading.
5. Persuasive professional introductions with easy addition of personal images and links to social networks.

Download Zemanta Firefox plugin
Download Zemanta IE Plugin. Installation Instructions here!
Download Zemanta WordPress Plugin
Download Zemanta plugins for Live Writer, Movable Type and Drupal here.

Want to see how it works before installing it? See the Demo.

Technorati Tags: Emails, Zemanta, Tools, Utilities, Blogging, Plugins

Introduction
It’s a well known fact that IE 6 does not render all the kinds of web pages correctly. Also, one cannot ignore the fact that IE stands tall in the web browser market share. It’s the leader in the web browser market.

IE 7 has lot of improvements over it’s predecessor IE 6. But IE 6 is still widely used all over than the IE 7. Most of the corporate networks in the world still use IE 6 and not IE 7. Attribute this to the Windows operating system, which has a wider reach in the OS segment. Among the Windows OS’s, XP is the OS which runs on most of the desktops. The browser which comes along with these OS’s is IE 6. This is where the problem lies.

So, how do you reach out to your readers who still use IE 6?
Is there a solution for it?

I believe the only solution is User Education. This could be achieved through the IE Warning plugin.

Features
Once the plugin is activated, the plugin shows the blog visitors a splash message on the screen indicating a message that IE does not render web pages correctly and they may want to download Opera and Mozilla Firefox browsers. Of course, for the users who like IE 7, they may include a message to upgrade their browsers to IE 7.

You may customize the message and you can also set the least version of IE for which the message should not occur. That means, if the reader’s IE version is lesser than the specified version, the message is displayed. Otherwise, not.

Functionality
Download and Install the plugin as usual into your WordPress directory. Activate it. Go to the settings and customize it. You are done.

Pros

• The chances of your readers switching to Mozilla or Opera are higher.
• The readership of your blog will certainly increase when the pages are rendered correctly.
• By encouraging your viewers to browsers like Mozilla Firefox, you would be increasing the reach of the Open Source software. You are indirectly a contributor to the Open Source community.

Cons
The message is displayed as a splash screen which may violate some of the Ad Network’s policies. But the author of the plugin is planning to change this. Rather than having a splash message, he may include a small window attached to the page on top of the browser just below the toolbar. So, that’s something we have to wait for until the next release.

Thanks to Bobrik, who is the author of the plugin. Visit the plugin home page here.

Download IE Warning WordPress Plugin

I only expressed my views as an IE 6 user and this need not be a generalized view. Let me know your thoughts and comments about the plugin and this article in particular.

Technorati Tags: IE, Internet Explorer, WordPress Plugins

You can WIN

There are many ways one can win. Win what? Well, there are many things that can be won. You can win Wealth, you can win Trust, you can win Goodwill, you can win Lotteries and you can win Hearts!

You can also win PRIZES and above all, you can WIN READERS!!! Yes, there is an easy way of winning a Prize.

All you need to do is to comment on this article, or, for that matter any other article on this site and you stand a chance to win.

Benefits:

1. You stand a chance to win a Prize.
2. If you are a WordPress blogger and you use a CommentLuv plug-in, you also increase your reader base.
3. Get to know about other bloggers.

Why this Site?

1. This site is a registered member of CommentLuv.com and is also a part of the contest.
2. All the users who comment on this site, stand a chance to win, provided, they fulfill the eligibility criteria. So, ensure that YOU comment here.
3. This site also uses CommentLuv plug-in. If you also have the same plug-in, your last post will be displayed here. Thereby, you increase your site visits.

Are you eligible?

1. Make sure you register at CommentLuv.com to be eligible for winning the prize.
2. You need to enter few words about yourself. In other words, give a description in the profile while registering.
3. Please do not spam. You may be banned.

Do you also own a blog?

If you own a blog, you can also participate in this contest and ask your users to comment so that they can win. Here are the requirements for you to be eligible.

1. You need to have your site URL registered and verified at CommentLuv.com
2. Give a description for your profile.
3. You need to have an active CommentLuv plug-in with the latest version 2.5.4.
4. Your CommentLuv settings must have click tracking and heart info box enabled. Of course, you do not have to bother if you have the latest version installed. It will take care of this.
5. Enter your CommentLuv member ID in the Settings page of your blog. You will find this ID when you register at CommentLuv.com.
6. You should make a post on your site informing your users about this contest. Just like I did.
7. Inform your users that they should not SPAM.

All set? Follow the links below as your first step towards winning the prize.

Register here

More Details