If you are using Google AdSense on your website, here's some very good news.

You will soon be able to track visitor clicks on your AdSense ads using Google Analytics reports.

These new reports in Analytics have enough details to help you exactly measure AdSense performance on every single page of your website.

Google dropped hints on AdSense - Analytics integration some two years but the program has finally entered the beta phase as revealed by a post on GoogleCache (offline now).

Luckily the story remained in FeedDemon's cache and picking from there, following is a summary of AdSense related data that you'll be able to track via Google Analytics:

1. The number of times AdSense ads were clicked on any given web page.

2. AdSense revenue generated per page for clicks mentioned in #1.

3. You'll also know the CTR and CPM for all web pages - no need to create individual URL channels in your AdSense dashboard.

4. “Top AdSense Referrers” - this is the most interesting report as it helps you know about revenue made per referring websites.

Let's take an example. Assume two sites - digg.com and cnn.com - have linked to a page on your website and are sending some referral traffic. Now Analytics will tell you exactly how much AdSense revenue you are making through traffic from each of these sites.

This report has enormous potential as it lends a “measurable” value to each incoming link. Some sites could even use this as a replacement for affiliate programs.

All the above information is based on screenshots that were shared by Google Cache but that story is no longer available on the web.

Kimberly Palmer at US News has published some nice tips on blogging based on opinions of other successful bloggers. Two points that stand out:

1. Get some traffic before you put ads in the blog - “Wait until you have 100,000 page views a month, because before that, any monetization will just make coffee money.”

2. Stick to a niche but widen your focus - “Instead of picking a niche like diet tips, where there's only so much you can write, instead pick a general way of looking at life or an area of interest that you're passionate about.”

Although Blu-ray drives are the flavor of the season but their adoption has been slow due to high costs. This has forced consumers to look out for DVD burners for now and wait till prices of Blu-ray drives drop to reasonable levels. SATA drives have taken over their IDE counterparts for better bandwidth. Plextor makes great burners and hopefully PX-810SA is no exception.

Plextor PX-810SA DVD Writer specifications :

• Dimensions : 5.7? x 7.1? x 1.6?
• Type : DVD/RW, DVD-RAM
• Read speed : 40x(CD), 16x(DVD)
• Write speed : 40x(CD), 18x(DVD-R), 10x(DVD-R DL)
• Buffer size : 2MB
• Buffer underrun protection : BURN-Proof
• Approx. price : $80

The Plextor PX-180SA DVD Writer are known for their quality and this one is no exception and has good build quality. The drive comes with a SATA connector, an upgrade over IDE connectors which were used in older drives. This allows the drive to use higher bandwidth which translates to greater data throughput. The drive comes bundled with Roxio Easy Media Creator 9, MyDVD Video Authoring, CinePlayer DVD-Video Playback, BackUP MyPC Archive and backup softwares. That is a great software bundle, rarely seen with any DVD burners. The drive supports almost all CD/DVD formats for both reading and writing apart from the HD formats. The drive unfortunately is not region free and hence you are bound to face problem while viewing movies from a different region. The region can only be changes upto a maximum of five times. Another downside with the drive is the inability to set read speed, although most of you won't even bother to do that. The performance of the drive is good but leaves room for improvement. The time taken by the drive to burn a dual layer disc was around 21.5 minutes. The time to rip a dual layer DVD was exactly half of that. Burning a single layer DVD took around 8 minutes which is on the slower side. Ripping a CD took close to 2.5 minutes. Hence it does not offer top class performance but good enough for daily use. Pros :

• Great software bundle
• Good performer
• SATA compatible

Cons :

• Not region free
• Fixed read speed
• Slightly expensive

Final Thoughts The Plextor PX-810SA DVD Writer is a reliable and a decent performing DVD writer. The great software bundle also adds to the cost of the burner. This is a good DVD burner to invest in if you are looking for reliability and good performance. My Rating : 3.25/5

Large LCD monitors can be tough to find due to relatively fewer number of manufacturers that are interested in this category. The main reason to it being the high costs and hence fewer buyers. Gateway did not care about all that when it released its XHD3000 LCD monitor which bears an expensive price tag.

Gateway XHD3000 specifications :

• Display type : Flat panel display / TFT active matrix
• Dimensions : 27.5? x 9.5? x 22.2?
• Diagonal size : 30?
• Maximum resolution : 2560 x 1600
• Color support : 24-bit
• Response time : 6ms
• Contrast ratio : 1000 : 1
• Signal Input : HDMI, DVI-D, VGA
• HDCP, PIP, ExtremeHD, Gateway DXP Audio
• Remote control
• Approx. price : $1500

The Gateway XHD3000 is a widescreen 30? LCD monitor that has loads of features especially connectivity options. The price is very steep and should only be considered by those who need its extra features.

The design of the XHD3000 is pretty slim and sleek and has a dark grey one inch thick bezel. The screen can be rotated by 30 degrees to either the left or right or back. But there is no option to adjust the height or swivel the screen. It comes with inbuilt speakers to be able to listen to audio from any device connected to it. The speakers are detachable and the image on right shows the display when they are attached at the bottom. The stand feels sturdy and solid.

There are few controls to play around with on the display. You can change the brightness and the audio from the OSD controls. The display has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 which is great for viewing HD movies but text appears very tiny. Now come the plethora of connectivity options that you will not find on any other display. It has almost all the ports you can think of. VGA, DVI, HDMI, S-Video, optical audio it has it all.

To be able to run the display at such high resolution, you will need to invest in a high-end graphics card else your resolution will be capped at 1920 x 1200. Performance is absolutely amazing with the display. It has highly accurate levels of color and sharpness. The speakers are also good and produce decent sound. The high resolution is a boon when watching movies and can also run multiple windows side by side with ease.

Pros :

• High resolution
• Huge number of connectivity options
• Great performance
• Good enough speakers

Cons :

• Expensive

Final Thoughts

The Gateway XHD3000 LCD Monitor is one of the best LCD displays in the market but it comes with a hefty price. Although the display can not be termed overpriced as it has huge number of ports and excellent performance but it surely isn't one that will appeal to the masses. If you want such high resolution or the connectivity options it offers, then this one surely makes the cut.

My Rating : 3.5/5

Large LCD monitors can be tough to find due to relatively fewer number of manufacturers that are interested in this category. The main reason to it being the high costs and hence fewer buyers. Gateway did not care about all that when it released its XHD3000 LCD monitor which bears an expensive price tag.

Gateway XHD3000 specifications :

• Display type : Flat panel display / TFT active matrix
• Dimensions : 27.5? x 9.5? x 22.2?
• Diagonal size : 30?
• Maximum resolution : 2560 x 1600
• Color support : 24-bit
• Response time : 6ms
• Contrast ratio : 1000 : 1
• Signal Input : HDMI, DVI-D, VGA
• HDCP, PIP, ExtremeHD, Gateway DXP Audio
• Remote control
• Approx. price : $1500

The Gateway XHD3000 is a widescreen 30? LCD monitor that has loads of features especially connectivity options. The price is very steep and should only be considered by those who need its extra features. The design of the XHD3000 is pretty slim and sleek and has a dark grey one inch thick bezel. The screen can be rotated by 30 degrees to either the left or right or back. But there is no option to adjust the height or swivel the screen. It comes with inbuilt speakers to be able to listen to audio from any device connected to it. The speakers are detachable and the image on right shows the display when they are attached at the bottom. The stand feels sturdy and solid. There are few controls to play around with on the display. You can change the brightness and the audio from the OSD controls. The display has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 which is great for viewing HD movies but text appears very tiny. Now come the plethora of connectivity options that you will not find on any other display. It has almost all the ports you can think of. VGA, DVI, HDMI, S-Video, optical audio it has it all. To be able to run the display at such high resolution, you will need to invest in a high-end graphics card else your resolution will be capped at 1920 x 1200. Performance is absolutely amazing with the display. It has highly accurate levels of color and sharpness. The speakers are also good and produce decent sound. The high resolution is a boon when watching movies and can also run multiple windows side by side with ease. Pros :

• High resolution
• Huge number of connectivity options
• Great performance
• Good enough speakers

Cons :

• Expensive

Final Thoughts The Gateway XHD3000 LCD Monitor is one of the best LCD displays in the market but it comes with a hefty price. Although the display can not be termed overpriced as it has huge number of ports and excellent performance but it surely isn't one that will appeal to the masses. If you want such high resolution or the connectivity options it offers, then this one surely makes the cut. My Rating : 3.5/5