Archive of "Resources" Category
January 6, 2012
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Technology analyst Gartner, Inc. has come out with it’s hottest mobile applications for 2012. All related to high-end devices ($300 average price tag), the pros at Gartner have named their top 10 cutting-edge technologies and trends for next year.
Winning mobile apps are no longer just extensions of online services – they offer specific, unique features that cater to the mobile environment.
“Mobile applications will be a highly competitive marketplace that attracts the interest of many stakeholders,” said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. “Increasingly, mobile applications will define the user experience on high-end devices and device vendors that proactively integrate innovative apps and technologies at the platform layer will have the competitive edge.”
Did you know that mobile apps generate a huge amount of revenue ($15.9 billion expected in 2012), but will also drive hardware sales, advertising spending and technology innovation.
Gartner tells us that more and more big brand companies will shift more of their marketing budget to the mobile channel, and experiment with cutting-edge apps. Companies must focus on the latest technology to help their products and services stand out in a highly competitive marketing environment. Here’s the top ten:
1. Context-aware consumer location-based services that take the user’s location, personal preference, gender, age, profession, intention and more, offering a much more-intelligent user experience than basic location services can. Gartner analysts believe context-aware services are a key trend for mobile apps, and location is a key enabler of that.
2. Mobile social networking, the fastest-growing consumer mobile app category of the 19 currently followed by Gartner.
3. Mobile search - advancing price comparisons product information searches to the next level, where apps allow users to take actions based on the result, such as making a call or reservation, buying a ticket, placing an order, and other similar functions.
4. Improved mobile commerce applications that let consumers “check in” to a store to alert a retailer and the ability to add items to a shopping cart simply by taking a photo of an item or bar code in the physical store.
5. Mobile payment solutions that improve ease-of-use and implementation for users without compromising security.
6. More context-aware apps that improve user experiences by using the information about a person’s interests, intentions, history, environment, activities, schedule, priorities, connections and preferences to anticipate their needs and proactively serve up the most appropriate content, product or service.
7. Object recognition (OR) where the mobile camera, as well as other device sensors, will act as a communication tool when OR capabilities are combined with more-traditional app functions, giving users advanced search capabilities and extended entertainment and productivity options.
8. Mobile instant messaging (MIM) that offers new types of unified communication (UC) clients, provided by over the top (OTT) service providers like Skype.
9. Mobile email – Gartner expects mobile e-mail users worldwide to increase from 354 million in 2009 to more than 700 million by 2014, accounting for 10.6 percent of the global mobile user base.
10. Mobile video applications that work with YouTube and other popular video providers, with mobile device manufacturers integrating HD and 3D capabilities in their high-end devices and bundling content pre-loaded or as free downloads through an app store.
Mobile services are all about the user experience. These exciting app trends will continue to focus on what consumers really want for entertainment, productivity and ease of use. We are looking forward to all the new and exciting apps yet to come this year! What app is on your wish list?
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Marketing, Resources, Small Business, Social Media, Software, Technology, Uncategorized
December 12, 2011
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As we wind down 2011, it is always a good idea to reflect on processes and focus on doing things better for the upcoming year. Have you ever thought about the passwords you use? If you are like most people, children’s birthdays, pet names and even the word “password” rank top of the list. However, these types of passwords make you an easy target for hackers.
In fact the password “Password” ranks first on password management application provider SplashData’s annual list of worst internet passwords, which are ordered by how common they are. (“Passw0rd,” with a numeral zero, isn’t much smarter, ranking 18th on the list.)
The list is somewhat predictable: Sequences of adjacent numbers or letters on the keyboard, such as “qwerty” and “123456,” and popular names, such as “ashley” and “michael,” all are common choices. Other common choices, such as “monkey” and “shadow,” are harder to explain.
Many websites have started a new trend that requires passwords to include both numbers and letters, it makes sense varied choices, such as “abc123″ and “trustno1,” are popular choices.
SplashData created the rankings based on millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers. Here is the complete list:
•1. password
•2. 123456
•3.12345678
•4. qwerty
•5. abc123
•6. monkey
•7. 1234567
•8. letmein
•9. trustno1
•10. dragon
•11. baseball
•12. 111111
•13. iloveyou
•14. master
•15. sunshine
•16. ashley
•17. bailey
•18. passw0rd
•19. shadow
•20. 123123
•21. 654321
•22. superman
•23. qazwsx
•24. michael
•25. football
SplashData CEO Morgan Slain urges businesses and consumers using any password on the list to change them immediately. “Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying common passwords,” Slain says. “Even though people are encouraged to select secure, strong passwords, many people continue to choose weak, easy-to-guess ones, placing themselves at risk from fraud and identity theft.”
The company provided some tips for choosing secure passwords in a statement:
•1. Vary different types of characters in your passwords; include numbers, letters and special characters when possible.
•2. Choose passwords of eight characters or more. Separate short words with spaces or underscores.
•3. Don’t use the same password and username combination for multiple websites. Use an online password manager to keep track of your different accounts.
Are these lists helpful? Do you need to rethink any of your password choices? Contact us and we can help get you on the right track to keeping your accounts safe!
Article by: Zoe Fox
Posted in
Resources, Small Business, Technology, Uncategorized
November 9, 2011
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Screen sharing is wildly popular these days and the team at LogMeIn has a great new app, join.me. This software lets users share screens to review files, images, and documents, demo new products, train staff and conduct meetings anywhere, anytime. You can sign up for free, and get a number of great features at no charge, including basic screen sharing, 250 viewers, share control, multi-monitor capabilities, chat, and the ability to send files along to other users as well.
This free screen sharing tool is very easy to use. For more advanced users, a Pro version of the tool is available for a fee that offers all the functionality of the free service, plus presenter swap, pro desktop app, a personal link and background function, a meeting scheduler, user management and international conference lines.
Using an iPad or iPhone? The join.me app in the iTunes App Store also gives you VoIP solutions that let you have voice conversations as you share your screens. The addition of VoIP means that uses can have voice conversations and talk about the session with no additional hardware required.
This summer, TIME named join.me one of the 50 best Web sites of 2011, calling the free version one of the Web’s ‘great bargains’ and a viable alternative to more complex paid services like WebEx and GoToMeeting. With no registration and a simple click-though process, join.me is definitely worth a try.
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Resources, Small Business, Technology, Uncategorized
September 7, 2011
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Like so many things Facebook, the rumors precede the products by months, and the latest rumor has to do with a Facebook music service – apparently due to become a reality this month with an announcement coming at the company’s F8 Developer Conference on September 22.
Is it real? We think so – after all, FB has been toying with a music platform in its video chat code. Instead of taking the responsibility (and cost) of directly hosting and streaming music and media, we understand that Facebook will work with partners to provide music content.
This approach aligns with Facebook’s game plan to provide a platform for media content as it does for applications and games.
The launch partners are said to be Spotify, Rdio and MOG. Much like Pandora, these services act like virtual radio – letting you listen to nearly unlimited music selections and playlists with limited commercial interruption. After the initial launch, we expect that Facebook will open this platform to other 3rd-party developers, as it has one with other media.
Also in the rumor mill – that FB will extend the music service to include streaming video. Our guess is that many platforms will wait on movies and television until the Netflix shakeout with both pricing and its STARZ relationship settles down. As we’ve seen with Netflix and others, providing content has a lot to do with negotiating deals with studios and record companies – even when working through partners.
Facebook now has nearly 750 million users – are they all hungry to listen to their favorite tunes courtesy of their favorite social media provider? We’ve all seen that a Facebook release does not guarantee overwhelming success – take note of Facebook ‘Places’ and ‘Deals.’
Whether Facebook Music takes off or becomes another fizzle, we have to hand it to them for continuing to bring content and ideas to the social media table. Time will tell.
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Resources, Small Business, Social Media, Technology
May 27, 2011
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The battle of the browsers continues – here are the top five browsers (by number of global users):
- Internet Explorer (IE)
- Firefox
- Chrome
- Safari
- Opera
IE still has a commanding lead, but its followers are dropping, while Firefox users are consistent (not much growth or decline) and Google Chrome users are rising and may overtake Firefox soon. No browser is perfect, and each one has strengths and weaknesses that the individual user has to either accept or find add on features to make it usable for specific functions.
Most of us get comfortable with a specific browser and stick with it – however, there are a number of either new or updated browsers worth looking at if you are ready for a change. ‘s take a look at some of the rising stars.
Chromium is the open source project that developed Chrome, but the the browsers are not identical. For those of you frustrated with the limitations of Chrome, you may want to look at both. Chromium and Google Chrome both offer Search Suggest, but Chromium does not offer PDF Viewer and Adobe Flash Player. To make up for the differences you can access extensions in Chrome’s Web Store in Chromium.
SRWare’s Iron Web browser is also based on Chromium open source, and is similar to Chrome, but reportedly much faster.
RockMelt is one of the truly new browsers available, and is in fact, just in beta version. RockMelt is designed for social media mavens on Facebook, Twitter and email, integrating notifications from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and also has the ability to synch your items through Facebook.
Mozilla-based Wyzo keeps reinventing itself. Wyzo offers FireDownload, a download accelerator, and FireTorrent. One of its new features (Wyzo 3) is SkipScreen, the extension that allows you to skip waiting screens.
Maxthon has also been around for several years, starting as an extension of Internet Explorer and using the same rendering engine. It also gives you Webkit, which powers Google Chrome and Safari and helps load pages almost instantly. Other great Maxthon features include as mouse gestures, bookmark sync, Passport, speed dial, popup blocker, online notepad, RSS reader, instant translator, screen capturing tools and resource sniffer.
Opera has stood the test of time and continues to be one of the world’s most popular browsers. Opera offers a desktop mail program, torrent client and Web server. Opera also offers browsers for mobile phones and tablets, sync features, speed dial and custom searches
The top gun, IE has come out with IE9, which testers tell us is much improved from recent predecessors. Its top feature over the competition is its integration with the Windows OS. IE9 jumplists enhance Twitter and Facebook, which behave more like applications here.
If you’ve stuck with the same old browser for a long time, give one of these latest versions or new browsers a try – each has something cool to offer.
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Resources, Small Business, Technology, Uncategorized
April 5, 2011
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If you were not aware all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls. You WILL be charged for these calls. To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.
It is the National DO NOT CALL list It will only take a minute of your time.. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.
HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON .. It takes about 20 seconds. Read more here: https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx
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Resources, Uncategorized
February 17, 2011
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You see them all the time. Chances are you would recognize the Pepsi Logo or the Nike Swoop anywhere. These icons are an example of the kind of logos that branding hinges on. However, these are huge companies so a common question is-does branding work for small businesses?
Many logos are simply graphics that are designed with little to no thought about how the logo becomes a brand. There are many things to take into consideration when branding a small business because your brand is your identity to your customers. However, does it make a difference in the marketing of your products or services?
In the case of Nike for example, the “brand” was already in place before a clever marketer made a slogan which will forever be connected with that swoop. The phrase “Just Do It” in many minds is interchangeable with the “brand” itself. So, did the swoop help sell shoes? The answer is no, the brand in itself identifies the product on the shelf. If a person is already looking for Nike shoes they will be able to pick them out.
There is no branding substitute for a good product and great service. Nick Rice who writes for SBB had the following to say:
The design of your logo really doesn’t matter. Would you choose MSN as your search engine over Google because of their logo? No, having a nice professional logo is great, but it very rarely increases sales. I’m all for a professional logo, but don’t think you need to spend a fortune on it. It’s more important to include your logo on every piece of communication. Put it on business cards, letterhead, envelopes, invoices, yellow page ads, building signage, newsletters etc..
Stand for something. People latch on to something they can understand and appreciate. If you’re trying to be everything to everybody, chances are you’ll attract no one. If you think it’s too controversial to choose a niche, remember the power of being seen as an expert. Experts are not good at everything, they’re awesome at one thing. This allows you to better position yourself and charge more for your services. People seek out experts, not generalists
So, while it may not be a substitute for a great product, your brand may be the difference when you already stand out as a company. Keep in mind that the Logo you choose will be identified with your company indefinitely. Like a tattoo, make sure its something will be proud of and that you can live with. While some companies have successfully done it, changing a logo years after you are established can be tough and risky. It takes a sizeable effort to re-brand your company.
Posted in
Clients, Marketing, Resources, Small Business
January 22, 2011
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In 2005 The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) announced that January was designated as Get Organized Month. It makes sense that thy choose January as most everyone is making a list of resolutions for the New Year. One of the most common resolution is to get organized.
What does it mean exactly to be more ‘organized?’ And how do you accomplish that goal? The first step to getting organized is to write down your daily tasks and then decide which items you must do your self and what tasks you can delegate to someone like a virtual assistant. Think of all the time consuming tasks that you dislike or that take you away from spending time on growing your business.
The bottom line comes down to how you want to use your time; do you need to get the little things off your desk so you can focus on the core part of your business? Choosing how you will get organized is your first step. For some it can be difficult because it means you have to be willing to give up a bit of control and let someone else come in and help reach your solution. Accepting the fact that you need help is the first step. Contact a virtual assistant or professional organizer and let them know your needs. Be honest and they will lead you down the path to being organized! Happy New Year!
Posted in
Resources, Small Business, Virtual Assistants
January 13, 2011
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If you use the Internet, you know about Skype. Skype has actually been around for several years and we are pleased to report that most of the PC crashing, file eating virus problems with early versions have been properly handled and put to rest. Everyone, everywhere is starting to use Skype as a free communications tool that lets Internet users conduct:
- Skype-to-Skype calls
- Video calls
- Instant messaging
- Screen sharing
Skype also has paid services (by the minute at 2.3 cents per minute and by the month at 1.2 cents per minute) that expands the reach to include additional calling features including non-Skype smartphone calling, SMS, call forwarding and a “Skype to Go” number.
Business uses for this amazing platform include video or voice conference calling, which is free when placed Skype to Skype. The latest version, 5.0 gives remarkably clear and quick video relay, even for international video; and it’s free when all members of the conference are Skype members.
You can manage group conversations by assigning topics using a number of tools that can alert members by topic and conference times. Chat and messaging features let you create organized, focused conversations with just the right team members for the topic at hand.
You can also track conversations and create a sense of community between team members and between your team and your clients, even if they are halfway around the world. Check out what Skype has to offer today – it’s easy to use, flexible, and free!
Posted in
Resources, Small Business, Software, Technology
December 30, 2010
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Tired of spam and junk email? You should be – Symantec tells us that 72% of your email messages are spam. In spite of rules and regulations, clever marketers and spammer gurus just keep changing the game and how they get their messages to you. They’re pretty crafty, but if you follow some basic guidelines you can reduce your junk email significantly. Here are some tips to can the spam:
- Never respond. Sure, it’s tempting to lock and load a hostile or sarcastic response, but all that tactic does is assure the spammers that your email address is valid. They’ll simply cross you off their list and sell your email to someone else.
- Report the sender right away. Spam is illegal and even if the sender is going around the regulations, the messages are still junk and you can turn them into spam@uce.gov or to your ISP.
- Block the sender’s domain. Most email services have a handy tool that lets you block all email from specific sources. Block the whole domain, since they may use a specific email address just once.
- Block images. If you automatically block all images, you can reduce your junk email quite a bit. Once the image opens, even if you don’t click through any links, the spammer knows he has a good address.
- Protect your email address. Don’t post your email address in a public place where anyone can see it and capture it – be wary of posting your email on blogs and Twitter. Extra special tip – spell out “at” instead of using the @ sign – spammer software won’t pick it up as an email address.
- Include antispam software in your Internet security package. Go the extra mile when you buy security software and select an antispam option as well.
- Update your email address. If all else fails, you can start over with a new email address. If you decide to make a change, try a more complex address that what you had before. It’s a pain, but it may be worth it if you are inundated with junk email.
Whatever course you take – do something! We all have to make a concerted effort to stop spammers and minimize the unwanted and uninvited email in our inboxes.
Posted in
Customer Service, Resources, Small Business, Technology
