Archive of "Uncategorized" 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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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
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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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July 30, 2011
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Just in case you don’t keep up with privacy laws or the invasive practices of just about every online or data driven provider who constantly collects some form of information from you, a lot of people are buzzing about Apple’s ability to track anywhere and everywhere your iPhone has been with the iPhone iOS 4 operating system. The file in the OS tracks and holds your location movements in a complex code.
This type of location surveillance is nothing new – your cell phone carrier has been able to track your movements for years – long before smartphones came on the scene.
Now, there’s an app for that - iPhone Tracker software, which accesses the hidden tracker file and then plots your movements like pins on a map. There’s a number of uses for an app like this – reviewing sales appointments, real estate showings, vacation spots, or even seeing where your teenager has been.
Have you used Foursquare? This social networking site lets you both check into a location and then share it with all your socially lined friends. Knowing where you’ve been and where doesn’t have to be an invasion of privacy, just a cool way of looking at your activities.
Of course, if you have something to hide…
Don’t worry – we have no reason to believe that this data ever leaves the security of your phone for any reason other than Apple’s ability to build additional databases using location tracking for even better application development, including applications like Maps. Still concerned? Apple gives you the ability to disable Location Services, so you can control whether or not the tracking capability is live on your iPhone.
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Social Media, Technology, Uncategorized
June 28, 2011
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In case you were wondering, social media news site Mashable is once again hosting a global Social Media Day.
This year’s (second annual) event takes place Thursday, June 30th and is proclaimed to be a “celebration of the technological advancements that enable everyone to connect with real-time information, communicate from miles apart and have their voices be heard.”
If you love social media – and come on, who doesn’t? This can be a fun way of connecting with local social media enthusiasts in your community. It’s a great way to socialize with your online community – at a real life location near you.
Mashable asks you to host a Social Media Day Meetup in your area. A Meetup Group is nothing more than a local community of like-minded people. A Meetup Group hosts the actual Meetups, which are face to face meetings between members and Organizers.
A Mashable Meetup can take place where and when it works best for your group. Need some ideas? For planning tips, check out Mashable’s how-to guide. To get the latest updates between now and Thursday, you can check out Mashable announcements on Social Media Day by following its @mashsmday Twitter account and its Social Media Day Facebook Page.
From Mashable, here are some tips for how you can join the fun:
- Sign up to attend or organize your own event on the Mashable Meetup Everywhere page.
- Share what you’re doing for your Mashable Meetup or leave suggestions for others in the comments below.
- Use the #smday hashtag on Twitter.
- Find your Mashable Meetup community:
Last year’s event created more than 600 Meetups in 93 countries with nearly 12,000 attendees. Go ahead – mash it up and get involved in your local Social Media Day Meetup!
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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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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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April 1, 2011
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People have been wanting to process credit card payments on the go for years. As with anything, new technology makes it lighter and easier than ever. Take Square for example. It is a small little card reader that you plug into your phone or iPad!
When you sign up for an account with Square, you will get the card reader free in the mail. Then you can start processing payments. There are no monthly contracts or fees or merchant account involved. They do take a cut out of each payment and card swipe but that’s to be expected. The fee’s however are very reasonable; 2.75% for swiped transactions, 3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in transactions.
Supported phones or devices are iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and selected Android devices but they plan on adding additonal phones in the future. If you have been looking for a tool that can help you process payments on the go check this unique new tool!
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Small Business, Software, Technology, Uncategorized
May 30, 2010
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If you host telesemiars on a regular basis, having your seminar calls trancribed to help you generate additional income. By having transcribed seminars, you can reach a wide audience while earning extra cash and spreading the word about your company, brand name and seminar’s message. You can generate extra income by selling your message in various forms of printed media to seminar participants and to those who were interested in attending the teleseminar but were unable to make it. You can also offer a transcript of the seminar as an added incentive to those who are attending the seminar, potentially adding additional attendees.
When presenting interesting and relevant material, seminar presenters may tend to use many technical terms, speak fast and with enthusiasm or cover a great deal of material. These are all reasons why seminar attendees would be interested in purchasing a teleseminar’s transcript. Whether the transcript is used for reference or as a guide to share with co-workers, many are willing to pay for the convenience of this most accurate form of note taking.
If planning on writing a book, with information relevant to the teleseminar, a transcript of the seminar would be an excellent addition. This bonus material is a great marketing tool and can be used to promote the book plus the “free” bonus. When advertised to the appropriate audience, combining the book launch with other teleseminars can help cross-promote both mediums and allow for greater book and teleseminar sales.
Another idea for seminar transcripts is to include them in a promotional package. If offering a service, adding the teleseminar’s transcript allows persons ordering or registering for your product or service to gain full access to the missed event. Because the entire seminar is transcribed, it allows buyers to read the transcript in their own time and implement the given ideas or discussed thoughts at their own pace. Throughout the trial and error process, users can refer back to the seminar’s transcript to perfect and refine their techniques. Once satisfied, the transcript can be passed to another person or kept for long-term reference.
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Marketing, Small Business, Uncategorized
June 11, 2009
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In today’s tough economy cutting travel expenses is a great way to cut overhead. Getting rid of business trips doesn’t have to mean losing clients though. Why not try web conferencing? What is generally called using in today’s web 2.0 languages a webinar collaborating with your potential clients or prospects is as easy as logging onto your computer.
Most webinar programs today offer more than you think. Engage your viewer’s with live streaming video and polls and surveys that allow your participants to share their views and opinions or record your event to send to participants for reference. Another advantage of a webinar is that you don’t have to find somewhere to put all these people. Have you had trouble in the past trying to find a venue for your conference or meeting? Worry no more. With a webinar you no longer have to spend time and resources searching for a place to accommodate a couple or even hundreds of people. Here are a couple examples of the top webinar programs out there to get you started:
Gotowebinar.com – Go To Webinar is one of the top rated programs out there. Some of the features are desktop viewing, ability to change presenters, integrated audio using VoIP and collaborating with other members in real time. Pricing is provided in two ways 1) you can pay monthly for $99.00 a month with a total annual cost of $1,188 or 2) you can purchase a whole year up front for $948.00 and save 20% over paying monthly the total. A 30-Day Free Trial is available as well.
Instant Presenter – The thing with Instant Presenter is that it is not just a webinar service. There are several features that you can use for smaller conferencing needs like e-classes and sales presentations. Their webinar services are also full of great feature: no software to install, live audio and video personalized meeting URL. With Instant Presenter you can get a two-week free trial and there are two ways to pay which is Pay per Use or Unlimited Monthly Use. For your next meeting consider a webinar before you hop that next flight to not only save you money but time as well.
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