An Analysis of Smartphone Charge Pads

You use your smartphone to buy movie tickets, download your favorite songs, and make online reservations at the new French restaurant. But, if your smartphone battery dies, you can not do any of this. And to be honest, charging your smartphone the old-fashioned way is a drag. You must plug your charger into an outlet and leave it connected long enough to give it sufficient power.

Now using a smartphone charge pad, charging your phone is simpler.

Charge your phone wirelessly

Charge pads are mats that allow devices to be charged wirelessly. By merely putting your device on the mat it will begin to charge, this virtually eradicates cord mess and searching for an outlet. You can also charge multiple devices, such as iPods and tablets, simultaneously using these mats.

Have you ever wondered how these work? They use electro-magnetic induction charging to generate a magnetic field that delivers power to the batteries of your smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices.

Charge pads a technology in progress

You would imagine that these would be more popular then they are. But, there are a couple of reasons why they are not. To start with, they’re a bit costly, often costing as much as the gadgets you wish to charge.

One more reason is that they take up space. Consumers who wish to clear away the mess of cords don’t mind this, but this doesn’t help people looking to create more space on their desk. 

An improving wireless world

As technology improves we are bound to see smaller, more efficient, and cheaper charging pads on the market. Eventually, my guess is that these will be must-have items.

New to Windows 7? Tips to Make You More Productive

Windows 7 represents a major improvement over prior Windows operating systems. However, if you don’t understand how to use this latest version of Windows correctly, you will miss out on a number of goodies that’ll allow you to work more proficiently.

By mastering a few simple tricks, you can get the most out of Windows 7.

• If you want to move images to outside disks, you can now do so effortlessly with Windows 7. The operating system allows you to burn ISO images onto CDs or DVDs. To accomplish this, you just have to double-click on the ISO image, tell Windows 7 the drive that holds your blank disc, and then click the “burn” option. Windows 7 will do the rest.

• Finding and fixing problems is quite simple with Windows 7. If you feel as if your OS is operating oddly select the “troubleshooting” option from the “Control Panel”. This gives you access to several wizards that can help you reduce clutter and clean up your system.

• Do younger people in your household install cumbersome software that slows down your computer? This is easily avoided using the Windows 7 AppLocker feature. This feature only allows your computer to run and install programs that have your pre-approval. You are able to tell AppLocker to only run programs from respectable companies, so if someone is attempting to run a program from an unknown publisher AppLocker will prevent it.

• Another fantastic aspect is its power efficiency service. This enables you to monitor just how much power your laptop is using. This can be very helpful if you are working remotely and have no access to a power source.

7 Things to Know About WordPress

WordPress was once viewed mainly as a blogging platform. But it has developed into one of the most popular website publishing tools on the Internet. Tech Crunch recently reported that about one fifth of new domains in the U.S. run on WordPress. And it also might amaze you to learn that one of the most popular publishers in the world uses WordPress.

Here are 7 things you should know about WordPress:

1. Updating your content is easier than ever using WordPress. With its dynamic page creation you can update your site effortlessly without using a large amount of storage
2. You can get a subdomain for free! After you register with WordPress to obtain a free site, you can easily name your free subdomain like this: www.yourname.wordpress.org.
3. WordPress also offers what they call their ‘famous 5-minute install’, which makes it simple to install WordPress if you already have a domain and a hosting service. What’s more, no coding skills required.
4. If you do own your own domain there are some minimum requirements to run WordPress. You’ll want to ensure you have the correct and compliant versions of PHP and MySQL. This will ensure you can receive accurate WordPress support as required.
5. To make your site look nice, there is an vast selection of templates, called “themes”, available on the internet. Some are free, while others are not. Nevertheless, using these you are able to easily and quickly tailor your site the way you like.
6. WordPress offers centralized management for all of your pages, posts, multimedia assets, and reader comments. It’s also really simple to manage users and user profiles.
7. WordPress encourages e-commerce. There’s an abundance of plugins that have already been developed that enable you to accept payments, advertise, and more on your website. The easy plugin search keeps all of these options at your fingertips.

Not All Tech is Successful

We always hear about the most popular gadgets on the market. But for every technology that changes our lives there’s something that flops. It’s difficult to judge what the public will take a fancy too, so companies take a risk when they release something. Below we explore a couple of technologies that fall outside of the “took flight” category.

Famous tech failures

• Apple TV: It seems like a good idea—a device that lets users buy TV series and movies from iTunes and then stream them on their TVs, computers, and mobile devices. The drawback? Besides YouTube, the unit doesn’t permit many non-iTunes alternatives.

• Sony Mylo: The Mylo came and went very quickly so you may not remember it. It was geared toward the 18 to 20 something crowd and was a Wi-Fi-enabled mobile device. It allowed people to play games, connect to the Internet, and even had Skype preinstalled on it. Unfortunately, the presence of the iPhone and its substantial app store overshadowed it.

The Segway peters out

• Segway PT: It was thought that the Segway PT would replace cars in cities. It made it simple for people to just zip to the market or make the short commute downtown. But it never quite caught on. Unfortunately for the manufacturers, people thought balancing on two wheels made them look a little silly.

The CueCat doesn’t purr

• CueCat: The CueCat was a portable barcode reader shaped like a cat. Consumers could use it to scan any barcode and it would navigate them to the company’s website. This did not catch on but did it pave the way for QR codes?

3 Great Tips for Using Microsoft Outlook Effectively

We are inclined to take Microsoft Outlook for granted. After all, we’ve been using this program to read email messages and manage our schedules for years now. Nonetheless, Microsoft Outlook is a surprisingly powerful program. If you want to make the most out of it, it’s time to explore some of its hidden functions. Here are three key tips that can help you save time and work more efficiently when linked to Microsoft Outlook.

Eliminate the Clutter

You possibly have “Conversation View” switched on in Outlook presently.  This view helps keep conversations neatly sorted into one thread. You can find the needed email without having to hunt through days of backlogged emails. There is a potential pitfall to this view however. Newer conversations can become very chaotic with repetitive quoted text. Turning off this quoted text is very simply with Outlook.  Right-click the conversation thread and choose “Clean Up Conversation.” All the unnecessary duplicate copies will now be eliminated from the individual emails in the conversation thread.

Say it in a Picture

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how much time you’ll save by including screenshots in your emails.  Including screenshots can be very valuable particularly when sending a support ticket.  Outlook makes including a screenshot incredibly simple. Click the “Insert” tab and then select “Screenshot.” A series of images of all open windows on your desktop will be displayed.  Pick the window that is appropriate and Outlook will place the screenshot directly into your email – simple as that!

Take Out the Trash

At times it is tough to let go of those old emails.  We are inclined to keep them in the trash folder for weeks or even years.  The truth is that those messages take up a lot of precious space. Luckily, setting up automatic trash emptying is easy with Outlook.  Outlook will automatically empty your trash upon exiting the program if you click the  “File” tab and then select “Options.” From here, choose “Advanced” and look for the Outlook “Start” and “Exit” options. Check the box next to “Empty Deleted Items” when exiting Outlook. Now your trash will be empty every time you exit the program clearing up lots of precious space!

Your Small Business and Data Security

When looking at data security, you may feel you have enough safeguards set up to defend your small business. After all, you probably routinely update your antivirus software and other security protocols too. And it’s not as if you are a large company that has to worry about having their systems breached by advanced hacking techniques. With tens of thousands of delicate customer records on file, these big firms are the ones who must worry about cyber attacks, right? In fact, digital thieves have drastically escalated their efforts in relation to stealing from small businesses. To help you learn more about your level of danger, let’s look at this important topic in greater detail below.

Small firms: low-hanging fruit

The facts are, hackers have found that small businesses are easier targets, and are increasingly preying upon them. They are able to infiltrate their systems at a considerably faster rate, and with a better percentage of success as well. This means a cyber criminal can assault multiple targets in the time it would take them to lay siege to a better-guarded system with a higher level of data security. How can it be worth their while to steal from a mom and pop business? In today’s modern world, virtually every business makes use of digital payment processing methods. When your customers pay using a credit card, this data must run through your system to be verified. This represents a goldmine of data for hackers, as they can lift this information without being discovered. With your customers’ credit card numbers, addresses and names, they can make bogus charges on their accounts.

How hackers gain access to your data

Even though you most likely have systems in place to defend your data, hackers will make use of multiple points of entry, so firewalls alone is probably not enough. Malicious email attachments are probably the biggest offenders. These attachments can leave your system wide open for data mining. This year alone in the first quarter, 6 million malware programs were detected. Apart from these more high-tech tactics, cyber criminals also use low-tech means to steal information. Phone calls as well as personal visits by someone posing as a network administrator or security firm can be detrimental. We all hope our workers are smart enough not to be seduced by an apparent phishing scam, but it only takes one slip up to open yourself up for attack.

The buck stops with you

Many people assume that since credit card companies are usually liable for any counterfeit charges that occur from a hacking event, that data security isn’t crucial. While this may be true for a consumer, for a business owner the outcome may be very different. Consumers will hold you responsible personally should their information be stolen. Damage control after an attack can cost an organization thousands of dollars and in some cases a single attack can spell the end of business in general.

An ounce of prevention…

So, in relation to your data security, taking extra precautions is a wise move. Not only should you upgrade your programs whenever you can, look at strengthening your passwords as well. Avoid using obvious phrases, and never leave the default password in place. Also, advise your employees not to give out their login information or open attachments from unfamiliar senders when checking their email. You can even hire an outside consultant to guarantee the security of your customers’ data. Taking these types of measures can provide you with piece of mind, knowing that your systems are safe from attack.

The Importance of Company Culture: Part 2

Our previous blog centered around company culture and the effect it could have on your brand. Your company’s culture, good or bad, shows up in your brands reputation. We discussed how to assess the cultural health of your business, but just how do you give your company a cultural facelift?

The first step is to ask yourself a couple of questions to get a sense of the “feel” you’d like your organization to have:

• How do you want your company to feel? Fun, creative, open, accepting, respectful, etc?
• How can you mirror you company values in its culture?
• How is information shared with employees? Are they left in the dark frequently?
• How do you reward or motivate employees now, and how would you like to in the future?
• Does everyone in the company feel listened to? If not, how can you improve this?

These can result in more questions. To get answers try brainstorming with your peers. Here are some ideas to get the ball rolling:

Suggestion/Thought box – Providing people with a means to share their thoughts, anonymously or not, helps make the culture of a company feel more open. You could learn some important things that need tweaking and may want to bring them up in companywide meetings.

Empower employees – Let your staff make decisions. Treat your staff as peers; let them have a say and listen to their ideas. Also be a transparent leader. Don’t just notify your employees when things are great, but also tell them tactfully when things aren’t going very well.

Flexible hours – Providing people with some flexibility to get their work done demonstrates confidence. Trusting them to manage themselves will lead them to respect you more.

Dress code – Today it is uncommon that people have to wear suits and ties on a regular basis.  Giving workers freedom to express themselves using their wardrobe is an easy technique to make them feel accepted for who they are. To take this one step further, think about themed days: silly hat day, bright clothing day, 80’s day, etc. It’s amazing how important self-expression can be.

Celebrate – Your organization is the sum of everyone in it. Celebrate your team with group activities.  For instance, cater lunch for everyone, have a movie or game day, or simply throw a party. This can produce more cohesion within your team and encourage collaboration.

Below is a number of things that real companies do to add some fun to their culture:

• Spontaneous Nerf gun wars
• Painting inspirational quotes on the walls
• Hitting a loud gong when there is a success to let the whole company know
• Foosball tournaments
• Lunchtime Yoga
• Lunchtime Crafting Club
• Monday Mad Libs, whoever wishes to contribute, does, and then the completed Mad Lib is emailed to the company