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October 11th, 2007

Firefox: To Go, Please?

Mozilla is making sure it won’t be left high and dry in the future release of it’s browsing platform, Mozilla2. It’s already telling it’s coders that mobile services will be a part of their future. With the success of the iPhone, they are taking their cue for which way technology will be heading.

That isn’t to say there won’t be some roadblocks however. Both Microsoft and Apple are already offering browsers for phones that run on their operating systems. Other third party vendors like Opera have also been dabbling in the market, tweaking their mobile browser for some time now.

Let’s think for just a minute. Who would be the perfect platform for Mozilla to launch it’s mobile browser with? Who would be in the market to compete against the big names in the mobile Internet cellular marketplace? Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here (just remember you read it here first!) and say that I see a partnership between Google and Mozilla as a potential on this one. Google is already rumored to be working on their own “Gphone” … and I suspect that Mozilla’s browser would be the perfect addition to the team.

October 2nd, 2007

Online Shopping Cart, The Easy Way

If you are an Internet entrepreneur and have the need of a shopping cart on your website, how are you going to accomplish the task? I’m going to tell you how: outsource it! Many entrepreneurs get tied up doing all the little things in their business, and it flounders because they can’t give the necessary attention to the big things (like website promotion, social networking, etc.). Well, today you can outsource your shopping cart needs to Ashop.com. This is truly shopping cart software made easy. With the ease of Ashop.com’s shopping cart software, you’ll be up and running in no time. This will help free up your personal time and allow you to focus on other business activities. Right now they’re running a 10 day free trial right now, so what’s stopping you? Take advantage of this offer, and see just what the Ashop ecommerce software has for your business.

September 24th, 2007

Starbucks and iTunes Promo

It seems that Starbucks want’s to get on board with the latest iTunes push.  They are getting ready to give out 50 million free iTunes songs between October 2nd and November 7th, 2007.  Only 37 titles are part of the promotion, but across the chain they will be giving away over 1.5 million tunes a day.  Customers will get a ’song of the day’ promo card with their purchases.  In addition, they will also get 2 free songs with the purchase of a Starbucks gift card.  With java, wifi, and now free iTunes, you can hang out at Starbucks all day!

September 17th, 2007

Do You Google?

Many people (myself included) are finding that Google’s online applications are more and more a part of our everyday lives.  Finding entry into our lives initially through Gmail (Google’s version of free web mail service), I am now sucked in to the Google Toolbar in Firefox, Google Calendars, Google Documents (with great file sharing and collaboration features!), and even use Google’s Hot Trends (currently in their “lab” section) to look into Internet search patterns for marketing trends.

As far as replacing Microsoft Office anytime soon, I don’t think it will happen.  But for someone looking for a good set of services that they can access from anywhere, share important info with others,  it’s a great set of tools.  But don’t take my word for it .. check it out for yourself!

September 17th, 2007

Make VoIP Your Business

bOftentimes, businesses are the last ones in the marketplace to adopt new technology. The reason for this is simple: business owners don’t want to take chances with glitches in new technology when their business is on the line. First impressions can mean everything to a customer, and as a business owner you don’t want to mess that up. However, there is an emerging technology that has several years of experience under it’s belt, that is moving into the business segment, and seeing remarkable success in meeting business owner’s needs. What am I talking about? Well VoIP, of course!

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. It basically uses a high speed Internet connectin to route your phone calls instead of the traditional telephone company routers and lines. So what does this mean to you as a business owner? It means that you can usually save big bucks over traditional phone services, including some services you just can’t get from a traditional phone service provider. That’s where Packet8 comes in.

When you are looking for a small business phone system using VoIP, you need to check them out. Looking over their services, they have quite a few options to choose from. Whether you are just looking for that virtual office setup or wanting to use VoIP for an entire call center setup (and yes, that’s an option), they have the product for you. If I were setting up my small business on a VoIP plan, I would use the Unlimited Extention program. This is Packet8’s flagship extention service for virtual office and has quite a few bells and whistles, including a unique direct inbound dial (DID) telephone number, auto-attendant routing and switchboard viewing.

So when you decide it’s time for your small business to make the plunge into VoIP (and why not now?), be sure and check out Packet8.net.

September 10th, 2007

HomeCamera Looking for Beta Testers

Have you ever thought about what goes on when you’re not home? Perhaps you have teenagers who are at home by themselves some during the afternoon or evening hours. Perhaps you are concerned about babysitters in your home during the evenings. Or, perhaps you’ve been concerned with people tampering with stuff in your office after hours, but you could never quite put your finger on what was going on.

Well, perhaps I have a solution for you. A new service is up and running in beta testing right now called Home Camera - Home Monitoring Made Easy. Now, I’ve looked at software in the past for monitoring activities in my home. In fact, a good friend of mine set up a home camera monitoring system down my his pond to track the wild pigs at night, so he could find out how many there were, and when they came to root. Okay, I know most of you aren’t back in the woods like I am, but you’ve probably got a good reason to consider a home monitoring system. Whether it’s kids, pets, janitors, or burglars, you probably would like to stay informed.

As most of you who are regular readers know, I write for Pay Per Post from time to time here on the blog. This post is a sponsored post by HomeCamera.com, and they have asked that I be impartial in writing this review. So, just for the record, I’m not tooting their horn just because they are paying me, I am actually going to tell you what I really think about thier program. At the end, as you will see, I do have some concerns … but we’ll get to those in a bit.

The system seems to be very simple. The software download currently works with Windows 2000 and up, with a Mac version in the works. The system can be set up to work automatically with timed recordings, or set to be on motion detection within a time range. It works with most existing webcams and even supports the Dlink DCS 2120 wirless network camera as well. This is a definite plus in my book! In addition, you can get e-mail or mobile phone alerts and video sent to you directly when a motion sensor is recording is triggered. This is very cool … talk about catching the kids red-handed (or the crooks, whoever). Videos are stored on their servers for 30 days, and you can download them at any time. That’s another nice feature.

On the downside, although the service is free now (and they promise beta testers will always have a ‘lite’ service model available for free), I can’t help but wonder what the pricing will be like once the final product release is announced. In addition, I guess there’s always some concern with start-ups in other countries. Although the parent company seems to have all their ducks in a row, being located half-way around the world in Singapore just makes me raise an eyebrow. The site is very slick professional, and seems to have everything in order. Security issues, of course, are always on my mind when I start sharing vital information with people or services on the web (what could be more personal than a camera in my house?).

All in all the service deserves a change, and is worth looking in to. Sign up is free, and you don’t even have to provide a credit card during the beta testing. So with literally no expensive outlay (if you already have a webcam), you can set up your home monitoring system tonight. So what are you waiting for?

September 4th, 2007

Microsoft and Open Office Get The Boot

The International Standards Organization failed to approve Microsoft’s bid for Open Office XML format to become an International standard. While I think this represents a win for the little guys, they will be meeting again in February, and Microsoft could still win out.

Ultimately, a win like this could encourage widespread use in government and libraries, and would help dampen the competition against Microsoft’s office products. Make no mistake about it, the vote was close, 56 percent for it, instead of the 66 percent needed to make it pass. Microsoft remains confident it will get it pushed through.

Let’s hope the troops of Open Office Format rally and put this down, once and for all.

August 30th, 2007

How To Choose Internet Security Options

Internet security is a big deal, especially if your computer system is online all the time. This is especially true of broadband users who leave their systems on, even when they are not using them. Online security and virus security is very important these days. But how do you figure out which software or services to choose from?

If you are looking for reviews of computer security and Internet control software, then turn to Filterguide.com. They have computer security software to help protect your computer from unwanted internet intrusions. They also provide reviews and ratings of the best internet firewall, privacy and parental control software in the marketplace.

August 30th, 2007

Multiple IM Services Got You Down? No problem!

As a work-at-home freelance person, I have found out one thing that is certain. Each client will require you to use a different IM service to stay in touch with them, if possible. While I prefer Google Talk myself (mostly because I find myself addicted to Google apps), my various clients are using everything from AIM and YIM to MSN and even an IRC room!

OK, so what’s the solution to prevent me from having a gajillion little icons floating around in my task bar, sucking down my system resources? It’s a new IM service called Pidgin (pronounced like the bird, pidgeon). It’s an open source system, and it’s working great for me! I set it up today and I’m currently using it on 5 different IM systems simultaneously. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistled integrated from each system, but it has enough to keep me happy and going. It’s not a big stealer of system resources either, only taking up around 4 MB of memory when running full bore.

So it’s two thumbs up, five stars, ten toes, and whatever else you can come up with for Pidgin. highly recommended service. If you use a lot of different IM services, get it. Nuff said.

August 27th, 2007

How To Access Your PC From Almost Anywhere

You’re away from home, and suddenly you realize that you left a very important document on your desktop computer at the house. Unfortunately, there’s nobody home because they are all with you. If you weren’t prepared before hand, normally, you would be out of luck.

With a remote access service like RemotePC.com, you could log into your system from anywhere with an Internet connection. Plans for this service start at just $4.95 a month, and come with a 30 day free trial. The price is right, and with new enhancements to the service like Windows Vista support, this is a life saver worth having!