From the category archives:

info

The MIT Technology Review published an interesting short article: “Redesigning the Web for Touch Screens  A new crop of touch-based devices is changing the way users interact with Web pages”  By Erica Naone

Excerpts:

  • the advent of touch-based devices “is almost asking the entire Web to change its behavior from what’s been built up over 20 years,”
  • Individual problems are often small, but they add up to something more significant, Vegesna says. For example, roll-over interactions are common on many websites, but these don’t work on touch devices. Other common tricks, such as hovering over a link to see the connected URL in the status bar, have to be adjusted before a user can perform the same function.

Read the whole article at http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/25236/?nlid=2950&a=f

{ 0 comments }

Creative Overflow has an interesting and helpful take on why only 4% of small businesses survive 10 years

Excerpt:

“Three distinct personalities make up a successful business; an entrepreneur, a manager and a technician.

The entrepreneurs job is to be the go getter. The one that creates out of thin air; the person constantly coming up with new and wonderful ideas for the future of the business, creating new products and new services. Always looking for new ideas and ways to lead the market. Without these people in your company the future will be nothing more than mediocre, if there is any future at all.

A manager is a person that builds business systems around the things that the entrepreneur creates. He makes sure that things are done in an effective way, that there are systems, rules and guidelines in place. He maximizes profits and make sure that the business runs like a well oiled machine.

The technician is the person, building the fiscal things that the entrepreneur has thought up, and that the manager is managing. He is the here and now guy, he brings home the bacon. If there was no technician, nothing would get done. The only person making the fiscal goods that brings in money is the technician. Without them there would be no business. will edit more in the morning am tired!

Unfortunately and inevitably these 3 personalities clash.The way that an entrepreneur goes about achieving their goals causes a lot of havoc around the office, this is unsettling to those in his employment, therefore he is usually met with a lot of resistance. The entrepreneurs worldview then becomes that of people being the thing that gets in the way of the dream.

The manager craves order, constantly feels the need to keep the entrepreneur in line and focused otherwise he feels that the entrepreneur will drive them out of business with all his ideas and schemes. He tries to order the technicians work into a system that would consistently give predictable results.The technician is happiest when he is in control of the work flow and left alone to do his work. The entrepreneur always gets in the way, throwing new ideas into the mix (that would probably not work anyway) and keeps the technician away from focusing on the job at hand. The manager also gets in the way of the technician onto whom he wants to impose.

The technician can’t stand being treated that way. To the manager the technician becomes a problem to be managed. To the technician the manager becomes a meddler to be avoided, and to both of them the entrepreneur is the one that started the trouble in the first place.”

Click http://creativeoverflow.net/why-9-out-of-10-small-businesses-fail/ to read the rest of Creative Overflow’s article.

By the way, the design on their website is beautiful and creative. Substantive content AND great design: keep Creative Overflow on your radar!

{ 0 comments }

“Ten Accounting & Finance Secrets for Start-Ups” ~CFOwise blog

February 25, 2010

Click the following link to read “Ten Accounting & Finance Secrets for Start-Ups”on the CFOwise blog: http://www.cfowise.com/part-time-cfo/ten-accounting-finance-secrets-for-start-ups/

Read the full article →

How to Make the Internet a Lot Faster

February 24, 2010

MIT Technology Review published this article “How to Make the Internet a Lot Faster” advising that very-high-speed broadband can’t just be about big pipes.
Excerpts:

Existing applications for very-high-speed Internet include the transfer of very large files, streaming high-definition (and possibly 3-D) video, video conferencing, and gaming. Some experts speculate that accessing large data files and applications [...]

Read the full article →

Stopping Stealthy Downloads – A new tool blocks files that try to install without alerting the user.

February 22, 2010

According to an article from MIT Technology Review:
“Researchers at SRI International and Georgia Tech are preparing to release a free tool to stop “drive-by” downloads: Internet attacks in which the mere act of visiting a Web site results in the surreptitious installation of malicious software. The new tool, called BLADE (Block All Drive-By Download Exploits), [...]

Read the full article →

Adding Green Screen Video to Screencasts

February 8, 2010

Here is a helpful video by Scott Skibell  of MacScreencasting.com about adding green screen to video screencasts: http://www.macscreencasting.com/green-screen-video-in-screencasts.html
Here is a link to Wikipedia’s page on “chromakey” which says: “Chroma keying is a technique for mixing two images or frames together in which a color (or a small color range) from one image is removed (or [...]

Read the full article →

How to Succeed as a Consultant

February 8, 2010

Here is a great Wall Street Journal article by Richard Greenwald that is well worth reading with practical advice for success:
Excerpt:
“(Very successful consultants often) teach—whether at a regional business college, through university continuing-education programs or through workshops given by professional associations.
At first, it sounds counterintuitive to train others to do what you do. After [...]

Read the full article →

Inc. Magazine: “How to Advertise on Facebook Four tips for advertising a small business on social networks”

February 4, 2010

Jason Del Rey gives four tips for how to advertise on Facebook in this Inc. Magazine article.
1. Choose your target
2. Test, test — and test some more
3. Do your own tracking
4. Make your ads pop

Read the full article →

Great Resource for Adobe Acrobat Users

October 23, 2009

AcrobatUsers.com is a great resource if you need to learn about Adobe Acrobat, with forums, video tutorials, etc.

Read the full article →

“SEO Tips: How to Increase Traffic With Keywords” ~Small Business Computing’s James A. Martin

October 14, 2009

QUICK POST: “SEO Tips: How to Increase Traffic With Keywords” is a useful article from Small Business Computing’s James A. Martin.

Read the full article →