Even if you are not a MAC person, you have to marvel at what Apple produces. The computer company is constantly at the forefront of every major breakthrough in the industry and the iPod touch is just one example of how Steve Jobs and his firm have changed our lives. There are many others as well.

1. Apple iPod Touch. Instead of asking what the iPod touch can do, you should ask what can’t be done with this ingenious mobile device. It comes with up to 64 gigs of memory for all of your music and video, plus has a retina display that is crystal clear with 960 by 640 resolution. This device doubles as a phone and with FaceTime you can make video calls. You can buy an Apple iPod Touch on eBay and take HD video with the device even though it is the thinnest iPod Apple has ever made.

2. Apple iPhone. The latest version of the iPhone is the Apple iPhone 4 which has a number of the same features as the iPod touch. It can do video calling and comes with the same retina display. One of the big selling points of the iPhone 4 is that you can multitask and operate several different apps at the same time.

3. Apple iPad and Apple iPad 2. The iPad is another Apple device that comes with some of the great features of the iPod and iPhone. The iPad 2 now has a ten-hour battery life and is more mobile than ever. This machine also operates faster than ever before because Apple has powered it with the A5 chip. One really fun feature of the iPad is the dual cameras, one focused on you for chatting and the other focused out to record images or video of what you are seeing.

4. Mac Mini.  If you are looking for speed, then Mac Mini is for you. Apple describes this desktop as a little powerhouse. It uses either the Intel i5 or i7 processor and an AMD Radeon graphics processor for great gaming and running multiple programs at once.

5. Apple iView. It doesn’t seem fair to call the iView a computer monitor because it looks more like something you would see in an airport cockpit. The curved video display was designed to match the curvature of the eye for optimal viewing.

6. MacBook Air. If you are looking for a laptop for word processing, photo storage, video editing and surfing the Internet, the MacBook Air is a versatile work horse. You can choose an 11 or 13 inch version of the MacBook Air. It quickly launches any application and even features a backlit keyboard.

Who knows what advances are next from Apple which will further amaze us. What is your favorite Apple product?

Apps officially rule the world nowadays. Since apps first came onto the scene, they have crept up from being simple toys and curiosities to being near necessities. Many people cannot run their lives without their app of choice anymore. Typically one’s apps are as important as one’s briefcase used to be, and some people value their apps as highly as their cars. The following are some apps that have begun to dominate the business world because they are extremely useful.

ThinkFree

ThinkFree is an easy-to-use application that lets you store your documents online and access them from anywhere. You can check on a spreadsheet for valuable figures or vital information. You can check on the progress of an application you’re personally having developed. You can even backup your tax information in case something happens to your computer and you get audited later on. Simply put, ThinkFree is your personal, massive, portable filing cabinet.

MetroFax

This latest MetroFax app for the iPhone is the missing link between yesterday and today. For businesses that still fax this is a vital link, because MetroFax allows you to receive and store faxes from anywhere in the world. This application just released today and with it you don’t need a dedicated fax machine or a landline to receive and even send faxes. No matter where you are faxing is no longer a challenge.

WorldCard

The WorldCard business card scanner allows you to ditch your old business card book because it lets you rapidly scan in any card someone hands you. With WorldCard you can bring up any business card it has ever taken in, so you can easily access information on your entire network of people. You no longer have to transcribe in e-mail addresses, Skype names or phone numbers, because WorldCard simply scans the entire card.

iSchedule

There are a lot of scheduling programs. However, iSchedule is a simple way to keep your work schedule reasonable and knowable. No matter how many shifts you have to swap and pick up, iSchedule can keep up with your crazy work life. Even your incoming schedule change requests are instantly cross-referenced against your existing schedule, which allows you to spot conflicts before they reach the crisis level.

PDF Reader Pro

With PDF Reader Pro, you get all of the basic functions of Adobe’s PDF reading software plus portability. PDF documents look as they should and you can access the massive library of PDFs available online from anywhere.

Ringtones Uncensored PRO

This app allows you to access nearly 10,000 pre-recorded ringtones and allows you to create your own. With that many possibilities, it’s likely anything you think of has already been done professionally. You could have a different ringtone every day for decades using just this program’s built-in tones.

There are a lot of different apps that make business run smoother. Since they’re inexpensive and often don’t require any monthly fees, stocking up on apps can pack a tremendous amount of functionality into your smart phone or tablet PC. Since every app comes with the automatic ability to take its function anywhere, your business life has gotten very easy.

Do you drool over technology, peripherals and the latest gadgets? Does your heart stop when you hear about the latest software or new computer tablet to come out on the market? If yes, then these careers for the geeky at heart are for you. 

Video Game Designer

This is the tech job that anyone who drools over video games wants to do. When you start to consider a career in this field, you need to consider:
-the industry
-training
-where you want to work and live
-your path to getting hired.

The first step here is to learn everything you can about the industry and the games in it. This means playing a wide variety of games, learning how they are created and what people are playing the most. It is imperative that you get a college degree that deals with game software development. These programs are offered both on campus and through the internet, giving you a wide variety of options. You also need to consider where you want to work and live, which ideally should be near a large urban area where the industry is booming and jobs are available. One way to get your foot in the door is to apply for an internship. This gives you the opportunity to network and experience the job first hand.

Teach Science

Your science teacher may have been your idol in school, knowing everything from advanced mathematics to the path an electron takes around the nucleus. This is a fantastic job for the geeky at heart who loves to study science and teach others what he or she knows. When considering teaching as a career, think about these aspects:
-what grade level you want to teach
-if you want to do research
-the kind of science you are interested in
-education required
-various positions available.

If you like children and want to teach a wide variety of science, then working at the junior or senior high level may be for you. You will have to attend a four year program and pass state testing requirements to be eligible for licensure. When applying, it is imperative that you be yourself, positive and open minded. Schools are looking for people who want to teach, not just collect a paycheck. You have to have patience, love to work with teenagers and be able to handle classroom discipline.

If you are more interested in research, the university level teaching position is for you. You can specialize in a certain area and conduct research within that same field. This is the ideal position for those who love the laboratory but also have a penchant for the classroom. You will have to pursue higher education at the master’s and doctorate level to be eligible to apply. You will also need good interpersonal skills to work with students and be self-motivated.

When you consider these jobs, the most important thing is to find what excites you most. What passion do you want to follow?

Making a big name for your small business may seem challenging in a world where companies have million dollar budgets for advertising. With the advent of the Internet, though, there have become new ways for businesses to market inexpensively and to get big results doing so. Marketing your business both online and offline must center on your customer and that customer’s specific needs.

Marketing Success

To get marketing success, know what marketing methods are working well right now. You will then need to tailor these marketing methods to your own business to ensure that you have the best opportunity to get results.

1. Make the decision on who the target customer is and then market to that type of person. The more targeted this scope is, the more you can play to that person’s needs. Ensure your marketing campaign answers the question, “what can the business do to solve this person’s needs?”

2. Develop a website that contains relevant, authoritative information. Become the leader in the industry by demonstrating your knowledge online. It will eventually help you to attract search engines and help those who visit the website to know that your business can help fill their need. Take Internet marketing classes to help you learn how to market your site.

3. Sometimes, the best way to market a small business is to use social media. Social media is the marketing method of engaging with others online through various social forums. It is estimated that more than 80 percent of people go online to learn about a company or to solve a problem before they turn to local sources for help. If you can establish a presence online as the go-to solution, you can fill those needs. Social media can help with this.

4. Blog and do so with the intent of developing good, deep interactions with your readers. This means being creative and delivering information that your customers want and need to know. Blogging is also a great way to get traffic to your website and it does not have to cost a lot to implement, either.

5. Market locally, too. You can sponsor a baseball team or market in local newspapers. The good news here is that marketing locally helps to establish your business as a trusted community member, if you do it right.

As a small business owner, it is critical that you put forth the right amount of time and effort into marketing your business. It does not always have to be a large bank account that draws in customers. Rather, it is through creative programs that target the right customer, where that customer is searching for information, which will get your new business in the door. 

Kent Displays, the company that makes the Boogie Board tablet, is getting more VC money and is hiring 40 more employees in Ohio.

The Boogie Board is a modern equivalent to the old-fashioned chalk slate – a device that allows users to write and quickly erase messages on a screen the size of a sheet of paper. Company spokesman Kevin Oswald said orders for the boards have forced the plant to run three shifts a day for much of the year.

He added that he expects orders to increase this fall when the company adds a version of the board that can save images for later use.

“[The expansion] will allow us to meet worldwide demand for the Boogie Board tablets for the foreseeable future,” Oswald said.

Sales of multimedia tablets, such as Apple’s iPad or Motorola’s Xoom, have boomed this year, but Oswald said Kent’s product doesn’t compete with those. Boogie Boards cost $40-$60, depending on size, and are meant as a replacement for notepads and paper, not computers.

It will be interesting to see if this technology eventually finds it’s way into the all-purpose tablets.

The internet has given you a lot of convenient ways to handle your money, but there may be no way that is better than PayPal. PayPal has made it possible to give out money to merchants, friends and charities without having to use your credit card number and run the risk of identity theft. This system is one of the most sophisticated in the world. But, there are still a number of things that you can do with PayPal that you might not even be aware of. Here are those things.
 
1. Reach Card
 
You can put money on the Reach Card with PayPal. The Reach Card is a prepaid debit card, and like all cards, it’s possible that you can run out of money. With the use of PayPal, you can simply add money to your card any time you need to do so. It makes PayPal easy and the Reach Card even easier.
 
2. Mobile
 
These days, your cellphone can do anything, and the use of PayPal is a testament to that. With the PayPal app, you can simply log onto your account, pay people, and transfer funds to your checking account without ever having to log onto your home computer. This app makes payments and money management so simple that you will wonder how you ever lived without it. The best part about the app is it’s totally free. This way, you can get convenience at a completely affordable price.
 
3. Facebook
 
If you are online, then there is a good chance you are signed up with the world’s biggest social platform. Facebook is the number one site for people to stay connected with the people in their world. By using the Facebook app for Paypal, you can request money from up to 20 of your Facebook friends at one time. Additionally, you can set up an icon on your page that will allow your friends to send you money through PayPal. This is great whether you are collecting money for a charity or collecting cash for a bachelor party. It makes getting a group of people together a breeze.
 
4. Toolbars
 
Let’s say you run a blog that sells something you make. Collecting money can be difficult. You may not know how to set up a credit card processing system and you may not want to pay the fees. Luckily PayPal has a toolbar that takes the struggle and stress out of selling things on your site. This gadget allows you to place a PayPal toolbar into your blog so that anyone who is interested in purchasing something from you can do so without hassle.
 
PayPal is a great invention that is making your life easier. With these simply applications, it’s revolutionizing the way and the ease with which you pay for your goods and services. If you haven’t explored these wonderful conveniences, it’s a good time to start. 

The famous Grateful Dead lyric is, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” While those words were describing the drug-fueled events of the 1960s, they could easily be attributed to the evolution of the cell phone. For one, the size of cell phones has changed dramatically with each generation.

They were first manufactured in a size similar to a brick (think Zack Morris in Saved by the Bell) and then shrunk to the scale of a cracker. And then there is a cell phone’s capability—at their inception they could only make static-filled phone calls, while today we use them for anything but calls.

However, the advancements of cell phones themselves are only half the story. Their popularity helped revolutionize data and communication networks; like the latest satellite technology from wildbluedeals and wireless communications. So from 1G to 4G, here is a recount of the trip travelled thus far, and where the journey may be taking us next. 

1G

In the 1980s, man made the first cell phone network for mass consumers, and it was fairly decent. The first generation of wireless telephony was completely analog based, unlike its progeny that runs on digital systems.

In the U.S., cell phones operated on the AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) network (TACS and NMT in Europe), which basically modulated calls to a higher frequency around 150MHz or more. Hardly what one would call advanced; it was as if your cell phone was just as powerful as your ham radio.

Meanwhile, the phones themselves were bulky and had nearly no data capability whatsoever. That meant no texting, no cameras and no apps. Teenyboppers in the 80s sure had it rough. 

2G

The digital age finally arrived in the second generation. In the early 1990s, digital TDMA-based systems were introduced—GSM first in Europe and D-AMPS in the U.S. With digital technology, voice quality improved, security was stronger and power was increased, while equipment became less expensive and more refined (i.e. phones that could really be considered hand-held). Read the rest of this entry »

Websites play an important role in the success of businesses. Over time, though, you could find that your site lacks the features that will serve your customers best. That could mean that you quickly start to lose those customers to your online competitors. Knowing when a business website revamp is necessary, however, will help you stay abreast of the latest design features so that your site can reach its maximum potential.
 
Acquiring New Products or Services
 
You already pay attention to the latest trends to make sure that your business offers the products and services that your customers need. Make sure that your website matches the changes within your company.
 
If, for instance, you start to sell a new line of products, then you will need to update your site to keep visitors informed. Revamping your site at this time serves multiple purposes. First, it will allow you to tell your current customers about your newest products. Second, it will help new customers find your site with search engines.
 
Rebranding Your Logo
 
Without the right approach to online marketing, something as simple as rebranding your logo could confuse your customers. Customers quickly grow accustomed to your company’s appearance and methods. When you make changes, they need to happen consistently. If, for instance, your website has your old logo, but your packaging materials show the new one, then you could confuse your customers. You want a cohesive approach to marketing your business. That means making uniform changes across all platforms.
 
Redefining Your Company
 
At times, you might want to redefine your company by creating a new corporate personality or making slight modifications to the ways that you have met consumer demand in the past. Much like rebranding your logo, you need to implement company changes across all platforms at the same time. You don’t want some of your products presenting the company’s old personality while others use the new one. That’s not only confusing, but an ineffective use of resources that could have a negative impact on your sales.
 
Keeping Up With New Technologies
 
Even if your company remains constant, your website will need to evolve. Imagine encountering a website that hadn’t been updated since the 90s. It would look out-of-date and, quite frankly, untrustworthy. Keeping up with new trends in technology can help you reach new customers and offer improved services to those you already have.
 
The recent Metrofax website redesign for instance, makes it easier for customers to explore their online and mobile fax options. This appeals to small business owners and managers that don’t have a lot of time to search a company’s website to learn about service options. Instead, they can instantly see the features that they might use for their Android and iPhone devices in addition to standard Internet access.
 
Redesigning your website requires a big commitment, but it can quickly pay off by improving the services that you offer your customers. What are some of the newest website designs that would help your customers most?

Social media has inundated our lives. It has allowed us to stay connected to friends and family at all times. In fact, many users check sites like Facebook and Twitter several times a day. What can we expect from social media in 2011? Here are eight of the top trends to expect:

1. Increase in Content

As companies become closer to their customers through social media and try to connect with them on a deeper level, there will be an increase in valuable content. The idea is to give customers content that is important to them and will be shared with friends through Facebook and other social media platforms. 

2. Monetization of Twitter

We’ll see Twitter becoming more monetized in the next year, just as Facebook has in the last 18 months. This could include promoted tweets, adding ads to the site, and making deals with mobile carriers. 

3. Purchasing on Facebook

A big trend you’ll see is companies selling items on Facebook through commerce software. This is a big benefit to companies. For small businesses, this will give them the opportunity to build an e-commerce site to reach customers. It will help drive traffic through customers sharing what they purchased with their friends. 

4. Group Buying

You’re bound to see the power of group buying grow with sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial. When you can get an item for free just by getting three of your friends to purchase the same item, there is a lot of promotional power through social media sites. 

5. Location-Based Apps

Applications such as Foursquare are bound to become more popular this year as more and more companies utilize them to promote themselves with things such as discounts just for checking in. As a user, does it make you nervous for your friends and family to know where you are all day every day?

6. Mobile Applications

Social media will become more accessible from mobile devices, increasing the need for apps that connect to social media in new ways. It’s hard to say what direction this will take us, but with smartphones becoming more like mini-laptops, we’re bound to see them used in imaginative and innovative ways.

7. Facebook Credits

The use of Facebook credits will increase this year, becoming a huge boost for Facebook since it will receive a percentage for every credit purchased. Besides social media games, they’re likely to be used to purchase products and given out as prizes in promotions by companies.

8. Questions Answered

Q&A sites are popular, but soon the power of social media will be used to help its users get answers to questions. This will be something that you’ll be able to add to your profile page, allowing you to get answers from the collective knowledge of Facebook users.

One thing’s for sure: social media is not going away. It will only become more and more a part of our lives — evolving and changing in new, fun ways.

Website design comes in an amazing array of styles. Some styles are so simply put together that they become edgy. Others amaze the user with a riot of color and sound. Great websites don’t overwhelm the user, but draw them in and excite their senses, instead. These sites are consistently rated among the best of the Web, becoming almost legendary as a result.

Then there are the not-so-good sites, the ones that are so bad that they’re a virtual train wreck. Now, nobody who is working as a web designer wants responsibility for creating a gapers block on the Internet, but it happens. Everyone has to start out somewhere, and sometimes the start is not very auspicious. Web design disasters like these become legendary for all of the wrong reasons.

Here’s a look at the top 10 web design disasters and mistakes, and why they are so bad:

1. Yale School of Art. This one is a tad forgivable, considering that it’s a wiki for the art grad students, faculty, staff and alums. However, it does nothing to highlight the school’s art program and can even turn off potential students.

2. The website of Joneschijoffis presents something, but what exactly? The site does absolutely nothing, loosing the user’s interest quickly.

3. Never put important text into an image on a website. This move is guaranteed to ensure that search engines won’t find your keywords. Prepare to kiss your ranking goodbye if the search engine crawler can’t find your keywords.

4. Don’t load your site with duplicate content. The more duplicate content you have, the less seriously your site will be taken by the search engines and potential customers.

5. Shop In Paradise is a perfect example of schizophrenic web design. Images laid out in no planned order, blocks of text in different fonts, and random products slapped in random places on the page.

6. Resist the urge to place all of the content on one page. This creates a main page that just keeps scrolling, turning off users. Remember that multiple pages are always better than one.

7. Zinc Bistro. Just try to figure out where the website navigation is located. It is not obvious, nor is it intuitive. Add annoying music with a rapidly moving slideshow you get a site that doesn’t make any sense.

8. Avoid using music or audio that plays automatically. It only serves to annoy users and cause them to either leave the site or go in search of the “off” button.

9. Don’t use Flash or Java for menus or navigation. Search engines cannot read it and will overlook the site as a result.

10. Use graphics correctly. Don’t use obnoxious animated GIFs and hope for the best. Avoid nasty images, opting for tasteful and appropriate content instead.

Web design can offer a rewarding career that includes much expression and creativity. Use the mistakes and disasters of others as a guide for what not to do.