Great New Gadgets

Well, it’s been quite a while since I last wrote anything on here, to be completely honest, for no better reason than I’m pretty lazy and what with writing on my own personal blog, my companies blog and not to mention the free IT support I seem to be continually providing to friends and my mother, I’ve just not had the time to give it the care and attention it deserves.

Since I last wrote anything there have been updates to most of the software on offer, although Microsoft have been rather slow in releasing their latest re-hashed version of a product which we all already own anyway. Plus hardware has been marching on at a significant pace too.

The biggest change of late though seems to be the use of i Pads and other tablet computers. I must confess when I first saw them, I thought they could never replace business computers and I was right, but that’s not the point of them at all. Now knowing several people who own them and use them on a regular basis, I understand it’s not supposed to replace your business computer at all (although I’m sure Apple would be absolutely delighted if you tried to!). Their basically a toy, a very expensive and flexible one, but a toy none the less.

I went to my local for lunch on Sunday, I had a nice veggie roast and the other half had some kind of meat, followed by a few drinks, well, quite a few actually, but that’s not the point…. Hic! Basically it was full of kids, and being in a fairly affluent area, they tend to have rich parents, as a result, most of them had and i Pad, but it was great, they all sat there playing with the latest apps, browsing Facebook, playing games and whatever else young kids get up to on the internet.

The thing which was most noticeable was the lack of loud kids in the pub and I can only put this down to them being well entertained by the £800 worth of technology which their parents had shelled out on. Bring on the technology, that’s what I say!

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Avoidable Mistakes When Using Website Templates

Technology has a way of getting faster and faster as time goes by, moving more efficiently.  In times past, web developers would have to spend countless hours creating and writing HTML code in order to create a website; however, today there are many software programs that do this for the designer.  This makes knowledge of HTML code almost obsolete (although it must be said that the professional seo’s tend to prefer to code by hand).  One such type of software is the website building template.  This is great for some sites; but, there are some common mistakes that can be made that, if avoided, can ensure the success of a template-based site.

Common Template Website Design Mistakes

One mistake that to some is not viewed as such, is that of choosing a web template that is already popular.  On the one hand, it is popular because it works.  Others suggest that because it is popular, it needs to be made unique so that it is not just another copycat site.  In order to make it unique, the web developer has to have some working knowledge of HTML, and therein lies the problem.  Many new developers rely too heavily on templates and therefore do not possess a working knowledge of HTML.  Because of this lack of knowledge, it is often difficult to earn credibility.

The customization process for a website template is also another issue.  Templates save both time and effort, not to mention money.  On the other hand, some spend so much time messing with the frames and other aspects that they can end up with a totally different looking website than the original template.  If you want original and unique, why not build from the ground up, rather than messing with a template in the first place?

Also, trying to customize a template can create other time consuming issues, as well.  For instance, if you seek flexibility, a template doesn’t really offer that.  Most have set designs and dimensions, and are that way for a reason.  Trying to change them only results in frustration, especially if you do not know how to do this.  Also, if you want the frames to be wider, you do not have much wiggle room to make these types of changes.

Solution to the Template

Choose a template that you like that is not as popular.  This way when you have to make any changes, they will not be as noticeable.  There are paid-for as well as free templates available for purchase or download by the various web hosting companies.  You can also pay designers to design a specific template for you to use on some of the more popular web hosting programs such as WordPress, these incidentally are quite seo friendly too.  This will enable you to work with the site’s specifications whilst also being unique.

As discussed, if you do not have a working knowledge of websites, or more specifically HTML, it is best to choose the template that is closest to the type of site that you are trying to build.  This will save a lot of time, frustration, and money in the long run. Alternatively you can use a company such as seo swindon to optimise your template, if you search for seo swindon you will find them. Making sure Google can find and index your website is a very important part of the design process. A good company can ensire that your new site appears for terms such as seo swindon, it may take some time, but the benefits will be well worth it.

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Small Business Accounting Software

I’ve recently been doing some rather detailed research into some of the accounting products which are available on the market today. Not so much from the features aspect, as to be fair any software on the market, simply must be capable of doing the fundamental tasks required or it just would not sell. What I have been looking into though are some of the additional benefits which are increasingly bundled into the latest products, Sage 50 Accounts Professional being a great example, and also the pricing differences between suppliers, what one will provide over another and delivery timeframes.

Firstly I did look at how widely all the products were used, such as MYOB and Quickbooks, however to be fair, most companies do seem to either use Sage, Spreadsheets or their Accountant does the whole thing, and yes, you guessed it, almost every accountant also seems to use Sage, so I’m afraid this review is going to be unintentionally rather biased towards that UK software giant form Newcastle. That being said, it does make a refreshing change to have a dominant force in any technology sector which is a truly British company.

So, firstly features, any package will have a nominal ledger, sales and purchase ledgers, invoicing abilities and bank reconciliations, without these features the product would be of little use to anyone, however if you look at the higher end products they do also incorporate other additional features, these include full POP, job costing, stock systems and a number of 3rd party add-ons which can (apparently) be integrated by the user in most cases.

When it comes to the pricing things get a bit odd. Sage themselves run an online shop and sell everything direct to the public, however this is at the recommended retail prices. They also have a huge network of Partners and Accountants all around the country who resell the products. The strangest thing here is that they are consistently much cheaper than their vendor. For example you can buy the top level Sage product product, line 50 to use it’s old name or Sage 50 Accounts Professional, with or without Sage Cover, which is technical support supplied directly by Sage from about £750 from some of the resellers, but Sage sell it direct for over £1000.

At the other end of the scale and retailing at over £550, you can find the basic Sage 50 Accounts product for well under £400 from some resellers, this in some cases even includes delivery and invoices and somewhat ironically 45 days of free sage cover too.

The upshot is that if you want to buy any of their software, because this doesn’t just apply to the accounting software, the Sage forecasting and  payroll software etc is all cheaper too, it’s well worth having a look at what the resellers can offer. Also with them all delivering it in the same time, or sometimes even quicker than the vendor them-self can do, it’s not a bad option.

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Marketing

Mobile Marketing Experts

WHO?
the leading provider of mobile marketing services to the publishing industry and has been distributing book content to mobile for the past three years.

HOW?
We extend your marketing strategy to reach readers’ mobiles. Our technology enables a powerful, permission-based interaction between publishers and their audience.

WHY?
In today’s world, consumers want relevance and advertisers want a targeted approach. ICUE helps publishers to sell more books using a combination of context, location and demographics. We offer a cost-effective, interactive marketing service delivering some of the best ROI available.

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Learning

Learn how to read’
Enter by selecting the icon from your phone’s application menu. The logo will appear on your screen followed by the menu screen. Using this menu you can find a demonstration on how to read. Including how to play books, rewind, fast forward, pause, skip sentences and paragraphs, and control the speed of reading. You’ll also find a folder where any books you buy will be stored.

Crime thrillers to fairy tales – buying a book
To buy a book select the store option in the tool bar on your phone that will take you to a WAP site. All the books available to buy are listed by author, genre and title. Downloading a book takes just seconds, and you can start reading immediately.

Books are generally cheaper than hard copy versions. And the cost is simply charged to your mobile phone account.

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What’s it About?

Imagine being able to store hundreds of books on your mobile phone so that you can read them whenever, or wherever, you want.

ICUE is a new service that combines cutting-edge mobile technology with the latest research into reading techniques to provide you with the perfect way to read anything from books to newspapers and reports to emails – all on your mobile phone screen.

You can select the text to appear one word at a time, in phrases, or to flow across the screen from right to left. Either way, the text appears automatically – at a size and speed that you determine.

That means no more endless scrolling down the page. And no more squinting at small text.

You can download ICUE and any of the hundreds of books available to buy using your mobile phone.

To find out more, click on any of the menu options above.

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