iPad Computer Applications for Business

A few months ago, Homepreneurs wrote an article on tablet computing in the home business environment.  Some concerns have not changed: screen size, processing power, display ability for large spreadsheets, etc. somewhat limit the tablet for specific business needs.

Regardless, tablet computers continue to sell very well.  Apple recently released the third version of the iPad, the best known tablet and has two hundred thousand applications. Other tablet competitors in the market include: Samsung, Acer, Dell, Asus, and Toshiba.  Many have similar applications, but this post’s focus is about software for iPad.

One huge advantage to Apple’s iPad is the number and variety of the applications.  Many are free and multiple options exist for almost every business need.  In the list below, please note a number of common business applications with prices and download links.  Many are top sellers and commonly used software on all computing platforms today – laptop, desktop, smart phone or tablets.

Productivity

Numbers – spreadsheet software – $9.99

Pages – advanced word processing – $9.99

Keynote – presentation software – $4.99

Bento – personal database – $9.99

Dragon Recorder – speech to text recognition software – free

WebEx – web conferencing software online – free

Social Networking

The following social media applications are free

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Other Useful Applications

Dropbox – backup software, free up to 1 GB storage

Square – accept credit card payments. Software is free, but transaction fees are placed on each purchase.   An extra hardware device for credit card swiping is available.

With over 200,000 applications written for the iPad, home business owners and entrepreneurs can set up shop anywhere and anytime.  At 1.44 pounds, the iPad is portable and needs almost no space. Why carry a large laptop when a tablet may be just as good?

By Dion D Shaw

Dion D Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunity.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012, All Rights Reserved

Image credit: www.apple.com

Protecting Your Digital Rights with the DMCA

The DMCA (Digital Media Copyright Act or Digital Millennium Copyright Act) was signed into law in 1998 by then-President Bill Clinton.  The DMCA is a Federal copyright law meant to curb Internet piracy of digital media.  The ‘Act’ is evolving and has affected major Internet companies such as Napster, Kazaa, and Limewire.

In essence, “the DMCA restricts the ability to make, sell, or distribute devices which circumvent (or get around) copyright protection. This means you are not allowed to make or use programs that allow users to get by any technical measures that control access to a copyrighted work.

It is illegal to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in a device or service which is primarily intended to circumvent copyright protection.

Under this Act, it is illegal for you to ‘crack’ commercial software, sell or distribute any software used for cracking commercial software, or make unauthorized copies of copyrighted DVDs and CDs.” [i]

File sharing and other copyrighted works (software, books, movies, etc.) are also affected by the DMCA, making it illegal to host, share or download copyrighted works.

The DMCA also has a ‘safe harbor’ provision that shields Internet service providers and website hosts (ISPs) from lawsuits providing they remove the copyrighted material after notification.  Requesting removal of material requires a DMCA takedown form, available from most hosts.  A sample version of a DMCA takedown notice is available from the University of Washington and other websites.  Use Google to find other templates.

If you believe your copyrighted work is wrongfully taken by another individual or entity, you will need to find the site host or ISP and contact their legal department.  Use Network Solutions or GoDaddy.com and enter the site name into the “whois” database to find the service provider.

Digital copyrights are a relatively new concept and constantly evolving.  The global nature of the Internet adds a unique spin to copyright law, involving countries that don’t have established laws or in some cases, laws at all.  The DMCA lays basic groundwork for digital law protection, but certainly does not cover all aspects of digital copyrights.

By Dion D Shaw

Dion D Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunity.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012, All Rights Reserved

---

[i] http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/technology-explained-digital-media-copyright-act/

Imbedding Blogs with Websites

Your home business is in start up mode.  You worked with a marketing guru and developed a catchy name, logo, and tagline.  You planned ahead and reserved domain names and a blog name too.  Blogs are a great way to easily add updated information to a website and improve search engine rankings.  Better search rankings mean more visibility, more buyers, and greater earnings.  Homepreneurs most recent success story – healthpetslive.com – is a good example of a website and embedded blog.  Imbedding a blog with your website has several benefits:

-        It provides fresh content for search engines.  Your website is static and gets stale for both readers and search engines.  Updates cause Google to automatically re-index your site and improve your page rankings.

-        Entice the reader to come back for new information and not the stuff he saw last week.  He won’t come back if nothing changes.

-        It grows the size of the website.  One of Google’s ranking factors is based on a website’s size.  Each blog entry increases size and Google search ranking.

-        Linking ability.  With blogs, internal and external links can be used.  The links increase SEO and also Google’s page ranking.

Take a quick look at healthpetslive.com again.  In the menu bar at the top on the right side is the word BLOG.  Clicking on this will link you to the expert blog by Dr. Sarah and Dr. Jane.  The topics are related to the website theme and provide expert credibility.  The blog is updated at least once a month with a new article.  Also note that this site has room for member comments – more site updates.  The blog articles and comments add to the overall size, SEO, and page rankings in Google results.  Try this and notice a steady increase in the number of visits to your site.

- By Dion D. Shaw

Dion D. Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunity.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012

Home Computer Networks: Routine Maintenance Tips

Part of operating a home business involves technology and understanding how it works at a high-level.  Unless your business is in the technology industry, information about router programming, website design, and firewall options takes up too much brain space.  Outsource those tasks where possible when upgrades and additions to the home network are needed.  You can perform some basic maintenance on your home or small business network that will improve performance.  Provided below is something to do on a monthly basis or so.

Similar to business networks and servers, home networks require periodic maintenance to help operating efficiency.  The steps below should be done about once per month and are similar for both DSL (e.g. AT&T) and cable networks (e.g. Comcast).

The home network likely resembles the image below:

The broadband modem is supplied by your ISP (Internet Service Provider); the base station/router is usually your wireless router, probably purchased at a local computer store.  Performance of your network is improved by clearing the ‘routing tables’ and ‘cache’: the cache is a database of addresses and forwarding information stored in a router and builds up over time, creating electronic garbage.

Follow these steps:

1)      Turn off your laptop or desktop computer

2)      Turn off the base station/router – the power cord may be unplugged for this

3)      Turn off the Broadband modem – the power cord may be unplugged and also remove a backup battery if one exists

** Do not remove any network cables – only unplug power connections **

** All lights on the front panels of devices 2 & 3 should be off **

If lights are still lit on the front, the device is either not unplugged or has a battery backup.

4)      Leave all devices off for 1 minute.  This will reset the routing tables and clear any information from the ‘cache’

5)      Plug the devices back in, using this sequence:

1. Broadband modem first – remember to reinstall the backup battery, if removed
2. Wait until all lights are lit and the Internet light is active
3. Plug in the base station/router

6)      After lights are active on the base station/router, turn on the computers

This process applies to 90% of home networks that use cable and/or DSL.  If problems exist with connections even after these steps, contact your Internet service provider for assistance.

- By Dion D Shaw

Dion D Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunity.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012

Free Internet Resources for Home and Small Business

In a word, the Internet is INCREDIBLE.  Never in history has information been so readily available, easily accessed, broad in scope, and much of it, free.  For home business and small business owners, try these free software applications: Open Office suite, templates for a variety of business programs and processes, creative tools such as Gimp (an open source version of Photoshop), Picasa (Google’s photo editing software), and even computer operating systems, notably Linux.  Granted, the learning curve of some is a little steep, but the price – FREE – and compatibility with existing hardware and software easily outweighs the downsides.

Aside from the free and valuable information available, other free tools include email and Instant Messenger services – AOL, Yahoo, Google, Skype, et al. – chatrooms, discussion boards, and various business oriented groups scattered across the cyber universe.  Want to get opinions about a new product or service?  Try to conduct a free poll on www.SurveyMonkey.com.  Questions about writing a business plan?  Try the small business administration at www.sba.gov.  Need a helping hand with marketing or stuck in a rut?  The volunteers (retired business owners) at www.score.org are often willing to help.

Have something to say about a topic or want to display a new product?  Use a blog:  WordPress.com – the blog host you are reading now – is free too, and can provide instant updates to your product offerings.  Blogger, tumblr, Xanga, and Twitter, are other popular blog hosts and all are free!   Want to display your pictures and see what is popular?  Try flickr or tumblr.  Videos?  How about YouTube?  Free and free again.

Want to market your product?  Try these distribution channels: Etsy, eBay, Facebook, and various blogs and websites.  Minor charges apply for these services, but very small compared to owing a brick and mortar store.  Want to market through a website?  Take a look at Consumer Reports highest rated web hosts for a good comparison of services.

The Internet has opened the global marketplace to all producers and providers.  Do business from anywhere, at any time, to people and other organizations across the planet.  Embrace the technology, educate yourself by learning the terms and trends, and discover the hidden wonders that can make a huge difference in your business.

By Dion D Shaw

Dion D Shaw is the founder and owner of Hompreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunities.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012