Technology
News You Can Use
July
2007 - Issue XXVIII
In This Newsletter
Greetings
I’d like to take this opportunity to say a big thanks to
all the folks on the Technology Committee who helped make the
inaugural Tech Lunch Bunch a great success. That event
is proof of the value that the Tech Committee has to offer the
members of the North Chamber. Also, I commend the
Committee on the dedication you have shown in ramping up to
organize another such event in October. Finally, I’d
like to thank all the members of the Committee who stepped up
to the plate and helped make the Congressman Lamar Smith
luncheon a great success. When folks compliment me on
the Tech Council’s proven track record this year, I strive to
give credit where credit is due - great job, tech
Committee!
Zandra
Pulis
CPS Energy
Top
If you are like most people who work in an office, you
spend the majority of your time using one office productivity
application or another. If you are not looking up
something on the web, you are typing a document, making a
presentation, writing e-mail or preparing a document for
distribution.
Unfortunately, it's not surprising that the bill for these
tools can often exceed the cost of your computer and operating
system.
But there are legal, low and no cost options for just about
all of the tools that you are need, and many of them are
better than the high cost versions. The legal part is
critical. Many businesses, both large and small,
sometimes get a bit fast and loose about licensing their
commercial software. Both the “The Software
& Information Industry Association” (ISSA) and the
“Business Software Alliance” (BSA) are now offering
rewards of up to $1 million to those who inform on
companies who violate the End User License Agreement (EULA)
that you agree to when you install a commercial software
package. Don't think that just because you are in a
small business that they won't care, or that they are only
looking for the 'big fish'. The ISSA and BSA are equal
opportunity, going after both large and small companies.
The fines can be stiff. The BSA reports that the average
fine levied for software piracy is $43,000 (someone has to pay
for those million dollar rewards). You can get
caught.
However, there are alternatives. You can have full
featured productivity applications that are low cost, or free,
and won't put you in jeopardy.
The basic office suite is the most important application
package for most offices and it just so happens that one of
the jewels of Open Source software is Open Office. This
package is mentioned almost any time Open Source is
mentioned. That's because it's the real deal. Open
Office is Microsoft Office compatible (you can even have Open
Office save documents in MS Office format by default), which
means that you can still edit existing documents, collaborate,
and exchange documents with others as you do now. It's
interface is very similar and familiar so that most people who
have used MS Office can just start using Open Office.
The suite includes a robust word processor (like Word), a
spreadsheet program (like Excel), and a presentation tool
(like PowerPoint); as well as several other tools. Try
it, it can save you $150 to over $500 for each
workstation.
Document distribution is another facet of office
communications. It is becoming standard to distribute
documents, whether they are letters, contracts or invoices in
PDF form. The reason is that PDFs display and print
correctly on almost any system. This portability gives
you the confidence to send documents to others knowing that
they will see them as you meant them to be seen. But at
what cost? The most common tool for making PDF documents
is Adobe Acrobat. The current cost for Acrobat is about
$400 for a single user copy and over $100 for an upgrade from
an earlier version. But again there is an
alternative. CutePDF is a free utility that will allow
you to make a PDF from any source, it acts like a printer but
instead of printing on paper, the output is a PDF file (there
is also a pay-for version of CutePDF for about $50 that does
even more). Oh, and one more feature of Open Office, it
has a PDF converter built-in so it will already save your
documents in PDF format. CutePDF lets you convert
anything else to PDF.
As more and more information and applications move to the
web, we all spend more time in our web browsers. Because
Internet Explorer comes with Windows, it doesn't cost anything
extra, but it's not considered the best browser. The new
version Internet Explorer 7 has many new features, but
unfortunately it is also not very reliable, and many people
have problems when upgrading to IE 7. The alternative is
the Firefox browser. It's free, has all of the features
of IE 7 and more. There have been hundreds of 'plug-in'
tools created that can enhance your browsing experience.
They do everything from helping you manage your tabs (tabs
allow you to view more than one web page in one browser
window, this helps to manage several open websites without
having the clutter all over your PC's desktop), to remembering
your settings and preferences. Try it, you may like
it.
Graphics programs are among the most painfully expensive
programs. If you usually use Adobe Photoshop, you may be
able to use Gimpshop. Gimpshop is an Open source
graphics program that has many of the features of Photoshop,
and a very similar interface, but it's free. It won't do
Pantone/PMS colors, but for most graphics work, it will do all
that you need, without breaking your budget.
E-mail tools are another area where some of the free or
Open Source programs are better than the pay for versions (or
the versions that come with Windows). The Mozilla team,
the same people who created Firefox, also created
Thunderbird. Thunderbird is a very flexible and capable
e-mail program that is certainly better than Outlook Express,
and is free, unlike Outlook.
Anti-virus and anti-spyware tools are a critical part of
any PC's compliment. Again, some of the free tools are
some of the best. “Clam Anti Virus” is an Open Source
project and “ClamWin” is the Open Source free version for
Windows, and it works. “Spybot Search and Destroy” is
one of the spyware protection tools that has been around the
longest. It's immunization (from spyware infection) is
among the best.
This list barely scratches the surface of what is
available; a little effort spent looking at what is out there
can get you some truly excellent tools for little or no
cost.
There are times when standard commercial software is the
right choice. But, there are times when Open Source
software may be the better choice to give you the function you
need in an affordable way, or to alleviate the risk of using
unlicensed software. Look at the alternatives, you may
be in for a pleasant surprise.
Fast Tracking A Top Listing
on Google by John Hill SATC
Everyone wants to know the secret to being on page one of a
Google search, and they want that top spot without paying for
it, right?
We have found a way to get you there with very little
effort on your part. And the best news is that it’s not
only free, it works for local searches.
All you have to do is publish just about anything on
SATechNews.com.
Now, if you’ve been around the San Antonio Tech Community
for any length of time, you know that SA Tech News has not
been stocked with fresh news up to a month or so ago. It
has been very difficult to get people to post their news, even
though it is absolutely free. You can publish something
every day if you want. But still, for whatever reason,
no one takes advantage of it. But in the process of
bringing the site up to date, we discovered something very
interesting. SATechNews.com news shows up at the top of
a Google search very consistently.
If you’re a skeptic, I invite you to test it out. Log
on to www.satechnews.com/headlines.cfm.
Click on Add News, create an account and log in. Next
you’ll be treated to word processing editor that you can use
to create or paste your news. Click Submit, wait a week
or two, then do a Google search.
The key is to publish information that contains key words
you would want prospects to use in a Google search.
For example, Clearcom is a Mitel dealer. So Mike
inserted a press release from Mitel, adding information about
Clearcom at the end of the release. So now if you
search for Mitel San Antonio, voila! That link shows up
at the top of page one, just below the paid ads. And
that news release was submitted just two weeks ago. We
posted an article about Targeted Technology Ventures and
cardiac stents on 5/30/07 . Googling (is that a
word?) “cardiac stents San Antonio ” results in a
page one, number one listing.
What causes this phenomenon?
It is most likely because SATechNews.com is an established
media driven site. As such, it may receive preferential
treatment from Google. If you have questions about
SATechNews.com and posting content to the site, visit
satechnews.com.
Top
I waited in line at the Quarry AT&T store for 45
minutes to be one of the first in town for an iPhone. I've
never even waited in line for a concert, so I felt like an
idiot sweating in the hot sun in business attire and high
heels, holding a lime green umbrella as sun protection. (That
is until a buddy showed up and waited just to see one - not
even to buy one.) I've never bought into such hype before, and
really consider myself more of a V2 kind of girl, but this
purchase is a salute to the gods of usability design. The
"phone", if you can really classify it as such, really is
amazing, and I'm not afraid to buy the first round of anything
Apple.
I haven't looked at the manual - intentionally. And I'm not
going to. And I haven't needed to, either. They (Apple) really
are geniuses. After recently arm wrestling with a Treo and
then the Samsung BlackJack, this is a welcome relief. It
sync'ed seamlessly on the first try and without third-party
software. That may seem like a simple statement, but if you
have a PDA of any kind, you will know that it is profound. I
have everything on the phone: contacts, calendars, bookmarks,
music, and even a portable portfolio our design work so that I
can legitimately justify this as a business expense. But it's
not just that I was able to sync it effortlessly - it also
picked up email settings from the computer, so that those of
you unaware of what an smtp server is can rest in bliss... you
will never need to know.
This device is the sexiest piece of technology I've ever
owned, and my friends on non-AT&T carriers are
legitimately jealous.
To be fair, I do have critiques:
The interface isn't customizable in the way that the Palm
OS is. This was a major critique I had of Windows Mobile,
which gives you 7 or so presets, all of which are horrible.
But I don't think I could have put things in a better place
than Apple did, either. They have anticipated the most common
user needs wonderfully.
There is a VPN setting, and I was able to connect to my VPN
at the office, but I don't know why. There is no way to browse
through files. I am thinking (hoping?) that's something for a
future update.
Almost every screen has a zoom feature, and yet I am not
able to zoom when using the camera???
It is really slow on the AT&T EDGE network, but really
fast with a wi-fi connection. I have wi-fi at home and at
work, but I've also got computers at both places. So, it's
slow the only place where I really need it to work... when I'm
out and need to check/send email or look at a map.
You can turn some, but not all of the screens, into the
horizontal view. Which breaks my heart, even though the
"necessity" is questionable.
I emailed myself a new wallpaper pattern, but I wasn't able
to download the attachment, which was annoying. I had to load
the image into iPhoto and then sync to get it into the photo
library before I could get it on the phone and load it up as
wallpaper.
With all of the songs I loaded on it, you'd think I could
set a custom ringtone from the music library... but I can't.
So a photo of my husband barks when he calls.
Really, the speed is probably the only legitimate concern
that I have. Patience is not something I have much of when it
comes to technology, but I gaze into the dark little screen
and don't seem to get mad when the page loads slowly. Has
Apple improved the world unknowingly?
Oh, and if you are wondering, I've dropped it at least 4
times (really bad... on hard tile and concrete) and it's fine,
although I wouldn't recommend that test at home.
Top
Contact Us
|
