TSBlog

Show Your Computer Some Love

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:03:07 GMT

Computers are entertainment systems, photo albums, Internet surfing devices and music players. They’re a one-stop shop full of your favorite games, songs and pictures. So isn’t it about time you took care of yours? The second Monday of February is Clean Out Your Computer Day. If your desktop is distracting, your saved emails date back to the year MySpace was popular, or your computer is sluggish, take time to organize or delete computer files, photos, MP3s and documents. Here are our tips for caring for your PC or Mac.

1. Make a back up. First things first, it’s time to back that computer up. Cleaning up your computer can involve deleting programs and files. Having a backup allows you to restore your computer and rescue anything you might have accidentally gotten rid of. Making a backup is fairly simple. First you need to decide where you want to save your data — CD, DVD, external hard drive or cloud. Then copy all of your information to that form of medium.

2. Remove unnecessary programs. The more free space your computer has, the better it runs. So one of the first things you should do is delete programs that you no longer use, such as old versions of games. Other culprits taking up space are multiple Internet browsers. If your machine has Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera it’s time to bid at least one of them farewell. If you’re on a PC, go to your Control Panel and click on “Add or Remove Programs” to look at all the programs you have installed on your PC. Take off the ones you don’t need, look at or use. If you’re on a Mac, use Finder to discover the application’s file and then put it in the trash. It’s as simple as that.
3. Move old media. Nab the pictures, movies or music you no longer use every day, but still want to keep and put them on another device (be it USB stick, CD, DVD or external hard drive). Pictures files in particular can take up a lot of space.

4. Compress files. Have files you don’t use a lot, but you don’t really want to put on a separate hard drive? We recommend compressing the files or folders. Once compressed, they’re smaller and take up less space. When you want to use the file again, simply uncompress them. To compress a folder or file on a PC, right click on it and click Send to Compressed Folder. For a Mac, simply right click on the file and click Compress"file name".

5. Clear browser cache. Whenever you long onto a web page your computer has to download all the pictures, video or audio on it. It then saves the information (known as browser cache) so that when you reload the website it does not have to download all the stuff again. This makes pages load faster but there is a downside. Browser cache is a big storage hog. Various web browsers have different options for deleting browser cache, so be sure to look at yours to figure out the best way to clear it.

6. Clean up the cookies. Cookies can also take up a bit of space. Heralded as security problems, cookies remember data typed into the Internet — like passwords. They can be great things for people who log onto Facebook every hour and don’t feel like typing their e-mail address and password every time. But like cache, they take up space. So when you’re cleaning up your computer, add them to your delete pile. Chances are that your anti-virus software already did it. One caveat though. Your computer will no longer remember your password. So make sure you know your password for e-mail, Facebook and twitter before you hit the delete key.
7. Empty the recycle bin. You’ve been deleting up a storm, but all that space will remain occupied on your computer unless you empty that recycle (PC) or trash (Mac) bin. Just right click on the file and click empty. It’s that simple.

8. Use a central filing system. Just like your organize your bookshelves, you should organize your computer. Use the directories on computers — Documents for Macs and My Documents for PCs — to store all your data. Having everything in the same place helps you do backups of your important data by letting you copy just one folder, instead of 16 billion.

9. Defrag your computer. With all the program deletion and file moving, the next step is to defrag. When Windows writes anything to a disk it will take the first available space. Sometimes that space is divided into pieces, so Windows writes it in fragments, so a program could be in four to five pieces. When you defrag the disk Windows makes it into one continual piece. This helps your computer run faster and lets your hard drive work less. We recommend that you defrag three to four times a year. Computers with Windows 95 and later include Disk Defragmenter, a program that will defrag for you.

What Can Pinterest Do For Your Brand?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:27:59 GMT

Pinterest is a user-created and curated mood boards rising in the social media community. It's mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting."

Although Pinterest first began in March 2010 it is already overpassing Twitter in the amount of time spent by each user per day. Whereas Twitter is focused on text via microblogging, Pinterest is fueled by image curation. Pinterest members are encouraged to pin, organize, share, and sort all the individual visual pieces of photography to create a kind of collective stream of visual memes. Pinterest is a little like Tumblr, in that it starts with a photo. But instead of presenting one photo at a time in the Tumblr style, Pinterest photos or "pins" gain context from being sorted by their pinners into "boards" of similar items or concepts for presentation.

People will browse, pin, and repin those aspirational or dreams they have, but they also are finding things that impact everyday life: crafts projects, planning birthday parties, designing a home on a budget.

In this stage of Pinterest development, Brands are expected to behave as the individual participants of Pinterest do. The Etiquette Guide stresses that self-promotion is frowned upon making it important to remember that this site is about individual expression and sharing, not about selling or broadcasting. Pinterest is mainly skewed towards women. rands that women love need to think about their core user because when a brand that 'pins' without understanding the core user will find that there is not an audience for a broadcast or promotional kind of pinning.

There are two main ways social media managers and internal brand advocates can optimize their Pinterest presences:

1. Optimizing the brands content to be appealing to the growing network of Pinterest participants by understanding the aesthetic value as well as it being a low-maintence social media platform.

2. Joining Pinterest as a participant/brand curator takes a great deal more energy and a regular flow of content than the first, but does have the advantage of using "push button" technology.

Whether active use of Pinterest is best left to the industries that are a natural fit with the interests of Pinterest pinners is a question only time and use can answer.

Is Your Website Optimized for Android Users?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:58:55 GMT

According to comScore, the amount of mobile users who access social media sites and blogs from their phones grew ‘2.1 percent points to 33 percent’ in the United States. This is proof that mobile phone users aren’t just making phone calls, listening to music or playing games from their phone.

What does this say for business owners? It offers a multitude of opportunities for entrepreneurs to increase their business through mobile marketing. However, there is one drawback. You must be well prepared for your potential mobile users. One way to prepare is to make sure your website is optimized for Android and other mobile users. Here are a few benefits of mobile website optimization:

Enhances Brand Identity

Having a mobile friendly website will automatically set your business apart from the competition. It provides a positive, modern brand identity for your business.

Improves User Experience

Remember, you have only a few seconds to capture your visitor’s interest upon entering your website. Research proves that a website that’s optimized for mobile use automatically improves a user’s experience. If a user is browsing a desktop website from his/her mobile phone, they will more than likely get frustrated and abandon your site. Most people don’t have patience to wait until they get to a laptop or desktop to browse through your website. They will leave and find another site that provides the ultimate mobile experience.

Quicker Downloading Speed

A mobile website is designed to provide the user with fast download speed. As a result, they spend more time browsing and less time waiting.

Opens Doors to Advertising Opportunities

Mobile advertising is growing in leaps and bounds. If you’re promoting your business on Google AdWords, your ads are probably showing up in mobile listings (depending upon your account settings). Make sure your ads are directed to landing pages that are mobile optimized, instead of your desktop website. This will help boost your results and maximize your return on investment.

When you are ready for your website to be mobile-friendly, call TracSoft at 706-568-4133

Tutorial: How to Make Your Photos Website-Friendly

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:53:23 GMT

One of the many reasons that I switched from my hosting provider’s webmail to a Gmail account is the sheer size of the images clients send via email. Which brings up a valid question for a lot of clients who want to add their own images to their website: How to re-size the multi-megabyte images that even a basic cellphone camera will take so that the pictures do not interfere with a site’s layout and load time? Since not everyone has Photoshop, is there a way for some way to re-size a large picture to be used on a website or to send via email without jamming the recipient’s inbox? Yes! With Google’s image tool Picasa, there’s an easy way to work with your images to re-size them online and then use them however you need.

Step 1: If you don’t have one already, get yourself a Google account.
I love a lot of Google’s free services. There’s Gmail of course, which enables me to receive emails on my phone with no hassle and gives me over 7,000 megabytes of storage. Google Analytics is also another great tool to take advantage of. For this tutorial though, we’re going to look at Picasa. So go to google.com and sign up for account if you don’t have one already.

Step 2: Download Picasa
Now that you have your Google username (email) and password, sign in and get started with Picasa. You'll need to download the free Google program, Picasa.

Step 3: Import Images
Once you have downloaded and installed the program, Picasa will explore your computer and find all the images.

Step 4: Chose Photos to Re-size
Go to the library of images by clicking on view in the top menu and then choosing library view.Hold the CTRL key down on the keyboard while clicking on the pictures that you want to re-size. When you have selected the pictures you want, simply press on the the Export Icon at the bottom, or you can double click a single image and export it alone.

Step 5: Re-size
Choose or create the destination folder you would like to export to. Use the Image Size> Re-size To> then use the slider to select the desired length of the longest edge of your photo. Depending on the layout of your site, maximum size can vary, but for the sake of example, I usually save my images at 450 pixels wide as the maximum width. Make sure you choose to retain the proportions as well.

Step 6: Adjust Image Quality
After that, select your image quality. To be safe, I would stick with automatic.

Step 7: Take a look!
Once the export is complete it will take you to the file you exported.

Now, when you add an image into your website the smaller file size will take a load off your server, and your website's visitors will thank you!

Top ‘Must Have’ Android Apps For 2012

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

Whether you own a small business or a large corporation, having the latest Android applications will make your hectic life a lot easier. Although there are thousands of great apps out there to choose from, we obviously can’t list them all in here. Below are just a handful of TracSoft’s favorite Android apps we recommend using for the New Year.

Time Master
There is nothing like having control over your time and day-to-day tasks - thanks to apps like ‘Time Master’. This time-saving, user-friendly app has an assortment of features. It allows you to keep track of your expenses by importing your files into the app. It also has built-in functionality that allows you to organize and sift through your data with ease. You can start, stop and arrange tasks one-by-one and it even allows you to ‘group’ them by a particular client.

Toggl

This time-keeper app will keep you on your toes by helping you maximize how you operate your business. We recommend using Toggl because it’s compatible with a desktop, Android and iOS. It is also compatible with programs such as Basecamp and Quickbooks. Plus, you can create graphic reports of how you or your team spends the day.

FreshBooks

This app provides an assortment of invoicing alternatives. It allows you to bill your clients through email with eye-catching invoices and it is compatible with Authorize.net and PayPal. You can also create billing reports with FreshBooks. It is a great app to compliment your current billing system.

Timesheet

If you’re looking for a simple time-sheet app without all the complicated bells and whistles, ‘Timesheet’ provides an easy-to-use interface. You can easily keep track of projects, create notes and add breaks. It also allows you to export projects in a variety of formats for future use.

YouSendIt

If you send large files through email, you have more than likely used YouSendIt from your desktop or laptop. Now you can access you account through your Android phone. It is easy-to-use and works a cinch!

Siri, Personal Assistant

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:21:12 GMT

Finally been introduced into the iPhone world and in the world of constant internet access I went from an old Palm straight to my own personal assistant with Siri. According to Apple Inc., owners of the new iPhone 4S use almost twice as much data compared with the smartphone's predecessor. Speech recognition software has been around for the past 8 years.

With just a few spoken words, Siri, the artificially-intelligent personal assistant feature can help iPhone users schedule appointments, write text messages, check the weather, set a timer, explain directions, or launch a playlist from iTunes.

Its integration into the iOS 5 software makes it convenient to use. If you hold the iPhone 4S’s Home button, a short beep signals for you to begin speaking. You can use it in this speakerphone mode, or if the iPhone 4S is turned on, you can simply raise the handset to your ear (a necessity when riding in a noisy vehicle; oh wait Dad-- I can text and drive now!) and the phone’s proximity sensor activates Siri, usually prompting you to begin speaking.

Siri comes with support for five languages: three dialects of English (U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia), French and German. Other languages, when switched to will work but limits Siri's functionality.

I do not consider myself to have a strong Southern accent, but Siri does. I have to speak very clear with no background noise on occasion for Siri to understand exactly what I am saying and to get what I am asking eactly right. Siri has been helpful while driving and trying to text, looking for directions and searching for events in my calendar, but Siri's most common reply to me has been that 'it didn't quite get that', so there is definitely a little bit of work to be done on future Siri upgrades.

For Siri herself though, she sounds like a robot! That was a little disappionting especially knowing that GPS devices have multiple accents to choose from.

Apple plans to expand Siri's support for accents in 2012 with Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish.

If Siri's doesn't understand exactly the question, it will give that question in Google's search engine, or if you ask it to do something for you she will most likely tell you the 15 closest places to you where that particular item is accessible.

Siri likes to be funny also. Asking Siri "What is the meaning of life?" can produce many answers. Two of which are "I don't know. But I think there's an app for that." and "All evidence to date suggests chocolate." (I am not sure about anyone else I could use some chocolate right now. I will ask Siri where the nearest candy shop is and I wager she knows!)

Apparently, those of you who 'jailbreak' your phones, Siri is also now available to all users of the iPhone 4, but I won't be the one to tell you how!

Seasonal Concepts Website Redesign

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:48:25 GMT

Last week we launched a newly redesigned website for Seasonal Concepts. We took their old design and gave it an overhaul, this time focusing on easier to navigate layout for visitors, and imagery that
reflects the company's premier lawn care and landscaping services as well as their full service nursery. We changed the look and feel of the site to promote a clean and premier energy that outshines the competition.

A Content Management System (CMS) we have developed allows staff members to make changes to pages quickly and easily, using an editor similar to Microsoft Word or Wordpress.com. We built a powerful backend admin panel for the website that gives Seasonal Concepts a simple way to access their ticketing system, services, nursery location, and the latest Seasonal Concepts article. With their new ticketing system they can easily add new service calls to the ticketing list so that all employees are on the same page when they check the ticketing system from their smart phones.

Go take a look at the new design for Seasonal Concepts and let us know what you think! http://www.seasonalconceptscolumbus.com

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4 Reasons To Change Your Logo Design

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:55:14 GMT

Given the importance of your logo in marketing and branding terms, changing it is something you do not want to do on a whim. The function and impact of a logo design is often overlooked. Those who do measure its effect on influencing customers will find it plays a very important role in their buying behavior. There can be many reasons why you would want to change or even revamp your logo, but the main ones are given below.

1. Your initial logo design fails to engage customers:
This is possibly the most common reason businesses have for changing their logo’s and in particular those who chose to design their own rather than seek professional help. Designing a killer logo is not just about putting a nice graphic together, it is about layout, appealing to a target audience, colors, imagery and originality. The design process takes time to perfect and although you are not guaranteed to get it right first time, your chances of success are greatly increased.

2. Your logo too closely resembles that of a competitor or leading brand:
This is actually quite easily done! Design possibilities are infinite but it is often the best designs that will stick in our minds and which can somehow transverse to designs we think are original. Of course ripping off the design of a leading brand or close competitor is a definite no-no. Don’t be led into thinking you can fool potential customers into buying something they believe is something else and do not think that a copycat logo will add value to your business, it won’t and often has the reverse effect.
An original logo will set you apart from the competition, give you your own identity and add value to your business.

3. It is time for a change:
Big brands do this on a regular basis, but you may not have actually noticed! Check out logos across the years from some of the leading names and you will notice subtle differences. Things like colors, layout and fonts can all be subtly changed without ever really impacting on the original design. The logos are updated but customers rarely notice any difference until presented with the old and the new side by side. This kind of begs the question why bother? Sometimes logo’s can look dated, advances in printing and graphic design can see other companies with new logo’s become more eye-catching than yours and marketing studies show that new or updated logo’s can attract a whole new audience who may not have considered you before.

4. You want to or have to re-brand:
Maybe you have bought an existing business, need to recover trade from bad publicity or have diversified into other areas. The reason to completely re-brand an existing business needs to be a good one as it is not an easy or cheap undertaking. Your existing customer base will look for your logo and branding whenever they want to make a purchase and changing it could see them go elsewhere because they are unable to identify you.

After carefully considering changing your logo, you should call TracSoft at 706-568-4133. We have an experienced logo designer on staff that can help you with creating, updating, or re-branding your company's logo.

TracSoft Web Design does Print Design?

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:43:03 GMT

Now that TracSoft has a Graphic Designer on staff (ahem) many of our clients have started using us for our Design services that are not just for the Web. That's right, we've been offering Print Design as a service to our clients!

You see, I majored in Visual Communications: Multimedia (in layman's terms, that's Graphic Design for the Web) but 2/3 of my primary professors had extensive backgrounds in Print and felt it was imperative that we had dual knowledge of the design realm. Now with that knowledge, we are featuring a variety of Design services to our clients. Check our our latest work for our long time client, Kim Mixon:

Now knowing that TracSoft does Print Design, how will you use us for your business' design needs?

Facebook's New Timeline

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:52:05 GMT

Facebook Timeline has been on the back burner, but is finally being rolled out to the public, starting in New Zealand. Every time Facebook changes the way news feed and profiles look there are those that are fans and those that protest and claim to be about to drop off facebook forever. But do they really ever? Here is all you need to know about the new Timeline.

New Features

Timeline is going to be a significant change from other reconfigurations Facebook has done before. This timeline will basically be a online scrapbook of your life from birth to present, via everything you have previously posted on Facebook, events you have attended, and pictures you or others have tagged of you.

The most prominent feature is the addition of a cover photo at the top of the page. Users can change this to whatever they'd like it to be.

Important events and dates in your life are recorded in the timeline and you can even add pictures and words to make the dates more meaningful. This timeline will be two columns and your top statuses, friends, photos and top stories will be featured at the top of the page.

Events and places you have been will now be included in a personalized map showing all of these things that are added to Facebook or things you have already included previously. This will be powered by the already existing Facebook Places.

One great thing about the Timeline is you can move around different things to prominently place the applications and photos that are most important to you.

You can activate the Timeline now with this link, but most people will choose to just wait the two to four weeks when it will become available to everyone.

Foursquare Adds New Features

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:05:12 GMT

Foursquare is adding two new features "Save to Foursquare" and "Follow," announced on Wednesday, that try to incorporate brands into the mobile experience and are also designed to give consumers information when they’re on the go.

Save to Foursquare is an update of “Add to Foursquare,” a feature the company introduced in 2010 for a short time. Save to Foursquare does the same thing: It lets users save reviews and articles about a venue to their To Do list and then call them up when they check in or are in range of that venue. Add to Foursquare proved to be too much of a burden for the publishers to embed the button. So far this new option seems to have found the solution to the previous problems.

With Save to Foursquare a user can read an article in a magazine or online post about a restaurant and save it to the app. Later on, if the user is back in the same area, Foursquare will serve up the article when he is in range (if the user has the Radar feature activated) of the same place or if actually at the restaraunt. Jonathan Crowley, director of media partnerships at Foursquare, says with Save to Foursquare a user can also plan trips in advance by reading reviews of areas they are to be in and obtain other travel information with the new feature. Crowley also commented, "We wanted to bridge the gap between what you're reading and watching online, and what you go out and do in the real world," as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Publishers including New York magazine, CBS Local Digital Media, Time Out New York, Time Out Chicago and and AskMen.com, among others, will be offering that feature starting Wednesday. Foursquare has also introduced a Foursquare Bookmarklet that lets users save any webpage they like when they integrate the function into their browser.

The "Follow on Foursquare" button empowers everyone with a website to permit Foursquare users to "follow" that person or that business on Foursquare via a simple click. This button is similar to Twitter's follow button.

Facebook's User-Tracking Secrets

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:45:24 GMT

Facebook engineer's have recently disclosed the details of tracking their users across the Web to USA Today's Byron Acohido. A debate about online privacy is brewing about the fact that Facebook can keep a running log of its 800 million or so member's Web usage for the past 90 days by using tracking cookie technology. Not only that, but a non-member can be tracked if they merely land on a Facebook page in their time on the internet.

A "Do Not Track" debate that focuses on whether consumers should be able to prevent websites from tracking their online activity has recently made Facebook a top player in their debate based on how much privacy information is available through Facebook.

These session cookies are tracking not only your user profile data, but also your unique computer information and the time and date of each URL you visit. Facebook holds strong that this tracking data is used for good and they do not sell your personal information to any third parties.

What good can it do you ask?

Boosting Security - Tracking logs help Facebook identify and block faked accounts, phishing scams and viral weblinks.
Enhance user experience - Logs help to improve the display and usability of Like buttons and other plug-in services on third-party websites.
Generating ad revenue - At this time, Facebook is not using tracking logs to target ads to specific individuals. Sponsored ads that appear on the right side of your Facebook page are directed to members' attention based on self-disclosed profile information and preferences expressed by clicking the Like buttons.

How do you feel about Facebook tracking your web-usage?

Rdio Overview

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:28:36 GMT

Rdio is an ad-free music subscription service available in the United States, Canada and Brazil. It is available as a website and also has clients for the iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone mobile devices, which can play streaming music or cache songs for offline playback. There are also clients for the Roku and Sonos systems. The web-based service also offers a native desktop client app for Mac OS X and Windows. Its library has content from the four major record labels, as well as the Merlin Network and the aggregators IODA, INgrooves, The Orchard, IRIS Distribution, and Finetunes. Rdio also offers social networking, allowing users to share playlists and follow others to see what music they listen to.

Rdio was created by Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis and left private beta testing on August 3, 2010. The founders were also behind music service Kazaa.

For this listener in particular, Rdio proves that friends really do have a more varied, (arguably better) taste in music than computer algorithms. Music discovery is where the magic happens, and it’s the defining characteristic that will set apart the service from the likes of Pandora and Spotify.

The Overview

The name Rdio — pronounced “ar-dee-o” — is a combination of the words radio and audio, which suggests an always-on music listening experience that the service delivers that with a website and a companion desktop and mobile experience.

CEO Drew Larner said that Rdio is meant to help music listeners “discover music through people instead of algorithms,” which he believes, “is how people want to experience music.”

The social and mobile mix

Rdio’s formula takes the music that you, your network and all site members are listening to and highlights songs and artists in heavy rotation on your dashboard. The approach instantly puts a splash of color and flavor into the music discovery experience, although it is heavily dependent on your on-site relationships. You’ll want to follow friends to spruce up the heavy rotation dashboard, as well as start diving into music so you can round out your music profile.

The online listening experience is primarily driven by your music queue. You can self-select individual tracks to add to your queue or go for the just-press-play easiness that the artist radio options afford. The latter option is less about social discovery, but it’s a fast and simple way to just start listening. Simply select an artist, click “artist radio” and Rdio will create a playlist of 25 artist songs (or related songs depending on your preference).

Lerner made it clear that Rdio is focused on the mobile experience, hence the higher price point. He believes that technology is finally at a point where users can have a great experience streaming music via their mobile phones. Rdio is built to take advantage of smartphone advancements in recent years.

Can Rdio Succeed With Subscription Fees?

If you opt to take the plunge into full subscription territory you will have instant access to Rdio’s extensive library and personal playlists via mobile phone is an attractive offer that’s almost too good to give up. Rdio seems to push you towards upgrading to a subscription plan.

Still, in a world where streaming music is often served up free of charge, simply because of the fees Rdio likely won’t convert a good number of new users. Many of us already pay around $10 p/month for Netflix and now Hulu Plus, so another $10 for music is a hard sell to say the least.

What's so great about Spotify?

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:52:28 GMT

It's hard to escape buzz about Spotify when so many celebrities are so excited about it. The rapper Talib Kweli says "music is about to be fun again."

But what makes Spotify -- a music-streaming site that's already popular in Europe and recently launched in the United States -- so awesome that it would cause these tweets from musicians?

So before you shell out your cash for this music-streaming service, here's a look at what makes Spotify unique.

The music catalog is huge

The name Spotify -- is a combination of "spot" and "identify" -- is a music streaming service, which means it lets you play songs off the Internet. So it's kind of like Pandora, except that you can search for songs and create playlists from a catalog of 15 million tracks. On Pandora, you just pick a "radio station" and listen to whatever songs a computer chooses for you. You can't pick which songs come up.

Spotify also faces competition from Rdio and Turntable.fm, which offer versions of this playlist approach.

It's free

Well, mostly. With an invitation, users in the U.S. can play songs with some ads sprinkled in for good financial measure. For $5 per month, the ads go away and you get unlimited streaming. For $10, you can listen to Spotify's music on your mobile phone, too.

Again, the response from the tech world is largely positive.

"I've been using Spotify for a year and a half here in England, and it's been a real test: I left my CD collection packed up in boxes," CNET's Stephen Shankland says.

It works like iTunes

iTunes, Apple's hugely popular music player, is easy to use. So is Spotify. In reviews, tech writers note how fast the system works, and how easy it is to find music and add songs to your playlists.

It's social

If you sign in with Facebook, you can see what all of your friends have been listening to on Spotify -- and even play their playlists.

That may sound obvious or boring, but remember that you don't have to own your friends' songs in order to play them. It's the modern mixtape.

It changes the way people think about music

Record stores and iTunes taught music lovers that songs and albums must be purchased individually. While you can purchase music on Spotify, the site also promotes a pay-by-the-month approach. For a monthly fee -- which is less than the cost of a single album -- you get access to tons of music. And you can play it from wherever you want. Spotify also offers download options, so you can play some songs even if you don't currently have an Internet connection.

And this all works smoothly, writes Rosa Golijan at MSNBC:

"I constantly forget that all the music I'm listening to is not actually on my computer or mobile device, but instead being consistently streamed at a reasonable quality -- no matter how slow my Internet connection occasionally can be. (Mind you, songs can be stored for offline play so that you're never music-less even if stuck without an internet connection or decent mobile data service.)"

It's been years in the making

Spotify was founded in Sweden in 2006. Since then, U.S. tech heads have been clamoring for the service to skip across the pond.

That launch has been stalled in negotiations with record labels, and that's caused anticipation about the service to build. With all those negotiations said and done, it appears Spotify is now a legal product in the states.

It lets you take music anywhere

If you pay $10 a month for the premium service, you can listen to all of your Spotify playlists -- keep in mind, this is music you're "renting," not music that you have purchased by the song -- right on your phone. If you lose your Internet connection (or if you're getting on a plane), you can download Spotify songs into the company's app and listen to them offline -- for no extra charge.

Any drawbacks?

OK, so those were all the good things. What about the bad stuff?

Some analysts say Spotify will have a hard time busting into the U.S. market, which is already full of music streaming sites that are popular. Pandora says it has 100 million users, which makes it a particularly formidable foe.

There's also some question about whether the Spotify model is actually good for the artists whose songs you're listening to so freely.

Artists earn only $0.004 when you listen to one of their songs, according to analyst Mark Milligan, quoted by the BBC.

But, as the Twitter chatter shows, some artists support this alternative.

How to Manage Your Reputation on Social Media Sites

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:51:17 GMT

Social media is the driving force of business. More and more people are taking full advantage of the benefits of using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote their business and engage with customers. Although social media is like a gold mine, there are some drawbacks. For example, let’s say that you own a bakery and an angry customer decides to tweet negative reviews on Twitter, this can be potentially harmful to your reputation. The good news is there are effective ways to combat against negative publicity online. Here are a few helpful tips:

Monitor Your Social Media Sites Daily

When you monitor your social media sites, this will help stop negative comments from getting out of hand. If monitoring your social media sites is taking you away from other important tasks, you may want to consider hiring a professional social media consultant to manage your Facebook and Twitter accounts. A social media consultant will answer customer inquiries when you are unable to.

Address customer service issues promptly

After Hurricane Irene, Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) received hundreds of complaints on Facebook and Twitter from angry customers who have been without power since August 28th. Their social media team handled customer inquiries via social media around the clock. They even temporarily closed their walk-in centers and referred customers to their Facebook and Twitter pages to receive updates. We can all learn a lesson from LIPA. If a customer posts complaints about your products and services, make sure you address the matter right away.

Show your customers you truly care

You can usually spot a company that is either too busy to respond to customer inquires via social media or they simply do not care. They are usually the ones who have a page full of inquiries and no responses. In order to maintain control over your online reputation, you must be willing to take the time out to engage in meaningful conversations with your customers. If you have a large customer base with a limited staff, obviously you can’t respond to every customer inquiry within a 24 hour period. If this is the case, provide people with another means of contacting you. For example, you can post your customer service number or you can leave an email address designated for customer inquiries.

There are several other ways to help manage your online reputation. The tips above will help you get started in the right direction.

What’s The Next Big Thing for Business Owners? Android QR Codes

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:14:57 GMT

Just when you thought you had all corners covered (website re-design, Internet marketing and social media) the next best thing comes into the limelight. So, what is the next big thing? The next big thing for business owners are QR Codes. You have probably seen these modern looking objects on marketing mailers and even at select retail stores. They look like square-shaped objects straight out of a Sci-fi movie.

These codes hold an enormous amount of information. For example, it can store email addresses, website URLs, phone numbers and much more. Verizon, Walmart and Best Buy are using QR Codes to offer customers coupons and other special offers. Several small businesses are using QR Codes to help drive traffic to their websites to up-sell products and services.

What is a QR Code?

It is a barcode designed to be scanned from an Android or iPhone camera. In order to scan a QR Code, you need to have a QR Reader. A QR Reader is basically an app that can be downloaded and installed to your phone for free.

When your customers come across your QR Code, all they have to do is swipe your code and they'll have instant access to all the information you want them to have. QR Codes can also store product details, Youtube videos, web links, directions, Facebook, Twitter and much more.

Why Should You Start a QR Code Campaign?

Whether you’re at the mall or at your favorite restaurant, it seems like everyone has an Android, iPhone or Smartphone these days. Nielsen forecasts that 1 in 2 people in the U.S. will have a Smartphone by the end of 2011. That’s good news for business owners because everyone that has a Smartphone will be able to access QR Codes. If you don’t have a QR Code, now is the time to get one. You can generate a QR Code for free or you can hire a web developer to create one that will compliment your brand by adding photos and even your company logo. QR Codes are here to stay!

Audio Note: The Must Have App for Your Meetings

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:42:57 GMT

Have you ever wanted to record a meeting and take notes at the same time? Then Audio Note is an app you won't mind paying $4.99 for. AudioNote combines the functionality of a notepad and voice recorder to create a powerful tool that will save you time while improving the quality of your notes.

By synchronizing notes and audio, AudioNote automatically indexes your meetings, lectures, or study sessions. Need to review the discussion about deliverables on your next project? Trying to remember what the professor had to say about a key point? With AudioNote there is no need to waste time searching through the entire recording to find out. Each note acts as a link directly to the point at which it was recorded, taking you instantly to what you want to hear! Didn't take any notes during the meeting? No problem, you can add them later!

Audio Note also has Pen mode for drawing or handwritten notes, which is a great feature for those that are more visual with their note taking.

Intrigued but not sure that you would get your $4.99 out of this app? Try out Audio Note Lite. It has everything but unlimited recording, and sharing notes by email. Audio Note is available for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android.
http://luminantsoftware.com/iphone/audionote.html

How to Get More Hits & ‘Likes’ on Your Facebook Page

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:11:04 GMT

Facebook has gained a total of 467 billion monthly page views over the past few months, according to a recent report taken by comScore. That's more page views than any other social media site including Twitter and Google+. These pages are racking up millions of new fans daily. When you market your business via social media (the right way) you should have no problem receiving the results you desire. If you’re goal is to receive more hits and ‘likes’ on Facebook, here are a few tips to follow:

Include Facebook in your Email Signature

Every time you send an email is like an open invitation for people to visit your Facebook page. Make sure you include your Facebook link to your email signature.

Promote your Page with Print Media

Invite people to your page by placing your Facebook URL on business cards, brochures and flyer's. You can also place your URL in newspaper and magazine ads. Some businesses take it a step further and promote their page on billboards, train ads and in- store signage. Promote your Facebook URL on your company vehicle and people can visit your page while stuck in traffic.

If you currently don’t have a custom Facebook URL (or username), now would be a good time to get one. A custom URL is a shortened version of your default Facebook URL. So, instead of having a long URL like: https://www.facebook.com/YourPage.php? id=1000000000000000 you can have a shortened version like: www.facebook.com/TracSoft. Just keep in mind, you must have at least 25 friends or 25 ‘likes’ before you’re eligible for a custom URL.

Watermark Your Facebook Videos

Notice how every time someone posts a video on Facebook, it includes a watermark link to the page it actually came from? You can watermark your videos to include a link to your Facebook page. All you need is a good video editing program and you're good to go.

Post Meaningful Status Updates

Your status updates not only have to be meaningful, they must also be interesting. Give people a good reason why they should join your page. Share interesting articles and videos and you should have no problems receiving ‘likes’. Also consider posting an update about your Facebook page to receive more likes.

Jager Pro Website Redesign

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:17:26 GMT

Earlier this week we launched a newly redesigned website for Jager Pro. We took their old design and changed it up a bit, this time focusing on easier to navigate layout for visitors, and adding more emphasis to selling products. We changed the look and feel of the site to promote a clean and tactical energy that outshines the competition.

We built a powerful backend admin panel for the website that gives Jager Pro a simple way to access their hunt schedule, e-Commerce store, and the latest Jager Pro News. With their new admin panel, they can easily add new products to the store along with photos and descriptions of each product.

A Content Management System (CMS) we have developed allows staff members to make changes to pages quickly and easily, using an editor similar to Microsoft Word or Wordpress.com. Go take a look at the new design for Jager Pro and let us know what you think!

http://www.jagerpro.com

Social Media Quick Workshop for Business Part 1: Facebook

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:26:03 GMT

Facebook.com/page

Types

Local business
Company
Brand/Product
Artist/Band/Public figure
Entertainment
Cause/Community

The different page types give out different information
Professional profiles are not limited in # of friends (personal pages are limited to 3000)

Facebook.com/username

How to make your Username easier to find for consumers

User experience

Always be aware of notifications
Respond in a timely manner

Profile Picture

Can make your picture a bulletin ad to relay more information on the home page

Facebook App Page

Uses IFrame
Landing page will pull more of your website into Facebook giving more options and easier to communicate with your customers
Under “manage permissions” you can change what tab is your landing page
This page needs to be a certain size to keep it within Facebook widths

Facebook Insights

Goes back about a week’s time
Shows likes, comments, un-subscribes
Can specify what time period you want analytics from
Helps realize how efficient and useful Facebook is for your site
Breakdowns of Age, Gender, Country, City, Language
Determine by Active, Weekly, Monthly User

Promoting your page

Use Facebook as your company (Under Admin)
Promote with ad (Sponsored stories garner more distribution for newsfeed stories)

Facebook Ads

Continue interaction by clicking on ad go to your destination tab: - Body of ad has 135 characters; - Choose image if want different than profile picture
Targeting: - Locations; - Demographics (age, sex, etc.); - Interests (suggested and precise interest); - Who you want to advertise to (fans, non-fans); - Advanced demographics (interested in, relationship, languages, workplace)
Campaigns, pricing, and scheduling: - Campaign and budget; $50 (USD) is a good initial campaign; - Pricing; CPC (cost per click); Will give suggested bid

Insights into Ad Reach
Invite friends

Reputation Monitoring

Always address the situation so they know you care if someone is saying something
Google.com/Alerts

Type (everything)
How often (once a day..)
Volume (best results or ALL)
Your email

SocialOomph.com

Free (recommended) and paid options to monitor your name on twitter

Monitoring your companies name
Focus on blogs