Archive: June 2006

June 30, 2006

Hardware Firewalls for Mobile Warriors

When you are on the road you go online via a hotel room's high-speed cable line, WiFi or some...

June 30, 2006

Why YOU MUST have a web site: local search is exploding

Yahoo, Google and MSN are charging forward in a HUGE way to map America's local businesses. If you don't have...

June 30, 2006

eCommerce is Driving Hosted Applications - NetSuite / Everest

NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson told me, in a soon to be posted audio interview, that many of his customers are...

June 30, 2006

When Your Computer Crashes - You CAN Still Get Your Data

Most backup solutions help you backup your data to the Internet or some removable media like CD or DVD. However,...

June 30, 2006

7 Problems of IT Professionals

IT Professionals (resellers, vendors, etc) help small businesses in so many ways, some of them also cause many problems by...

June 29, 2006

Data Backup Is So Important - I'm Going to Tell You Again (and offer solutions)

Please, don't get frustrated and click away from this...you MUST back up your data and also check the backed up...

June 29, 2006

Microsoft Office Live - Good Communication

I signed up to try Microsoft's Office Live a few weeks ago and I'm impressed with their online communication to...

June 28, 2006

Marian Banker's Brain Exchange: Harnessing Technology Is Not Easy for Many Small Business Owners

Last Monday, a group of about 10 small business owners gathered for Marian Banker's (Prime Strategies) Brain Exchanges. This Brain...

June 27, 2006

Kodak's: Simple & Fast Document Information Management Solutions (C3 Expo Coverage)

You should all know by now that Kodak is much more than photos and definitely much more than "big...

June 27, 2006

C3 Expo Coverage - MindJet and Electrovaya

Two companies I came across at C3 Expo, not new but their tools are VERY useful and so different -...

June 27, 2006

Fat PowerPoint Files (Get Atkins for it) - (C3 Expo Coverage)

There's big vendors at C3 Expo and there's small vendors often on the side of the show flow. One...

June 27, 2006

Simple Telecommunications - TalkSwitch and Avaya (C3 Expo Coverage)

Today at C3 Expo, TalkSwitch, LONG time provider of small business focused telecommunication solutions and Avaya, long time provider...

June 27, 2006

CompUSA vs BestBuy's Geek Squad (C3 Expo Coverage)

A few minutes ago (at C3 Expo) I spoke with Michael Johnson, National Sales Manager for CompUSA's Business Services...

June 27, 2006

Three Myths on Boosting Search-Engine Rankings

When you are looking to boost your web sites rankings on search engines in order to get more traffic there's...

June 27, 2006

Telephone Systems Powered by Microsoft

When you think of buying a telephone system, I'm sure you think of the usual suspects - Cisco, Avaya, 3COM,...

June 27, 2006

GBuy....yet another tool from Google - $$$

I've been a VERY loyal user of PayPal for many, many years. Never a problem. Fast. Efficient. Easy to use....

June 27, 2006

Four Case Studies to Make You REALLY WANT VOIP

You've heard me and I'm sure you've ready other media's coverage of VOIP and how great it is - and...

June 27, 2006

Symantec's Anti-Phishing Tool

When you go to a web site or click on an email link to go to a web site you...

June 27, 2006

The Increasing Need for Solution Providers: Connecting the technology dots

At an event Monday in San Francisco, Microsoft plans to showcase a slew of planned products designed to more closely...

June 27, 2006

C3 Expo Coverage Today

Today I'm at C3 Expo and will be bringing you coverage of the exhibit overall including interviews with executives...

June 27, 2006

Learning from Airlines: Redesigning Your Web site - Increasing Your Online Revenue and Customer Interaction

Why is it that many successful companies refresh their stores every so often? Why is it that Macy's and...

June 25, 2006

VOIP: FREE Guide - What Your Business Needs to Know

If you want to save money on your telephone calls you know what you MUST consider - getting a VOIP...

June 25, 2006

Getting More From Microsoft Office Boosts Productivity

I've used Microsoft's Suite of applications for years - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and others. Guess what - I still...

June 25, 2006

The New Security Threat: Focused Moves from Microsoft Windows to Online Applications

For years we've been told over and over again to update the patches on our Windows computer, upgrade our anti-virus...

June 24, 2006

SAP Business One - 10,000 customers and growing

SAP makes software that powers many Fortune 500 business operations. SAP's software helps airlines, manufacturers, mining companies, universities, insurance...

June 24, 2006

32 Way to Promote Your Web Site

Building a web site is relatively easy, but getting traffic to your web site is a lot harder (even harder...

June 24, 2006

Test Your Small Biz Temperament

Business Week has a 10 question test here which helps you know if you have the temperamnet to run your...

June 24, 2006

Dell's New Latitude - Very (very) nice.

Notebook vendors release new notebooks more often than many woman change shoes and purses. Dell's new notebook, the Latitude...

June 24, 2006

Building a Web Site....nothing new but worth repeating

If you don't have your own web site yet - there's really no reason why you should not. I really...

June 24, 2006

How Intuit Is Learning from a Community of Customers

Large companies like Intuit can easily get into the rhythm of pumping out products with no real input from customers....

June 24, 2006

Kerio Email Server - 110% Awesome

For the past few days I've been using Kerio's email server after upgrading from a Linux based server. Both...

June 23, 2006

Instant Messaging does not have to be instant insecurity

Instant Message is a POWERFUL and very efficient way to communicate, HOWEVER, it is also a HUGE open door for...

June 23, 2006

RSS, blogs or newsletters - which one for you?

In the beginning we published newsletters (I use Constant Contact, then we migrated to blogs (I use blogger.com), now we...

June 23, 2006

The world of VERY tiny notebooks

Next week I'll be covering C3 Expo (well one day of coverage but coverage none-the-less). I don't relish carrying...

June 21, 2006

Fashionable to Dump Microsoft

Can your bushiness operate and not spend ONE PENNY in licensing fees to use Microsoft software - of course. However,...

June 21, 2006

Why Microsoft Windows Platform is Best for Many Businesses

While there are many options to consider for your business applications, for most small-medium business networks a Windows solutions is...

June 21, 2006

Microsoft's Small Business Specialist Community is One Year Old

Microsoft sells a large number of products to small businesses but a year ago it had no method of recognizing...

June 20, 2006

Sidekick's Newest...

I have not heard much about the Sidekick as I guess the Palm Treo and BlackBerry's were taking all...

June 20, 2006

A Look Through Google's Services

>I don't want to join the chorus of media and go Google crazy and guide you into thinking it's...

June 20, 2006

Getting Answers From the Library NOT the Internet

Most of us use Google, Yahoo, Ask or a custom search engine to find the answers we need to life's...

June 20, 2006

Keeping Track of Online Advertising Dollars

When you invest money in online advertising one thing you DO NOT want to do is spend money with no...

June 18, 2006

iPods for Business. If it's good for baseball it's good for YOUR business

Cnn.com reports how Colorado Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings uses an iPod to see videos to help him pitch better....

June 18, 2006

Wiki's: Can Should You Let "Everyone" Edit?

When I first heard about Wiki's I figured they were great tools if you only enabled editing for a...

June 18, 2006

Letting Your Customers Give you Ideas

For many businesses the communication goes FROM the business to the customer. We (the business) are the kings and...

June 16, 2006

Small businesses salute Microsoft's Bill Gates - A letter to Bill Gates

Dear Mr. Gates, As you step down from your day-to-day responsibilities as chief software architect of Microsoft and gradually become...

June 16, 2006

BlueTie - Online Business Software with Offline Speed and Features

BlueTie provides businesses with hosted email and collaboration solutions for a monthly fee of $3 (just email) $8 (email...

June 15, 2006

Peachtree by Sage 2007 Is Now Available

Sage has comes out with an updated version of Peachtree, Peachtree by Sage 2007. This new version includes the...

June 15, 2006

Skype is Wonderful - Especially with WiFi

Yesterday I'm sitting in a meeting a large office building, killing time waiting to leave to catch my train....

June 15, 2006

SearchSMB's Comprehensive SpyWare Guide

If you want to learn all about SpyWare, SearchSMB.com has a VERY good guide on it. What they've done is...

June 15, 2006

Book Review: Computer Security Basics, Second Edition"

O'Reilly writes- It doesn't matter if you're looking after a highly secure banking network or if you're an ordinary...

June 15, 2006

NYC Brain Exchange - How to Create the Right Technology Foundation for Your Business

The Brain Exchange Roundtable is a highly interactive format designed as a forum for entrepreneurs and key decision-makers in small-midsize...

June 15, 2006

Ultraportable Laptop Mania - Computer on the Light Side of Life

Notebook computers are wonderful tools and fortunately there's a LOT of choices. IF you are always on the run and...

June 15, 2006

Nortel's SMB Onslaught. It's going to be up-hill and not easy.

CRN reports Nortel Networks this week is staking a claim in the SMB voice- and data-convergence market with the...

June 14, 2006

A rising demand for integrated IT and telecom services

The McKinsey Quarterly writes - CIOs increasingly want just "one throat to choke" when it comes to IT and telecom...

June 14, 2006

FREE Business VoIP White Paper from Fonality

According to Chris Lyman, CEO and founder of Fonality and recent supporter of Smallbiztechnology.com, the lure of VoIP is...

June 14, 2006

Google's Applications - Some Say it's not for business

I've been using many Google applications - Gmail and blogger and like them quite a bit. There's more, much more...

June 14, 2006

Need A VOIP Phone? Consider Avaya's One-X Line - Way Cool & Feature Rich

Avaya has launched a new line of telephones in its one-X line. According to Avaya these advanced business phones...

June 14, 2006

CDW, Best Buy, your local solution provider or tech vendor

When you want to buy a computer or other technology it really doesn't matter where you buy it from (assuming...

June 14, 2006

W A R N I N G - Viruses, malicious code and etc are on the RISE. E D U C A T E your employees.

I know, I sound like a dooms-day prophet, but what I'm telling you is no joke. YOU MUST be forever...

June 14, 2006

$5 a month for unlimited backup with Carbonite.com

Carbonite.com has a $5 per month for unlimited storage backup plan. I'm a bit skeptical of why this price is...

June 13, 2006

Get Found on the net - Building the Web site is Easy

Building a web site is one of the easiest things you can do - there are so many options....

June 12, 2006

Microsoft Office Goes Deeper Into Business Process Management

Microsoft Office is great for doing a lot of things and Microsoft wants to ensure it remains great and can...

June 12, 2006

Put Your Face (or logo) on a Stamp

Pitney Bowes announced its new Stamp Expressions Printer which enables you to print a cutom image or one supplied by...

June 10, 2006

Bank of America - Wowing smaller businesses in NYC.
Breaking out from the Pack

This past Thursday (8 June 2006), inside New York City's Grand Central Terminal, Bank of America launched a massive campaign...

June 10, 2006

QuickBooks - Offering Online Commerce Online and Time Savings Offline

Can you remember when you opened up your first box of business cards and could smell the scent of...

June 10, 2006

Competing with Victoria's Secret - Selling Lingerie Online - Build A Better Web Site

For those of you who are tired of reading my writing (as opposed to hearing me talking) about improving...

June 10, 2006

Encrypt - Destroy Your Data So Thieves Can't Get It

If your notebook computer is stolen - will you panic, knowing that all your employee data is on the hard...

June 10, 2006

Picking the RIGHT Server For Your Business Is Important

Picking the right server for your business is important, as you want to ensure that it stays up and running...

June 10, 2006

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke - America's Performance Boosted by Technology

Fed Chairman Bernanke said that technology played a key role in the productivity boost this decade compared to past...

June 9, 2006

Alternatives to Microsoft Office

As Microsoft prepares to launch Microsoft Office 2007 you might be considering a better office suite but not want to...

June 9, 2006

Windows Vista - It's going to be a good upgrade

I'm excited about the launch of Windows Vista in 2007 more than the launch of Microsoft Office. With Microsoft...

June 8, 2006

Satellite Internet Service Review from a Vermont's former Secretary of Transportation

Last April I wrote about Wild Blue, a company that provides internet service via satellite. If you can't get...

June 8, 2006

Windows OneCare Live for $19.95 not $49.95

Cnet is reporting that on Amazon.com you can get Windows OneCare Live, Microsoft's PC security service, for $19.95 much less...

June 7, 2006

Six Things You Didn't Know About Linux: A Beginners' Guide

Small Business Pipeline has an EXCELLENT and extensive article all about Linux. It's really a good and thorough read. They...

June 7, 2006

Big, Huge, Fat Notebooks Are the Rage

Most times we focus on notebook computers that are thin and light - 3lbs, or at best 6lbs or...

June 7, 2006

Continuing to Look at Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft Office is not only the most popular business application on the planet but it is a valuable tool...

June 7, 2006

Be Careful When Big Companies Want YOUR Business

This is not new, but something that needs to be repeated. As large businesses continue to not make the...

June 7, 2006

Intelligence in Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007

Being able to have DATA is so critical in your business. It is important to know about your customers...

June 7, 2006

Seagate Continues Storage Refreshment

Seagate is one of the leading vendors for storage products and recently released some new products. One of the coolest...

June 7, 2006

New Dell Servers Have Better Management Tools & Faster Processors

Ideally speaking you want your servers to sit in a room and like a good bar of soap not say...

June 6, 2006

Google Spreadsheets - Collaboration to the Max

First Google brought us search - ho hum. Then it brought us Gmail - WOW! Then it turned the faucet...

June 6, 2006

What do you do with a dead hard disk?

One of the most horrific things that can happen in the world of computing is to sit down at your...

June 6, 2006

England + Wal-Mart Competitor + Database = HUGE Growth for YOUR business

Databases are one of the most important things your business can utilize to ensure that you really KNOW your...

June 6, 2006

ProStores - For those who want to SELL online

ProStores, an eBay company, is an ecommerce solution for businesses who want to sell online. Since it's owned by...

June 5, 2006

Cnet - "MerchantCircle: World's easiest small business Web sites" - What about HomeStead and OfficeLive?

I saw Cnet's headline about MerchantCirlce, "World's easiest small business Web sites" and had to take a double look. I...

June 5, 2006

Being master of one's domain ain't easy

From David Strom - Working with some beginning podcasters has made me realize that collecting all of what you need...

June 5, 2006

eSeminar about Securing and Protecting Data

Data security is VERY important and as such, I'm informing you about a free data security event from Ziff Davis...

June 3, 2006

BOOST Your online advertising: Landing Pages with POWER

When you purchase a cost-per-click advertisement one of the DUMBEST things you can do to waste money is NOT...

June 3, 2006

MySpace IS for Small Businesses - What a Joke!!!! (a reader responds)

Last Thursday I posted an article about MySpace NOT being a place for business, although Fortune Magazine aparently thinks it...

June 2, 2006

Intuit's QuickBooks Enterprise - Reseller Channel to Penetrate the NetSuite, Microsoft and others

Earlier this week, Intuit launched a reseller program for QuickBooks Enterprise (QBE): QuickBooks Enterprise Solution Provider Program. QBE is Intuit's...

June 2, 2006

When Your Printer Goes Down - Save $

Last week my HP LaserJet 4200 printer died. It kept displaying an error message about a maintenance kit and gave...

June 1, 2006

Happy Birth Day to CoffeeCup

Software vendor CoffeeCup celebrates its 10th year and I'm happy for them. For the past 10 years CoffeeCup has...

June 1, 2006

What Happens When You Don't Use Protection?

If you ever wondered if we who encourage you to use security tools like firewalls, anti-virus tools and the like...

June 1, 2006

Google Maps and How it Can Help Your Business

There's so many benefits to the Internet that often times it's really hard to keep up with it all....

June 1, 2006

Your Business Data in a Hurricane or Other Disaster

If you live near a hurricane or some other natural (or man made disaster area for that matter) it is...