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The Must Have Info to Choose Online Publishing Software Vendors

Spoiling even the best digital catalog is all too easy, even after putting all your effort into it, with a bad choice of online catalog package. Once you’ve chosen to make an online magazine the key next call is to pick out your software supplier. It’s not about merely formatting your ezine nicely - quite the contrary, this is a much more important choice as it can well mean success or failure for your entire venture. The main feature to look for is, obviously, simplicity of use. Because of course, it doesn’t matter how extraordinary the software package is if you yourself can’t use it… The ezine you’re making should be important enough to you that you try out several providers.

In producing an ezine you also need to think about protective measures. Have you been told how the account has been secured? Can the readers just copy-paste the catalog content or has the software vendor anything in place peventing these things? Is content secured by the e-publishing software vendor from copying and pasting by the everyday reader? Has a business plan been created yet? No matter what business model you choose you should think about the role of social media and ad-handling. Selling your ezine will probably require search engine appropriate content.

When making an online catalog, you’ll be dealing with former issues. Will your interactive catalog be publically accessible? If not widely available you have many hosting alternatives and you should examine your variety of hosting options. Summaries work well to spread the word about the business.

Prior to it becoming a necessity you need to think about a few things. What’s the technical support like? Check the FAQs. Also check whatever how-to guide they may feature. Check for response times. How well-manned is their tech-support line or email address? Tech support’s importance cannot be over-stated. The final decision in provider may ruin your e-brochure. And try googling the terms “create online publication” for further ideas.

The Awesome Success Story of Sports Interactive’s Football Manager

Every football fanatic will have dreamt of running his own football team at some point in time.

By way of a reality check, though, the typical punter will never get the chance to supplant mythical sports managers such as Alex Ferguson of Manchester United or even Arsene Wenger of Arsenal. Don’t lose hope, though, there’s a fantastic alternative: Football Manager computer games produced by Sports Interactive can guide admirers as near as it can get to leading their most loved clubs. During a full five years application designers Sports Interactive (SI) have published a string of Football Manager computer games that have proven to be exceedingly successful. Duplicating a true-to-life experience of controlling a power team in all its aspects, these games are just crammed with state-of-the-art functionality.

These games were launched for a variety of consoles and platforms, such as pc’s, PlayStation Portable and Xbox 360.

Being compatible with Windows and Mac computers, the Football Manager game collection is now more trendy with pc game enthusiasts than with competing video game consoles. The recent release of Football Manager 2010 is a significant enhancement to the preceding editions of the well known legacy game range. As in earlier games, the 2010 release comes with dozens of worldwide leagues and 100,000s of participants.

Furthermore, there’s multiple completely new enhancements to the game e.g. the virtual media center, match analysis, tactical overhaul and the improved football match engine.

Without a doubt all these add ons furnish pc gamers with the finest football management experience on hand. The match engine in particular is probably the top selling feature of Football Manager. This amazing brand-new option is unquestionably a significant enhancement to the game’s sharp graphics as the pitch, buffs, players and the stadiums pop up on the monitor.

The overview display has been thoroughly redesigned and will furnish a superior user friendly experience way beyond anything you’ve ever seen before. And this isn’t all: to wit that novel scheme regarding tactics management, allowing you to choose from loads of uber attractive combos.

So what’s left? Well, as fans will be happy to learn the game still features all those outstanding features of preceding versions e.g. the well-known play control which has made it such a stunning success in the past.

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant: Your 10-Step Guide to Finding the Perfect Fit

As a savvy solo or small practice professional, you know you can’t do everything yourself. Whether you are capable or not, you understand that your time is most intelligently focused on activities that grow your business and make you money.

These days, outsourcing your administrative work to a Virtual Assistant (or VA) makes it very easy to get just the amount of support you need without the expense of costly in-house staff. But how do you find a highly skilled, truly qualified Virtual Assistant? Below are some practical points to consider and questions to ask as you go about the selection process.

1. Website. Since Virtual Assistants operate virtually, it’s important they have an online presence. A website can yield critical clues as to the VA’s competence and professionalism. As you look through the website, ask yourself:

• Does it present a polished, credible business image?
• Is there an abundance of informative content?

• Is the concept clearly explained?

• Is it organized well and easy to navigate?
• Is it well-written and coherent?
• Is there a solid command of grammar, spelling and punctuation?

If the VA’s site is littered with misspelling, improperly structured sentencing and incorrect punctuation, don’t expect that she is going to provide you with any greater skill or attention to detail should you decide to work with her.

And if it looks like she put little thought, time or money into presenting her business image, or had her 14 year old kid brother throw it together one Sunday, chances are she isn’t serious about her business, and is not going to put any more care into the work she does for you.

2. Consultation. You naturally want to find a Virtual Assistant you can work with well, and whose personality and style is compatible with yours. You also want to gain some insight into whether this is a person offering the skills, service and expertise you need.

Once you find a site that instills confidence, have a conversation with that Virtual Assistant. Most Virtual Assistants offer a complimentary consultation, and all it takes is a simple email or phone call to schedule one. In making initial contact, some things to note include:

• Does she respond to your inquiries in a timely manner?
• Does she answer the phone professionally?
• Are there kids and noise in the background?

• Is she on time for the call?

• Does she seem prepared or unexpectedly flustered?
• Does she follow-through exactly as promised?

3. Finesse. How well the Virtual Assistant guides you through the consultation process can tell you a lot about what it will be like to work with her. Not only do you want a Virtual Assistant who can provide superior quality work, but you also want someone who demonstrates excellent business sense, especially since she will be instrumental in helping you in your business.

During the consultation, some things the Virtual Assistant should cover with you include:

• A clear overview of how she works with clients;

• What her processes are;

• What services she provides (and doesn’t provide); and
• What her values and expectations are for working together.

4. Personal & Professional Traits. Listen for the cues that tell you this is someone you can rely on and form an excellent business relationship with. How smartly the VA handles her business is going to directly correlate with how well she handles your work. Some things you should pay attention to include:

• Does she take the lead in guiding you through the consultation?
• Is she confident and articulate?

• Does she inspire feelings of trust?

• Do you feel a good connection?
• Does she interrupt often or listen carefully when you speak?
• Does she exhibit interest and curiosity about your business?
• Does she ask smart, purposeful questions?

5. Experience. Understand that the single-most important qualification of a Virtual Assistant is extensive administrative experience. From this level of experience, she is expected to possess the superior skills, training and business knowledge that are the hallmark of a truly qualified Virtual Assistant.

However, this is an unregulated industry, and while the veterans of us work to promote and maintain high standards, the Internet has nonetheless attracted a certain segment of individuals who have little to no qualifications or only entry-level skill sets that do not equip them to meet your very real and important business needs. Asking the prospective Virtual Assistant some of these questions will help you discern the difference:

• What was your experience prior to opening your Virtual Assistant practice?
• What positions have you held?

• How many years administrative experience do you have?

• How would you rate your skill level (you might ask this in reference to certain skills or software competencies relative to the services you need)?

• How would you characterize your level of understanding with regard to business principles and operations?

Look for a Virtual Assistant who has worked in upper-level positions such as administrative assistant, executive assistant, office manager, legal secretary, legal assistant, paralegal, supervisor, manager, etc. Virtual Assistants whose only experience was in receptionist or clerical roles are not commonly going to have high-level skills and competencies.

Keep in mind that Virtual Assistants are independent professionals, not employees. Just as you would not ask an accountant, attorney or any other service professional for their resume, it is inappropriate to ask a Virtual Assistant for theirs, and the request would be considered ill-mannered. However, they should be prepared to discuss in a consultation with you their skill levels and qualifications as described above.

6. Training & Certification. The highest form of qualification, and what Virtual Assistants are expected to have before entering the profession, is at least five years upper-level administrative experience. Our training ground is the real (non-virtual) business world. If you are a business owner needing competent support from someone who can hit the ground running and take the reins as your administrative expert, you should expect no less.

Don’t put too much stock in certification. Virtual Assistance does have a few legitimate professional associations and training programs, but these are intended for business–not skills–training. Where certifications are offered, they can be somewhat subjective and misleading, and many of the veteran Virtual Assistants who established the profession and created the standards have been in business longer than these programs have existed.

Additionally, there has been a proliferation in recent years of disreputable and unqualified opportunists willing to “certify” anyone who will pay. In this industry right now, letters behind a Virtual Assistant’s name mean very little.

7. The Business. I’ve interviewed countless clients and business people since 1997. What I’ve learned is they want and are most happy with high-quality, skilled support from a Virtual Assistant who:

• is confident;

• has her business solidly in place;

• doesn’t need training or hand-holding;

• is someone they can place their trust in; and
• can be depended on for expert support and guidance in laying strong administrative foundations.

Look for a Virtual Assistant who has been in business successfully for at least three years. New VAs don’t tend to have their systems, processes and offerings honed, which often causes unnecessary headaches, wasted time and an all-around unsatisfactory experience for clients.

I also recommend that the Virtual Assistant is someone who is actually IN business full-time. I’ve yet to see a Virtual Assistant operate a part-time practice that was truly in a position to serve client needs and expectations well. Some important facts to obtain include:

• How long has she been in business?

• Is she in full-time or part-time practice?
• Does she view her business as a chosen profession she is committed to for the long-term?
• Or is it a part-time side-job or hobby?
• Does she have well-thought out policies and business standards that will support you in working and communicating together effectively?

If the VA only dabbles or works on the fly, her lack of commitment or focus can definitely leave you holding the short end of the stick. This can manifest in longer turn-around times, lack of continuity, poor communication, conflicting commitments, interrupted work schedules, and long or inconvenient periods of unavailability.

8. Testimonials. A successful, experienced Virtual Assistant will have plenty of testimonials on her website from past and current clients. She should also be able to provide you with contact information of satisfied clients who are willing to speak with you about their perceptions and experiences in working with her.

9. The Owner. Many Virtual Assistants provide an “About the Owner” page in their website as a way to share important aspects of themselves with prospective clients. It’s intended to provide you with a view into their personal ethics, belief systems, personality and goals. This information can be helpful in determining whether you share similar values and want to talk with the VA further. Since you will be choosing each other, make an equal effort to get to know the VA by reading that page.

10. Pricing. Virtual Assistant rates average between $35 - $65 per hour.
Virtual Assistance is not the type of service you want to price shop. I know, I know. We all want to get the best price and pay the least amount possible. But we’ve all heard the saying “you get what you pay for” and this is very true in the Virtual Assistance industry as well.

Think about your own profession. You know you aren’t the cheapest, and you wouldn’t want to be. You know that expertise and quality comes at a price, but the value of that caliber of service extends far beyond mere dollars, and, in turn, saves your clients money.

You know this.

You will find Virtual Assistants who charge very little–so little, in fact, that they can’t possibly be running a profitable, sustainable practice, one that’s going to be around long enough for you to depend on.

Inappropriately low rates also signal a lack of business sense, which most often translates to poor quality, and lack of skill and experience. The consequence of hiring a Virtual Assistant who falls in this category is that your investment in her is unstable and ever at risk.

Virtual Assistants who don’t price their services profitably do not stay in business long. In their last gasps, many end up taking on a side-job or more clients than they can handle just to break even, becoming overwhelmed in the process. For you, this means they are less available, and their service and quality of work suffers.

You want ability. You want someone you can work with well. You want great customer service. And you want someone who’s going to stick around.

So look for quality and value–it’s an investment that will literally put money back in your pocket.

© Danielle Keister, The Relief Virtual Assistance

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Danielle Keister is owner of The Relief, a successful Virtual Assistance practice that has been delivering expert, personalized office support services to the professional community since 1997. Visit her website to get her FREE report, “Ramp Up Your Billable Hours: 10 Easy Fixes You Can Make Right Now.”

You may print this article for personal use or republish it online only if it is left unaltered and in its entirety, including bylines, links and author information. Contact the author for any other permissions.

Chinese Input - Step by Step Instruction on How to Input Chinese Characters in English Windows XP

Enabling Chinese input is quick and easy, there are only a few steps you need go through to install the Chinese Language support and input method before you can type Chinese in your word processor or other program.

We have broken the steps to 3 different sections for your easier to read and follow. The steps are written based on Windows XP, and the configuration is similar with other version of Microsoft Operating systems.

Step I - Install East Asian Languages

Depending on the selections you choose when installing Windows XP, you may or may not have East Asian Languages installed. Follow these steps to check whether or not your computer supports East Asian languages.

* From Start -> Settings -> Control Panel

* Double-click Regional and Language Options

* Click on the Languages tab

- If “Install files for East Asian languages” under “Supplemental language support” section is checked, then you can skip to the step II.

- If the box is NOT checked, you need check on the box of “Install files for East Asian Languages”, then click Apply button to do the install.

You may need your Windows XP CD. Installing these files will allow you to use Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in your computer

Step II - Add Services for Typing Chinese

* After East Asian Languages pack is installed, click “Details” button under the Languages tab of Regional and Language Options.

* On the Settings tab of the new window, Click Add.

* In the “Input language” list, select Chinese (Taiwan) for traditional Chinese characters or Chinese (PRC) for simplified characters. You can add other input languages as well

* To install Chinese Pinyin Input Method
In the same window, from the “Keyboard Layout/IME” list, select Chinese (PRC)- Chinese (Simplified) - Microsoft Pinyin IME 3.0

* Click Apply

After this step, your settings configuration should look like the screen shot displayed on this page: http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com/Chinese-input.html

Step III - Use Your Keyboard to Type Chinese Characters

After installing East Asian support and adding services for Chinese, you are ready to input Chinese into your word-processor or email programs.

* On your Toolbar at the right hand side, you should see a language bar, letters “EN” for English, “CH” for Chinese

* Click this button to change languages or use ALT+SHIFT key combination to switch between languages.

- By switching to the Chinese setting, you can now type Chinese characters in most software applications and browses using Pinyin and accent numbers(1-4).

- Use the ARROW KEYS to toggle between characters until you find the character you need.

- To temporarily switch between typing Chinese and English, you can simply press the SHIFT key on your keyboard.

And that’s it! You’re ready to work on Chinese now!

Later on when you learn about new Chinese input method, you can add other Keyboard Layout/IME options, e.g. Chinese(Simplified) - Neima, Chinese(Simplified) - Quanpin, Chinese(Simplifed) - Shuangpin, etc.

Rosie From Learn Chinese Language Online (http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com)

The goal of Learn Chinese Language Online (LCLO) is to reduce the Mandarin Learning curve, promote and introduce the most efficient way to grasp the broad foundation of Chinese language.

For a limited time, sign up free Learn Chinese Newsletter and receive 4 fantastic FREE prizes. Click here :http://www.learn-chinese-language-online.com/learn-chinese-free-newsletter.html

W3C Compliance & Macromedia Flash

Remember the “Good Housekeeping Seal?”

W3C is the World Wide Web Consortium seal of quality assurance for your website, providing guidelines to insure your website will look and function properly, regardless of the browser, resolution or device that you use. In other words it assures your website is clean of bugs and glitches and can be successfully listed on all search engines.

Everyone needs a properly functioning web site that performs well in the SERP’s (search engine result pages) for business practices. According to the SEO experts at Beanstock, many examples of their sites perform better after they were brought into compliance with W3C standards

After reading the above mentioned article I decided to do some light housekeeping on our own website http://www.ValorCrossMedia.com. It was time to dust off the cobwebs and bring it up to W3C compliance standards to enhance SERP performance.

Valor Cross Media specializes in Creative Web Services such as Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Marketing and Flash Video presentations for the web so SERP performance is a top priority for our business.

To my surprise it was easier said than done. I could not validate our home page for hours.

‘HAH!’ I thought. ‘I have 15+ years of design experience, 10 exclusively online, so I should be able to do this. After all, it is only cleaning up the markup, changing some attributes, right?’

It was back to the drawing board and a few hours on Google doing research.

I finally came up with an article titled “Flash Satay: Embedding Macromedia Flash While Supporting Standards.” on Macromedia.com

“Flash Satay’s” author Drew McLellan, in an article originally published in “A List Apart” writes, “embed” is not part of the XHTML specification and will prevent your page from validating. It is used by Netscape and similar browsers for displaying Flash movies. Parameters are passed within the element as name/value attribute pairs.”

McLellan goes on to say, “Netscape created the “embed” tag as a way to embed plug-ins and players in web pages. The “embed” tag is not part of the XHTML specification, and although some browsers other than Netscape do support it, it’s not compliant with the standards, so you shouldn’t use it.”

‘O.K,’ I thought, ‘So there are some obstacles, but we’re getting closer to solving the problem. Our home page contains an embedded Macromedia Flash movie. The solution is to clean the markup and change some attributes.’

In a follow up to the Flash Satay article McLellan also states:”Flash has built in security measures which make life really tough. If the Flash player thinks the movie is being loaded from a different domain to that of the page in which it is embedded, it gives up and does nothing. It would also seem that it’s very easy to confuse the Flash player into thinking that this is the case. Flasher, beware!”

Hours later after cleaning up the markup and changing attributes, I thought my page was finally ready to be validated for W3C compliance. I found it worked fine in Netscape and Mozilla but when I tried it in Internet Explorer (IE) it stopped dead in its tracks.

Was it a security measure in the Flash Player that stopped the movie or the Internet Explorer setting up rules of their own?

All of a sudden memories of Netscape vs. IE back in the early 90s, when I started out as a web designer, flashed through my mind. Remember how CSS was only viewable in IE back then?

I decided that until the browsers, Macromedia and Microsoft, decide to play together I had better find a creative solution to get the job done.

I dusted off an old browser detection and redirection script found on NetMechanic.com that simply detects the browser and redirects your page. The script is useful when you modify it to redirect users to a page optimized for their particular browsers. While you’ll have to spend time optimizing your individual pages for different browsers, the script itself is very easy.

Finally, I created two separate pages; one optimized for IE, which is validated with the W3C seal for CSS and a second page optimized for browsers like Netscape, Mozilla, etc. to be validated for the XHTML specifications which they support. The java script detects the browser and redirects to an appropriate page. To see an example of this, try opening www.ValorCrossMedia.com in Mozilla browser and then try it in IE. You will see the difference in the seal underneath the Flash movie, though the pages remain the same.

The best part is they are both W3C compliant.

If you have comments, suggestions or creative solutions of your own in reference to this article please drop us a note or visit our blog http://www.valorcrossmedia.com/blogger.html

We’ll be glad to hear from you.

If you would like to find out how Valor Cross Media can help you please call 212 288-1866 or write to galina@valorcrossmedia.com

Galina Arlov is a Creative Director for Valor Cross Media.

Microsoft Dynamics GP Customization Tools Selection - Overview for Developer

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains was renamed into Microsoft Dynamics GP and became part of Microsoft Dynamics strategy in September 2005. Former name of the strategy was Microsoft Project Green, where the idea was to introduce so-called Microsoft Business Suites: Financials, Distribution, Human Resource, Manufacturing, etc. In our opinion Microsoft reserves the rights to alter the next steps of Microsoft Dynamics realization and the shapes of the next wave of the merging ERP (Axapta, Great Plains, CRM, Navision, Solomon). This is why the developer has to analyze the development tools, if she/he wants to provide the longest possible longevity to the custom logic. Let’s look at the dilemmas:

• “Fat” versus “Thin” client. Here we reveal “Fat” client technology - it is Microsoft Dexterity with DYNAMICS.DIC - dictionary (all objects for core functionality: table, procedure, function, form, window, string, etc are defined here). Thin client is Business Portal approach (we are not talking about Citrix way here, because in Citrix you usually open the same Fat Dexterity client) or web client. The dilemma of web client is - Dexterity is not web-enabled technology and such questions as GP security realm, accessing business logic (coded in Great Plains Dexterity) is complicated if not possible at all. Plus - if you look at licensing structure - user licenses are actually simultaneous “fat” clients connections, controlled by Dexterity technical logic. Imagine - you need to extend SOP Entry screen logic - you can only realize it accessing Fat client and adding custom logic there through dexterity, Extender (or in Visual Studio, programming relevant GP Object - but again it will go to Fat client extension and Dexterity has more control over its own realm). When Microsoft Dynamics GP will offload Fat Client logic to Business Portal, then you will be using more thin client or web development to do the job, it is not actual today and probably Dexterity has another several years to stay on the first position.

• Probability of the Paradigm Change. Could you expect in 1995 that something like .Net, or XML Web Services will show up on the scene and make Graphical Platform and database independence (Oracle, MS SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, Ingress) actuality obsolete? This was only a decade ago. Now - the paradoxical question - would you think that such paradigms as Java/J2EE/EJB and .Net plus XML Web Services will stay for another decade? We don’t know. At the same time, such old-timers, as Microsoft Dexterity or former name Great Plains Software Dexterity stay robust and alive since the beginning of 1990th. Please look at Microsoft tools, such as VBA (Visual Basics for Applications) - it was scripting language, designed in 1990th and now it is pretty much phased out. In other words, we don’t know and can’t predict the longevity of current paradigms and axioms in IT and Programming industry. Maybe the answer is this - Dexterity was designed to stay through technological cataclysms, while new tools were designed to serve current needs and commercialize current technology trends.

• Reporting. Let’s look at ReportWriter, which is Dexterity-based tool and Crystal Reports. Report Writer has huge number of customization across the Great Plains clients community: SOP Invoice Long form, Purchase Order with company graphical logo, AP Check form to name a few. Crystal Reports were the tool of choice when ReporWriter can’t do the job, to remind the story - Crystal was Industry Standard tool, capable to deliver stunning graphical quality and excellent database independence and heterogeneous linking. Nowadays Crystal is deemphasized for Microsoft Dynamics Project - Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services are in the preferred position.

• Balance. Again - what will be the future? It is not clear and what kind of agenda (even if it is not consciously placed behind by the tool architect) is behind it - you as developer should think through the time and minimize the risk for your custom logic upgradeability and the dependence of “modern” technology trends, which have high chance to be abolished in the short future.

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.enterlogix.com.br http://www.ronix-systems.de ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.
We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN, Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, OAE, Bahrain), Asia: China, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, South & Central America: Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico

Protecting Yourself From Spyware

If you practice diligence and follow some basic rules then you will have a much better chance of preventing the ability of a malware application from infecting your computer. Most computer spyware today is installed without your knowledge when you visit a website or download an application that will place the application on your hard drive. So one way to prevent the installation by not visiting unscrupulous web sites when you surf the web.

There has been a strong increase in the number of computer malware / spyware out on the net the past few years. Many experts in the field expect the number of infections to only increase as time goes along. Spyware are actually programs that are installed on your computer but you usually do not know of the installation and many times you did not even approve the installation. These programs can cause all types of problems for your computing experience, which range from annoying popups to someone actually stealing your personal data and impersonating your identity. You may also experience a reduction in performance of your system, since many times these programs will consume a lot of computing power as the program performs its tasks. Even though the number of computer spyware infections are increasing exponentially does not mean all is lost and you should just throw your hands up and turn off your computer forever.

Since most spyware is installed because of security holes in your browser always ensure you have the latest version of updates for your Operating System and Browser. You can also switch your Web Browser to something like FireFox which is targeted less than the more popular Browsers.

Also ensure you have a spyware protection and remover application installed. This is one of the most important items you can do to protect yourself from these infections and help to minimize the chance that you will be come infected with these types of applications

Bruce Hopkins is an Information Technology Director over a large multi campus network and is a avid DotNetNuke Open Source Supporter.

Free Picture Editing for the Novice and Intermediate Photo Taker

As a technology guy, I’m often asked about the software I use for various applications. The most recently asked for application is “How do I edit my pictures after I take them with this neat new digital camera?” The simplest, best program I have found is one called Picasa offered free by Google. Why Picasa? Ease of use is the first reason, as it’s just double click on an image and you can crop, reduce red eye, or brighten a picture in just a few easy clicks. My favorite reason for using Picasa is one that has nothing to do with editing pictures, and everything to do with finding my pictures on my hard drive. When you first launch Picasa, it asks you if you want to search your whole hard drive for images. Definitely say yes, and you’ll be surprised at where some of your pictures might be hiding, as not everyone is as disciplined as me and puts all their photos in their My Photos folder on their hard drive.

Just as important as image editing is image re-sizing. Just because you have a shiny new digital camera does not mean that you should e-mail full MB shots to everyone in your address book. Instead, take the time to re-size your pictures before you send them so they don’t take hours for your friends with dial up to download, and so it doesn’t clog up your and your friend’s families inboxes. The easiest way to do this is with a neat little program called PicSizer. PicSizer allows you to re-size complete folders of images with just a few clicks. This is also a free piece of software, and one that is quite simple to use. Simply select the folder with the big pictures, select a new folder to put the smaller pictures in, select the size of the pictures you wish to re-size too (I recommend 25% or smaller of the original size) and away you go. Simple as that.

The last piece of software is one that is a little more advanced, but one that you can easily learn to use and love, and it’s called GIMPShop, a take-off on the $599 Adobe Photoshop product used by image editing professionals. You can do some cool editing with GIMPShop, things you can’t do with many other free applications. Oh yeah, did I mention, GIMPShop is free, just like all the other software I mentioned?

To find these great resources, it’s easiest to just go to http://www.google.com and insert the name of the software you’re looking for (Picasa, PicSizer, or GIMPShop) and you should be transported to the site you need to get the software to make it great!

Phil Gerbyshak challenges you to stop having a nice day. Instead, Make it Great! While life might be tough, the only thing you can change is YOU! Whether you think the glass is half-full or half-empty, remember that both are only perceptions. What’s true is that you have a choice on how you want to deal with the 6 ounces of water you have in your hand. Read more of Phil’s ideas at http://makeitgreat.org

Adware scare you much? This gremlin can get anywhere

Adware is on of those things that most internet users don’t even think about until its too late. More often than not the majority of us do not even realise the existence of spyware until the damage has been done. Each and every day thousands of hidden applications are trying to gain access to computers all over the internet.

The amazing thing is that only a small percentage of people protect themselves from this kind of adware parasite and most only seek protection once the damage has been done. There are many ways that spyware and adware can take advantage of those of us who tend to be lacking in the area of computer security. Most times it is just our internet usage details that these nasties are after but at the other end of the scale there are some adware programs that are acting in a completely sinister manner.

If we all treated our computers like our bank accounts then you would not even be reading this article. The sad fact is we do not and every day there are thousands of people that are putting their private details at risk. None of us should have anything in our computers that we do not want and did not willingly invite but I would bet my last paycheque that anyone reading this article has a few unwanted extras lurking in the depths of their P.C’s.

It is absolutely essential that you be very aware of the possibilities with the latest of today’s scumware. If you are not willing to purchase some internet protection on the grounds that you might be infected then you should at least take advantage of an online scan. These scans are free and easily accessed so to be honest it would be sheer madness to ignore their existence and simply carry on regardless.

Run a free adware scan and the end result will be you are either spyware free or do in fact have a computer stowaway nestling inside your computer. If you are adware free then you can carry on without a care in the world, Your money will still be in your pocket and your computer will be running safely. If on the other hand you do find an intrusion then you can simply spend a little of your cash and rid the gremlin from your computer.

There are many free adware help sites all over the internet and it is very easy to get the latest news on all the recent adware outbreaks. Listen to the experts and weigh up what you have to lose.

If your computer is clean then a free scan will cost you nothing.

If it is infected then just how much do you stand to lose should your data be accessed?

To find out the hidden secrets of adware why not visit Monty Cordellos adware secrets web information source adwarefound.com

Microsoft Dynamics GP Implementation - Nationwide Food Ingredients Distribution Example

This article describes food ingredient distributor ERP implementation, customization & reporting. ERP system is built on the base of Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains 8.0, new name of the product is Microsoft Dynamics GP. If you are mid-size and large business you typically have two options in MRP selection: rich or standard functionality ERP. Rich functionality ERP, such as mySAP, Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards usually has a lot of vertical solutions in the existing modules, however price is typically higher (the chances are high that you are paying for the bundle of available functionality and use only few percent of it). As opposite standard functionality ERP might have lower price, but should be considered as a platform for customization, software development and reports tuning. In our case standard functionality ERP - Microsoft Dynamics GP was chosen.

• Industry Specifics. Profit margins for such a distribution are usually low and distributor has to watch and control closely the cost. Usually it is impossible to know the cost upfront, due to the fact that items might be shipped from multiple locations, shippers/freight forwarders might have various delivery cost - these and many other factors make cost vary. Salesperson is always inclined to sell more and cheaper to get commission on volume, at the same time system should trigger the case when we are potentially selling below the cost. Company has several brands of product and each invoice should have chosen brand logo.

• Estimated Costs. The approach taken was to identify and maintain several estimated costs for the Item/Site (Warehouse) in Great Plains. The costs associated with the Item/Site are for profit estimation on the invoice. They are used to print Invoice profit report, realized as GP inquiry screen and as Crystal report to provide paper copy. Profit watch was so important that company has full-time employee who updates estimated costs, based on the resent sales and delivery data.

• Logo Reports. As you know Great Plains ReportWriter has three Invoice forms in Sales Order Processing (SOP) for you to modify and you have to select which one to print if you would like to change default form for the invoice or the batch of invoices. To allow logo selection logic, based on marketing code of the product, Crystal Reports for Quote, Order, Invoice and Return were created. The logo itself was realized as OLE object with picture selection logic.

• Purchase Receiving Scheduling. To facilitate warehouses receiving personnel stable workload and avoid overloads and overtime, delivery dates selection logic was associated with Calendar screen, showing warehouse receiving schedule for the proposed dates, by clicking on the calendar date you can see the list of scheduled shipment for the day.

• Price Negotiation. As company doesn’t have official price list - price for the customer is based on historical sales of the item. Dexterity trigger was created to log item price lines and another one - to supercede price logic with the last price for the customer.

Please give us a call if you need help: 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies (http://www.albaspectrum.com) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.
We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN, Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, OAE, Bahrain), Asia: China, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, South & Central America: Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Chili, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico