November 25, 2007

Intranet software solutions

If there’s anything better than stuff, it’s free stuff. Whether for business or personal use, I’m always on the lookout for free samples I can let my readers know about. Epazz is offering a 30 Day free trial of their intranet software, BoxesOS, a hosted solution to your website content management needs. I just watched a flash presentation of the system in use and it’s quite impressive. At the administrative level intranet communications, email management and scheduling can all be handily accessed on one page, allowing for efficient work flow.

Take a look at what Epazz brings to the table:

October 23, 2007

Protecting your space on the web

The widespread distribution of information and technology through the internet has changed the face of business forever. That same exposure, though, has created vulnerability for those who use the internet within their corporate environment. Open Invention Network (OIN) has announced that they have signed a license agreement with Barrracuda Networks which will enhance the protection they offer for the stated purpose of “creating a shielded Linux Ecosystem that is a deterrent against organizations looking to harm or slow the pace of Linux and open source growth and adoption.” Barracuda Networks, a leading provider of network security appliances, has won the Community Choice Award for Anti-Spam Applications in Business from Windows IT Pro two years in a row with their innovative Spam Filter. This new partnership combines Barracuda’s powerful, cost-effective and user-friendly network security appliances with OIN’s shielded Linux Ecosystem, providing a protected environment where web developers, software vendors and their clients can continue to embed and use Linux to host specialized services or create complementary products.

“As we grow the Linux Ecosystem, we are pleased to have Barracuda Networks become a licensee. Barracuda Networks is one of a growing number of companies that value the openness and collaborative culture of the Linux and open source communities.” said Jerry Rosenthal, CEO of Open Invention Network. You can read the entire press release for details of the new partnership.

Open Invention Network plus Barracuda Networks equals security for your creative innovations. Check them out to start protecting your work today.

Technorati Tags: Barracuda Networks, internet security, internet technology, Linux systems, Open Invention Network, spam protection, web development

October 20, 2007

Discounts on authentic Microsoft software

I was very fortunate when I bought my last computer. My dear friend is a teacher and she gifted me with the Microsoft software that I needed. Did you know that students, teachers, school staffs, libraries and research labs can get deep discounts on genuine Microsoft software? Those of you who homeschool qualify, too. Microsoft Office software retails for up to $599.99, but at www.CostCaptain.com you’ll pay as little as $129, or you can purchase a Vista Upgrade from $89. These are substantial savings and well worth checking out before you buy. You’ll just need to provide proof of academic eligibility and then you’ll be good to go. Wouldn’t you love to give 100% Authentic Microsoft products at academic discounts this year for Christmas? You can even give in the form of gift certificates so your recipients can pick out just what they need. Now aren’t you glad you stopped in to visit me today?

Technorati Tags: academic discounts, CostCaptain.com, Microsoft software

October 7, 2007

I’m back - kinda, sorta!

I still don’t know whether it’s my computer or my service provider that is causing my problems. Pages are taking forever to load, so long that I sometimes time out before I get a page to open. I upgraded my IE6 to IE7 and can now see the sidebar items that had “disappeared” from my view of my blog. I’ve deleted quite a few downloaded programs and saved a lot of Word documents and most of my photos to disc and deleted the originals. My ISP has sped up my connection somewhat, but it’s still painfully slow. They’ll be sending someone out next week to see if we can find a real solution. They don’t seem to be any more certain than I am whether it’s my computer or their service that has been keeping me in a internet hell for the last week or so.

What matters is that I’m back for the moment, even though it’s making me crazy to wait and hope each time I try to open a new page. Cross your fingers for me, please? Hopefully I’ll be able to play some catch-up today!

The cartoon is by Randy Glasbergen. Very funny guy. Check him out!

Technorati Tags: computer cartoon, computer problems, tech support

August 29, 2007

Disaster preparedness

Two years ago today I watched, along with the rest of the world, as New Orleans drowned. I “took it personally,” having grown up and spent much of my life just outside the city limits. My father was the chief engineer for those ill-fated levees in his last professional position. I knew we were seeing “the big one,” the hurricane he and others had predicted as inevitable. I watched the horror unfold and my concerns were for all of the friends I hadn’t seen in so many years, and for the city that I loved. I was not worried about my brother, the last of my family to call New Orleans home. A family friend had planned to pick him up on her way out of the city as she evacuated her own family on Sunday. It was Tuesday before she was able to contact my sister and let her know that she had been unable to find our brother. The levees had broken on Monday. Thus began one of the longest weeks in my life. If you want the details, you’ll find them in my post dated September 7, 2006.

It was Friday before the phone call finally came. My brother had been rescued by boat from a second-floor apartment. His upstairs neighbor had taken him in after the waters began rising in his own first-floor unit. He had had four days of deprivation and discomfort, but had never been in great danger. He was evacuated to a launching point and was taken by bus from there to Houston, where he was finally able to find a working phone and call my sister. He had lost everything he owned, but he was alive and well. It was enough.

Two years later my brother and others are still trying to rebuild their lives. Lessons have been learned, many of them at much too high a price. I am certain that he and every other survivor of Hurricane Katrina has an “if only” list. If only we had evacuated. If only we had made better plans. If only we had been better prepared. When my brother eventually arrived at my sister’s home near Dallas, he had nothing left from his life in New Orleans. He made it out with the clothes he was wearing and nothing else.

Two weeks ago Hawaii had an earthquake as we were all watching Hurricane Flossie to see what she would do. A tsunami alert was triggered by the earthquake in Peru and a wild fire was consuming brushland just a few miles from my home. I used those events as a springboard to write about emergency preparedness. It’s a subject I take seriously. I shared with you some of my own post-disaster history and told you about my current emergency preparations. There’s one area of emergency preparedness we didn’t talk about, though, and it’s an important one. Quick and easy access to personal, medical, financial and insurance data is never more important than immediately after a disaster. Many survivors of Hurricane Katrina were left without a single shred of paper to help them access their bank accounts or find their insurance carriers. Most of us have memorized our own Social Security numbers, but what about our children’s medical records numbers? Can you rattle off your savings account numbers, or just the ones for your checking? If you had to start over tomorrow, without even the cards you keep in your wallet, would you be helpless?

Storing personal and family data in a secure online account is an answer that makes sense. AxcessPoints provides a personal data storage system that was designed with emergency preparedness in mind. Their entire program is geared towards storing and protecting your private information securely. Your information is encrypted prior to transmission so that it’s not even available to their own personnel. Plans are available for businesses as well as for induividuals and families. AxcessPoints.com has also dedicated large portions of their webspace to disaster planning links and to the contact information that can help you find assistance and services following a disaster. Katrina taught us all a lot of lessons. Those lessons are wasted if we don’t incorporate the new knowledge into how we prepare for disaster. Check out AxcessPoints and see where they fit into your disaster planning.

Technorati Tags: data storage, disaster plannning, emergency preparedness, personal data storage

June 11, 2007

3-D Mindmapping - I can do this!

Do you remember Rosie the Robot from the Jetson’s cartoon? I think the program still shows on one of those retro cable channels, so maybe even some of the younger generation knows about her. Anyway, I hear her voice in my head quite frequently. It has nothing to do with paranoid delusions and everything to do with the fact that my life is too crowded with stuff to know, stuff to learn, stuff to do. At least once a day the frustration builds and Rosie makes her announcement: “Information overload! Danger! Danger Too much data! System failure imminent!” You may or may not hear a fantasy voice, but I think most of you know what I mean. We have the world at our fingertips each time we sit down at the computer, but our personal memory capacity can’t keep up with everything we see as relevant. I’ve been especially aware of the problem as I’ve worked on a recent project. I’ve started seeking out articles and blog posts on improving my blogging skills and on optimizing the monetization of my blog. I have so much information that I feel like I’m lost in a sea of confusion. Today a friend sent me a link to an Information Organizer that I think will help me because it sorts and then connects information the same way that I try to see it in my mind. It’s easier for me to show you what I mean than it is to try to explain it, so take a look at an example:

Back in the sixties and seventies my mother spent almost twenty years collecting and colating genealogical information for her family and my father’s family. It was a labor of love, but kept her very frustrated as she tried to locate information and documents through various county and state agencies throughout the US, and in several foreign countries. The internet has made access to all of that information so much simpler, and now Topicscape’s genealogy information organizer software brings it all together with a visual mapping program that categorizes the interconnected information in an intuitive and eye-pleasing display that makes sense. I can look at the given sample and picture where each bit of data on Mom’s family is in relation to Dad’s family and to my own personal family tree. Mom’s information is still stored in a bulging four-drawer file cabinet. The mindmapping software will allow me to pass it all on to my son through a single visual display.

You know my awkwardness with technology. It’s difficult for me to convert technical descriptions into layman’s terms, even when I’ve grasped the concept. Take a look at Carol’s 3d mindmapping software review, since she not only explains it better than I can, she’s included a visual demo that makes it all elegantly understandable. The technology that makes it all possible may be a little too complex for me, but the application is one I can wrap my mind around and put into use.

Technorati Tags: information management, internet, mind mapping, project management, Topicscape

June 9, 2007

Spy Sweeper

It’s time for me to remind you that when it comes to computer technology I know next to nothing. There are two ways that I make decisions about what technology I can and should use. First, I listen to people around me that I trust. I read your blogs. I go to the websites you recommend. I hang out in forums with smart people who understand things that I need to know. I ask a lot of questions. Secondly, I turn to trusted sources to see what their opinions are. Today I was asked to review Spy SweeperSpy Sweeper and I took advantage of their offer to download a free trial of their software. I haven’t had a chance yet to ask for your opinion, so I went to my second line of investigation. What did I discover?

SPY SWEEPER IS THE MOST AWARD-WINNING ANTISPYWARE SOFTWARE. And we’re not talking about little made up awards that carry no weight. Some of the most respected names in technology have recognized Spy Sweeper for excellence. Names like PC Pro, PC Magazine, Softpedia and PC World have all evaluated Spy Sweeper and found it worthy of awards and special recognition for excellence, ease of use and value. No wonder it’s the top-selling computer security software on the market.

I’ve been using a freebie spyware program for a couple of years. Every time I run it, it leaves me with a warning about “threats” it couldn’t remove. I just ran Spy Sweeper and, for the first time, I don’t have that anxiety of thinking that I’ve left my computer unprotected. Why? Because Spy Sweeper completely cleaned my computer of spyware and its Smart Shields will detect and block even brand new threats. Regular automatic updates will insure that I have the full advantage of their constantly expanding spyware definition database. You don’t have to take my word for it. Check out their site. Download the free trial version, and check out their awards page while you’re there. Find out why Spy Sweeper is the most award-winning spyware removal software you can install on your own computer. The sources you trust have already recognized its excellence. Try it out and you’ll see why.

Technorati Tags: antispyware software, computer software, spyware removal

June 5, 2007

Parents - free kid-safe software

I signed up for the free Vocalpoint newsletter quite a while back. Their content is primarily for parents with little ones at home, but I’ve found some great stuff through them so I keep it coming. Today they’re advertising a free trial for a computer software that looks pretty good to me. I didn’t sign up for it because I don’t have children who need to be protected from nasties on the web, but I wanted to share it with all of my mommy- and daddy-blogger friends. Go check out NoodleNet and see if you don’t agree. Here’s what it offers:

• Total online safety – kids don’t get to bad stuff & bad stuff doesn’t get to kids
• Continuously updated parent-approved websites – deemed appropriate by people, not
filter programs
• Age-appropriate learning activities – audio/visual books, puzzles and more
• Desktop security – kids can’t access your important files or PC settings

I’ve posted about online safety for kids several times and it’s a cause that is dear to my heart. This looks like it’s worth investigating if you have children old enough to spend time on the computer without your direct supervision. They’ll send you a free VocalPoint gift pack if you return a survey after you’ve had a chance to try it out, so that’s an added motivation to see what they’ve got.

Caveat: It’s a 14 day free trial. Since I didn’t apply I didn’t see any disclaimers that might pop up during the process. Could be one of those deals where you’ll be auto-billed at the end of the trial period, so read the fine print!

Technorati Tags: child safety, children online, computer software, free software

May 24, 2007

That was scary!

The server I’m on at BlueHost went down last night and only just came up. The folks I’ve been talking to over there tell me I may have lost some data, but so far everything looks pretty normal to me. I’ve never had anything like this happen before, so I’m not sure what I should be looking for. If you notice anything wonky, will you let me know, please? Mahalo!

Technorati Tags: blog, crash, domain hosts, servers

May 14, 2007

Sharing computer time

Okay, so having my son visit is not the perfect experience, though it does come close. The ony thing marring it so far is that we’re sharing my computer. He’s in the lead with his fantasy baseball team this year and has to check his stats, of course. I’m not sure just what he does with the rest of his time when he’s online. Maybe I should install some spy software & find out, lol. I’m pretty sure it’s probably all dull sports stuff, though, so I guess I won’t bother. Spying on my grown son just to satisfy my curiosity seems like an icky idea.

There’s a benefit to him using my computer, too. The computer has been really slow lately, so slow it was making me crazy and cranky. The problem was that my Yahoo kept getting hung up on sign-in and would freeze everything. Even when I thought I was shutting it down it was still trying to sign me in in the background. Took my son about two minutes to figure it out and fix things. I guess that makes it okay that I’m doing some of my afternoon online stuff at almost one in the morning, right?

Technorati Tags: computer errors, sharing computer time, spy software