Working at Home on the Internet » Tools

Does Technology Help?

Brooke Long — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 11:36:47 +0000

I used to be a web designer – a good one at that. (Well I still sorta am) And when you are in that business, technology is a must. I have a great (had a great) computer, two screens, wonderful software, a scanner, a fax machine, a color printer, a laptop, and a Blackberry. Things were really great for me.

Well, now I am at home full time and I also create beaded hair accessories and jewelry. What technology do I really need? A computer is nice, but I found that having a good computer with great software is really handy. We are trying to make a better website, communicate with prospects, create cool business cards and constantly emailing.

For us technology is a must – even though it does not seem like it.

What about you?

Brooke has been a part of the WAHI family since March 2009 writing articles for the WAHM Wisdom section. She has had her own business since 1997, – Cataluña – web sites redesigned from scratch. She also creates web sites, e-newsletters, blogs, e-commerce sites etc. as well as print collateral including logos.

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Are You a Mac or a PC (or Linux)?

Joe Hauckes — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:35:11 +0000

A couple of years ago, when I did some research and checked out all my online stats (I may have even conducted a poll, I don’t remember), I found that most (around 90%) of people were using some type of Windows based PC for their online work.

What I found recently, was that a lot of my customers seemed to be either using MAC’s or considering changing to get away from all things Windows. (I blame Vista for that, I almost switched myself!) So I wanted to do a little more research on this to see what system most people were using NOW.

Last week I conducted an impromptu poll over on LinkedIn. Actually, I just asked a simple question. Are you a MAC or a PC? Much to my suprise, the answers varied more than you might think.

Out of 66 responses: There were the MAC Fans 21 and the staunch PCers at 25. Then there was a great mix of Linux, MAC & PC users who, for whatever reason, either needed or wanted access to both or all three system. They accounted for the remaining 20.

Hence this Poll in an effort to clarify the question of Are you a MAC or a PC or a Linux user.

[poll id="39]

If you are reading the RSS feed, click here to take the poll.

As always, if you want to tell us more about your answer, please feel free to use comments.

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Tried IE8 – Too Many Blanks for Me

Joe Hauckes — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:29:03 +0000

I took a poll last week for opinions about Google’s Chrome browser. The results were split, 2 really liked it, one hated it and the last one said they would just rather stay with their current browser. Frankly, even though I didn’t vote in the poll, I agreed that I tried it and didn’t like it much either, too many things that didn’t work the way I like.

That being said, I thought I would try the newest browser version of Internet Explorer. IE8.

Internet Explorer 8 IS a lot faster than IE7. Comparable to the Google Chrome in speed. BUT…

Even though it does most of the things I do like with IE7 (like support previous RSS subscriptions) it also has a major drawback in my opinion. It doesn’t show captions.

When you are browsing a site that has, lets say, a picture that has a caption when you do a hover (when you put the cursor over the pic) you get an enlarged Blank Box. What good is that?

Another problem within the same vein is that if you click on a Drawdown Menu, such as the one I have on all by blogs for Archives and Categories or lists of any type on other sites, you also get a Big Blank Box. Also a problem.

Needless to say, I am Not a Happy Camper. I really have liked IE in all the iterations, until now. There are too many blanks for me for it to be usable. So, IE8 has been UNinstalled and I am back to using IE7. (And for all you FireFox pundits, I don’t like the way it renders MOST pages I visit, so I don’t use it either except for testing purposes.)

No poll, but I would like to hear your opinions on IE8, Chrome or any other Browser that works for you.

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Two Addictive Business Tools You Will Love to Hate

Joe Hauckes — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:44:50 +0000

@lizstrauss I’ll be there tonight for OCN.

@chrisgarrett Love that you post you did on Causality and Correlation.

@squishythefish have you tried to Skype me lately?

This is the way we seem to be doing a lot of our Networking these days. Yeah, I know you know it is the way we use Twitter to keep up with friends and business contacts on a personal level.

The new kid on the block is Plurk. Different look, same basic concept. Being social online. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can join as My Friend. (It would be nice to up my Karma so I can get more cool emoticons.)

Both are actually great tools to network and keep in contact with current clients and help build your profile online. But Both have one inherent problem.

THEY’RE ADDICTIVE!

Even when you’re not actively Twittering or Plurking, just a lurker as I am quite often, you can get sucked in. Get more friends, see what they are talking about, see what is happening on the net, see who’s blogging about what, see what the newest fad is… Keep checking, don’t want to miss the next big wave of interest.

Redeeming Qualities

They are also addictive to the people you want to communicate with daily. The people online you care about. The clients you want to touch base with on a different level. Let potential clients see how you can help them through examples of how you help others. Just plain communicate.

These two Tools are really good at helping you keep in touch for Business, but you must be cautious not to get caught up in either too deeply to the detriment of the other things you need to do to keep your business growing.

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Three Services that May (or May Not) Be the Future of Blogging for Business

Joe Hauckes — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:47:59 +0000

Just a little update on what I’ve been trying to accomplish recently in the World of Working at Home on the Internet.

I mentioned last week that I wanted to move more into the Future using Blogs/Video/Screencasts as a tool to increase business on the internet. While I won’t go so far as to say the efforts so far have been a failure, I will say they have been less than expected.

Not because there is anything wrong with the mediums per se, but some of the programs aren’t living up to their potential and frankly, neither am I.

One service I do like is Revver. It is really easy to use, takes up no bandwidth on my server and produces quality video for presentation. No download to deal with, just upload your video to their service once you have signed up (it’s free). They even have the option of using Ads on your Vids (50/50) if you like. I did a Video using Revver about the next service, if you’d like to see it.
Pamela for Skype is a Bust. (No link because I cannot recommend it to anyone in good faith) The concept is great, an addon for Skype (no affiliation) that allows for some features not included in the actual Skype service like recording Audio conversations that can be published. But the main thing that attracted me was the potential ability to record Video Interviews for publication at a reasonable price. The price is no problem ($24.95 for the Pro version), the Problem is that IT DOESN’T WORK.
Lastly, I have been tinkering with a service called FreeScreecast. I have done a few “test” screencasts and the procedure is really quit simple. Download the Screencast Recorder, Record your screencast, Upload it to their server. You even have the ability to include Audio so you can describe what you are doing to your audience. My problem is that I keep on making mistakes during the recording. I get part way through and mess up on Audio or bring up the wrong screen on Video. I guess that will come with practice (I hope). But I plan on doing a lot more with this service once I get it right.

How about you, what have you been up to? Have you tried any of these services? Thoughts?

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