2008 April « wendy gauntt’s tech zest

Archive for April, 2008

Dirty data: spring-cleaning for your contact list

Published April 30, 2008 Productivity 2 Comments
Tags: accucard, address book, contact list, plaxo, spring cleaning

Messy address book I recently posted about spring-cleaning your computer. Now, how about spring-cleaning your electronic address book? In our fast-paced world, with people changing jobs and moving around, contact lists quickly go out-of-date.

Several tools are available online to help. They use the Internet and email to keep in touch and request address updates. If you’ve ever received an email from Plaxo.com or Accucard (Cardscan.net), you’ve seen exactly how this works. Set up an account, load your contacts, and on a regular schedule, the service emails everyone on the list to get updated contact information.

Two additional benefits: the service itself acts as an online backup of all your contacts, and you can view your contact list from any computer with an Internet connection.

The only major flaw? It relies on valid email addresses. There’s no way to get updated information if the email itself has changed. One last thing: unless you update settings, it will send out notices to EVERYONE on your list–including ex-boyfriends and old bosses!

Spring cleaning, geek-style

Published April 28, 2008 Computers Leave a Comment
Tags: computer, keyboard, laptop, monitor, mouse, spring cleaning

Spring cleaning

In the mood for a little geek-style spring cleaning? To keep things in tip-top shape, spend a few minutes on your computer every few months.

The easiest place to start is your monitor. Use a microfiber cloth to dust your monitor, or try premoistened screen-cleaning wipes for more stubborn spots like fingerprints. Avoid traditional glass cleaners—some LCD and laptop screens are too delicate for these strong solutions, and drips can be devastating to electronics. And never spray cleaner directly on the computer–spray the cloth you are using instead.

Got crumbs in your keyboard? Canned air can blow them away, or you can try special vacuum attachments. If it’s really beyond help, spend $20 – $50 on an upgrade to a new wireless or multimedia keyboard. If you keep coffee or soda close by, consider a spill-resistant keyboard to help prevent disastrous accidents.

If you have an old mouse with a rubber roller ball, you can open it up for cleaning. Pull out the ball and use a little alcohol on a cotton swab to clean the rollers. Or, even better, skip the cleaning and purchase an optical laser mouse instead. Then there’s no cleaning required and you’ll find it’s a much smoother mouse experience.

Feeling adventurous? Desktops, especially those sitting on the floor, tend to accumulate a lot of dust inside the case. If you have pets, you may be shocked at how much fur you find. Your computer will run much better without it, so open up the case and blow out all the dust with canned air once every year or two. Unplug it first, of course, and be careful not to jostle any parts. A dust-free PC will stay cooler and run much more smoothly.

Let a robot clean your gutters

Published April 26, 2008 Personal 1 Comment
Tags: gutters, irobot, looj, robot, roomba

iRobot Looj While computers make us more productive at work, robots are starting to take over chores at home. The latest from iRobot (maker of the Roomba vacuum) is a robot that cleans your gutters.

Why post this in a business tech blog? Because business owners are far too busy to clean gutters? Actually, the Looj is a great example of how a great core concept–a robot that cleans your house–can be leveraged for new applications. iRobot started with a robot vacuum. They now offer a mopping robot, one that cleans the shop or the outside patio, another for the pool, and of course this latest addition, the gutter cleaning robot.

What’s the core concept of your business, and how can you expand on it? How can you apply it to new markets? What services do you offer that have broader applications? I’m not saying to lose your niche–iRobot, after all, hasn’t started a rent-a-maid service–but look at logical and creative extensions of your business that provide real-world value.

And while you’re thinking about all that, you’ve got to watch this real-world demo of the Looj:

So, what’s your business’s Roomba and how can you turn that into a Looj?

Turbo-charge QuickBooks

Published April 24, 2008 Software Leave a Comment
Tags: api, connectwise, development, quickbooks, sdk, Software, spreadsheets, third-party developers

Designed for QuickBooks Most small business owners use QuickBooks to handle their finances. It is a great tool, full-featured, flexible, and a real bargain at just a few hundred dollars. But every once in a while, you may find something it can’t do. What then?

Many people create complex spreadsheets and export data on a regular basis to get what they need. This is time-consuming and error-prone. You could also consider a new accounting package but more than likely you’ll just have different gaps. Custom development is tricky at best, even if you know how to program.

Designed for QuickBooks: Third-Party Applications

Fortunately, there’s a better answer. If you lack just a feature or two, consider checking out QuickBooks third-party applications. Because QuickBooks is so popular, they’ve built a huge and highly capable third-party developer community. Chances are that you aren’t the first person who wants that missing feature, and that means someone may have built it for you already!

QuickBooks has an entire website devoted to the needs of their developers, and they offer a set of tools called the Software Development Kit (SDK) that simplify and streamline the process of programming add-ons for QuickBooks users. When these developers create a solution that they expect will have broad appeal, they submit it to QuickBooks for testing and certification.

You’ll find these certified solutions at the QuickBooks Solutions Marketplace. Add-ons range the gamut in features and benefits. A quick sampling includes sales commission calculators, bar code scanners for inventory tracking, project management tools, and more. Some tools link QuickBooks with other software packages–contact managers or CRM solutions, shipping tools, industry-specific applications–while others integrate access with other devices, like smart phones and PDAs so that you can keep data current when you’re in the field or at a client.

Choosing a Solution

We currently use an industry-specific application called ConnectWise to track our clients and our work, and a key feature is that it integrates easily with QuickBooks for billing and A/R.

We are about to purchase an add-on program to track sales commissions so that we don’t have to do it manually each month, and we’re estimating that this will save us a few precious hours each time while improving the odds that the calculations are accurate.

When selecting a tool for your own business, watch demos and see if you can get a free trial. Find out what kind of support they offer if you have problems. And confirm that their software works with your version of QuickBooks–if you have the latest version or the online version, this could trip you up. These add-ons may not be quite as easy as using a built-in feature, but the best come awfully close, improving accuracy while saving you time and, ultimately, money.

Google’s approach to innovation

Published April 22, 2008 General 1 Comment
Tags: company culture, Google, Google Labs, innovation

Google tshirt Google has a highly innovative company culture, one I try to model in my own business. One way they encourage innovation is by allowing employees to pursue pet projects on company time. Many terrific Google services, like the toolbar and desktop search, were created in this way; check out up and coming innovations at http://labs.google.com.

The reason I bring this up? Don’t be afraid to let your staff try new ideas. They have a different perspective than you, which means they’ll bring up ideas you might otherwise miss. Some will work, some will fail – but your willingness to innovate will set you apart from your competitors.

Does your laptop need a nap? Sleep vs. hibernate

Published April 20, 2008 Computers , Green Technology Leave a Comment
Tags: battery life, hibernate, laptop, power settings, shut down, sleep

sleeping bear When you shut down your laptop, you have two other options: sleep and hibernate. Have you ever wondered what they do and when to use them?

The idea behind both these options is to give you a faster way to wake up your computer, without using up a lot of battery power. If you just want a quick nap, maybe a few hours, put it to sleep. It will continue to use a little battery power but should start quickly when it’s time to rise and shine. Nudge it a little, by moving the mouse or touching a button on the keyboard–that’s all it should take.

If you plan to let it rest for a longer period of time, or if battery power is low, let your laptop hibernate. It takes a little longer to rouse it later, but it won’t use up any power, and it’s still quicker than a full shut-down and reboot. Settings vary by manufacturer but usually hitting the power key will wake it up.

If these options don’t seem to be working for you, you’re not alone. Unfortunately driver issues and differences between equipment lead to problems for a large percentage of laptop users. Visit your laptop manufacturer’s site for the latest software updates. And be sure to save your documents before taking a break. You shouldn’t have to do this, but if you’re prone to sleep disturbances, it’s better safe than sorry.