Business Technology Times, a division of NTERDEV. LLC

Business Technology Times – the latest in business and affordable internet technology…

Good corporate example of creating iphone app and using social media

19.07.2009 (7:35 pm) – Filed under: Business Technology ::

I enjoyed reading this blog on the Dunkin’ Donuts iphone app and it use of using e-commerce and social media.

You can read more here:

http://www.davidhauser.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/76

-Brian

Camtasia Alternative - FREE Desktop Screen Recording Software

05.06.2009 (10:07 am) – Filed under: Business Technology ::

camstudio_logo

What is it?

CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs)

Here are just a few ways you can use this software:

  • You can use it to create demonstration videos for any software program
  • You can create a set of videos answering your most frequently asked questions?
  • You can create video tutorials for school or college class
  • You can use it to record a recurring problem with your computer so you can show technical support people
  • You can use it to create video-based information products you can sell
  • You can even use it to record new tricks and techniques you discover on your favourite software program, before you forget them

camstudio_softwareI personally use CamStudio for recording web and software demonstrations.  It’s a great business tool that adds big value.  And best of all….  It’s FREE!

Thank you CamStudio!

You can download your FREE copy at http://camstudio.org/

Hope this was helpful.  Let me know.

Regards,

Brian McCumber

Stock.XCHNG, the leading FREE stock photo site!

07.05.2009 (8:49 pm) – Filed under: Business Technology, Graphic Design, Web Design ::

stock_xchng

Stock.XCHNG, the leading FREE stock photo site!

442672_lime_lightWhether you just want to browse our huge image gallery or want to share your own photos with others, this is the site for you!

Browse through the categories of our huge gallery containing over 350.000 quality stock photos by more than 30.000 photographers! Need a wallpaper for your desktop or illustration for your blog? Need a pic for your commercial website design? Looking for inspiration? Have a look around.

Share your photos with fellow designers! SXC is a friendly community of photography addicts who generously offer their works to those who need them free of charge. If you have some nice photos that you’d like to share with others, join us! Not only it feels great to share, you will also get a huge exposure for your work!

Chat with other members in our forum! Looking for something? Need an opinion? Have a question? Post a topic, and someone will definitely help you out.

SXC was launched in February 2001, as an alternative for expensive stock photography. The idea was to create a site where creative people could exchange their photos for inspiration or work. In about two years the site evolved into this massive community you see now - there are over 2.500.000 registered users and around 400.000 photos online!

Why become a member?

As a user you gain access to hundreds of thousands of high quality, hand picked stock photos and graphics - all free! Need a wallpaper for your desktop or an illustration for your blog? Want to spice up your commercial website design project? Looking for inspiration? You’ll find everything on SXC quickly and easily!

As a contributor you get unparalleled exposure for your work. Every day hundreds of thousands of graphic designers, web developers, journalists and webmasters from all over the world choose SXC as their destination for stock imagery. You can see some examples of images in action here and here. You also get to meet fellow photography entusiasts, share ideas and learn new tricks.

I personally use this web site a source for pictures and images.  You can find out more by visiting their web site at www.sxc.hu

Hope this was helpful!

Brian McCumber

Best FREE online tool to easily create a favicon with your business logo

07.04.2009 (7:23 pm) – Filed under: Business Technology ::

FREE Online FavIcon Generator

Use this FREE online tool to easily create a favicon (favorites icon) for your site.  What is a favicon? A favicon is a small, 16×16 image that is shown inside the browser’s location bar and bookmark menu when your site is called up. It is a good way to brand your site and increase it’s prominence in your visitor’s bookmark menu.

Example Favicon:

I personally use this free favicon generator to quickly create my icon files.  I think compared to the other free tools out there, this one produces the clearest quality at a 16×16 icon dimension, which is pretty hard to do manually.

Click on the icon to the right to start generating your own favicons: Favicon maker- Create a favicon from any image

This is a perfect tool for the bootstrap internet marketer or internet DIY business owner to get that extra professional appeal for your web site.  Big thanks to Dynamic Drive for putting this tool online for free use!

Regards,

Brian McCumber

Here’s a very good FREE online web office for project management and collaboration

04.04.2009 (5:41 pm) – Filed under: Business Technology ::

logo_goo

OpenGoo is an easy to use Open Source Web Office.

It is a complete online solution focused on improving productivity, collaboration, communication and management of your teams.

OpenGoo is a complete solution for every organization to create, collaborate, share and publish all its internal and external documents.

You and your team can create and collaborate on:

  • Text documents
  • Spreadsheets (coming soon)
  • Presentations
  • Task Lists
  • E-mails
  • Calendars
  • Web Links
  • Contacts

OpenGoo gives you all the tools to manage the work of all the divisions of your company. You can plan and manage all your projects, easily following the status of every task.

I personally have tried many others web office like solutions and OpenGoo is one of the best open source solutions.  Let me know if you need a tutorial on installing it on a Windows Server.  Here is where you can get a copy of OpenGoo: http://opengoo.org

Regards,

Brian McCumber

FREE online virus scanner to make sure you’re safe

31.03.2009 (7:00 am) – Filed under: Business Technology ::

trendmicro

With the attention on the April Fool’s virus, I was reminded about this FREE great service, which is the free online virus scanning by Trend Micro.

Trend Micro’s HouseCall is an application for checking whether your computer has been infected by viruses, spyware, or other malware.  HouseCall performs additional security checks to identify and fix vulnerabilities to prevent reinfection.

The options that I used when I ran the Trend Micro online scan.

  1. I clicked on Get HouseCall Free Scan and choose the option to run the executable file.
  2. Check the option to manually change the HouseCall Kernel
  3. I select the option to run the Browser-based House Call Kernel
  4. I accept the browser install
  5. I click to run the FREE online scan and watch the results

Like I mentioned in my earlier tweet.  You should take the time to back up your important files today.  Then make sure your computer is up to date with the latest security patches.  Then run a virus scan with the latest updates if you bought an anti-virus software, or use a free service like Trend Micro.

You can find out more information about the FREE online virus scanning here: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

In my prior tweet I post a CNN link about the April Fool’s virus.  You can find out more technical information about the April Fool’s virus here: http://us.trendmicro.com/us/threats/conficker-worm/

Hope this is helpful.

Regards,

Brian McCumber

FREE valuable tools to help boost traffic to your web site

30.03.2009 (11:14 am) – Filed under: Business Technology, Internet Marketing ::

submit_express

Some of the best things in life are FREE!  Here is a great site for the Bootstrapping Internet Marketer or Start-up Business Owner managing their own web site.  FREE tools to help your web site rankings.

Submit Express has helped thousands of companies with their search engine marketing (SEM) needs, from search engine submission to search engine optimization (SEO).  Submit Express is dedicated to helping businesses achieve higher rankings in the major search engines and directories through consultation, keyword research, content writing, optimization, link building, article writing, social media optimization (SMO) and submissions.

Here are a list of the following FREE valuable tools to help boost traffic to your web site.

  • FREE SUBMISSION
    Free Submission to 40+ Search Engines
  • META TAGS ANALYZER
    Check your keyword density, receive ranking advice, check webpage load time
  • LINK POPULARITY CHECK
    Check the number of links to your site.
  • KEYWORD SUGGESTION TOOL
    Find additional keywords for your website.
  • KEYWORD TRAFFIC ESTIMATOR
    See the estimated traffic for keywords.
  • SEO DICTIONARY
    See definitions for key industry words.
  • META TAGS GENERATOR
    Generate Meta Tags for better rankings
  • PAGE SNOOPER
    HTML Source Code Viewer. See how search engines will see your site.
  • BROKEN LINK CHECKER
    Check for broken links on a webpage
  • LINK COUNTER
    Check for number of links present on a webpage
  • RECIPROCAL LINK CHECKER
    Verify your link exists on another site

Here is the link to find out more and use the free tools above:
http://www.submitexpress.com/

In economic times like today, I feel this would be really helpful.  Keep your internet marketing efforts going!

Regards,

Brian McCumber

One of the Best FREE Mind Mapping Tools, XMind

24.03.2009 (9:45 am) – Filed under: Business Technology, GTD ::

This will be really appreciated by all my GTD brother and sisters. I think XMind is a one up FREE mind mapping tool compared to FreeMind.

XMind, combined with online sharing service, provides a revolutionary way to enable both team brainstorming and personal mind mapping. With this major upgrade, it brings Web 2.0 concepts on community sharing into a popular desktop application.

XMind is now royalty-free and open source software. This means when you want to use an XMind fishbone in a spreadsheet, put your photos and media files into a mind map, or reuse your FreeMind or MindManager files, you’re free to use XMind without charge.

I have been using it and have been happy with the tools, features, usability, and appearance. Thank you XMind!

Get a FREE copy of XMind today at http://www.xmind.net

Regards,

Brian McCumber

Dimdim, The Free Alternative to GoToMeeting

03.02.2009 (7:52 pm) – Filed under: Business Technology ::

Conduct Your Own Online Web Meetings for FREE! The Free Alternative to GoToMeeting


What is Dimdim?

Dimdim is a free web conferencing service where you can share your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam with absolutely no download required to host or attend meetings.

Intead of Paying $50 per month for GoToMeeting, use Dimdim for FREE!

FREE Online Web Meetings Made Easy!

The Dimdim Web Meeting service is available in open source, professional and commercial enterprise editions capable of supporting thousands of attendees. Dimdim just works - no software to download or maintain, and it takes only a few clicks to join or host your very own meetings. You’ll be meeting in seconds.

Includes FREE Conference Call Lines!

Dimdim’s built-in VoIP capability is a godsend to customers with limited access to quality phone service, providing free calling to and from any computer with a microphone and an Internet connection. And a free teleconference service to boot. Powerful video broadcasting, screen sharing and web page browsing features scale elegantly with your bandwidth automatically.

  • No Install to Host/Join meetings
  • Easy Share Screens&Webpages
  • Audio & Video Conferencing
  • Present PowerPoint and PDFs
  • Private & Public Chat
  • Whiteboard & Annotations
  • Record and Playback Meetings
  • Open Source and open API

Get Dimdim for FREE at www.dimdim.com.


In 2008 I came across Dimdim.  On trying it out, I found it to be a decent FREE web meeting solution.  It’s nice having a dedicated conference bridge number.  I can use the same number and code over and over again, unlike GoToMeeting, where I have to have a new number each time.  I like the VOIP and Video Conferencing capabilities that are built into it.  The video conferencing is not available in GoToMeeting.

There are some things that could be improved, like on a slow connection there are some latency issues.  Overall it works out just fine.  I’m a business owner and I work with people across the nation.  I use have web meetings on a regular basis and it works just fine for me.  I actually cancelled my GoToMeeting subscription, where I was paying $50 per month for thier service.  Now I’m saving $50 per month!  In these economic times, this is a valuable FREE internet business technology tool.  Hope you find it valuable too!

Stay productive,

Brian McCumber