Banner Monsters Project

The Banner Monsters is a project we are currently working on with Pinscher Designs. While Pinscher Designs in doing the graphics for the site, Freelance I.T. Solutions is responsible for the 'Place Order' application.

The order application consists of a 5-tab form. This tab allows the visitor to choose the product they wish to order. Option drop-downs are populated on the fly depending on what product(s) are chosen.

The visitor enters contact information in this tab. The tabs can be navigated without loss of data. This allows the visitor to change information without the need for page refresh.

Here the visitor chooses production and delivery options. Again, the visitor can navigate between tabs without data loss. In this case, they may want to make changes to see how they effect price.

This tab summarizes the order and gathers the credit / debit card information. Notice here the grayed-out 'file upload' tab. The tab is visible, but unavailable until the order has been submitted and approved. This prevents the random and anonymous upload of files.

Tech Then and Now

On the left is a 5MB hard drive from 1956. And on the right is a 64MB Micro SD Card from 2006. The had drive from 1956 weighed more than a ton and was used in a 'super computer.'

May 2012 New Jobs Numbers

In May there were 133,000 new, private sector jobs created. A huge majority of those (93%) were created by small and medium size businesses. Businesses with 50 or fewer employees created 67,000 new jobs. Medium size companies – 50 to 499 employees – created 57,000. And companies with more than 500 employees created only 9,000. So, if you're looking for a job, try the local, small business first! *Source ADP, Inc.

Be Careful What You 'Like'

… as well as what links you share on Facebook. Your 'likes' and links may be used as endorsements for products, services and people without your knowledge. And believe it or not, you've agreed to this. Facebook calls this, “Sponsored Stories.” It works like this. A company (or individual – like a politician) pays Facebook to automatically promote their brand through Sponsored Stories. If you share a link that involves that company or its products/services, a Facebook algorithm (program) may post that as an endorsement for the company/product/service/person – even if that was not your intention. Likewise, clicking 'like' or commenting on someone else's post can be used as an endorsement as well. This might not sound so bad, until you find that your name, profile picture, location and other personal information can also be associated with your 'endorsement.' Also, the algorithm can not distinguish the difference between a joke, an endorsement, or a post that ridicules. I've shared links that were meant to ridicule a company, a service, a government decision or a politician. I certainly do not want that used as an endorsement from me! And, let's say a Facebook friend stays at a hotel and has a bad experience, then posts about it on Facebook. I click 'like' to agree with him – not to say I like the hotel. The algorithm only sees that as a like for the hotel and then uses my 'like' as an endorsement for the hotel – obviously not my intention. And this brings me back to, “you've agreed to all of this.” In Facebook's 4000-word 'terms of service,' down in the middle somewhere, there is a statement that says they can do this. By agreeing with the terms of service and creating your account, you've given them permission to use you, your likeness and your posts as advertisements and endorsements. Hmmmm – I think I stopped reading at 250 words.

One Day on the Internet

Companies are always giving statistics about the number of people that make purchases using the Internet and the number of people that research services and products before buying at brick and mortar stores. But, I thought I’d give you some truly amazing (and fun) numbers.

In one day on the Internet…
* 294 billion emails are sent. The USPS would take 2 years to handle all that mail.

* 4.7 billion minutes are spent on Facebook (what?!)

* 864,000 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube – that would take 98 years for one person to view, non-stop!

* 250 million photos are uploaded to Facebook, printed and stacked that would be taller than 80 Eiffel Towers (also stacked).

* 18.7 million hours of music are streamed on Pandora.

There’s even more at http://www.businessinsider.com/everything-that-happens-in-one-day-on-the-internet-2012-3

Royalty Free Images

When people need images to use for advertisements, blog posts, websites, etc., they usually search the web for something they like and download or copy it. What most people don't realize is that many of the images on the web are actually copyrighted. And these images can not be used without permission or until royalties are paid. I've even had clients who have received 'cease and desist' letters telling them they must remove images from their sites.

But, here's a site with royalty free images you can use in print and digital media.

Free Digital Photos - http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Before You Buy a Kindle Fire

Amazon's announcement today of the color Kindle Fire was met with excitement by many. And when Jeff Bezos, president of Amazon.com, announced the price would be only $199, the buzz shot through the web in hours. But, is the Kindle Fire for you?

Before you buy a Fire, it's a good idea to realize the new color Kindle is a media tablet, not a productivity table. The Fire is designed to read books and magazines, watch movies and TV Programs, listen to music and audio books, play games, and search the Web*. The Fire also has an e-mail client that allows you to use the most common e-mail service.

But, the Kindle Fire is very limited in many ways. The internal storage on the device is only 8 Gbs. According to Amazon.com that is enough space for 80 apps plus 10 movies OR 800 songs OR 6000 books. But, you might find that storage space shrinks quickly when you mix movies, books/magazines, music and the extra apps you want. Amazon.com does offer free storage space on the Amazon Cloud for storing your Amazon media. Of course you must have a Wi-Fi connection for this, the Fire has no 3G connectivity. (It is unclear at this time whether Amazon will allow users to store their non-Amazon files on the Amazon Cloud).

Productivity on the Fire is limited. While you can read documents (Word, PDF and text) on the color Kindle, you can not create or edit these files. (To get the documents on the Kindle Fire, you must e-mail them to your Kindle account on the device). The Fire will not read spreadsheet or presentation files - like Excel and PowerPoint. And of course, when you download these documents, you are taking up the preciously limited 8 Gbs of storage space... forget some of those songs, movies and books you wanted to keep loaded.

Communications and creativity are also limited. The Kindle Fire does not include messaging, chat or video applications. And it is not a media creation device – it just does not have the applications or the hardware for this. And, although it is based on the Android operating system, it may not support many of the applications written for Android. This is because the device runs a branched, private version of Android created by Amazon.com.

And finally, the Kindle Fire has no expansion or transfer capabilities. There are no card slots, no USB ports, no connections for the computer. If you can't get it from the Amazon Cloud or e-mail it to yourself, you can't have it on your new Kindle.

So, is the Kindle Fire for you? Well, it is no iPad-killer. If you are looking for a productivity tablet, look at the iPad, the HP TouchPad or an Android 3.x tablet. But, the Fire is a great media tablet – it fills that niche very well. And I'm sure it will be successful for Amazon.com. (I'm still planning to buy one). If a media tablet is what you want, the Fire is a good choice.

*The browser on the Kindle Fire is not a true browser. The pages are rendered on Amazon's Cloud and sent to the device. This is supposed to make the browser very fast. But, there are security issues. It is not known how this will work for secure websites used for banking, to pay bills, etc.