By Musa Aykac

There are so many software companies popping up on the web these days, but who can you really trust? You should always remember that if something sounds too good to be true than it probably is. What I mean by this is we all get the various emails saying ”We offer the cheapest software deals”, so you find it quite interesting and decide to visit the site in question. Your surprised to see that the prices they said in the emails are true, but is this the moment the actual scam starts? Well lets take a look.

A few of the if its too good to be true warnings are as follows, firstly if they’re offering lower prices that most of the reputable on the internet retailers then there must be something dodgy, you’ve to think to yourself if they have the ability to do it why cant the large online retailers? Secondly if they don’t supply you with a full registration number for your product, this could be one of the biggest giveaways as most products these days would require a code of some sort. They might be trying to sell you a cracked or nulled version of a piece of software. Finally you should beware if they do not supply readmes or manuals with the product, any suitable software company would have no problem supplying this sort of information.

If you are still thinking to yourself, well I am just going to buy the software as I wont be losing much its just so cheap, then you would probably be making one of the worst decisions of your life. There are a lot of reasons why people sell cheap software and most of them are bad, we will take a look at a few. Firstly is quite a huge one whereas if you’re entering your bank or credit card details you are potentially handing this over to a fraudster, who will probably end up emptying your bank account. Next you should beware of nulled or hacked software as this can also potentially contain viruses or spy ware which can collect all of your personal details. And finally if the software is illegal you could end up being prosecuted or fined massive amounts.

So to save yourself from all of the aggravation that cheap software can bring, you should always stick to buying from reputable firms that have been around for a while and stay away from companies which have only been formed for a few months.

Regarding The Author

Intranet Software - http://www.claromentis.com

By Musa Aykac

So you’ve taken the first step in creating your website, you’ve decided that you want to easily maintain your site and wondering what is the ideal solution. Well I can tell you now that it comes in the form of content management systems or also known as CMS.

A CMS system is a very complex piece of software which has the power to make your site a one click solution, meaning you can hold, organize and edit any content on your website with ease. You can also edit the design on most CMS systems with the easy to use interfaces. With a content management system you can create any sort of site starting from a forum to full ecommerce store.

These days there are various types of open source platforms, meaning free and fully manageable from Pligg which is a powerful user generated CMS system, to Drupal, Joomla and Mamba. So are you still having trouble with the best content management system to choose for your company? Then Read on.

Firstly you must consider what the purpose of your CMS will be used for. What’s your strategy and your goal? Do you want to build a community, a store or a web site that is news driven? Sometimes even though the free open source scripts offer a good solution, most of them maybe full of bugs which can potentially bring your site to a halt.

The solution for this would be to get yourself one of the paid and customizable solutions which are guaranteed to come fully supported and bug free. If you’ve a bigger budget you can also consider getting yourself a custom very special script built for your site. This way it will be harder for your competitors to match your uniqueness aswell as it being easier for yourself to edit any aspect of the system as it will be specifically designed for your preferences.

So finally a tip to remember when looking to create your website, is keep in mind how you are going to market yourself. Meaning if you are looking for global domination in your niche, you must obtain a system that’ll be kind on your server and will be able to handle a handful of users. Too many times I have seen sites get there development wrong from the start and when this happens there is nothing else to expect apart from failure.

Regarding The Author

Intranet Software - http://www.claromentis.com

By Jon Kelly

Personal are now extremely flexible pieces of equipment that are smaller and lighter than ever. Capable of going almost anywhere you go, laptop computers can now also connect to the World wide web at any of the numerous Internet cafes in most cities and airports. Being able to take your personal with you is the main reason to have a laptop, but you need to make sure that you’ve a personal case that is functional, protective and sturdy.

The most important consideration when choosing a personal case is how well the case suits the type of personal you own. Some types of laptop computers are extremely small and light, which would cause them to slide around inside a larger personal case. Conversely, a heavier personal will require a carrying case with sturdy straps that are wide enough to distribute the weight comfortably.

For trips when you’ll be carrying your computer for a long time or when you need your hands free, you might want to take into account a backpack personal case. Like any personal case, a backpack personal carrying case should be the right size for your computer and provide enough cushioning to prevent damage if the computer is bumped or jostled. There should also be some degree of water resistance to protect your computer and other electronic components from rain or spilled beverages.

The right backpack will have a good fit so that the computer does not shift its weight or bump while you’re walking. The weight should be distributed so that it does not cause any strain on your neck and back, and you should be able to remove the backpack without a struggle.

If you’re accustomed to carrying a personal case in your hand or over your shoulder, you may find that a backpack causes fewer problems and will be less prone to induce muscle strains. The uneven distribution of weight caused by carrying a personal on one side of your body can cause muscle tension and posture problems over time.

To get the ideal results from a personal backpack, make sure that the weight of the computer remains centered on your back when you move around and check to make sure that you can put the backpack on and take it off without too much exertion.

While investigating your options for a personal case backpack, you might find certain features that make some designs more appropriate for your use. For example, if you’ll be using your backpack personal case to transport your personal between home and work or between various work sites, you might want a case that has multiple flaps and pockets so that it can double as a briefcase or personal organizer.

Any items that you’ll not need while you are in transit can be stored in the backpack computer case, including papers, CD-ROMs, flash drives and power cords. You might want to select a backpack that has a special pocket for a cell phone but, before buying a case with this feature, be sure that you’re able to reach the pocket easily while wearing the backpack so that you are not forced to remove the backpack each time your phone rings.

With regards to The Author

Jon Kelly is a published author who writes pieces on a variety of diverse subjects. This includes articles regarding all aspects of rucksacks and backpacks. If you would like to get more ideas regarding backpacks. Please visit http://www.thebackpackreview.com

By Jon Kelly

Personal are now extremely flexible pieces of equipment that are smaller and lighter than ever. Capable of going almost anywhere you go, laptop computers can now also connect to the Internet at any of the numerous World wide web cafes in most cities and airports. Being able to take your personal with you is the main reason to have a laptop, but you need to make sure that you have a computer case that’s functional, protective and sturdy.

The most important consideration when choosing a personal case is how well the case suits the type of personal you own. Some types of laptop computers are extremely small and light, which would cause them to slide around inside a bigger computer case. Conversely, a heavier personal will require a carrying case with sturdy straps that are wide enough to distribute the weight comfortably.

For trips when you’ll be carrying your computer for a long time or when you need your hands free, you might want to take into account a backpack personal case. Like any computer case, a backpack personal carrying case should be the right size for your computer and provide enough cushioning to prevent damage if the computer is bumped or jostled. There should also be some degree of water resistance to protect your personal and other electronic components from rain or spilled beverages.

The right backpack will have a good fit so that the computer does not shift its weight or bump while you’re walking. The weight should be distributed so that it does not cause any strain on your neck and back, and you should be able to remove the backpack without a struggle.

If you are accustomed to carrying a personal case in your hand or over your shoulder, you may find that a backpack causes fewer problems and will be less prone to induce muscle strains. The uneven distribution of weight caused by carrying a personal on one side of your body can cause muscle tension and posture problems over time.

To get the ideal results from a computer backpack, make sure that the weight of the computer remains centered on your back when you move around and check to make sure that you can put the backpack on and take it off without too much exertion.

While investigating your options for a computer case backpack, you may find certain features that make some designs more appropriate for your use. For example, if you’ll be using your backpack computer case to transport your computer between home and work or between various work sites, you might want a case that has multiple flaps and pockets so that it can double as a briefcase or personal organizer.

Any items that you will not need while you’re in transit can be stored in the backpack computer case, including papers, CD-ROMs, flash drives and power cords. You might want to select a backpack that has a special pocket for a cell phone but, before buying a case with this feature, be sure that you are able to reach the pocket easily while wearing the backpack so that you’re not forced to remove the backpack every time your phone rings.

With regards to The Author

Jon Kelly is a published author who writes pieces on a variety of diverse subjects. This includes articles regarding all aspects of rucksacks and backpacks. If you would like to get more ideas regarding backpacks. Please visit http://www.thebackpackreview.com

By Kristi Ambrose

Apple is constantly coming out with the newest technology including media players, mp3 players, and smart phones. One of their newest creations is the MacBook. This product specifically was made to replace the iBook G4 series, and was released in 2006. Since then there have been several revisions to the MacBook as well as several different ”generations.” This laptop is made especially for mac users obviously, but there are other people that have been PC users their entire lives and have purchased into the Mac family. I’m not sure I would buy a mac only because I’m a PC girl at heart, but I just might reconsider it after all the hype Apple has received! The MacBook family comprises of several different versions. Thus far the newest and most updated MacBook was released in 2008 and uses a GM965 chip with Intel’s x3100 graphics.

The following MacBooks are the different versions available to the consumers:

MacBook -
Consumer Notebook
13.3” screen with polycarbonate casings

MacBook Air -
13.3” wide screen LED display

Ultralight Notebook -
13.3” screen with aluminum casings

Professional Level Notebook -
15.4” or 17” screens with aluminum casings

Several different ”options” are included with the Macs including iTunes, iWork, Customizations, iCal, iChat, etc. These products must be expensive if they offer all this right? Wrong! In fact, truth be told, if you go ahead and purchase any of the Macs off Apple, then yes you’ll pay full price. But if you’re like every other person, you’ll want to find the ideal price even if it doesn’t come straight from the company that makes them. The best thing you can do is try places like EBay and Amazon. Hey listen, just because it’s from EBay or Amazon or some other auction site, doesn’t mean you are going to receive a cheap item. All this means is you’ll be saving yourself hundreds of dollars, and who doesn’t LOVE to save money?!?

Looking at the MacBook on Apple and then comparing it to one found on EBay (which is brand new, in the box, everything included) the price is quite different. MacBook on Apple is regarding $1,099 and on Ebay the lowest price is around $500. Now that is something you totally can’t beat. Again, just because you buy it on Ebay doesn’t mean its used. Now if you want to get it even cheaper, go ahead, buy it used or refurbished on Ebay. But if you are worrisome with regards to the quality then get the ”new still in box” one. Either way, your saving yourself a ton of money!

Regarding The Author

This Author is a big fan of http://onapplestore.com/

By Gregory Smyth

Please note, we neither encourage nor endorse or advocate the use of any of the techniques discussed in this article. What we can tell you is that we definitely don’t use them and our clients’ sites continue to rank very well on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Always keep in mind that a proper organic way of optimizing your site will take longer than to Sp@m your way to the top rankings BUT you will stay at the top for a long time without running into the risk of being dropped completely from the Search Engine Index!

Link Farms
Link farms and Link Farm Sp@m - aka FFA (free-for-all link sites) were born when more and more webmasters learned that inbound links could heavily influence website rankings.

A link farm is a group of web pages and websites that all hyperlink to each other page and website in the group. Although some link farms were created by hand, most were created through automated programs and services. A link farm is one of the worst forms of sp@mming Search Engine’s index (sometimes called sp@mexing or sp@mdexing).

However, you always have to keep in mind that the Search Engines (actually the people working on the Search Algorithms) evolve with the times! Therefore Google swiftly devalued and eventually eliminated the page rank value and ranking positions it assigned to pages with an inordinate collection of links, non-related links and with signs of artificial link building (too many links in a too short a time frame). Nevertheless, link farms still exist as uninformed webmasters and many unethical SEO firms continue to use them.

Mini-Site Networks
In the early stages of the Google Page Rank algorithm, mini-site networks were created to exploit vulnerabilities. Domain names were cheap and the infrastructure costs VPS (Virtual Private Servers) or dedicated servers were cost effective, making it an attractive option.

Many mini-site networks were designed to act as leader pages just as if they were much bigger sites. Many topic and/or product specific sites are created, with the goal of linking back to the main site. Each of these mini-sites would use a key phrase rich URL and be especially designed to meet the requirements of specific major search engines. Several SEO firms created artificial link density by weaving mini-site networks from multiple clients together.

In the early stages of the Google Page Rank algorithm this unethical method heavily influenced Google’s perception of the importance of the main sites. However during the summer of 2004 Google did penalize several very prominent SEO firms for using this technique and banned many of their client sites.

Leader Pages
Leader pages are a series of similar pages designed to target 1 or 2 specific keywords and meet requirements of different search engine algorithms. Some people took this a step further and created a page for each phrase and for each search engine. This is one of the original SEO tricks dating back to the earliest days of search when there were almost a dozen leading search engines sorting less than a billion documents. Leader pages are a form of the doorway page technique.

At present, it is considered sp@m by the major Search Engines as they have the ability to see multiple duplicates of what is virtually the same document. Besides, this technique is no longer practical as on-site optimization has much less of an impact on your rankings than proper off-site optimization and Search Engines think about a far wider range of factors to calculate your sites quality score than the arrangement or density of keywords found in a unique page.

With regards to The Author

Gregory Smyth is the CEO of Inetasia Solutions Limited, http://www.inetasia.com. Gregory has taken the company to great heights with its various e-business solution products, which have become a backbone infrastructural tool that have powered websites for numerous high profile companies.

By Gregory Smyth

Please note, we neither encourage nor endorse or recommend the use of any of the techniques discussed in this article. What we have the ability to tell you is that we definitely do not use them and our clients’ sites continue to rank very well on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Always keep in mind that a proper organic way of optimizing your site will take longer than to Sp@m your way to the top rankings BUT you will stay at the top for a long time without running into the danger of being dropped absolutely from the Search Engine Index!

Link Farms
Link farms and Link Farm Sp@m - aka FFA (free-for-all link sites) were born when more and more webmasters learned that inbound links could heavily influence website rankings.

A link farm is a group of web pages and websites that all hyperlink to each other page and website in the group. Although some link farms were created by hand, most were created through automated programs and services. A link farm is one of the worst forms of sp@mming Search Engine’s index (sometimes called sp@mexing or sp@mdexing).

However, you always have to keep in mind that the Search Engines (actually the people working on the Search Algorithms) evolve with the times! Therefore Google quickly devalued and eventually eliminated the page rank value and ranking positions it assigned to pages with an inordinate collection of links, non-related links and with signs of artificial link building (too many links in a too short a time frame). Nevertheless, link farms still exist as uninformed webmasters and many unethical SEO firms continue to use them.

Mini-Site Networks
In the early stages of the Google Page Rank algorithm, mini-site networks were created to exploit vulnerabilities. Domain names were cheap and the infrastructure costs VPS (Virtual Private Servers) or dedicated servers were cost effective, making it an attractive option.

Many mini-site networks were designed to act as leader pages just as if they were much bigger sites. Many topic and/or product specific sites are created, with the goal of linking back to the main site. Each of these mini-sites would use a key phrase rich URL and be especially designed to meet the stipulations of specific major search engines. Several SEO firms created artificial link density by weaving mini-site networks from multiple clients together.

In the early stages of the Google Page Rank algorithm this unethical method heavily influenced Google’s perception of the importance of the main sites. However during the summer of 2004 Google did penalize several very prominent SEO firms for using this technique and banned many of their client sites.

Leader Pages
Leader pages are a series of similar pages designed to target 1 or 2 specific keywords and meet requirements of different search engine algorithms. Some people took this a step further and created a page for each phrase and for each search engine. This is one of the original SEO tricks dating back to the earliest days of search when there were nearly a dozen leading search engines sorting less than a billion documents. Leader pages are a form of the doorway page technique.

At present, it is considered sp@m by the major Search Engines as they have the ability to see multiple duplicates of what’s virtually the same document. Besides, this technique is no longer practical as on-site optimization has much less of an impact on your rankings than proper off-site optimization and Search Engines think about a far wider range of factors to calculate your sites quality score than the arrangement or density of keywords found in a very special page.

With regards to The Author

Gregory Smyth is the CEO of Inetasia Solutions Limited, http://www.inetasia.com. Gregory has taken the company to great heights with its various e-business solution products, which have become a backbone infrastructural tool that have powered websites for numerous high profile companies.

By Christine Harrell

Documents written by two or more authors are often stronger than single-writer works. Each team member brings different assets and the completed product can be more comprehensive and detailed.

Collaborative authoring with someone down the hall can be difficult enough. Collaborating on a project with someone in another office or even another country can seem impossible! Using today’s online collaboration tools, many of the difficulties of collaboration can be eliminated no matter where your partners are located.

Use Collaboration Features in Word

Microsoft Word has a number of features designed specifically for writing collaboratively. The basic word processing tools have become so effortless that they barely need explaining. Spelling and grammar correction aid, although don’t replace, manual proofreading. Document layout, automatic generation of tables of contents and indexes, and easy footnotes make the creation of professional-looking documents a snap.

Many people well-versed in Word’s features haven’t explored the collaboration tools. Tracking changes, creating new versions, adding editing notes and more grant multiple authors to not only modify the document but to comprehend other people’s changes.

Most people think that group authoring or versioning with Word means emailing the document to all authors with each change. Everyone’s inboxes get clogged with multiple versions of the document and it is easy to lose track of which version is the most current. People on slow connections have to wait while the document is downloaded even if they don’t plan to make any edits. However, there’s a far easier way that most of today’s progressive companies are using to implement document sharing.

Upload To an On the internet File Sharing Service

By putting the current master document onto a central server, access is streamlined. Authors or editors who need the document can get it and multiple versions can be stored on the web. Furthermore, users can make notes and add comments regarding their versions for the rest of the members to see. Online file sharing can be made even more powerful by using on the web project workspaces.

Online task management simplifies team collaboration no matter where in the world team members are located. As long as each member has an world wide web connection, all activities can be coordinated through a central source.

These tools go beyond easy on the internet file sharing. All communication can be carried out through the on the internet workspace, making it simple for all members to see changes in the project. Task assignments and calendars mean each team member has a clear idea of duties and deadlines. As members are added or removed from the project, no one needs to update email lists since communications are coordinated through the project workspace.

Learning to use a full-featured on the web collaboration tool doesn’t have to be hard for team members. Look for an application with an intuitive interface so your team members can get up to speed swiftly. Encourage everyone to use the workspace so that the entire team remains fully apprised of important changes to the document. Team collaboration through an on the web tool is simple to implement and makes any project with multiple contributors easier to manage!

With regards to The Author

Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on Online File Sharing, please visit http://www.projectspaces.com.

By Michael Talbert

Whether you plan to use an MSP for ongoing operations, or you feel the IT staff is sufficiently trained to handle it in house, failure to have the proper management tools can evaporate your ROI through network outages and costly troubleshooting practices. Software patches and vendor upgrades can wreak havoc in a production environment, and should always be tested first on an isolated segment using all inclusive analysis software to assess their impact on the network.

Most companies have come to rely on their IP PBX vendors management software, and after a year or two into the deployment have found them sorely lacking. Today, IPT vendors and developers are seeing the need for a management application that takes a look at the whole network, including the traffic patterns of data and real time applications.

Analysis software packages are rapidly entering the market from such well known industry leaders as Alcatel-Lucent, as well as vendor independent software developers.

The converged network analysis solutions available to you should be assessed in the planning stage, and once decided upon, used extensively in the testing, implementation, and ongoing operations and optimization stages. Such features as capacity planning, network assessment and simulations, design and configuration are all crucial in the pre deployment stages Your analysis software should be hardware agnostic and compatible with a wide variety of PBXs to accurately measure voice use patterns both pre and post deployment.

Monitoring of ongoing operations such as real time QOS data, dropped calls and packet loss, policy based management features, and troubleshooting alerts with root cause analysis should all be included in the application, as well as the ability to interpret the data in a variety of reports.

IP address management should also be a consideration, as now that you have converged, every device - a laptop, an IP phone, even hand held mobile devices that connect to your network will be competing within your address space. IPAM tools are also becoming available from many vendors to help streamline and simplify administration.

It is the ongoing operations responsibility to assure that the benchmarks that were set in the planning phase are being met, and that the SLAs agreed upon, either in house or with a carrier, are being adhered to. With the help of the right analysis solution IT can quickly determine both, and in the case of an SLA not being met, can help find where the responsibility lies.

Network Optimization

The same software that you use for ongoing operations could prove vital to the optimization phase of the IPT life cycle. While operations and optimization are both ongoing, they’re also happening at the same time, and should probably best be thought of as two different job descriptions.

The IPT converged network is a dynamic entity, with moves, adds, and changes constantly shifting performance levels in a growing organization. Much of the motivation for convergence is to future proof the network, extending its life span to avoid high-priced upgrades every few years.

While much of the ongoing management operation is happening in real time on the production network, optimization could and should be performed first in the test lab. The goal of optimization is to push the network, to define new benchmarks and to improve existing SLAs with specific targets in mind.

If VoIP is the voice aspect in the triple play of IP Telephony, then IPT can be thought of as just one aspect in the broader scope of Unified Communications. As organizations seek to converge all communications, both real time and non real time, to an IP infrastructure, new applications are being developed and deployed. Unified Communications cover a range of applications from audio/video conferencing, blogging, mobility, wireless VoIP, distance learning, instant messaging, wikis, collaborative desktop applications, and presence, just to name a few.

Each of these applications will require its own bandwidth and Class of Service. It is the role of the optimizer to test and prepare the network for these potentially disruptive services by allocating resources appropriately, and making the necessary upgrades. With the proper tools and strict adherence to the IPT life cycle, convergence can future proof a network infrastructure for deploying a host of unified business applications for years to come.

With regards to The Author

Michael Talbert is a certified systems engineer with over 7 years experience in the industry. For more information on VoIP and IP Telephony, visit the website http://VoIP-Facts.net, or the VoIP Facts Blog at http://voip-facts.net/voip-blog for up to date industry news and commentary.

By Michael Talbert

Whether you plan to use an MSP for ongoing operations, or you feel the IT staff is sufficiently trained to handle it in house, failure to have the proper management tools can evaporate your ROI through network outages and high-priced troubleshooting practices. Software patches and vendor upgrades can wreak havoc in a production environment, and should always be tested first on an isolated segment using all inclusive analysis software to assess their impact on the network.

Most companies have come to rely on their IP PBX vendors management software, and after a year or two into the deployment have found them sorely lacking. This day, IPT vendors and developers are seeing the need for a management application that takes a look at the whole network, including the traffic patterns of data and real time applications.

Analysis software packages are rapidly entering the market from such well known industry leaders as Alcatel-Lucent, as well as vendor independent software developers.

The converged network analysis solutions available to you should be assessed in the planning stage, and once decided upon, used extensively in the testing, implementation, and ongoing operations and optimization stages. Such features as capacity planning, network assessment and simulations, design and configuration are all crucial in the pre deployment stages Your analysis software should be hardware agnostic and compatible with a wide variety of PBXs to accurately measure voice use patterns both pre and post deployment.

Monitoring of ongoing operations such as real time QOS data, dropped calls and packet loss, policy based management features, and troubleshooting alerts with root cause analysis should all be included in the application, as well as the ability to interpret the data in a variety of reports.

IP address management should also be a consideration, as now that you’ve converged, every device - a laptop, an IP phone, even hand held mobile devices that connect to your network will be competing within your address space. IPAM tools are also becoming available from many vendors to help streamline and simplify administration.

It is the ongoing operations responsibility to assure that the benchmarks that were set in the planning phase are being met, and that the SLAs concurred upon, either in house or with a carrier, are being adhered to. With the help of the right analysis solution IT can quickly determine both, and in the case of an SLA not being met, can help find where the responsibility lies.

Network Optimization

The same software that you use for ongoing operations could prove vital to the optimization phase of the IPT life cycle. While operations and optimization are both ongoing, they are also happening at the same time, and should probably ideal be thought of as two different job descriptions.

The IPT converged network is a dynamic entity, with moves, adds, and changes constantly shifting performance levels in a growing organization. Much of the motivation for convergence is to future proof the network, extending its life span to avoid pricey upgrades each few years.

While much of the ongoing management operation is happening in real time on the production network, optimization could and should be performed first in the test lab. The goal of optimization is to push the network, to define new benchmarks and to improve existing SLAs with specific targets in mind.

If VoIP is the voice aspect in the triple play of IP Telephony, then IPT can be thought of as just one aspect in the broader scope of Unified Communications. As organizations seek to converge all communications, both real time and non real time, to an IP infrastructure, new applications are being developed and deployed. Unified Communications cover a range of applications from audio/video conferencing, blogging, mobility, wireless VoIP, distance learning, instant messaging, wikis, collaborative desktop applications, and presence, just to name a few.

Each of these applications will require its own bandwidth and Class of Service. It is the role of the optimizer to test and prepare the network for these potentially disruptive services by allocating resources appropriately, and making the necessary upgrades. With the proper tools and strict adherence to the IPT life cycle, convergence can future proof a network infrastructure for deploying a host of unified business applications for years to come.

Regarding The Author

Michael Talbert is a certified systems engineer with over 7 years experience in the industry. For more information on VoIP and IP Telephony, visit the website http://VoIP-Facts.net, or the VoIP Facts Blog at http://voip-facts.net/voip-blog for up to date industry news and commentary.