Thursday, August 25, 2011

Data roaming on cell phones no longer a problem!

We all go on trips, some for business, some for pleasure, and we all have the same problem: what to pack.  Clothing is the easy part; I know I'm going to Mexico, so I should pack some shorts, or I'm traveling up to Canada for the week, I should probably take a sweater.  The one thing we always seem to have trouble deciding to take with us is our cell phones.  Personally, I take my cell phone everywhere, including trips, as it is more than just a phone. It is my music player, my video gallery, my camera; it does just about everything. The only problem is when I get to my destination. Sometimes I forget to turn it on Airplane Mode (disabling the cellular signal so I don't get charged for roaming).

An Israeli startup company has fixed this for you. No longer do you have to worry about surfing the internet with your Iphone and being charged thousands upon thousands of dollars on your next bill. The company, Onavo, has developed a way so that your searches and web pages go through their servers first, compressing your data.

For those of you without smart phones (Iphones, Android, and Blackberrys) when you surf the internet, just like at home, data is sent back and forth.  Your carrier will give you a certain amount of data for free and when you go over, will tack on extra charges.  By compressing your data, a smaller amount of information is passed back and forth between the carrier’s server and your phone, and you will not be charged these overages.  The carriers will also charge for 'roaming' with your data just as they do with your cell phone minutes.  By going through Onavo servers, you are no longer roaming, and therefore won't be charged with roaming fees.

Onavo has almost every carrier on board with this.  The carriers are happy because you are taking up less of their bandwidth (data being passed back and forth) and customers are happy because it costs them a lot less; a win/win situation for both parties.

Onavo is currently only available for the Iphone, but they are working on an Android version (and more than likely will move to Blackberry soon).  If you have an Iphone and are worried about going over your allowed data limit, or are traveling out of the country or even out of your area of service, I would recommend picking up this app.  Currently it is free, so get it while you can before they start charging for the service.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Backing up your data, not just for the conglomerates anymore.


Backing up your data
  
Backing up your data is one of the most important things you can do (right next to saving on a regular basis).  Believe me I know; I've spent time doing some video editing,  working for over 4 hours, and then losing everything because my computer crashed.  Had I backed-up my work, I would have been fine.  But I've learned from my mistakes and hopefully you can too!

There are a few different ways of doing a backup.  First you can do it cheaply and easily using a burnable CD or DVD.  There is no real problem with this, as it is cheap, easy, and just about everyone has a CD or DVD burner  In fact, from my understanding, MM2000 back up their MMOnTheWeb data everyday using this method.  The only problem becomes storage of all those CD's, though with the way the music business is heading, I'm sure you can find a 2000 CD Folder for under 10 dollars.  

The second method for backing up your data is to do it via an external hard drive.  There are two types you can get: a flash drive (one of those little sticks) or an external Hard Drive.  The flash drives are small in stature, as well as in size.  You can get them in up to 64 gigabytes (the same size as the largest Ipod).  Most people would never need to backup this much data so it would work.  The only downfall, a flash drive that size is going to cost you a pretty penny, though there are some out there for the value.  I picked up a 4 gig flash drive for under $20 (four gigs should be enough to back-up).  If you feel you need to go bigger, you can go with the external hard drive.  These can run you anywhere between $100 and $200, but will get you between 1 to 2 terabytes of hard drive space (that's 1000 gigs).  This will more than cover you for a few years as I guarantee most people will never go through this much space, especially at work.

There is one alternative to this method and it is to backup your data on the cloud.  There are a few companies out there who host just plain hard drive space, letting you upload anything you want.  Most places charge for this and do so based on how much space you want to rent.  It is a monthly fee so it might be cheaper at the start; it won't in the end.  These monthly fees can range from $4.99 to $15.00 per month depending on how much space you need.  The drawback, it could take forever to upload all your data.  But once again, if you have less than a gig of data you need backed up, then there really shouldn't be a problem.

It comes down to a preference.  Would you rather have the hard drive in your hand, or would you rather "set it and forget it".  Before you make any decisions I would encourage you to do research, just like with anything else.  The key thing is to make sure that you are backing up your data.  The worst thing you can do is ignore it, come in one day, and your computer is completely fired because the janitor spilled his soda on it the night before.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Creating Revenue Out of Nothing!




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Times are hard right now, and we are all fighting for donations and revenue, especially for non-profits.  Thus, we must find new ways to generate revenue. I've discovered a great way to generate that revenue without having to do much work.

JudaicaBeautiful is a site that does just that.  They are a company that works with Synagogues to help them make money.  They provide you with the items to sell and you post them on your website.  They take care of everything; all you have to do is host it.  Best part is, you get part of the sale.  You host a page on your site, with items that they sell.  When one of these items sells (from your website) they give you a percentage of the sale. 

They sell anything, and everything Jewish!  From accessories (watches, key chains, money clips) to candy, gift baskets, and more!  They even do ecards!  They essentially expand your small sisterhood gift shop into a large organization offering more than what you can host in the small space. 

They are online at JudaicaBeautiful Go check them out and see how they can work for you!