4 Hot Accessories for the iPhone Fanatic

We all love our phones, but there are some things that they just can't do. iPhone batteries drain fast and they can be inconvenient to do work on. Luckily there are tons of fun and helpful gadgets and accessories on the market to make your iPhone do everything you want it to and more. Check out the list below for some of the hottest accessories you should invest in for your iPhone!

1. Bluetooth Keyboard

Sometimes you want to work on the go but can't or don't want to lug your laptop around. A Bluetooth keyboard allows you to type right onto your iPhone! The full-sized keyboard folds up for portability and storage, plus it comes with a phone stand so you can easily see what you are typing.

2. Portable Power Accessories

If you use your iPhone a lot, you know how fast your battery can drain. Don't get stuck out and about with a dead or dying phone! TYLT has a large selection of portable battery packs and travel chargers so you can juice up your phone anywhere. They come in a variety of power capacities, so you can choose if you need portable power for a trip to the mall or a long weekend in the woods.

3. Camera Lens Attachment

When you are posting a lot of photos to Instagram, the iPhone camera may not be good enough quality for your selfies. That's why you need a lens attachment! There are tons on the market that do different things, but this one is 4-in-1. It clips over your phone camera lens and can capture 10x zoom, 15x zoom, wide-angle, and fish-eye photos and videos.

4. Bike Mount

Don't know where to put your phone while cycling? Try investing in a bike mount, which will securely attach your phone to your handlebars. It will keep your phone from falling out of your bag or pocket as you ride. It is also great if you are biking somewhere new and need to keep looking at directions or GPS on your phone. You can also keep track of your fitness apps while you ride!

With all of the awesome accessories in today's market, you can make your iPhone do anything you can dream up! Whether you want to capture amazing photos, get work done on your commute, boost your battery on the go, or keep your phone at hand while exercising, these gadgets will make your life easier.

Categories: Technology

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Identity Theft: 4 Disturbing Signs Your Personal Information Is Vulnerable

Although many people like to believe that it would never happen to them, anyone can become the victim of identity theft. The number of criminals who seek out personal data for financial gain is on the rise, and most people don't even know when or how they are vulnerable. When you want to keep yourself and your personal information safe from harm, then you need to learn the warning signs so that you can spot problems before it is too late. Here are just a few things to watch out for when it comes to keeping your information safe.

                            

Slow Computer
If your computer usually starts up and loads programs quickly but has recently slowed down, it could mean that you have unknowingly installed tracking software on your computer. These programs hide in normal software, but once installed, they will steal your sensitive data and send it to a remote server. The hacker will then access your information and use it to steal your identity. That is why most any tech professionals, such as those at Ottawa IT support, would advise you to keep your anti-virus software updated.

Unusual Charges
If you have noticed any unusual charges on your bank statement, you might feel tempted to ignore it. People often dismiss random charges, but doing so is a mistake. When a hacker first gains access to your credit or bank information, they will often make small purchases to determine whether the account is still active. If you notice any suspicious activity on your account, contact your bank right away. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Weird Phone Calls
Have you recently received a phone call from your bank or financial institution regarding your personal information? If so, then call your bank back to verify that it was them who contacted you. If a criminal learns which bank you use, they can then fake their phone number and pretend to work for the bank. Using their cover, they will try to extract your account number. Hackers can also even pretend to be tech companies wanting to help. Whenever you see suspicious activity like that do all that you can to avoid it.

Drop in Credit Score
If you have great credit but have recently been declined for a credit card or bank loan, then it's time to check your credit score. Criminals will often use your information to take out loans in your name. When they don't make the payments, your credit rating will start to drop, so it's vital to report any unauthorized loans as soon as you notice them. If you wait too long to take action, then solving your problem and fixing your credit score becomes that much harder. Calling your bank in time might enable you to have the suspicious loans removed from your account.

Overall, having your personal and bank information stolen can happen to anyone. That is why it is essential for you to know the warning signs of suspicious activity. Make sure to do all that you can to learn more about tech security and teach your families so that you can avoid an unnecessary issues and keep your information safe.

Categories: cyber security

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Computer Tech Guru: Mastering and Managing Your System

The modern world certainly runs on computers. Without computers and the internet, nearly nothing as we know it now would exist. It would be a very different world indeed. However, not everyone is as knowledgeable of computers as they should be. If you own a business with a significant computer system, you should try to learn more about how it works. Here’s some information that can help.

                                    


LAN, WAN and WLAN
Three things you should have a good understanding of to comprehend a business computer system is LAN, WAN and WLAN. LAN stands for local area network. This is a group of computers that are situated in the same location and are connected to each other either physically through wire or wirelessly through a Wi-Fi internet connection. LAN set-ups are very common in business offices or school classrooms. The type of LAN that uses wireless connections is sometimes referred to as a WLAN. WAN stands for wide area network. This is a much larger network and usually consists of something much more massive like a cable company that provides internet through a fiber optic network. The entire internet, in fact, can be thought of as a WAN.

IT Infrastructure Needs
Most companies have some kind of LAN. Others, like internet service providers, may deal with WANs. Whatever the case, you need to understand the IT infrastructure needs of your business. Some companies, like Bedrock IT, offer Ottawa IT services for businesses in need of IT support. Do you want to run a simple LAN in your office workspace? Do you need sell to products over the internet? Do you need to install a point of sale (POS) system in your retail store to perform credit card purchases and record sales data for accounting purposes and later analysis? All of these have different IT infrastructure needs and require different hardware, software and network connections.

IT Certification
Being able to effectively manage a large computer network can be intimidating. Simply learning what everything is called and what it does may not be enough. In that case, to truly become a guru, you may want to consider obtaining IT certification to work with certain kinds of computer systems.
In general, there are two kinds of certifications. There are vendor specific and vendor-neutral certifications. For example, you could obtain a vendor specific certification to learn how to work with computer networks that use Cisco Systems hardware. Alternatively, you could obtain a vendor-neutral certification from the Electronics Technicians Association to gain the title of Network Systems Technician.


Overall, becoming a knowledgeable expert on your business’s computer networks and systems requires a lot of learning and hard work. However, gaining this knowledge can help you form a competitive advantage and open plenty of doors for you in the job market.

Categories: Technology

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The Biggest Challenges Facing IT Pros in 2016

In the world of IT, it's exhausting trying to keep systems running smoothly. There are new issues popping up before the old ones are fully resolved. Here are some of the key areas where IT pros will continue to see challenges through 2016.

Security
It's apparent that cyber attacks are becoming both more frequent and more sophisticated. From the Ashley Madison breach to the Tewksbury, MA police department ransomware, it's clear hackers are not just lone wolves anymore, but part of larger organizations. IT focus needs to be on protecting data. Customers expect that credit card numbers, passwords, and personal info will be secure, or they won't do business. A planned approach for securing data not just in storage, but especially in transit, remains a priority.

Privacy
Given the well-publicized battle between Apple and the US government, privacy will be an increasingly important issue. The EU is designing its own data protection regulations. There could be serious consequences for trading and archiving customer data. The public understands that digital data can persist forever and be sent all over the world to become an ongoing target of hackers, fraudsters, and robo-callers. The demand for data privacy measures is something every company will have to deal with.

Branding
The key to marketing success is standing out in a digital world, and that means IT involvement. Internet giants like Google and Facebook are providing their own online analytic tools that may be confusing to the technically-challenged. A social media page is invaluable today, and mobile devices, customized apps, and responsive web pages are expanding as a market. All these technical channels mean a growing role for IT consultants and specialists who can bring these vital skills to company promotion.

Keeping up-to-date
Fitness bands and smart watches are becoming almost as ubiquitous as smart phones. Pressure is put on IT pros to provide solutions that address and leverage technologies that change faster than they can be implemented. New expansion and migration projects will keep coming up, so it's essential that your team include individuals qualified in project management who can bring staff together and get the most from them when it counts. Consider hiring individuals with an online master’s in project management to make this happen.

Every IT department is likely to find more on its plate, especially in smaller companies where funds are limited and small teams are nonetheless tasked with maintaining and securing networks, help desk, software, hardware, and development. The sensible solution is not to attempt everything, but establish priorities and call in help when needed.

Categories: Technology

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Tech for a Living: Top 4 Degrees for Careers in Technology

If you have recently begun exploring your options for a bachelor's or master's degree in technology, you are going to want a major that helps you land the perfect job as soon as you graduate. Here is a closer look at some of the top programs and specializations for students who want to carry over their love of technology into a promising career.

1. Software Engineering
There are few tech degrees that are as profitable and lucrative as a software engineering degree. Students who graduate with one of these coveted degrees are sought out by some of the largest companies in the world to help them develop customized programs. Some software engineers are enjoying six-figure salaries after just a few years of being hired into organizations such as NASA, Apple, and Microsoft.

2. Web Development and Administration
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 28,000 new web development jobs will be created in the next six years. While many of these jobs can be found at web development firms, quite a few companies are now hiring full-time web developers to help expand their web presence. A degree in this field will involve courses that teach you about database administration, systems analysis, and even graphic design. This is a great degree for tech-savvy students who are not interested in mathematics and programming.

3. Information Security & Assurance
Cyber crimes continue to take place at an alarming rate, and that is why the field of cyber security has exploded in recent years. A huge volume of private information can now be found on cloud servers from around the world, and information security specialists are the first line of defense against criminals who want to steal this information. Information assurance degrees also teach students about the techniques that are used in cases involving digital crimes.

4. Engineering Management
This unique degree is a great option for professionals who would like to focus on the business aspect of technology. Engineering management courses typically require a bachelor's degree in technology, but the master's program will transition over to the commercial side of things. Much like an MBA, students will be able to explore career options such as technology production and design engineering.

These four degrees will not only provide you with a variety of marketable skills, but they will also change the way you look at the world of technology

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4 Ways Robotics Changed Genetic Engineering Forever

Genetic engineering relies on precise, detailed manipulation of the genetic material of organisms. This manipulation is so precise, in fact, that the naked human eye cannot observe the changes unaided. With the advancement of technology, robotics has played an enormous factor in changing genetic engineering forever.

1. Technology for the Microscopic

The manipulation of genetic material requires the ability to see DNA, cells, and other elements at a magnification large enough to work with. With the invention of more and more advanced microscopes and similar robotic technology, scientists are able to more clearly perform their work. They're also able to work at a much smaller scale that what could ever have been done without the invention of the most basic microscope. With today's microscopic advancements, even more is becoming possible in the laboratory because even more can be seen.

2. Lasers and Lights

Genetic engineering sometimes also requires the use of lasers or other lights. These beams are useful for making cuts, inserting material, or even manipulating photons. Robotics have played an enormous part in facilitating these manipulations. With advanced lasers now widely available for genetic research, scientists are able to perform the most delicate tasks in a rapid and accurate manner, contributing significantly to the advancement of genetic engineering and discovery.

3. Robotic Arms

When peering into a magnified view and sending various light beams towards subject matter doesn't suffice, a variety of robotic arms are available to assist scientists. These devices take many forms but are all used to make delicate, accurate, rapid, and sometimes repetitive movements or tasks. These robotic parts are capable of achieving perfect and well-calculated motions that the human body alone cannot reliable do. They can do almost anything, from efficient colony picking to splicing genomes, almost flawlessly. Without such technology, some tasks would be impossible to complete. Others would take a considerably longer amount of time to achieve something a robotic arm could do in a split second.

4. Biorobotics

Robotics themselves are an advancement of genetic engineering that is changing the scope of the field. Referred to as "biorobotics", these new subjects are a combination of robotics and genetic engineering meant to achieve new feats through bio-hybrid technologies. By combining the science with the technology, researchers hope to rapidly accelerate the progress of genetic engineering for a wide variety of purposes.

In so many ways, the advancement of genetic engineering has relied on and been intertwined with robotics. The more technology advances, the more the possibilities seem endless for better, more efficient research.

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Futuristic Design - Urban Planning Ideas for Modern Cities

In recent decades, for the first time in human history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. With billions of people on the planet, cities need to continue to grow and evolve so that our population can be supported. Here are some of the things we need to be moving towards when it comes to urban planning for the future.

Solar Power on Rooftops
More people means more need for energy. Solar power is growing and needs to grow more. Placing solar power panels on rooftops in cities is one way to try to keep up with demand in an environmentally friendly fashion. It also helps buildings multitask in a way that uses space more efficiently.  Maximizing available surface space is essential to sustaining large cities.

Pedestrian Friendly
Automobiles not only create a deal of pollution, they also compete for valuable space. They need roads to drive on, parking spaces at stores and garage space at home. Designing pedestrian friendly cities can help improve quality of life and free up valuable space within city limits. Mixed use design is essential to making this work.
 

Transit Oriented Design
In order to live in the big city without a car, you need good public transit. This means you need transit oriented design as well. This kind of design is particularly challenging. It involves not just understanding what works for people, but also understanding principles typically learned by attending one of many civil engineering master’s programs to learn about urban planning.

Urban Farming
No matter where you live, you need to eat. Urban farming projects can help cut down on transit costs, shrink the city's carbon footprint and help reduce heat island effect by introducing more plants into the concrete jungle. It can also help city dwellers remain more in touch with nature and avoid raising children who have no concept of where food comes from beyond "the grocery store."

Smart Cities
The internet is helping smart cities come into being here and now. Smart can help reduce energy use, make small spaces more functional and comfortable and make city life generally safer and more rewarding. This trend is in its infancy. There is still enormous room for further development.
 

The future is only a day away and life is speeding up. With good design principles, we can help reduce pressures and make life in the city less hectic. This is a necessary step. We increasingly do not get to choose between living in the city or the country.

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Six Exciting Careers That Combine The Best Of Health And Tech

The healthcare industry is an ever-changing minefield with regulations and legalities. However, the thrill of combining patient care with advances in technology makes a career choice in this industry an excellent opportunity.

                       

Healthcare Information Technology
This field allows you to work in the healthcare field without direct patient interaction. Qualified individuals help maintain patient records, databases and billing procedures, as well as maintain computer equipment and software that support doctors and nurses.

Robotics
Not just for factories anymore, robots assist physicians in diagnosis, procedures and surgical interventions. A degree in this field will offer high-end pay to develop and maintain robotic components for healthcare. Engineers with these degrees also help develop software for specialized computers for individuals who are wheelchair or bed-bound.

Biomedical Engineering
If gadgets are your thing, this degree teaches the skills to help develop instruments to improve the quality of life for the ill and injured from pacemakers to prosthetic limbs. Engineers in this field also develop the computer software to help maintain devices like pacemakers, defibrillators and the larger diagnostic machinery such as MRIs.

Radiology Tech
A degree in radiology affords students the opportunity to learn management skills as well as work with the best technology and imaging available. Ultrasounds for pregnancies, echocardiograms for heart checks and mammography machines for cancer screens all require the skill of a radiology technician. X-rays, MRIs, CT scans and radiation for cancer patients are also good areas of study. Visit here for more information about the program.

Dialysis Specialties
Use a nursing or certification degree in this niche field to help patients with kidney disease who require trips to a clinic several times a week to clean their blood. Consider a dual course of study as a technician for face-to-face patient care and an engineer degree to help develop better technology to improve the patient's quality of life. Developments are being made for at-home dialysis and portable dialysis machines.

Research and Development
Use state-of-the-art lab equipment to diagnose and treat disease. Research new cures and surgical methods working alongside colleagues with varying specialty degrees. Genetics is booming with new technologies and developments to educate patients and their families regarding diseases and family planning. Labs and manufacturing companies are looking for skilled people to develop new drugs and bring them to market.

Careers in healthcare can go far beyond nursing and medical degrees. Think outside the box for the most exciting, tech-savvy jobs available in this ever changing market.

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Top 5 Free Apps For Composing Music

Predominantly there are so many music composing apps are there in the market through which you can compose the music with full of utility. Through the usage of apps, a user can compose the  music very easily. You can easily download the desired apps to download the app for PC and Mac. The user with the interest of composing the music can create the music with the help of the tool.  Let us see the amazing apps (Free + Paid) which are used to create the music:

1) Mixcraft 7 (Paid):

                      

Basically this app consist of huge library which makes the easier way for the users to create its own music. Its user friendly feature makes its easy for the user to create his own music. The long list of plugins with effects makes it simply different among others. The user can easily mix the music with tons of instruments and sound effects.

2) Garageband (Free):

                      

Garageband, developed by Apple, is an awesome app to record and create music compositions easily and effectively. The most fabulous free app is developed by Apple and gives you many options to edit music , add effects, audio recording, mix rhythms etc. One can easily install Garageband for PC or Mac easily and enjoy composing the music. The sperb Guitar featues, Music lessons, musical instruments of this app makes it an astounding app among others.

3) LMMS (Free):

                                  

LMMS is basically a free app which consist of user friendly interface through which the user can easily mix music, sequence music etc. Also this app consist of FL studio through which one can reliably produce the own music. The user friendly interface can simply compose the music, songs etc. Also you can use different variety of musical intruments with the several effects to generate music compositions.

4) FL Studio 12 (Paid):

                             
This popular software consist of amazing user interface with the added features. You can use it easily for free but to upgrade it to use the extra ordinary features you need to purchase the paid version. Its multi touch functionality is available with lots of amazing features to compose the music efficiently.

5) Reaper (Paid)

                             

Being a great app to create the music, it can be easily downloaded. This app is also the best among the other apps. With the help of this app, one can easily edit the audio, can able to add effects in it and can also use several instruments as well. There are so many other features which will help the user to create or edit the music as well.

Therefore, if you really want to  create your own music composition or you want to edit any music audio that you liked it, you can do it easily with the help of these amazing 5 apps listed above.

Categories: Technology

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6 Handy Devices to Get for Your New Startup

A new business requires essential devices that will help the business owner to be efficient in selling their products or services. New gadgets keep streaming in the market, but how do you identify the most useful ones? Below are six devices that can increase work efficiency and productivity in a new office.

Griffin MultiDock
This is very useful charging station you may not have known you need. It can store, charge and sync ten smartphones or tablets without removing them from the cases. This device is a bit larger than a laptop and has a relatively compact footprint. The device comes with LEDs that can show each bay’s charging status and a locking panel that secures devices overnight.

Transporter
This is a networked storage drive that doesn’t operate like the network-attached storage appliance. Instead, it hooks itself up to a local network and then creates a private cloud that is accessible globally and on the network too. Files are automatically synced from laptops or desktops for data backup purposes. Frequently used files are then stored on devices that have less storage space.

Dropcam Pro
This device offers Wi-Fi video monitoring services. It is excellent for keeping track on what is going on in an office. Its wireless camera streams videos (720p HD) to servers that are also operated by the Dropcam for viewing and recording from a mobile device or web browser.

BlueLounge CableBin
This is a device that provides an elegant approach to managing cable in a new office. Its cylindrical bin provides an easy way to gather and organize the usual clutter electronic devices cause. Its internal space allows for cables and small devices to be kept out of sight and in a neat way. You don’t have to struggle with Velcro fasteners or cable ties anymore.

Wacom Bamboo Pad Wireless
This is a touch pad that works with a pressure-sensitive, battery-free digital stylus. The combination allows you to add handwritten sketches and notes easily to a Mac or PC. The device also supports numerous touch gestures like scrolling, zooming and rotating.

Twelve South GhostStand
This is a modern, transparent platform that is designed to elevate any laptop to a viewing angle that is comfortable. Its silicone rails serve two purposes: keeping the laptop in position and keeping the stand in its preferred position on the desk.

These devices can easily be found on the market, so be sure to get the ones that will make your work easier so that your productivity in your business can be optimized. Visit Constant Buying LLC to find even more useful devices and business items.

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Nerd Science: Why you Should get a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering

While nerds were once shunned, our current technological era has proven that we need them more than ever, and this is not going to change. If you have an interest in math or science, your future looks bright! Just consider an MS in electrical engineering.

                     

There are plenty of reason's to study electrical engineering, especially if you're going to put in the time to get your Master's Degree. It opens up more opportunities than simply having your Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.

An Advanced Degree Allows You to Design

If you want more than just a job where you maintain projects, then consider getting your master's of science in electrical engineering. This is a requirement for most jobs if you want to have the opportunities -- and responsibilities -- that allow you to design your own electrical systems. An advanced degree goes far if you want to work on new things and change the world!

Your Company Might Pay for It

If you already have a BS in electrical engineering and have landed a stable job, you might be able to work your way up in the company without out-of-pocket costs if your company will pay for it.

You Can Work Overseas

Your job hunt might reveal that a number of companies employ electrical engineers overseas. So you'll get to travel the world, experience new cultures, increase your network and learn a new language, among other perks of obtaining an awesome job in the field thanks to your degree.

The Industry Is Ever-Changing

If you already have a BS in engineering, now might be the perfect time to go back to school to further your degree. Electronics are changing at lightning speed, so continuing your education might be eye-opening. But this also means that jobs in this field will remain plentiful -- as long as your knowledge is current. Getting your Master's Degree, then, makes the most sense.

Nerds Rule the World

Don't think that your electrical engineering degree limits you to the bottom rung of the ladder. In fact, the opposite is true! Engineers are increasingly moving up the corporate ladder thanks to their ingenuity and hard work. One notable example is Satya Nadella, who became CEO of Microsoft in 2014. And Amazon found Jeff Bezos has done more than make a living with his focus in electrical engineering!

Whether you come into an established company or help build a new one, your electrical engineering degree can prove invaluable.

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Five Exciting Careers To Explore If You Are Passionate About Technology

Technology is a field that develops in tandem with other fields like mathematics, physics and other sciences. New ideas lead to new methods for solving problems, which in turn leads to new solutions for both businesses and consumers to use. Being passionate about technology is something that you should embrace. Let's take a look at five careers that you should consider if you want to put your passion for technology to work.

Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering involves the physical processes that drive the latest technologies. This career will have you soldering, drafting, revising existing blueprints for devices, and troubleshooting problems. You may be involved in interface design, device connectivity, power efficient designs, or countless other actions responsible for more useful technologies.

Networking
Communication is one of the most vital parts of technology. It allows people and devices to communicate with one another. Networking involves creating solutions for the petabytes of information carried through air, land and sea. You may be involved in making this process more efficient from a hardware level, repairing problems with aging infrastructure, or developing net networking technologies.

Engineering Management
Technology is the result of many people working together for one purpose. When this purpose becomes unfocused or unclear, technology becomes less useful and more prone to errors. A Master of Engineering Management can help you focus teams or entire projects. You will often dabble with all stages of a technology's creation, from the brainstorming sessions to the hardware development to quality assurance testing.

Software Engineering
While electronics drive the physical side of new devices, it is software that really allows devices to do incredible things. As a software engineer, you will be involved in defining the ways devices communicate with one another or with other software. Your actions will determine how useful a device is to the individuals whom use them. The greatest benefit of working within the field of software engineering is the fact that you will always encounter challenges that are fulfilling to overcome.

Marketing
Marketing is yet another path you should consider if you enjoy technology. You can work to advertise the features of the latest and greatest devices for business and consumer use. Your actions will determine how much of a success a device is. This puts a large degree of pressure upon you. You will be responsible for ensuring that the right technologies make their way to the people whom need them the most.

The careers listed above will allow you to leverage your passion for technology in incredible ways. You will be integral in overcoming challenges, and ensuring that the right people are able to use the latest devices and software. The thing to keep in mind is that these careers are just a few that involve technology. Countless other opportunities exist to make use of the passion for technology that drives you.

Categories: Technology

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Technology Management: 5 Website Innovations Your Company Needs

With more people conducting business online, it's no wonder companies are scrambling to keep up with the latest technological innovations. With online purchases increasing by 23 percent within the past year, it's crucial to keep websites fresh and interesting. While there are many ways to do so, here are five of the most important website innovations needed for success.

Responsive Design
Now seen as the standard architecture for websites, responsive design refers to a company's website increasing or decreasing in size depending upon the device on which it's being viewed. With more and more online activity taking place on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, it's imperative to have a mobile-friendly website. Having at least some experience with digital media can be great for not only your site, but your business as well. It is amazing how much of a difference it can make.

User Metrics
In order to grow a business online, it's vital to know how those who visit the website behave while they are there. This is where analytics and metrics come into play, letting a business owner gain access to detailed facts and figures about user behavior and tendencies. By reviewing this monthly, more effective websites can be created.

A Concise Message
The best websites tend to keep it simple for their customers, which is known as concise messaging. Rather than having long blocks of text that seem to go on forever, great websites use big type and get to the point quickly and easily. As most successful companies know, if they can help a customer get what they want as easily as possible, chances are they will have a repeat customer for many years to come.

Keep it Fresh
Perhaps more than anything, websites must have fresh content on a regular basis. As anyone who has an MBA in Technology knows, combining fresh content with the latest innovations is often the key to long-term success. Just like stores used to change their displays on a regular basis, websites should update their content as well. By putting new deals, sales, or other information on the site, plus giving visitors the ability to share your site through social media, you'll be guaranteed to see extraordinary results.

Layered Landings
To have the most effective website possible, a company must have layered landing pages. Designed to get visitors onto more and more sections of a site, these are often the key to increasing sales and sustaining them over the long-term.

By implementing these innovations into a website, there's little doubt a company will be able to stay ahead of the latest trends and beat the competition each and every time.

Categories: Technology

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Disk Partition Management with AOMEI Partition Assistant

As Partition Magic alternative, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition is a FREE ALL-IN-ONE partition solution and disk management utility. It allows you to extend partition (especially for system drive), manage disk space safely and easily, and settle low disk space problem on both MBR and GPT disk. It even performs much better than those paid software. Use this free partition manager surely would not disappoint.

Main Features of AOMEI Partition Assistant

                             

There are many things you can do with the AOMEI Partition Assistant. You will find all of the necessary options on Aomei Partition Assistant dashboard. Its interface is quite simple, easy and user-friendly. AOMEI Partition Assistant is handy software which gives all the important features to manage windows partition easily without losing any data. It is the best solution for you to create, delete, resize, move, merge, split, wipe or format partitions. This way, you can maximize your hard drives to its fullest.

Besides, being able to convert from MBR to GPT disk, and convert GPT to MBR disk without data loss is also an extremely crucial feature.

There is also a feature that you really don’t expect from a free partition solution that is, you can create a WinPE rescue disk that you can use to boot up a computer that can’t be turned on.

What’s more, another awesome feature I want to mention is “Migrate OS to SSD”. If you have a new Hard Disk or SSD and want to transfer your current OS to there, you can easily do it by this option.

AOMEI Partition Assistant 6.0 new features

• Enhanced GPT to MBR disk conversion: support to convert a GPT disk that has more than 4 partitions to MBR disk.
• Fully clone system disk between MBR and GPT partition styles and ensure system is able to boot from destination disk (e.g. clone system disk from GPT to MBR, MBR to GPT, GPT to GPT, MBR to MBR).
• Enhanced the ability of Windows PE bootable disc to recognize devices: automatically integrate existing hardware drivers of current system into Windows PE when creating it.
• Added an option to manually add hardware drivers into Windows PE bootable disc when creating it.
• Added an option to choose "Quick Partition" when right click on a disk so that make "Quick Partition" easy to use.
• Added a function to check the charge of a laptop before disk partitioning to prevent abnormal shutdown.

Besides all features mentioned above, there are plenty of other operations that you can perform on your hard disks without the fear of losing data – though I would recommend you to back up data just in case you get unlucky. AOMEI have their own free backup software, AOMEI Backuper Standard, but you can use anything you like to back up the data on partitions before performing any operations on them. It is just to make sure the data stays with you in case of any problem. AOMEI Partition Assistant embeds sector-level data protection technology, and strictly tested by their R&D team, to realize more safely partitioning operations as you expected.

Categories: Product Review Technology

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5 Social media marketing tools to increase your productivity in 2016

The ever increasing opportunity with social media is matched by only one thing- the demands of the social media itself. Hence, it is really important to ensure that the productivity on social media is optimized. Only with high productivity you could aspire to stay ahead of competition. Following are 5 essential tools to do so: -


1. Social media relationship manager: - If you want to build effective and efficient relationship with your social media connections, you need to do more than merely communicating with them. And there is no dearth of tools that can do it for you. There are several social CRM that are available for this role. Some examples would include Nimble, Batchbook, Lithium Social Customer Suite (and there are many more).

2. Mobile update on the go: - With the online dynamics in its current state, it is a common scenario that there is no fixed hour for interaction and marketing plan implementation. So what happens when you are on the go and you require to take prompt action on something? Or even better, you draw inspiration from something you see on the way home for your next brilliant marketing campaign and want to implement it immediately- what would you do? The simplest solution is to utilize tools for social media from a smart device like a smartphone or a tablet.  There are applications like Glyder to manage such inspirations. And if you want relevant content search to match your inspiration in life, you could always use tools like Google Current or Flipboard.

3. Pinterest manager: - One of the major areas to impress your audience would be managing Pinterest better. And there are several tools that help you do it in different ways. There are advanced tools like Tailwind which provide with complete management options. In addition to the standard functions that might be common to few other tools, it provides with additional options such as analysis on your chosen competitor accounts, which images are trending and so on. And then there are tools like Pingroupie and Pinvolve that help you grow your audience in an effective manner. And if you are looking to enhance your audience by connecting with popular and huge Pinterest accounts, there are options like Loop88 that do exactly this for you.

4. Social influencer discoverer: - A social media engagement without social influencers on your side is pretty much like an army without its general. For key directional influence on your audience you would always require social influencers on your side. While you may choose to have your own strategy for this purpose, it is always faster and more impactful to utilize a few handy tools for the same. There are dedicated tools for this purpose such as Klout; though launched a while back, it is still really effective. Then there are specific tools like Hey Press to find influential journalists in online media. And there are more tools like Foolwerwonk and Inkybee that cater to different modes of your influencer requirements.

5. Use a great scheduler: -And since the social media is always buzzing, one thing no one can do without is a tool that schedules your social media activity in order to manage all needs. Some of these tools actually work on multiple platforms which is a great boost. So there is Postcron which is great for Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and then there is Sprout Social which, in addition to the previously mentioned 3 platforms, helps you post on Linkedin too. The key is to figure out your specific requirements and opt for a useful tool accordingly.

There is always a band of new tools coming up with new features. In order to the 5 kinds of segments mentioned above, you could always get to know about something new and effective for your purpose, such is the dynamism of social media! It is important to know your requirement and form alliance with good strategic partners in execution such as Nuanced Media . A great partner in crime ensures a successful heist, always!

Categories: Technology

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The Cure for Project Failure - by Wrike project management software

Infographic brought to you by Wrike seo project management software

Categories: project management software seo project management software wrike

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How the Industry is Changing for Technology Graduates

The field of information technology (IT) is one of the fastest growing job markets and spans across a wide range of industries. Graduating in this field is an excellent choice as it offers quite a bit of career flexibility and security. Here are four ways the industry is changing, and what is being offered to new graduates as they enter the workforce. 

Expanding Career Options
Regardless of the type of technology studied, students will use information technology (IT) to store, create, exchange, and analyze data. Those who graduate with a technology degree aren’t limited to computer-based companies, but may find work in software development, health care organizations, and even international corporations. Other industries include manufacturing, government, and financial services. Since every organization relies on an IT support staff, and tech graduates can find work with this kind of degree almost anywhere.

Diversity Changes
The technology industry has historically been dominated by white males, but these demographics are quickly changing as well. For instance, the IT industry is becoming more welcoming and supportive to female technology graduates. Business decision makers realize women bring unique skills and ideas to technical jobs, and many managers find women tend to be more organized and methodical, and excel at planning projects and analyzing tasks. Other studies have noted that women tend to check their work more carefully than males, which can often result in fewer mistakes. When it comes to the IT world, having greater attention to detail with strong relationship skills is equally important as technical training.

Engineering
As information technology becomes more integrated into engineering fields, tech students are choosing to become engineers. These traditional majors usually focus on civil, electrical, mechanical, and architectural engineering. However, marine, biomedical, aerospace, and environmental engineering are becoming equally popular. Engineering graduates may also go on to become manufacturing engineers and work on improving production design, control, and packaging. Some even become marine engineers and work exclusively on ships and marine facilities. Because engineering is central to economic growth, there will always be plenty of opportunities for tech savvy students.

Health Care Opportunities
Not everyone that works in the field of health care interacts with patients and the public. There are many exciting careers available in emerging health care fields, such as clinical informatics. This unique job requires knowledge of IT, databases, and health care practices. Clinical informatics technicians collect a variety of health care data streams in order to improve patient safety, quality of care, and operational processing. Health care applications analysts review collected data in order to identify patterns and opportunities for improvement between patients and health care providers. Online RHIA programs to become registered health information technicians are a good choice for anyone who wants to work in IT and still interact on a healthcare level.

Information technology is driving changes in society and businesses, so there will soon be even more career options available. With the examples listed above as well, many new tech graduates are able to expand their focus and find work wherever they choose to go.

Categories: techno

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Benefits of Incorporating a Responsive or Mobile version sub-site Web design

A responsive web design is the one that adjusts itself according to the size of the device it is viewed on by users, making it easy for them to view the site without going back and forth or pinching on the screen to view a certain element. Responsive web designs (RWD) are coded by web designers using concepts such as media queries to align navigation elements, videos, audios and images according to multiple screen layouts. 

The ever increasing use of mobiles has made responsive web design a core component of web designer’s arsenal today. Google too released a responsive algorithm “mobilegeddon” finally noticing the importance of RWD in spring last year, to reward mobile-friendly websites in its search results. Even though the update is in its early stages, it will become a driving force behind the search rankings over time. Just after the release of Mobilegeddon, many business owners moved to the responsive version of their desktop site. 

Mobile version sub-site
This is also called adaptive web design and load separately as a mobile sub type. There are many examples for these kind of sites, like casino.com for instance. It has a mobile version sub-site which you can find here. The content is more mobile compatible and the pages loads quicker so everyone wins.

It’s good at ranking well in mobile page search results with mobile friendly in front of every search results.

Benefits of Responsive Web Design
Flexible Layouts:
The responsive site designs are flexible, making it easy for the content to move and adjust to different screen resolutions accordingly. The images and grids used are fluid to allow content for filling an allotted space, maintaining its appearance across the different device screens.

Optimal User Experience
The primary objective behind the creation of any site is the best user experience. A site with a bad UX results in a decreased user engagement. The responsive web design counters this, offering an optimal user experience, enhancing site’s performance at the same time.

Affordable Solution
Instead of having two separate sites, one catering to the desktop screens and other to the smartphone screens, you can make your desktop site responsive by implementing media queries with frameworks such as Bootstrap and Foundation. You neither have to pay nor maintain two separate sites, which is an affordable solution for your site. 

Helps to Get Around Duplicate ContentSearch engines can’t differentiate between two different URLs of the same site, unless specified exclusively. A separate mobile site having the same images and content will be considered duplicate to hurt your rankings. Avoid this through RWD.

Social Share Growth
You can share just one link of your site socially, targeting your audience through one link without worrying about the device they are going to use. Also, this makes it easy for users to remember one URL to your site, instead of typing in mobile and desktop URLs separately for accessing it. 

Less On-Page SEO Overhead
The on-page SEO elements such as titles, Meta descriptions, sitemaps, 301 redirects etc, are cut short with a responsive design. You just have to implement them once, instead of worrying about optimizing the mobile site too.

In short, a responsive web design rescues you from additional workload and cost, while keeping the user experience optimal with search engine optimization benefits. Go responsive now to start enjoying all the above mentioned benefits that the RWD has to offer.

Categories: Technology

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Things to Know About Current Cybersecurity Trends

The average cost of a single data breach is almost $4 million, and many security specialists expect that figure to grow in the coming years. For IT professionals who are on the front line of this digital war, here is a look at some trends to keep an eye on in 2016.

The Rise of Spear Phishing
Attacking well-guarded companies with brute force software is not the most efficient way to gain access to sensitive data. Instead, many criminals are now targeting high-level employees with sophisticated phishing attacks. By gathering information on these execs, criminals will essentially have a master key to all of the company's data. In addition to employee training programs, your company should also invest in real-time scanning and monitoring software.

Ransomware Is Back
Ransomware is a form of malware that locks down a computer or system until money is paid to the distributor. This type of malware is generally sent through fake emails or hidden in software that looks legitimate. Unfortunately, many people find it easier to simply pay the money than to reset and wipe their entire system. Having an Ottawa IT services professional assess your network security for any vulnerabilities is one of the best ways to keep your network safe from these malicious cyber-attacks.

Vulnerabilities in Cloud Services
Practically every company is going to migrate at least some of its data over to cloud servers, and this opens the door to a number of new risks. Before choosing a cloud service provider, IT professionals must carefully scrutinize every aspect of the service they’re entrusting their data to. This includes information such as where the servers are physically located, what form of security they use, and what their guarantees are. Employees must also be given specific security protocols to follow whenever they access those servers.

Cyber Threats and the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things is quickly changing the way we interact with the world around us. While new devices and technology are making us more connected than ever, the IoT is also exposing us to some serious risks. Until we fully understand exactly how this new technology is going to affect our daily lives, IT departments should err on the side of caution. This includes blocking sensitive data from wearable and mobile devices when necessary.

Final Thoughts
It may seem like there are risks around every corner, but many of these issues can be completely avoided with the proper diligence. There is no way to avoid 100 percent of cyber risks, but keeping an eye on current trends will help IT professionals stay ahead of the game.

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Technology Updates all Aspiring Businesses Should Make

As your business grows, it often becomes worth revisiting the technology choices you made early on since upgrades and updates can often lead to greater productivity and profits. Regardless of your current tech situation, there is always room for improvement and a chance to give your company a technological edge. Here are a few updates to consider when assessing your business's technology.

Move Software to the Cloud
Cloud software vendors can provide you with essential business technology at lower costs by removing or reducing the need for you to manage hardware and software updates. Some areas to look at include customer relationship management software, email, and accounting. The cloud can often offer you all the features you need and additional features through integrations that will make your business run more smoothly and from more remote locations.

Hardware Updates & Fixes
If your computer makes a weird sound when you boot up or your intercom system is on the fritz, then consider getting your hardware updated or repaired. You might take it for granted, but little issues with your machines can lead to bigger tech problems down the road while repairs can be fairly cheap.
If you are in manufacturing or printing, then schedule maintenance to make sure all your machines work right. If you're seeing strange error messages or quirky behavior from some office machinery, then have someone look at it. In many cases, Streamline Circuits say slight adjustments and advanced circuit boards can get you several more years of good use from existing equipment.

Project & Team Communication Tools
As your business grows, it becomes harder and more time-consuming to communicate, find information, and share files with your team. Tools like Slack or HipChat can make it easier to communicate by giving you cross-device chatting and online meeting capabilities, better document search, and the ability to share files without using a separate file sharing app.
 

Update Your Operating Systems
If you're a couple of versions behind on Windows or OS, then you are leaving yourself open to hackers and probably missing out on software improvements that make work easier. Consider updating all your computers to the latest version of your preferred operating system. If new software licenses aren't in your budget, then at least take the time to get all the latest updates and security patches installed.

Final Thoughts
What works for a two-person company won't scale for a two hundred person company. You might be wary of changing your technology, but remember that it’s about preparing for the future. If you want to be bigger, faster, or more profitable, then you'll need to update your technology to match your aspirations.

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How to Bring your Business into the Mobile Age?

The mobile app is the latest tool for building brand awareness and garnering market shares for your business. Developing one that represents the company website with the same agility and responsiveness is an indicator of success. Once a successful launch is completed, strategies are needed to continue the mission of bringing a business into the mobile age. Here are six tips that will establish a mobile presence on every device.

Design a Cutting-Edge App
The first step to tackling this objective is partnering with an IT service or IT support service in Ottawa that has expertise with the latest techniques in digital media. Follow this strategy by looking at pricing, on-going services, and available support. Research several firms and scrutinize their case studies and testimonials. Since this is a competitive space, begin with those that offer free consultations.

Business Card Facelift
Re-tooling the customary business card offers a fresh approach to a mainstay resource. Start by adding the addresses to social media accounts to showcase the savvy 21st century trend. During the app process, secure QR scans and barcodes to include that do the work for consumers. This will come in handy with future marketing campaigns.

Review your Internet Presence
Most forward-thinking companies have an extensive internet presence. This will include an account with the largest social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It is the quickest and most efficient way to get the word out about a new product and service. Once the accounts are established, monitoring and managing them is essential. Use this as a free marketing resource with the option to buy advertising at pennies on the dollar, compared to traditional outlets.

Produce Mobile Specific Marketing Campaigns
Data is growing that suggests the majority of consumers get their information from smartphones, tablets, and now, watches. To capitalize on this trend, marketing campaigns should be created that cater to this behavior. For example, offer coupons and other deals that are only accessible on the mobile app. Use this to drive website traffic and as an extension to CRM software by gathering information from pop surveys or on-line contests.

Use Digital Media
Videos are by far the biggest catalyst for raising brand visibility. Going viral is not just a buzz phrase, but the definition of being relevant in the consumer space. Displaying aesthetically pleasing snippets on apps that result in clicks and conversions increase sales and revenue. Brand jingles, mascots, and slogans do well on this platform and have the potential to become ringtones and screen savers.

Create a partnership with an IT company for the long-term. The ROI will pay dividends with each passing quarter. Brands that are cognizant about the power of the mobile age will cultivate this new resource. The rationale is this is where the consumers congregate.

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Employee Scheduling Software- A Review

Time is Money for every business, irrespective of whether it is small or large. For management, it becomes imperative to schedule staff roster considering convenience of staff as well as business tasks that needs to be accomplished in the due course of time.

The online available Employee Scheduling Software works without asking for registration. The software claims to save time and efforts as well. It does not demand for any additional system specification and works on regular system with standard configuration. 

An Overview of the Interface & Functionality
Interface: The User Interface of online employee scheduling software is simple and straight forward. Clean look and appearance makes it easy to operate for even first time users. Even those with novice technical knowledge can operate the software without any training.

Functionality: Software operates in few simple steps. User need to provide its ‘Username’ and ‘Email Address’. Roster for the next seven days can be made. All it needs is the name of the employee along with their email address. Once details for the schedule are made, schedule is sent to the employees on their email addresses.

Additional Features Offered
This Employee Scheduling Software incorporates a number of additional features and add-ons. Some of the customizable features are:
 

Schedule Reporting:
Projected sales, Labor Percentage and Schedules labor can be displayed at the bottom of the schedule. 

 

Notifications via SMS
Initial three alphabets of the employee’s task can be added to the text message.
 

Reports:
Account reports can be entered and accessed including expenses, sales, operating ratios and labor costs.
 

Phone Numbers on Schedule
Phone number details of employees are added under their name on the schedule for quick access.
 

Custom SMS & Email
Additional information can be inserted in the scheduled SMS as well as email.
 

Compressed Layout
The ‘Compressed Layout’ add- on adjusts the height of the graph layout and enables you to access more number of users without scrolling the screen.
 

Hide Schedule Hours
When an employee logs in to access the schedule, this add-on hides the calculated/ total working hours of the co-workers from the list.
 

Add-Break Times
Break time can be added to the schedule and the total break hours will automatically be eliminated from the calculated working hours. 

Print Task Schedules
If the schedule is accessed with ‘Task Layout’, it provides the option to print individual task schedule. This can be accomplished by clicking on name of the task being assigned.

Open Shifts
Open Shifts can be create by the managers while preparing schedule and this can later be selected by the employee if they wish to pick it.

What Else is Offered by ‘Your Next Seven’?

Live Scheduling Stats
Users can browse through the Live Scheduling Stats that provides an overall count of the total users who are currently using the software in their organization. This provides a conclusion over the efficiency and scalability of the software.

                        

Live Stats Feed on Dashboard
Once the user logs in to the account, live stats feed can be viewed instantly on the Dashboard and this feature is available in trial version as well.

Availability of Dual Editions
Employee Scheduling Software comes in two different editions. This includes ‘Trial’ and ‘Licensed’ editions. Accessibility to trial version is available for the period of 30 days from the date of registration.

Conclusion
Although, the freeware comes with limited functionality, it provides a straightforward idea over the functional features and efficiency of the software. This provides the ability to access the software without making any initial payment.

Categories: Employee Scheduling Software

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How-to Guide on Building Your First WordPress Theme

Availability of free and paid themes is one of the main reasons that makes WordPress so popular for creating websites of all sorts and sizes. However, choosing a pre-built theme often restricts you from making the desired changes to it. That is not to say that you shouldn't consider choosing a WordPress theme, but if you can code it is advised that you should better create a custom theme from scratch.

                           

In this tutorial, I'll share with you the basic knowledge of building a simple WordPress theme.

But Before You Start

There are a few important things you need to take into account, such as:

• Create a sub-folder for your theme within your WordPress folder that can be located at the path: wp-content/themes directory. I've named my folder “new_theme” (you can replace the folder name as you deem perfect).
  
  Note: Remember that the name of your theme folder will be same as the name of your theme.
• You must have basic knowledge of working with an FTP client (such as FileZilla or any other).
• Lastly, before you begin with the process of theme creation, you must know how the layout of your site will look. And so, you can either choose to create a prototype of your website design or create a PSD to decide the final structure of your site.

How Can You Build a WordPress Theme?

Almost every WordPress theme comprises of various sections, including header, footer, sidebar, and a few others.

                        

In order to build your first WP theme, you'll have to create each of those files. Let's quickly view all the files that are needed to create a functional WordPress theme:

• header.php – Just as the name implies, this file comprises of code that will be a part of the header section of the theme;
• index.php – This is the main file of your WordPress theme that contain code for the main area of your theme. In fact, this code also helps in specifying where all the other files can be found;
• sidebar.php – You can find information displayed in the sidebar section of your WordPress theme in this file;
• footer.php – This file manages your footer data;
• style.css – Lastly, the style.css file handles how your theme is styled.

All of the files listed above can be created locally using a text editor such as Notepad  and others, and then, upload those files via FTP. Or else, just utilize the “File Manager” tool available in your cPanel for creating WordPress files on your hosting account.



Let's now see what exactly each of the WordPress file contain:

1. The “header.php” File


Here's a sample code to demonstrate what a header.php file comprises of:


This is just a simple HTML markup that contains a single line of PHP code and some basic WordPress function. However, you can also add meta tags like your site title, keywords to be inserted in a page, etc. within this file. Let's see how the above code snippet works:

1. The following line containing PHP code, basically, informs WordPress to load the stylesheet (i.e. style.css).
   
   
2. Next, a class wrapper has been added to the beginning of a “div” - that is the main container of the site. The class is defined so as to modify the header section using the style.css file.
3. Lastly, another “div” container contains a label “header” which will be called in the style.css file.

2. The “index.php” File


Let us now view the code present in the index file in WordPress:

So, let's see how the above code works:

• The first line contains:
  
  

  < ? php get_header (); ? >

  This is a default WordPress function that comprises of the Main Area text to help users identify which exact section of your theme is shown in this area.
• In the next lines of code, you'll only find some standard WordPress functions that are used to check out if there are any posts in your blog that are created via WP admin panel. If such posts exists, they will be displayed in the admin area.
• Next, the sidebar.php file is included in the code using the following line of code:
  
  
  
  The sidebar file can be used for displaying post categories, archives etc.
  
  And an empty “div” is added to segregate the main area and sidebar of your theme from the footer area.
• And at last, the below mentioned line of code helps add the footer.php file in the index file. This will help display the contents of footer file in each web page.

3. The “sidebar.php” File


The sidebar.php usually contains code that looks something like:

The sidebar.php file contains information that will be displayed in your theme's sidebar (Also referred to as widgetized region). The code in the sidebar file as mentioned above make use of default WordPress functions for showing the posts categories and archives.

4. The footer.php file


Next, the footer.php file that contains source code that looks like the following code snippet:

Here in this code, we're just adding a label named “This is my FOOTER section”. However, you can also add data such as additional links, the copyright information, etc. that you would want to display in the footer area of your theme.

5. The “style.css” File


And finally, the CSS file (or style.css) file is used to specify the elements within a WordPress theme. A typical stylesheet looks like:

body { text-align: center; }

#wrapper { display: block; border: 1px #999999 solid; width:90%; margin:0px auto; }

#header { border: 2px #999999 solid; }

#content { width: 78%; border: 2px #999999 solid; float: left; }

#sidebar { width: 25%; border: 2px #999999 solid; float: right; }

#delimiter { clear: both; }

#footer { border: 2px #999999 solid; }

.title { font-size: 12pt; font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; }

This code will help in changing the background of all the pages in your theme and will add a border surrounding your site.

After adding all of the above discussed files in your WordPress install, your theme will look something like:


Conclusion
So, that's it for now! Hope that this post will clear out your doubts concerning creating a basic WordPress theme.


                            

Samuel Dawson is a esteemed developer of HTML to WordPress theme with topical advantages. He gradually works very hard on all the projects with great passion. Samuel

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Make Your Meetings More Productive with these 8 Tips

Meetings are always a hot topic of discussions in the corporate world. Regardless of the fact that a lot of jokes are made in this context, at some point it becomes inevitable to conduct them. You just cannot do without them. So, you might as well get used to the idea of having to attend meetings every now and then.

                                  

The fact that at some point you will have to be a part of a meet is suffice to make you want to learn ways on how you can make them more productive. Here’s how you can make the most out of them and actually use them for the good of everyone -

1.    Have a direction

Know where you are headed with the meet. What is it that you intend to achieve from it? Have a solid agenda on hands to discuss in writing. Make sure the goals are written in an unambiguous manner for everyone’s clear understanding. A meeting that lacks direction is most likely to wind-up without any proper plan of action. Inform everyone of the very purpose for which the meet is being conducted. This will allow the people to come prepared with a few solutions already on their tips.

2. Have someone note down the minutes of meetings

People don’t remember every single detail that is discussed during the meeting. Assign someone with the job of noting down the important points and minutes of the meetings as soon as they are discussed. Don’t forget to share those minutes of the meeting with everyone afterwards. You could use mails or a project management tool to share that information with everyone.

3. Have a plan of action before wrapping things up!

Make it your sworn duty to not leave the chairs of the conference room unless you have had a solid plan of action on your hands. Do have a concrete plan of action before wrapping up the meeting. The very purpose of meeting should be justified. Ask yourself - were you able to accomplish whatever it was that you intended to from the session in the first place? If not, you might have to conduct one more meeting. Unless you can afford to do that, try to get that done in the very first meet.

4. Use hard facts to back up your views during the meet

Maybe you want to discuss the results of a campaign. Maybe you want to discuss how to improve things. But, do you have enough information and solid facts to back up your suggestions/complains? If you don’t, it’s quite likely that the meet will be nothing more than a gossip session. People need solid facts to act on and use as a reference point to tweak their efforts. Don’t just shoot arrows in the air blindly. Use hard facts such as reports from the campaign to support your views.

5. Listen more

You should listen twice as much as you talk. Reason? You get to know different people’s perspective on the subject. You get to see things in light that you couldn't see all on your own. Let everyone jump in and be a part of the discussion. The most successful meetings are those where everybody gets equal participation because then teams are able to come up with several different ways to accomplish the same goal. Therefore, as someone who has to conduct the meetings, start developing all the traits of a good listener.

6. Set a time limit to the meet

How much time you think the meet should take? To avoid time wastage you would need to set a limit to how long the meet can be stretched, and try to stick to it. You allocate time limit to every other task, then why not do the same for meetings as well? Try to stick to the lower limit. The practice will save you from rambling unnecessarily or going off topic.

7. Pick a timing everybody is comfortable with

Different people may be working according to different timelines. Be sure to first discuss with everybody in advance about the time that everybody feels comfortable with. You would not want to interrupt anybody’s flow of work. See to the fact that whatever the decision is regarding the timing, it is a unanimous one. One advantage to this practice is that no one will be able to make excuses for coming late. You can start the meeting on time and finish it within the dedicated time frame.

8. Focus on the solution, not the problem

You could keep questioning all the failures and what they happened in the first place. This is not to say that you don’t discuss failures. Sure you should do. But don’t keep the focus of meet on discussing why the problems happened. Get to the root of the problem instead of complaining about them and then move towards finding the solution.


So, do you promise to make your meetings more productive? Are you ready to make the above-mentioned changes in your work style? Do share your thoughts with us!

Shikha Menwal is a writer for ProofHub. She has a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences and writes on topics ranging from lifestyle to technology and management. In her free time she loves to watch comedy shows and read spiritual journalism.

Categories: meetings

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5 Reasons to Take Invoicing Seriously

Invoicing is not the core function of any business. Most businesses don’t take the invoicing process too seriously. Many businesses send invoices that are late and others send invoices that are full of errors. Some small business owners and solopreneurs even admit that they hate invoicing. Is invoicing really a hindrance to business?



Not exactly. Invoicing is, in fact one of the key processes to run and grow a successful business. Here are 5 reasons, a business should take invoicing seriously.

Maintain A Healthy Cash Flow
Cash is the most important aspect for the survival and growth of a business. If the business is not receiving on-time payments from clients, it won’t be able to meet basic expenditures like salary and taxation etc. Sending invoices in a timely manner, ensures that the clients are paying up on time. One can add a late fee to invoices to deter clients from paying late. Online solutions help in sending out automatic payment reminders. One can also add a due date on the invoice, to ensure that the client is paying within the specified credit period. These are useful in hastening the payment cycle of the business.

Client Relationships
Maintaining healthy client relationships is at the heart of every business. Managing the business communication effectively, helps in retaining clients and building better relationships. Sending out invoices in a timely manner and ensuring that all kinds of client queries are resolved, is an essential. The process also includes, sharing of estimates and getting them approved from the client. Management of the complete business communication cycle is crucial for client retention and satisfaction.

Disputed Invoices
Many businesses end up sending invoices that are full of errors. This is big a reason for worry as errors lead to disputed invoices and invoice deductions. Having an invoicing process that ensures that each and every invoice sent is error free, is very important to realize full payments for the invoices.

Financial Management
Keeping a record of all the business activities is extremely important for better financial management. Proper invoicing ensures that all the past invoices can be tracked with ease. This helps in analysing the periodic sales and revenue, easily. Financial analysis helps the business owner to forecast future business outcome and plan the course of action, accordingly. If the sales and revenue targets are not being met, the reason can be found out and appropriate action can be taken. Similarly the payment cycle and invoice ageing can be effectively analyzed to ensure all the clients are making timely payments.

Professionalism
A growing business must come forth as a professional one. Sending out professional and descriptive invoices helps the client understand the details of the transaction clearly. Mentioning the terms and conditions on the invoice, helps in ensuring that each and every business deal is a transparent one. Adding brand identity to invoices helps in improving the brand awareness and brand recall for the business.

An invoice is one of the most crucial documents for every business. A business must take each and every aspect of an invoice seriously and thus ensure better business outcome. Delegating the process to specialized teams with appropriate accountability is equally important.

Veronika Tondon is business enthusiast. She writes about emerging technologies and opportunities for business.
She is working as a Marketing Manager with Invoicera, a leading cloud invoicing solution.

https://www.facebook.com/Invoicera
https://twitter.com/invoicera
https://plus.google.com/+Invoicera

Website: www.invoicera.com
Contact Number: +91-9350204838
 

Categories: invoicing software Technology

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