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PDF Creation Made Easy

In my ongoing discussion on free or inexpensive ways to do things that used to cost big dollars, I’d like to cover the topic of PDF creation.  I remember back just a few  years ago it was a requirement to have a specific version of Adobe Acrobat that cost $200-300 in order to create PDF files.  Now, much like many other options available to individuals and businesses, the task of creating PDF files to share with others and for long-term storage is easy and free.

Here are a couple of options:

PrimoPDF

I’ve personally used PrimoPDF for the past 2-3 years and I really like it.  It installs easily and simply appears in your print options as another available printer.  I’ve always been happy with the quality and readability of it’s output and I’ve used it extensively - even on multi-million dollar projects that I’ve managed.  My clients have never been able to tell that it came from a free piece of software.

PrimoPDF’s website touts it’s product as the “world’s #1 free PDF creator.”  As with other PDF creators, you can create PDF files from any file type that is printable…including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats.

PrimoPDF’s site states that it “is a free, high-quality PDF creation utility that enables printing to PDF from virtually any Windows application.”  It is the only free PDF converter that supports drag and drop PDF creation - which can be a real convenience and a time-saver.

CutePDF

I’ve not used CutePDF, but I’ve heard it’s good and it’s reliable.  The output quality is great and it’s as easy to use as the other offerings.  As with PrimoPDF, you can create PDF documents from almost any available printable document format.  To my knowledge it does not feature a drag and drop function, but accessing it as a printer option and saving it to a file is easy and problem-free.

Mac

I’ve not mentioned which platform these are offered on and there’s a reason for that.  They are both - and probably all - Windows-based applications.  And since I personally become a Mac lover in March of 2009, I know why.  PDF creation is built into the Macbook’s OS functionality - it has been for a long time.  So, Windows or Mac, you’re fully covered.  And you’ll be producing professional output for your clients for free.

Do Anything and Take Everything With You with Portable Applications

Fellow TechRepublic author Greg Schulz wrote in August 2009 about “10 Cool Things You Can Do with a USB Flash Drive.”  #1 on his list was “Run portable applications.”  I personally am hooked on USB thumb drives…I think they’re the best thing since sliced bread so his list intrigued me.  However, when I started to research his item #1 further, that particular one intrigued me even more.

At Portableapps.com, not only can you download enough programs to do everything you need while on the go, you can also do it for free.  FREE.  Everything is open source and everything is absolutely free.

Here’s what you can find there:

Portableapps.com Platform

The Portableapps.com platform provides you with a Windows-like program and utility list and also makes it easy to add and remove portable apps from your list of available applications.  It will even accept portable apps from other sites, you just need to follow the proper process to get them to show up on the app menu.

Portableapps.com Suite

You can download an entire suite of programs from the site which will allow you to do everything you probably do now on your laptop.  And this suite only includes a subset of what is actually available on the site.

All versions of the PortableApps.com Suite include the integrated PortableApps.com Menu (pictured below) and the PortableApps.com Backup utility along with a set of custom icons, an autoplay configuration, folders and a quick start shortcut. In addition, the packages include:

• Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition (web browser)
• Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition (email)
• Mozilla Sunbird, Portable Edition (calendar/tasks)
• ClamWin Portable (antivirus)
• Pidgin Portable (instant messaging)
• Sumatra PDF Portable (PDF reader
• KeePass Password Safe Portable (password manager)
• Sudoku Portable (game)
• Mines-Perfect Portable (game)
• CoolPlayer+ Portable (audio player)
• OpenOffice.org Portable (office suite)
  • Writer (word processor)
  • Calc (spreadsheet)
  • Impress (presentations)
  • Base (database utility)
  • Draw (drawing)

Keep in mind, the Suite contains only a subset of what’s available on the Portableapps.com site.  They’ve packaged those together because they are the core productivity tools that everyone uses.  Check the site out - it’s definitely worth your time.

Google Chrome Promises Instant-On App Access

It often takes a few long, boring minutes for a PC to boot up, load Windows, open a browser, and finally reach the Web.  Wouldn’t it be nice to circumvent all of that?  How much productivity would be added to your day?  Not that much, but a decent amount of top-of-the-day frustration would be immediately eliminated if you didn’t have to go through that process.

Google’s Promise

Now you may not have to.  While Google hasn’t told us too much about Chrome OS’s features, one it has promised - and that people seem to be coveting - is instant access to applications.

People want to get their email instantly - without waiting for the PCs to get ready to reach out to the Web.  Google’s VP of product management, Sundar Pichai, vowed that Chrome OS will take care of this frustration.

Other Contenders

Other companies have had somewhat of a head start on this idea.  Dell, DeviceDM, Phoenix Technologies, and Xandros are among those developing “instant-on” operating systems built on the Linux kernel that can get people browsing the Web in a few short seconds.

Dell Latitude ON is already available on several Dell business model laptops.  It bypasses Windows startup by using the MontaVista Linux distribution, customized with Dell’s help, running on a secondary processor to give users immediate access to email, the Web, and read-only Office and PDF documents.

DeviceDM says it’s 2-year-old SplashTop OS has shipped on more than 10 million laptops from Acer, HP, Lenovo, LG and other manufacturers.  SplashTop is a lightweight, Linux-based OS with a Firefox browser that can boot up in less than 5 seconds and offers access to the Web, instant messaging, Skype, and some basic gaming.

Public Demands

However, these other offerings are hardly household names.  That’s something that Google’s Chrome OS is likely to change.  With Google jumping into the market, a lot more people are going to be demanding instant-on applications and Web access.  With the growing popularity of netbooks and other mobile computing devices, the crunch will be on for vendors to keep up with the demands of the public.

Free Video Conferencing with DimDim

In today’s economy, consultants and small businesses are trying to do more with less…and in many ways they can.  It used to be you had to buy a very expensive version of Adobe Acrobat in order to create your own pdf files.  Setting up conference calls required access to corporate conference lines.  Using an online meeting setup required access to a Webex account which cost valuable dollars every month.  And utilizing video conferencing for those long-distance status calls on projects required a very expensive setup.  No more….

I’d like to use this article and several upcoming articles to look at some ways that small businesses and consultants on shoestring budgets can perform some very necessary tasks for and look like corporate big-boys for little or no cash outlay.  Our computing options have only improved and now the smaller organizations can really benefit from these offerings.  For this article, I’d like to look at DimDim (www.dimdim.com), a free offering for video conferencing.

DimDim for Video Conferencing

As with any of these free offerings, there are premium options as well.  DimDim offers a $25/month (DimDim Pro) option that allows for 50 meeting attendees, premium audio, and 2 webcams…among other features.  And there is a $75/month (DimDim Webinar) option that 100 person meetings plus can accommodate events and webinars up to 1000 persons.

For consultants and small businesses trying to run your basic status call with the customer type video conference call, the basic free service should do just fine.  It offers:

- 20 person meetings
- standard audio
- support for 1 webcam
- and did I mention that it’s free forever?

DimDim tout’s itself as the world’s easiest web conference.  It is based on open source software and it is 100% browser-based so no software to load and maintain.  You’ll be able to share whiteboards, webpages, presentations, files, voice, and video - and no downloads required…period.

Signup is also easy.  You create your own ID, create your own password, give them your email address and your done.  It’s yours…forever.  If you feel that you might need - or want to just check out - their premium options, there is a 30-day trial offer to test those out…because of course they’d love you to try them and need them and pay monthly for them.  But free is always nice, too.

The Buzz on Google Buzz

There’s a new game in town in the social networking market and it’s called Google Buzz.

Google has finally upped the ante in social networking with its new Buzz concept.  Using Gmail contacts to build your social network, Buzz will interact with Flickr, Picassa, Blogger, YouTube, and Twitter to share media content.  If you haven’t already been invited to Buzz, rest assured that Google will be contacting you very soon.

Google has also indicated that it will be releasing an enterprise version soon as well.  Google had been using it for it’s own purposes internally and have indicated that it has been a real productivity booster.

With Buzz, Google is now directly taking on Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.  Users will be able to setup more private custom groups with Buzz and post to one or all depending on their choice.

A soon to be available mobile version of Buzz will interact with GPS to allow geotagging of information that is shared through the social networking platform.  Users will be able to see if anyone on Buzz has posted information about a nearby business or place of interest.  The mobile version is integrated with Google’s existing location applications and the interface with GPS phones will allow Buzz users to show where they are.  You’ll be able to see what other people on Buzz in your same vicinity are saying about places nearby … like a restaurant or shop.

Google is stressing that much like all of their beta releases, Buzz is a work in progress and they will welcome and incorporate user feedback.  Invitations to join Buzz will be arriving soon in the inboxes of Gmail.

Should Your Small Business Use Telecommuting?

Green is the New Black

Today’s buzz word is Green.  Feels a bit like Seseame Street, doesn’t it.  It’s true though…Green is everywhere.  You can’t attend read about an IT conference, product rollout, or IPO without some discussion of the ‘Greeness’ of the organization or the product offering or what their carbon footprint is.

Is this a bad thing?  Absolutely not….we’re finally becoming an environmentally concerned society.  We finally moved from the tree-huggers of the 60’s and 70’s to real efforts by the masses.

The Remote Worker

So what can your small business do to go Green?  Well, for starters you can utilize telecommuting.  There are other things you can do, but if you want to go Green AND save money at the same time, there’s no better way than incorporating a telecommuting policy.

Let’s first look at some facts (these come from findings published in InformationWeek magazine):

• Automobiles account for about 20% of US greenhouse gas emissions
• 78% of US commuters are solo drivers
• Commuters idling in traffic waste 2.9 billion gallons of gasoline each year and spent 4.2 billion hours sitting in traffic in 2005 alone
• Traffic jams and congestion cost the US economy $78 billion in 2005 - up 500% from 1982

Now that we’ve laid nice groundwork on why fewer commuting employees is very Green - meaning great for the environment - let’s consider the business benefits in terms of tangible and intangible benefits to both the worker and organization.

• Reduced real estate lease and utility expenses
• Improved business continuity (a disaster - flood, fire, etc. - at the main office location doesn’t mean a total shutdown…remote employees are still functional)
• Reduced travel costs
• Increased productivity - up to 30% in recent studies
• Enhanced ability to attract and retain good talent

Summary

Offering telecommuting to your workforce can greatly reduce operating expenses while increasing employee quality of life (less driving time) and productivity, resulting in a much happier and healthier workforce.  Studies have also shown that remote workers take far fewer sick days that onsite employees.  I can personally attest to this - since I began working remotely over three years ago I’ve not taken one sick day.  I’m rarely ever sick - but I’ve also remained healthier by staying away from the sick people that drag themselves into work when they shouldn’t.

Offering telecommuting for the right positions is just good business and is great for the employer-employee relationship.  At the same time, it allows you to promote your business as a Green organization….it’s win/win.

Use System Restore to ‘Uninfect’ Your Computer

Windows offers a great feature called System Restore that nearly everyone has probably needed at sometime or another but it seems few people even know about it.  Before I go any further, let me say that I am of the opinion that there is no excuse for not having some sort of anti-virus and anti-spyware software running on your computer.  My personal choice for my backup laptop - an XP machine - is Grisoft’s AVG package.  It’s free and it works great.

With that said, there are times when you need more or something different and that’s where System Restore can come in handy.  System Restore periodically saves a system restore point to provide a means of returning to a known-good configuration should something go wrong. Windows automatically creates a system restore point for you any time you install new software, a Windows update, or make any significant change to your system.  You can also manually create a system restore point.

Now, suppose you get hit with some sort of malware.  The most popular one today seems to be the annoying pop-up that tells you your system is infected and you should run a specific virus removal software.  Don’t fall for it, it’s malware and if you let it run, you’re already infected.  But if you do get infected, you can sometimes get around it without having to do a full restore to factory settings.

Here are the steps:

• Click Start / All Programs / Accessories / System Tools / System Restore
• Choose “Restore my computer to an earlier time”
• Click Next
• Using the calendar, select a day and system restore point that you want to return to (choose a date that falls BEFORE the date your computer became infected)
• Save your work and shut down any open programs.
• Click Next to confirm your wish to restore your computer to the designated system restore point

At this point your computer will shutdown, reboot, make some changes, then be magically restored to the previous date.  Don’t be alarmed, it can take a few minutes.  You won’t lose data files on your computer, but if you’ve installed software in between the two dates you’ll likely have to re-install those programs.

This isn’t a perfect solution and sometimes your computer can become so infected that the virus or malware won’t allow System Restore to perform properly.  But in most cases this is a simple way to eradicate the problem.  And if it does work don’t just relax - count yourself lucky and get anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed on your computer immediately.

More Email Safety Tips for Your Organization

I’ve already presented five key safety tips for protecting your small business email correspondence from intrusion or other malicious behavior.  In this article, I’d like to bring you five more valuable tips to consider when using email for your business correspondence.

After all, what you say and who you say it to via email is sometimes your first impression with your next potentially very profitable project or client - it’s in your best interest to use extreme care in how you protect this correspondence.

• Digitally Sign Your Emails - If you are using good email security practices, then you’ve greatly reduced the likelihood that someone will have the opportunity to steal your email identity, but it is still possible.  However, if you use an encryption tool - such as GnuPG or PGP - to digitally sign your emails, then your recipients who have your public key will be able to determine that no one could have sent emails in question without first having access to your private key…thus making it a pretty good certainty that it came from you.  Always be sure you have a private key that is well-protected.

• Use Blind Carbon Copy When Sending to Multiple Recipients - When sending the same email to multiple recipients, it’s never a good idea to share each recipient’s email address with the others when they don’t know each other.  Basically, it’s rude to share someone’s personal or professional email address with complete strangers without their permission. The way around this is to place your own email address in the To: field and include the intended recipients in the BCC: field.  This also prevents the accidental “reply all’ happening when one of your recipients sends a reply.

• Save Emails in a Safe Place - No amount of encryption for sent e-mails will protect your privacy effectively if, after receiving and decrypting an e-mail, you store it in plain text on a machine to which other people have access. Prominent political figures have found out the hard way that webmail providers don’t do a very good job of ensuring stored email privacy. Many users’ personal computers are not exactly set up with security in mind, either, as in the case of someone whose Windows home directory is set up as a CIFS share with a weak password.

• Use Private Accounts for Private Emails - Email addresses you share with the world - such as responding to forums and message boards or posting on websites - is likely to get targeted by spammers.  Spammers will use your email address both for purposes of sending email to it and spoofing that email address in the From: field of the email headers. The more spammers and phishers who spoof your email address that way, the more likely your email address is to end up on spam blocker blacklists used by ISPs and lazy mail server sysadmins - and the more likely you are to have problems with your emails not getting to their targeted recipients.

• Double Check the Recipient Everytime - Just like with auto-fills on the recipient mentioned in the first article on this topic, it’s important to always double check who you’re sending your emails to.  Accidentally sending a reply to a an individual subscriber on a mailing list rather than sending to the actual mailing list isn’t a huge issue, but it can be an inconvenience.  The converse, however, can become a big problem.  Sending an email meant for an individual to an entire mailing list can be embarrassing or worse if you end up providing information to an entire list of people you don’t really know.

All Hail the iPad

Finally,  on  January 26, 2010 … the long-awaited news of what must be the greatest thing since sliced bread has been announced to the public by Steve Jobs.

The new iPad, starting at a base price of $499, will boast the following features:

• 9.7″ LED-backlit screen
• Remarkably precise multi-touch display
• Only 1.5 lbs
• Only 0.5″ thick
• Ability to run almost 140k of the apps in the App Store right now

Apple promises a WiFi model shipping in March 2010 and a 3G model shipping in April 2010.

What’s the use?

I’m a Windows to Mac convert - and a very happy one.  I even recently started using an iPod (I’m a music lover), but shunned the iPod touch for a used classic model from one of my kids.  iPod touch = too much fluff for me.  I wanted it for music…not games or apps.

So what is the primary focus of the iPad?  Who is the primary target user?  Early reports indicate it’s definitely for running your normal iPhone type apps.  And it’s also targeted as a book and magazine-type reader to compete with other such readers already on the market.  Students will apparently love it for its portability and size.

Businesses?  Not so much.  But I doubt that was ever the plan.  And word is that if you already have an iPhone, it’s not for you.  It’s apparent main purpose is to bridge the gap between those Windows users with iPods or interested in iPhones and those of us who have already jumped to Macbooks, Macbook Pros, and iMacs.  And the in between cost of $500 - $700 would seem to indicate this.

Conclusion

It’s a cool gadget.  And while it didn’t seem to do anything for Apple’s stock upon announcement, it will have its niche … it’s 15 minutes of fame.  Actually, it’s already had that for the past couple of years while the world anticipated this announcement.  While it’s not a product I will ever use - no tablet offering will ever grace my office - it will find it’s user base and my bet is that it will be much more popular than the oddly placed Macbook Air.

Using A Blog to Promote Your Business

Blogs are all about opinion and information, and of course, drawing web traffic.  Everyone is a potential blogger these days, but few people and organizations really know how to get it right and utilize a blog for strategic purposes.

What does it mean to ‘get it right?’  Let’s look at this from the truly business side of blogging.  A blog on a company site isn’t usually about sharing information, is it?  The real hope is that it will draw traffic to the site which ultimately brings would-be customers to the site and - if all goes right - generates increased sales of the company’s offerings or services.

Companies often think the blog needs to be entirely about what they offer and who they are.  Actually, that is usually not the best route to take.  Intriguing content that reaches the core needs of the potential customer base for that company is what will ultimately draw new customers in.  Afterall, you’re trying to bring in customers who need your services but may have never heard of your company before, right?  Therefore, avoid just discussing your company on the blog, but rather discuss critical issue within the industry or market niche you serve.

When creating a blog for your companies website, considering these five things critical:

• Ensure that it is well written - possibly stray outside your organization and have established authors in your industry post articles from time to time
• Keep it fresh - new content should be posted at least daily to generate a recurring readership
• Have good, meaningful content - it’s not enough to just have frequent posts…they need to be relevant to keep the readers interested
• Address feedback from readers in a timely manner - this will keep conversations flowing and increase traffic
• Offer free advice and meaningful tips - your expert opinion and open availability for information will keep readers coming back as well