Author Archives: schatzi

Hosted Desktops Can Improve Your Business

Posted on by

Cloud computing services offer businesses a way to outsource the management and administration of their desktop environments. With a cloud service, a company can have all of its desktop applications hosted at a third-party data center and accessed conveniently over the Internet. The hosted desktop computing model eliminates the need for companies to maintain their own internal client computing infrastructure. A growing number of companies have been moving their desktop technologies to the cloud because of the many benefits that such a move can deliver.

Hosted desktops can help companies cut costs and complexity.

One of the biggest drivers of the trend has been reduced operating costs. Companies can significantly reduce the cost and complexity involved in maintaining a desktop infrastructure, by having it hosted and managed by a professional services firm. It also eliminates the need for them to maintain expensive desktop help desk and support staff. A hosted desktop architecture allows companies to focus on their core competencies while giving them the ability to fully leverage advances in desktop computing technologies. Cost however, is not the only factor.

Increased flexibility

A cloud hosted desktop model also offers increased flexibility on several fronts. With cloud hosting for instance, companies no longer have to worry about desktop upgrades or issues such as depreciation and obsolescence, because the cloud provider is the entity that owns and maintains the technology. Most cloud service providers let customers quickly add additional hardware resources as needed and to ramp down the usage when the additional resources are no longer needed. As a result, companies do not have to worry about issues such as scalability or optimizing hardware resource management. Cloud customers also often have access to a wider range of application software and operating system choices than they would have had if they had maintained the desktop environment in-house.

Better security, business continuity and disaster recoverability

Security and reliability are two other big reasons for considering the cloud. Most cloud providers offer data backup and data recovery services as part of their hosting portfolio. This mitigates the chances of catastrophic data loss or data corruption. Importantly, cloud providers host customer applications on geographically distributed servers and data centers. As a result, they offer better business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities compared to what a company would have been able to achieve within their own data centers. Customers can simply specify the amount of application uptime and availability they require in their service level agreements. The cloud provider is then responsible for ensuring that those service level agreements are met on a consistent basis.

With Digital Camera Market Heating Up, You Have a Wider Choice Now!

Posted on by

When you have finally decided to lay your hands on a chic digital camera my humble suggestion is that you better scrutinize the market prior to making a choice. If you are looking for the latest innovations in digital camcorders then the best way to begin your search is to go on and graze some of the websites that store information on these gadgets.

When you move around in the digital cameras marketplace you’ll come across a slew of latest published research reports on digital electronic camera devices. By reading what is given in these reports you can attain first hand knowledge about what kind of latest gizmos are being put on sale by companies.

There are massive upheavals that are taking place in the camera business. As per the latest published reports consumer electronics giant Apple too has joined the bandwagon and is giving industry leaders like Nikon and Cannon a run for their money. Apple is all set to storm the camera business. It is pushing hard to strengthen its position in this particular segment and has a line up of innovative products that are going to be launched very soon. Apple is infusing picture taking capabilities into its existing gadgets.

With the market hotting up you have a wider choice now and you also have a better chance of striking a juicy deal. I advise that before you make a purchase check out what all features and functions the gadget has. Run your eyes over every feature of the camera and take a few shots to test its functions.

A feature to look for in a digital camera is the optical viewfinder. Most of the modern digital cameras have this feature. Go for a camera that gives you a bigger view. It makes composing and framing pictures a piece of cake. If you have enough money buy a camera which has a LCD screen. Such a camera produces a clearer picture in both dim as well as bright light conditions.

The compact digital cameras are the ones that most people are going for now-a-days because using such gadgets is a breeze. When it comes down to prices there too the choice is wide open. The starting price of these compact digital cameras is $100 and depending upon the specifications it can go up to $1000. The style and the looks of the camera too can push up the prices. As the range is wide you can lay your hands on a 5 Megapixel camera that also has video capabilities at a cheap price.

The Five Best PC Simulation Games Ever

Posted on by

PC simulation games are great because they allow gamers to simulate real life in a safe and consequence free environment. Simulation games mimic all aspects of life, from the extreme to the banal. The following is a list of some of the five best PC simulation games ever created.

Second Life is one of the many PC simulation games where the game play is exactly what the title suggests. Second Life offers gamers a second life. This is one of the first PC simulation games to offer a social networking aspect. Gamers travel around in a virtual second world, interacting with other characters owned and operated by other very real people. Second Life takes life simulation PC games to a new level, and Second Life inhabitants often engage in activity that they would never attempt in their first lives. Although not quite the Matrix, Second Life is about as close as you can get.

Need For Speed is the absolutely classic GT PC racing game. This is the king of PC racing simulation games. Not only are the games fun and realistic, but also the franchise is so prolific it seems there is an unlimited amount of Need For Speed titles to choose from. Besides, not only does Need For Speed let the driver evade the police, it lets the driver be the police.

Roller Coaster Tycoon falls under the “God” category of simulation PC games, but roller coaster tycoon doesn’t exactly let gamers play God. Instead, it merely lets gamers assume the role of an uber-rich tycoon hell-bent on creating the world’s wildest amusement park, which is almost as cool as playing God. Roller Coaster Tycoon lets everyone live out his or her childhood dream of building a roller coaster in the back yard.

The Microsoft Flight Simulator is without doubt the best flight simulator franchise in the market today. MSF is one of the longest running PC simulation franchises around. The newest incarnation, Microsoft Flight Simulator X is the king of PC flight simulation games. MSFX is the most realistic flight simulator available to consumers. How realistic can a video game possibly be? Well, if the film Snakes On A Plane has any important lessons, and it does, it is that flight simulators provide civilians with ample training to successfully land a 737. Conversely, if Hollywood movies aren’t convincing, the US military has repeatedly stated that recruits familiar with flight simulation video game software are significantly more prepared for military flight school than those recruits who had never played such a game. How’s that for a good excuse to play PC simulation games?

Finally, of course, there is the Sims. The Sims isn’t just one of the top simulation PC games of all time, it’s the top selling PC game franchise ever. It seems that everyone wants to have fun playing God and bossing around tiny humanoids. Well actually, that does sound like fun. Playing house got a whole lot cooler in the 21st century, and the Sims led the way.

Clearly, PC simulation games offer some of the most fun video games on the market today. The only regret people often have with these games is that they are too much fun and that they spend too much time playing them. Try one out today, but be careful, they might be addicting.

Is Your Firm Living in the Dark Ages? Increase Business Using 21st Century Social Media

Posted on by

When Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th Century, it was big news. Information was made more widely available, though many were still illiterate. With the sudden availability of the printed word, however, literacy rates rose quickly, and soon there was a flourishing of literature and drama such as the world had not seen since ancient Greece. Among the important changes ushered in by the printing press was the ability to advertise. Town criers and travelling merchants had previously done most of the world’s advertising, but printed media meant that products and services could be promoted with leaflets, fliers, and other eye-catching forms.

Six centuries later, the Internet revolutionized the world’s method of communication again. In fact, the advent of digital media has been accompanied by a slow but steady decline in book, magazine, and newspaper sales. If you’re in charge of your firm’s marketing strategy, you already know that online advertising is far more effective than print, but even online advertising is changing. Until recently, it’s all been about keywords. Writing blog posts, press releases, and other forms of disguised advertising filled with keywords that linked back to your firm’s website was the way to get business. The more keywords you had out in cyberspace, the more hits your website would get. This is no longer the case.

Blogs: The old blogging style is out-smart, intellectual writing is in

Up until now, there were basically two styles of legal blogs. One was written “for lawyers” and contained supposedly useful information about the legal sphere. In truth, the purpose of the blog was to generate business. Antonin I. Pribetic of the Canadian legal blog “The Trial Warrior” calls this “flawging.” A “flawg,” he says, is written and maintained solely for profit. It “will often contain posts about the latest legal tech gadgets or how to gain new clients through the awesome power of the Internet, in the absence of anything remotely legal to discuss.”

The other type of blog is what Kevin O’Keefe of “Real Lawyers Have Blogs” calls “running feeds of disaster.” These blogs list tragic accidents or personal injury claims one after the other, often with sensational headlines as the hook. You know these two styles all too well – you’ve seen them on the web, and truth be told, you’ve probably written some yourself or hired someone to do it for you.

But Google has gotten wise to these techniques, and they’re out to stop them. Google has an ever evolving algorithm that changes 500 to 600 times every year.

How the algorithm has changed since Google’s founding in 1998.

The recent changes are designed to eliminate “flawgs” and “running feeds of disaster” and replace them with well-researched, well-written content with relevant links to other reliable sources.

Social Media: Your Target Market is Waiting

Google algorithm changes are also making social media more important. In fact, according to this March 2013 study by The Research Intelligence Group, 56% of all people who search for a lawyer use some form of social media. Though social media is most popular among people ages 18 to 29-81% of this demographic use some form of social media-25% of people age 65 reported using Facebook, Twitter, and other sources to find attorneys. Among social media sites, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are the most popular. According to this study, more than 60% of attorneys have a LinkedIn profile, 40% have a business Facebook profile, and slightly less than 30% have a Twitter feed. However, as search engine algorithms continue to change, and Twitter and Facebook become more and more embedded in our daily life and conversation, there is no doubt that these percentages will continue to grow.

Tips for Engaging Users on Social Media

What are you most likely to look at when you’re using Facebook or Twitter? You probably pay the most attention to what your friends are sharing. When friends, family, and colleagues talk, we pay attention. They are our most natural filter when there is more information than one can possibly process. So how do you create content that gets people to share?

• What does your intended audience value? Hint: It isn’t the greatness of your brand. People want information that’s useful and helpful. If they think their friends will find it helpful, too, then you have a share.

• Challenge convention. The ideas that get attention-and shares-are the ideas that shake up the way people see the world.

• We’re emotional. All of us. People don’t care about how cool your brand is; people want to be moved.

• Keep it current. People like to discuss and be “in the know” about the latest news.

• Suggestibility rules. Socially, people tend to follow what others in their circle do.

• Make it easy for others to share. The easier it is, the more likely they are to share it.

Six hundred years ago, the printing press was hot, and those who used the new technology were on the cutting edge. Today, relevant, well-written blogs and micro self publishing companies that provide useable information are king. And be sure to avail yourself of the social media sites that are becoming ever important influencers.