Archive for November 2002

Doesn’t surprise me that Chief Geek, Joel, has started the Geek.com – Joel’s Blog. It chronicles geeky things.

It’s yet time again for another American Thanksgiving holiday. I wish everyone a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving. Even if you’re not in the USA, I wish you happiness and peace.

I searched high and low for way to make ALLLL Internet Explorer windows to open MAXIMIZED instead of just short of a full screen (not referring to pop ups). Never could find the answer, so I emailed Chris Pirillo‘s Call for Help. They answered (it may or may not have been based on my email) and it’s so easy, I’m embarrassed.

Get the secret at Step One: Open Windows Maximized.

Just posted a book review at the /articles: What Your Computer Consultant Doesn’t Want You to Know. Even advanced computer users can get excellent tips from this well-formatted book by Joshua Feinberg.

A hot topic today is measuring a Web site’s success and ROI. Just working in an IT department, metrics have become the thing I love to hate. They are important, but creating them is a nightmare.

Web metrics that matter takes a simple approach in explaining what kind of metrics sites need check by the type as in B2B, Content, and Retail. [Link Webreference]

When I did research on globalization of Web sites, I found few reliable information. Then, I came across John Yunker’s Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies and it thoroughly covers just about everything about making a global Web site. If nothing else, get the book. Get insight into John’s book by reading Moving WebWord >Going Global Gracefully: Strategies for Building the Global Gateway and downloading a sample chapter of the book.

One thing I have learned about global Web sites is that you can’t simply rely on flags or language. For instance, French is spoken in French-speaking Africa, Madagascar, Haïti, France, Quebec, Belgium Walloon, French-speaking Switzerland, Luxembourg, Guyanne, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania.

Despite these countries sharing a common significant language in their country, what else do they have in common? It probably varies by country and the message would have to be communicated different by country.

This barely hits the nail on the head. Going global is tough… do it right, and you’ll please customers in the covered region. When I was looking for a company that did it right, the best example I found was Shell.

Small businesses have to do it all: finances, paperwork, and even fixing computer equipment and managing the costs to update and maintain the equipment. This list doesn’t even include the business’ core business that brings in the dough.

We’ve all gotten stuck waiting far too long for a technician to come on the phone to help us with a problem. Some can’t even help us and have to redirect the call or contact another technician. This takes time away from the core business.

I prefer to deal with software and leave the hardware to the hubby, an IT manager who also manages the help desk. The book lists tips that are familiar, but I had to learn about them the hard way. Hubby shares budgeting stories and the book covers those. Despite the knowledge I’ve gained between his and my experiences, I have learned a few more tricks.

The book’s organization is first-rate. Non-fiction and self-help books lean on the dry and boring side, but not this one because of its savvy formatting style. It’s divided into three sections: hardware, software, and data protection. The back of the book has the entire list of 101 tips sorted by tip number and chapter for easy search and access.

Each of the 101 tips headlines the page followed by two things: Save on Soft Costs and Save on Out-of-Pocket Expenses. A checkmark by these items indicates the kind of savings to expect from following the tip. The tip has headers and short paragraphs to enable quick scanning.

Microsoft produces various versions of its Office software: Standard, small business, professional, and developer. Just because one is “small business” doesn’t mean it’s the best one and the tip explains how to choose the right one. Or maybe you can save more money by having the software come bundled with a computer, but that means buying a new computer, which may not be necessary.

If the line between soft costs and out-of-pocket expenses is blurry, the introduction explains the difference. It also has a key for $ that appear throughout the tips letting the reader know how much it would cost to implement a solution. The fewer $, the cheaper the solution.

The book includes a glossary and resources to Web sites for more information. Not to worry, the Web URLs don’t take up much space in the book since we all know Web sites do die.

Joshua Feinberg is the founder of Small Biz Tech Talk and its accompanying newsletter, which can give insight into the information and writing you can expect from this book. The writing is natural and not uptight as is often found in technical books and articles. No reason to fear technical jargon as the book is written in plain English for the folks who don’t want to know more than they have to about computers.

The publisher may not be a “name” in the industry, but the book offers high quality like those “name” publishers produce. Any small business and even computer technicians of a small business would benefit from the book. The price of the book is easily surpassed with one of the secrets.

VITAL STATISTICS:
TITLE: What Your Computer Consultant Doesn’t Want You to Know: 101 Money-Saving Secrets of Expensive Techies
AUTHOR: Joshua Feinberg
PUBLISHER: Small Biz Tech Talk Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 2002
ISBN: 0971415382
FORMAT: Paperback
PAGES: 288
PRICE: US$19.99

Even Amazon has a sense of humor as it parodies the election confusion nightmare that all started in Florida. Go vote for your shopping candidate.

InternetVIZ has just launched eNewsletter Journal, a newsletter for business to help them build customer relationships with a newsletter. Building Relationships Takes Time explains that quick win solutions aren’t the way to go when building customer relationships.

Couldn’t pass this one up as an Aggie fan with OU friends who despise tu. Microsoft scraps server OS plans and skips Longhorn release for Blackcomb.