What's so great about Apple's iPad?

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Curious to know why some think Apple's iPad is so great?  Or maybe you think it's overrated?  Check out PC Magazine's review of the device to learn more then make up your own mind.

Microsoft Office 2011 for Macs

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Check out CNET's overview of the Office 2011 for Mac:

Mac vs. PC - an overview

Tweet If you are trying to decide between a Mac and a PC, here are some key facts from ConsumerSearch.com to consider:

Operating systems - Mac's can run Windows but the Mac OS will only run on a Mac.

Price - Mac's may be more expensive to purchase but they come pre-loaded with the iLife suite which offers editing and management of photos, music, videos and other media while PC's tend to come with much more basic software to accomplish these tasks.

• Servicing a Mac is more expensive since many parts are proprietary to Apple so replacements aren't do-it-yourself.

Security - PC's do tend to be more vulnerable to attacks from viruses and malware.  Hackers and cyber criminals target PC's because more people use them (more than 90% of all users run Windows operating systems as of the writing of this post).  Mac users must still be careful of the links that they click on or files they download because they are still at risk of cyber attacks.

Other key facts

• Mac's are better suited than PC's for graphic design, desktop publishing, music production and some science applications.
• PC's are much better suited than Mac's for gaming.

Consider these facts along with your budget and computing needs when next you are in the market for a computer.

See also:

• PC vs. Mac: The Straight Scoop
• In their words: Experts weigh in on Mac vs. PC security - InSecurity Complex - CNET News
• Microsoft keeps Mac vs. PC battle going on Windows 7 website
• Mac vs PC People: Personality Traits & Aesthetic/Media Choices

Learn how to navigate the Mac OS

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New to Macs?  Check out Apple's Switch 101 support page to help you get acquainted with the Mac Operating system.

We also found a great, quick tutorial about the Mac OS on YouTube:

This week's technology tips, tricks and news

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Happy Monday, we hope you had a great weekend!  Read on for this week's technology tips, tricks and news.

TIPS & TRICKS

• VIDEO: Microsoft Word - Landscape orientation in Word 
• Office for Mac 2011 Behind-the-Scenes: Co-Authoring, Office Web apps, Scheduling Assistant, & Broadcast Slideshow!
• Downloading Facebook Albums Easily 
• How to Turn Your WordPress Blog Into a Social Network 
• We blogged last week about managing yor online reputation, here are some more tips from the New York Times' Gadgetwise blog
• VIDEO: Digital Self-Publishing

NEWS

• VIDEO: Apple's New Products  
• Facebook reaches 62% of online Americans
• First Facebook, now MySpace apps are leaking user data
• What the Web Is Saying About Windows Phone 7
• Mozilla pays 12-year-old $3,000 for finding critical Firefox bug

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month

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National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) "conducted every October since 2004, is a national public awareness campaign to encourage everyone to protect their computers and our nation’s critical cyber infrastructure.
Cyber security requires vigilance 365 days per year. However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), the primary drivers of NCSAM, coordinate to shed a brighter light in October on what home users, schools, businesses and governments need to do in order to protect their computers, children, and data." *
Here are some resources to help you, your family and your business stay safe online:

• National Cyber Safety Alliance - Cybersecurity on the go: make it a habit | Stay Safe Online
• Dept of Homeland Security | Cybersecurity Family & Business Resources
• Google's Family Safety Center
• Official Google Blog: National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2010: Stop. Think. Connect.
• Help keep your account safe with the Gmail security checklist | Official Gmail Blog
• NMC's Blog: Protect your children while they are on-line
• NMC's Blog | What is cyberbullying?
• NMC's Blog | How to remove personal information from your hard drive

* Source: StaySafeOnline.org/

Job seekers, make your resume searchable online with keywords

Tweet Before submitting your resume to online job boards and corporate websites or posting your social media resume on your website or blog, you will want to ensure that your resume is searchable by potential employers with job openings that match your interest and experience by including specific words or terms (keywords) in the body of your resume that are associated with your experience/credentials and the type of job you are seeking. 

Since many companies often use an electronic keyword filter to screen potential candidates your increase chances of being discovered by a hiring manager with an opening that matches your interests by including multiple keywords.  Some online job boards may also ask you to input keywords in a separate field to aid in matching you with the right jobs.

Of course, once a recruiter for your dream job finds your resume on the Web and invites you for an interview, you will need a well-formatted print resume - see MS Word templates for creating resumes here.

How to use social media to find a job!

Tweet Just as a negative social media presence can harm your chances of being hired by a prospective employer, a positive social media presence can help you land a dream job!  With so many Americans currently unemployed, job seekers must find a way to stand out in the crowd, here are a few ways to use social media to gain a noticeable social media presence:

Twitter

• Find recruiters or industry leaders with Twitter accounts, follow them and occasionally engage with them to learn more about them and the companies for which they work.  Developing a good relationship here can lead to an invitation for an off-line meeting.
• Re-tweet or share any industry-relevant information that you find.
• Post links to your blog posts.
• Learn more at  Mashable's "How to: Find a Job on Twitter"
  

Facebook

• Be sure your personal Facebook page has the appropriate privacy settings so any questionable content there cannot be found by a potential employer.
• Create a business page focused on your job search where you should post your resume and links to any professional web content you have created or any articles written by or about you.
• Use the Notes section as a blog where you can post ideas and points of view about your industry.
• Be sure to update your status regularly.
• Get your friends to "like" your page and spread the word about your job search!

Blog

• Start or update a blog regularly to showcase your expertise and point of view.
•  You may want to import your blog into Facebook's Notes.
• Follow other relevant blogs and comment on any interesting posts to engage with industry peers.

Video

• This may not be appropriate for all industries, but creating and sharing online videos that highlight your talents, expertise, creativity and points of view may help you to get noticed by hiring managers.

LinkedIn

• The ultimate social network for job hunting - Erik Qualman's Socialnomics video tells us that "80% of companies use social media for recruitment" with 95% of those companies using LinkedIn!
• Be sure to create or update your existing profile with your work history, education and other relevant experience as well as links to your blog, Twitter or Facebook page.
• Write a thoughtful and descriptive headline for your profile.
• Be sure to connect with anyone in your address book that currently has a LinkedIn page and ask them for recommendations.
• Join (or start) industry groups and post an ad describing the job you are searching for in the jobs section of each group.  Be sure to actively participate in any group you join by sharing great ideas and information with your peers and it is a great way to get noticed by potential employers.
  
• Add applications to your profile that will pull your blog posts, Twitter updates or even presentations that you have created and shared online.
• Post and answers questions.

Social media resume

• This is a virtual copy of your resume that can be hosted on your website or your blog.
• Add video, audio or images that showcase your expertise.
• Make your resume shareable by adding a sharing utility such as Share This, Add to Any or Add This that site visitors can access readily to share with others.
  

Use job aggregators to search for jobs online

Tweet Monster and CareerBuilder continue to be great sources of job postings but job seekers may find them somewhat limiting.  Job aggregator websites such as Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com are job search engines that not only give users the results of jobs posted directly on their sites but also sites like Monster and CareerBuilder as well as jobs posted only on corporate websites.   Active job seekers can spend their time more productively with a fairly comprehensive list of relevant job openings obtained from their chosen job aggregator.

Indeed


SimplyHired

Could your online activity be costing you a job? Learn how to manage your online identity!

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According to a New York Times article entitled "The Web Means the End of Forgetting," a Microsoft study found that "75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human-resource professionals report that their companies require them to do online research about candidates, and many use a range of sites when scrutinizing applicants — including search engines, social-networking sites, photo- and video-sharing sites, personal Web sites and blogs, Twitter and online-gaming sites. Seventy percent of U.S. recruiters report that they have rejected candidates because of information found online, like photos and discussion-board conversations and membership in controversial groups."  If you are even considering applying for a new job, now is the time to ensure that your online presence only shows you in the most positive light!

Here is a summary of tips from ReputationDefender.com, to help you discover what information is linked to you on the web but also ways to manage any negative information/activity that might scare off a potential employer.

• Edit the privacy settings for all your social network accounts to limit the information that others can view about you.
• Google yourself to find out what, if any, negative content might exist about you on the web.
• Edit or delete any poorly written, inappropriate, or defamatory blog posts, forum comments that you have made - especially if they are about a former employer!
• If there are photos of you doing anything that an employer might find questionable on Facebook or Flickr, untag yourself.
• If it's not possible to remove the embrassing content on any website on your own, try requesting that the person that posted the content remove it.
• In extreme cases, you may need to hire a repuation management firm to manage your online reputation.
• In the event that someone with a similar name has questionable content on the web, be sure to explain to potential employers at the beginning of the interview process - or even in your cover letter.
• There is a chance that you may not be able to avoid being linked to negative content on the web so proactively maintaining your personal brand on the web by writing a blog showcasing your expertise or by posting about topics and news related to your profession on Twitter is great way to help counteract any negative content that may be posted about you.

This week's technology tips, tricks and news

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Here are some great technology tips, tricks and news to help get this week off to a great start!

TIPS

• Making booklets in Word 2007 and 2010
• Enable Google Instant on Chrome for Mac
• RSS subscriptions versus e-mail
• Subscribing to podcasts that are not in iTunes
• How to add a social media toolbar to your website
• How to uninstall software that you don't like or use

NEWS

• iPad comes to Verizon on October 28th
• RIM releases Security Advisory for BlackBerry Enterprise Server
• Radical change coming to Net addresses
• Beware the Evercookie: An HTML5 loophole to steal your privacy
• Report: Facebook apps sharing user information
• Yahoo to offer media links

Today is Blog Action Day 2010 - This year's focus is on the global water crisis

Tweet Today is Blog Action Day.  This year, the focus is on the global water crisis!

Here are some facts about water and technology:

• Today, 2.5 billion people lack access to toilets, but many more have access to a cell phone.  See more at: Water.org
• The shiny new iPhone in your pocket requires half a liter of water to charge. That may not seem like much, but with over 80 million active iPhones in the world, that’s 40 million liters to charge those alone.  Learn more at: Spectrum.IEEE.org
• Do you want to measure how much water it took to make your favorite foods? There’s an app for that.  More info at: The Virtual Water Project

Change.org
Start Petition

Check out more blog posts on the global water crisis from The White House, Mashable and ProBlogger.

Social media: Manage and update all your social media outlets from one source

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If you are a business owner hoping to tap into social media to market your business  there are some shortcuts to help you reach out to your audience on the various social networking platforms (Blogger, WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) without taking too much time from your already busy schedule.  Sites like Postling, Posterous, Ping.fm, Hellotxt and desktop applications like TweetDeck offer you a one-stop way of posting to all your social media accounts at once or just a select few at a time.  Many of these sites can also be accessed directly via your mobile phone or by using a downloadable mobile appication.  An added benefit from these services is that you can create and preschedule your blog posts and status updates to post at a desired time so you don't have to worry about being at your computer at the desired posting time.

Social Media: What is social bookmarking?

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Wikipedia defines social bookmarking as " a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them.

Descriptions may be added to these bookmarks in the form of metadata, so users may understand the content of the resource without first needing to download it for themselves. Such descriptions may be free text comments, votes in favour of or against its quality, or tags that collectively or collaboratively become a folksonomy. Folksonomy is also called social tagging, 'the process by which many users add metadata in the form of keywords to shared content.'

In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domains. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search engine."

Check out some of the many bookmarking sites available to help you share resources with friends and colleagues - many of them have applications that allow you to post your bookmarks on Facebook :

• Delicious
• Digg
• Fark
• Google Buzz / Google Bookmarks
• Newsvine
• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Twitter (of course!)
• Yahoo! Buzz  / Yahoo! Bookmarks

Social Media: How to Podcast

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According to Wikipedia, a podcast “is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.  The word usurped webcast in common vernacular, due to rising popularity of the iPod and the innovation of web feeds.  The mode of delivery differentiates podcasting from other means of accessing media files over the Internet, such as direct download, or streamed webcasting. A list of all the audio or video files currently associated with a given series is maintained centrally on the distributor's server as a web feed, and the listener or viewer employs special client application software known as a podcatcher that can access this web feed, check it for updates, and download any new files in the series.  This process can be automated so that new files are downloaded automatically.  Files are stored locally on the user's computer or other device ready for offline use, giving simple and convenient access to episodic content. Commonly used audio file formats are Ogg Vorbis and MP3.”

The definition above seems a bit complicated but podcasts are fairly easy to produce for personal or business purposes.  Here’s what you will need to create audio podcasts from your home or office.

1. You will need a computer with active internet connection, a microphone, and audio recoding software such as Audacity which is available for free download and is compatible with both Macs and PC’s.  Be sure to download the associated mp3 encoder from the Audacity website.
2. Record, edit and save your audio file using Audacity.  You may consider creating an “intro” for your podcast series – this can be a script that you recite at the beginning of each podcast or music (look for royalty free music) that plays before your podcast starts.
3. Upload your podcast file to an online hosting service – OurMedia.org offers a free hosting service for podcasts but you can find other free podcast hosting sites with a simple search on Google. If you have an existing website hosting service where you can store your mp3 podcast files, you may still want to consider using a free service like OurMedia.org to store your files if you do not have an unlimited hosting plan.
4. Next you will need to create an RSS feed for your blog, you can use Google's FeedBurner for free if you have a blog that links to your mp3 podcasts but there are software programs available to help you create the XML files needed to create an RSS feed.
5. Submit your podcast’s RSS feed to iTunes and online directories to reach potential listeners.  Be sure to add a button or widget on your website or blog to allow people to subscribe to your RSS feed.
6. Publish your podcast:
• Check with your web hosting provider or web designer to find out how to add podcasts to your website
• Podcasting with Blogger
• Podcasting with WordPress
• Podcasting with TypePad

If you want to have the opportunity to interact live with an audience in real-time, you may want to host a live-call in webcast using a service such as BlogTalkRadio requiring you to have only a computer and a telephone (with good reception, of course!).  The benefit - shows are streamed live but are also archived as downloadable podcasts that you can publish via RSS feed!

For info on creating a video podcast (also know as vodcast) check out:

• MacWorld's How to create a vodcast for Macs
• Georgia State Univeristy's instructions on creating a video podcast, using a Windows PC

Here are some great tips from Apple on sharing podcasts via iTunes:

•  How to publish to iTunes
• Tips on Podcasts from iTunes

Social Media: Importing a blog into Facebook's Notes

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Facebook users can share their blogs by importing their blogs into Facebook as 'Notes."  Importing your blog to Facebook pulls in the full content of each blog which means that readers no longer need to visit your blog.  So if your goal is to increase trafffic to your blog - especially if you use your blog to make money - then we suggest using the Networked Blogs app in Facebook which just gives a thumbnail view of each blog post and requires readers to visit your blog in order to view full content.

WordPress users, watch this tutorial to learn how to import your blog into Facebook:

This week's tech tips and news

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We hope your week is off to a great start!  Check out some great tech tips and news below.

TIPS

• Hacking/Online Security
  • Use Word Association to Create Secure Password Hints
  • What to Do If Hackers Steal Your Online Accounts
• Top 10 USB Thumb Drive Tricks
• The Master List of Hotmail Keyboard Shortcuts
• How Can I Move an Individual Application and Its Settings to Another Mac?

 

NEWS

• Facebook now lets you Download Your Information
•  How to Collect Your Verizon Refund

Social Media: Blogging for your business

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Blogging is yet another way you can tap into social media to market your business and engage with current and potential new customers.  You can incorporate a blog into your company's existing website or have a stand alone blog (some companies just opt for a blog instead of a website).  many opt for a free blog hosted by Google's Blogspot (Blogger), TypePad or WordPress.   The key thing to remember if you start a blog for your business is this - content is king - so be sure to keep it interesting, keep it informative and keep it relevant!

Below are some short tutorials that we found to help you get setup with a new blog using Blogger, TypePad or WordPress.


Blogger



Word Press



Type Pad

Social Media: Do your customers geo-location tools to "check-in" when they visit your business?

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According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, 81% of cell phone owners use their phones to report where they are or to check someone else’s location.  The same number of survey respondents indicated that they use their cell phones to coordinate where they are to meet someone. 

If you own a store, restaurant, professional offices or any business where customers can visit your establishment, tapping into this trend may be a profitable way to market your business.   Using a geo-location or "check-in" services and mobile applications such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite, Loopt, Shopkick, Facebook Places and even Twitter may help new customers discover your business.  In addition, your loyal customers can leave invaluable positive feedback (yes, you do open yourself up for some negative feedback as well!) and you can further engage with them by offering discounts and other benefits.  Many of these services are "geo-social," combining social networking with their "check-in" service like the fast-growing Foursquare which give "mayorships" to the person checking in most often to their business and even offering freebies - with competition for "mayorships" and rewards to be had,  no wonder Foursquare is so popular.

Check out these articles to learn more about how you can use geo-location tools to market your business:

• Geolocation 101: How it works, the Apps, and Your Privacy
• Ways Small Businesses Can Offer Location Based Deals
• Cellphone in New Role: Loyalty Card
• How to Leverage Foursquare for Business
• How Powerful is Foursquare for Local Businesses?
• Use Facebook Places to Boost Business and Life Sales
• The Video Guide to Facebook Places for Business
• 3 Reasons Why Twitter's Geolocation Feature is Cool

Social Media: Marketing your business with YouTube

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You may have heard about the viral success of videos from Old Spice, Gillette, Blendtec and IKEA on YouTube, each with millions of views to date.  More and more, companies are looking to online video as a way to market their goods and services while also providing entertaining and informative content to consumers that stands apart form their competition.  Posting videos to YouTube is ideal for businesses large and small. The service is free and your videos can live online as long as you'd like, so a small initial investment to produce a video can result in long term returns.  An additional benefit to posting videos to YouTube - you don't have to worry about bandwidth issues on your own website - you can simply embed the code for your desired YouTube video and it will play on your website!

Some tips to making YouTube videos work for your business:

• Investing in expensive equipment to produce a video is simply not necessary - YouTube videos are just 320 x 400 pixels.  We recommend that you invest in a user-friendly video camera for under $500.
• Proper lighting while recording is important and doesn't have to be expensive.  (Read Bill Moyer's video lighting secrets for your home studio.)
• Choose a descriptive user name - this will become the name of your YouTube channel and you will not be able to change it.
• Be sure to include your website URL in your video.
• Videos must be under 10 minutes in length - but your video does not have to be that long!
• Give a good deal of thought to your choice of video name, your video description and the keywords you associate with your video, you want search engines to be able to find your video so chose keywords that best fit your business offerings and niche.
• Let your contacts know about your YouTube channel, notify them via email or on a social network such as Facebook or Twitter and be sure to post the URL on all your marketing materials and include the link in your email signature.
• Interact with other YouTube users - comment on relevant videos and subscribe to other channels in order to drive some traffic to your channel.

For more tips on making your YouTube videos a success, check out Social Media Examiner's 16 Tips for Successful Online Video Marketing.

Let us know if you are using online video to market your business, leave us a comment below with the URL for your videos.
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See for yourself why the videos from Old Spice, Gillette, Blendtec and IKEA went viral!

Old Spice


Gillette


Blendtec


IKEA

Social Media: Twitter and "tweeting"

Tweet Twitter is a free micro-blogging service where users post notes or "tweets" in 140 characters or less. If you are new to Twitter or curious about how you can use it to share information and opinions with others or to market your business, take a look at Twitter 101: How should I get started using Twitter? to learn how to set-up an account, "tweet" and "re-tweet" and discover others users to "follow." [See our blog about shortening URL's, this is a great way to help you stay within Twitter's 140 character limit]

As mentioned in our post about using social media for business, many business have had success using Twitter to generate business, check out Twitter's case studies to learn how companies, large and small, are engaging with customers, gaining invaluable word-of-mouth advertising and growing their businesses using this service.

Follow NMC on Twitter, @nmc2004

For lists of celebrities, musicians, news outlets and other interesting Twitter users to follow, check out wefollow.com
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Check out Twitter's YouTube video: "Twitter: discover what's new in your world"

Social Media: Hongkiat.com's 20 Facebook Tips/Tricks You Might Not Know

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Check out Hongkiat.com's Facebook tips and tricks, including:

• Updating Facebook using sites like hellotxt and Ping.fm

• Downloading Facebook Photo Albums using FacePAD: Facebook Photo Album Downloader

• Scheduling your Facebook messages using Sendible

• Synchronizingphotos of your Facebook friends with your MS Outlook contacts

• Deleting, Canceling and Terminating your  Facebook Account and Profile

For the full list of tips and tricks, click here.

This week's tech tips and news

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Welcome to Monday, all!  Here's this week's roundup of interesting tech tips and news, enjoy!

TIPS

• MS Office
  • Creating watermarks 
  • Add a bookmark to your document

• File Management
  • Print Files on Your Printer from Any Phone or Remote Computer via Dropbox  - PC's  or Macs
  • How to Open Compressed Files on Your iOS Device
  • How to Play Any Media File in iTunes

• As of Monday, Ocotber 4th, check the apps you download on your mobile phone  for TRUSTe certification to ensure that your private information is protected - A Badge That Tells Consumers, 'Trust This App'
• Keeping Your Twitter Account Active and Secure
• How to Show More Sites On the Internet Explorer 9 New Tab Page 
• Five Best Presentation Creation Tools
• How to Encode Video for All Your Mobile Devices
• Why You Should Use Ad Block Extensions, Even if You Don't Block Ads
• To Remain Productive: Assign Email a 15-Minute Minimum to Avoid Unnecessary Checking
• 5 ways to cut your storage footprint

 

NEWS

• Tablet computers on the horizon -  Dell (Streak), BlackBerry (PlayBook) , Sharp Galapagos,  Kno and Amazon?!
• Google
  • In Schmidt's vision, Google will anticipate users' searches before they even ask
  • Google URL Shortener, aka Goo.gl, Finally Gets Its Own Web Site
  • Google Docs Emulates Microsoft Word's "Track Changes" Feature
• Social Media
  • Tracking the flu by tracking the tweets 
  • Bazaarvoice Ramps Up For Social Shopping
  • Facebook upgrades photos -- look out, Flickr
  • Facebook offers peek at incoming malware attacks
• Microsoft boosts Hotmail security, limits account hijacking
• HP to generate ad revenue from printing reformatted web pages
   

Keeping your electronics clean

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You've spent your good money on your electronics so you want to keep them clean and looking good, but how?  Well, according to Good Housekeeping, no harsh cleansers are necessary - a microfiber cloth and a bit of water or rubbing alcohol does the trick in most cases.  Check out their full list of tips for cleaning most electronics such as keyboards, LCD monitors, cell phones, stereos and more.  For quick cleaning, you can always use wipes specially made for cleaning electronics.