Accepting Credit Cards in Your Small Business

Muezza
February 17, 2021
0 Comments

Accepting Credit Cards in Your Small Business

If you’re like many small business owners, you’ve probably wondered about how to accept credit cards from your customers. The problem is that it’s sometimes hard to get a merchant account. They often want a lot of money, and want your credit to be spotless, etc. But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

I started my first business back in 2004, investing in real estate. I made a lot of money and then like many other people I got caught by the credit crunch. I got caught holding the bag with over $800,000 in loans outstanding and lost everything.

But, I picked myself up and created a new business, Nerds Next Door an onsite computer repair business. It has gone pretty well, but I was hampered by the fact that I couldn’t accept credit cards when so many of my competitors could. I talked to numerous banks and merchant processing companies. I got flat out denied by most of the banks, and found the best route was a merchant processor who needed a HUGE deposit, and when I say HUGE, I mean in the neighborhood of around $5,000, that they would hold onto for about a year. I just wasn’t able to do that.

So, I started researching alternative credit card processors. I currently am using Paypal to accept credit cards from my customers. I get the customers information and process it right over the internet using my iPhone. It’s easy and seamless. I wasn’t approved for the more advanced business account, but I’m using the basic business account and it’s working really, really well. The fees aren’t that great, roughly 3% from each transaction, so it can eat you up over time.

There are other “no credit”, credit card processing companies out there, but some of them charge outrageous processing fees. Stay away from any company that wants to charge you more than 5% in fees.

Good luck, and don’t give up, there is always a way to get business done.…

Muezza
February 14, 2021
0 Comments

Computer Technology – Online Learning Possibilities

Computers are used in virtually every business and home across the United States. Business professionals and individuals may know how to use a computer to accomplish all of their needs but many people are lost when it comes to fixing a computer error or creating an information system. This is why online learning in computer technology is beneficial.

The possibilities open to students inside the realm of computer technology can have an individual doing everything from installing computers to creating programs for computers. The route of education is solely up to the student.

Approaching this field can be overwhelming but knowing the options prior to enrolling in a program is a helpful first step. Students who have no desire to create computer programs or build systems can earn a different education in computer technology. Students who like working with computers can learn how to repair, maintain, and control computer viruses through different certificate and degree programs. On the other hand students that want to learn how to create computer programs and work with businesses to establish information can find certificate and degree programs to enter. Students interested in computer technology should consider what tasks and responsibilities they want to accomplish in the professional industry. This is helpful because it allows students to pick the right degree path from the beginning of their education. Not having this luxury may result in having to switch to another program because the program selected may not be the correct path to enter their desired field.

The learning prospects can have students earning a degree from an associate to a doctorate depending on the field of study. Other fast paced programs may only require students to work through a certificate program in order to be licensed to carry out work duties. To become a computer technician students can work through an approximate 20 credit hour certificate program. This program would be a great choice to learn about all the areas of computer software and hardware. A program like this teaches students how to perform support and maintenance on computers. Students that receive this certificate can work with business and personal computers.

A more in depth computer technology degree can be gained through computer information science. Educational study at the bachelor level trains students to create applications to serve a businesses computer needs. Learning in this area would prepare students to provide continued assistance in running a businesses information systems and databases. Aspects of education at this level and degree have students studying how to prevent system failures, how to create easy to use systems, and how to work with technology communications.

Once a student knows what area of the industry they want to enter, choosing a degree won’t seem like such a daunting task. Students need to consider how many years they can dedicate to learning. Choosing a program that is feasible depends on what an individuals career goals are and how much time they can give to education. …

Muezza
February 9, 2021
0 Comments

IBM: It All Began One Hundred Years Ago

IBM (International Business Machines Corporation), also known as ‘Big Blue’, first originated in the late eighteen hundreds far before computers were even being built or used. Now, as the IT consulting and computer technology company it is today, one rarely looks back upon their small beginnings. It has been one hundred years since IBM stepped into the technology world as the company they are today; and even now, they are still wowing their audience of tech gurus with new and improved technology systems every day.

IBM was initially in the business of producing time clocks for employees in business around the United States of America. They worked as a merger via companies: International Time Recording Company and Tabulating Machine Company, still not under the IBM name. This is far before the invention of the desktop or laptop electronic computers we take for granted today. These punch in-punch out systems were not the only focus of the merged company newly named: Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation. They also dipped into the markets for coffee grinders, automatic deli meat slicers and scales for determining weight.

Operating mainly out of New York, the company maintained over one thousand employees at this time. It was not until February of 1924 that IBM got its formal name. Their employee count rose quite quickly, and by the time the name IBM was official, there were over three times the amount of initial employees working for the corporation. With a newfound group of top engineers, including: James Bryce and Fred Carroll, the company was ready start building electronic business machinery.

IBM wasn’t keeping all of their secrets to themselves, either. IBM held their first educational engineering information course for customers of IBM. The course outline the needs for streamlining business duties, and how using electronic devices could improve overall company efficiency. The company advertised and educated all in the same step.

In the time of the Great Depression, IBM pushed forward, not laying off employees but instead hired more – invested more. The focus was mainly on data processing and food service equipment. By the nineteen sixties IBM was one of the biggest computer companies in the world, alongside UNIVAC, General Electric and Honeywell. In the mid-sixties alone, the company was producing close to seventy percent of all computers.

Always keeping with the new age, IBM produced the first ThinkPad laptop in 1992. The corporation also produced the chip now used within Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3 and a number of other high tech video gaming systems.

Maintaining their aggression in the field of development, IBM has never stopped pushing ahead with new ideas and innovative designs. Since their original founding in 1911 to the now 2011 era of speedy and smart technology, IBM has continued to be a front runner. Now supplying the world with IBM hardware, software, services and consulting, computing systems and more, it is no wonder the company has only gained strength through the years. What …

Muezza
February 6, 2021
0 Comments

Tech Help For Database Application

You can gather, organize, and evaluate information pretty conveniently by a RDBMS package that thrives on ease of use and flexibility. The ease of use is one thing which is common to all RDBMS packages today. By organizing your data into relational tables, you make savings on repetitive punching. You also make savings on disk space and labor cost. But more importantly, you now organize your data in a logical compact manner. This reflects logical approach on your part when it comes to making an entry for a transaction as well as locating and retrieving information. Good analysis of data can provide you information on valuable hidden trends: You can accordingly tune yourself to grow your future business.

You learn what a parent table is and what a child table is. For instance, you may supply a list of goods to your local consumers. You may have few consumers who are repetitive. So what you can do is to assign a particular code to each of your consumer. This will be stored in one table which keeps only permanent details such as phone no, address, email-id, bank account no of consumers. You can name it Consumer Detail table. The next table which you may call Goods Supplied table will contain details of goods supplied, such as quantity of goods supplied, date of order, date of delivery. Once you enter permanent details of a consumer in your Consumer Detail table, you no more need to enter them multiple number of times. The moment you have next transaction with it, all you have to enter is details of fresh transaction in Goods Supplied table. This will make your data entry system far more crisp and systematic. The consumer is located from unique Consumer ID in the Consumer Detail table, which is parent table. The child table is Goods Supplied table that connects with unique consumer ID in the Consumer Detail table. Similarly, you can have another child table maintaining payment details that will relate to Consumer ID in the Consumer Detail table. This makes your database interrelated. You make powerful queries that locate and retrieve information for your specific information.

The parent-child relationship is at the heart of relational database management system. You design your table based on one-to-one relationship, one-to-many relationship, and many-to-many relationship. By applying referential integrity, you maintain serenity of data. Referential integrity ensures that you do not delete any information that may still be required for your business transaction needs. For instance, if you are in the process of a transaction with a consumer for which you are going to receive payment, referential integrity ensures that you cannot delete Consumer ID and its fixed details in the Consumer Detail Table.

Today, you can set relational database management system working with multi-users, onsite or remotely. You can work on an intranet setting or internet, working with static or dynamic data. For tech help, you can easily corroborate your RDBMS with other offline as well …

Muezza
February 2, 2021
0 Comments

Choosing An USB Port Replicator – Four Factors To Keep In Mind

Most people want flexibility when working with a computer or laptop. This is a very possible, thanks to the progress of computer technology. Many hardware and software applications continue emerging to make user experience more fulfilling. For instance, an usb port replicator is a small hardware gadget that many people long for. It actually works best for people who prefer using both desktop computers and laptops.

A typical replicator is easy to plug in to all or some of the computer ports, including serial, parallel, s-video, twin PS/2, headphones, Ethernet, mobile, VGA, DVI USB and so on. Its main role is helping you connect to the notebooks or laptop computers the peripherals you cannot carry. These can include typical parts such as a mouse, a keyboard, a monitor, a joystick, a scanner, and a printer.

Other examples include a flash memory disk, an Internet modem, a digital camera, an external hard drive, a CD-ROM hard drive and so on. Let us just say that the items you could connect depend on the replicators you go for. Some of them are more flexible because they have many features. There are few factors you need to keep in mind when choosing an usb port replicator. They include the following.

AÃ¯Â¿Â½ Compatibility – A few models match well with all types of laptop or computer notebooks from various manufacturers. In addition, some devices from a given manufacturer can support many other laptops it sells. So, if you buy this item now from Dell, for instance, and later change your Dell computer model, the replicator might work still. As you shop around, make sure that you get a compatible item. A few will only work with specific notebooks.

AÃ¯Â¿Â½ USB slots – Replicating a single dock on your laptop is the main goal here. Do you have many non-portable devices that you wish to use simultaneously? If yes, you need an usb port replicator with many USB slots built-in it. Some come with four and others up to seven. Which one would you prefer?

AÃ¯Â¿Â½ Model – There are many manufacturers of this device. Some of them are famous producers of notebooks and laptops. If you have a favorite manufacturer such as Toshiba, Dell, Acer, HP and others, look for their passthroughs (replicators). You can easily access them on the Internet.

AÃ¯Â¿Â½ Price – Even items from a similar brand do not have similar costs. Some are more expensive because of the features they have. You can find both new and refurbished models. The newer ones are expensive, of course. On average, you can get a device if you have about sixty dollars and above. If you want a durable usb port replicator, then buy a new with proven high quality. Read product reviews to know what others are saying about various products.…

Muezza
January 30, 2021
0 Comments

How Long Has the Laptop Computer Been Around?

The laptop computer has a long history which began in 1981 when a portable computer known as ‘Osborne’ was made. Although it was rather heavy and clumsy, with a tiny screen, it had a major impact on computer technology. For the first time, business people were able to transport data if they had to attend out of town meetings.

Two years later, along came the Compaq Portable. Although hardly portable by today’s standards, and almost as heavy as the Osborne, it was the first IBM duplicate. This computer was able to run off MS-DOS but it required electricity.

The first laptop that came close to the ones we are familiar with today was the GriD Compass 1101, designed by Bill Moggridge, and released during 1982. This computer was housed in a magnesium case which is similar to the clam shell casings that we see on modern laptops.

Another two laptops that are worth a mention in this era were the Gavilan SC and the Sharp PC-5000, especially the Gavilan which was the first to be marketed using the word ‘laptop’. In 1983 the biggest selling laptop computer was the Kyocera 85 which was truly portable in the sense that it could run on standard batteries.

Three other commercial laptops that were compatible with IBM were two Toshiba models, the T1000 and the T1200, and the IBM PC Convertible. The Toshiba models were introduced in 1987, while the IBM one was launched the year before. During the next few years, there was rapid progress in the technology of laptops and by 1995 they were common place.

Now that we have reached the 21st Century, laptops have become a way of life. Just about everyone has one. Technology has advanced so fast that we forget that it was not long ago that owing a computer was considered to be a luxury. Today it is a necessity and we use our computers for everything.

With the convenience of laptops, we are not bound to our homes or offices. Just walk into any restaurant, hotel or other public place and you will see men, women and children busy on their laptops. They are used for entertainment purposes, business purposes and research purposes.

The laptop computer has certainly caused a revolution. We can sit across town and pay our bills, order furniture, or chat face-to-face with our friends and family anywhere in the world. There are many accessories that can be purchased for laptops. These include battery packs, USB cables, webcams and even joysticks for playing games.…

Muezza
January 27, 2021
0 Comments

Remote Desktop Control: As Simple As a Keyboard and Mouse

If you haven’t familiarized yourself with remote desktop control software, then now is the time to do just that. With a few quick and simple relations, you can make your work life much easier, and make some of your personal things that you do with your computer that much more efficient and practical.

So remote desktop control is something that you can do through the utilization of special software. Essentially, you will be installing this software on a few different computers, so that you can connect to essentially at will. You are basically forming your own personal Internet, where you can control different computers from other computers.

Remote desktop control software is available for both Windows and Macintosh systems, and some of them are cross platform while the others are slightly more proprietary in that you can only connect to a similar operating system. It all depends on the design of the basic structure and how the networking is configured.

What is happening is that you are connecting one computer to another via the Internet. The to computers that are involved are called the post and client computers. The host computer is on and running, and the client computer basically finds its Internet address on the web and connects to it using a specialized login.

If you want to describe remote desktop control on the most basic level, you’d essentially be saying that you are using your keyboard and mouse from your home location to control the computer and the remote location. That means that you can run all of the programs and access all the files, but you are controlling the data entry and data movement commands through your own machine.

There are several times when this type of remote desktop control would be appropriate, especially professionally. If you are sick, and you still need to get work done, having remote desktop control will allow you to get all of your work done from the safety and comfort of your own home, and still make your boss happy.

Two other really important things that remote desktop control can function as an important ability for is for file transfer and remote shutdown. Once you have control of another computer, you can use your command ability to move files from one place to another, and then afterward turn the computer off remotely.

If you’ve never looked into remote desktop control before, there’s no time like the present to begin at least a cursory study of it. You may find that it can increase your practical functionality for both work and personal reasons in the blink of an eye, and many times the cost associated with it is very minimal.…

Muezza
January 24, 2021
0 Comments

Application Of Computer Preventive Maintenance Software

Just like any other machine, computers are prone to breaking down at any time. This can cause inconvenience to one especially if they had important data or information stored in it. Therefore there is need for this to be prevented at any cost. One way of doing this is by the use of computer preventive maintenance software and utilities.

It is used to monitor, detect and prevent the computer from any harm from software threats and hardware malfunctions. They also help improve the performance of the system by carrying out periodic automatic updates.

There are many types of these utilities. Some of them include disk defragmenters. These programs manage the hard disk space so as to ensure that data and information saved on it is easily accessible and that it does not take a long time to do so.

Another example is the hardware diagnostic utility. It checks the condition of the hardware and is also able to detect and alert the user if there is any fault with any of them. It is also used to check whether new hardware connected to the system is compatible and recommends that you install the compatible driver for the hardware if at all there is none.

Antivirus programs are also another one of these utilities. Viruses are some of the most dangerous threats that the computer faces. They mostly affect the non physical part of the system though this also has an effect on the hardware of the too. They cause a lot of data loss and crashing of computers and therefore must be stopped at any cost.

That is why several companies have come up with antivirus programs to counteract them which are called antivirus programs. There are several types of antivirus programs depending on the company that creates them. The most common ones are McAfee, Norton, AVG and Kaspersky. They take care of the system by getting rid of the viruses and other related programs created with malicious intent.

Driver utilities are also included in this list. This program scans the system for available drivers and identifies those that are missing or the outdated ones. It then recommends the appropriate drivers that should be installed in place of the outdated ones or connects to the internet so as to update them. In cases where there are missing drivers then it gives suggestions of compatible drivers and once you have chosen the one you want to install then it automatically installs it form the internet.

The final computer preventive maintenance software is the registry management software. These deal with the registry. This is where the software keys and configuration settings are usually stored. It contains important information on program and files locations in the computer. When anything is installed an entry is created in the registry and when it is uninstalled the entry remains unused. This interferes with the performance of the system. So the managers scan the registry, fix any faulty entries and delete …

Muezza
January 20, 2021
0 Comments

The New American Job: Hybrid Careers

As a child, John Halamka was passionate about science and electronics. In 4th grade, he presented a home-built Van de Graff generator at his school science fair and took home first place honors. Fast forward 30 some years, and Halamka, now Dr. Halamka is the chief information officer at Harvard medicine school. Dr. Halamka is not only the acting CIO, but is also a practicing emergency-ward physician and electronic health records advisor for the Obama administration.

Dr. Halamka’s career is what labor experts are now calling a “hybrid career,” a career that fuses computing with other fields. And, as computing knowledge becomes more of an integral part of many professions, the “hybrid career” will be the job of the future.

These future jobs will require more multi-disciplinary, technologically knowledgeable, “cool nerds” like Dr. Halamka and because of this educators and technologists are calling for a reform of computer science education beginning in high schools. The focus in high school computer courses has traditionally been on teaching students how to use simple software like word processors and spreadsheets. For students to enter into the “hybrid careers” of the future, more emphasis needs to be placed on programming as opposed to writing word documents.

Says Alfred Spector, vice president for research and special initiatives at Google, “we need to gain an understanding in the population that education in computer science is both extraordinarily important and extraordinarily interesting. The fear is that if you pursue computer science, you will be stuck in a basement, writing code. That is absolutely not the reality.”

Kira Lehtomaki, like Dr. Halamka, pursued a hybrid career. A Disney animator, (she “sketches” her drawings on a computer by using specialized graphics and software) Lehtomaki credits her longtime love of both art and technology to her success in the digital animation field. Lehtomaki noted that “computer science taught me how to think about things, how to break down and solve complex problems.

This “computational thinking” is aiding advances in “field after field” and calls to attention the “broad reach of computing across the sciences, industries, culture and society.”

Teaching groups, organizations like the National Science Foundation and the Association for Computing Machinery and companies like Google, Microsoft, and Intel are recent additions to the movement and hope to help reform not only high-school computer courses but also higher education computer courses and programs. The groups are also advocating making technology and computer education more widely available through online courses and online instruction.…

Muezza
January 15, 2021
0 Comments

Teach Older Folks to Use a Computer

Computers and Older Users

Some old folk resist every bit of technology and change as they cling desperately to the ways of the past. Time, however, is against them in a rapidly changing environment that will see them ever more isolated unless they adapt.

The computer is not a thing to be feared and the advantages far outweigh the effort put in to learn its functions. If encouraged and shown the ropes an older person can not only have a lot of fun doing puzzles, playing games, and making new friends but will find that things like banking their money and paying their bills has never been easier.

The programs available now are better, more sophisticated and far easier to use than those of a few years ago. Once the initial set-up is completed the memory of ever the browser makes surfing the web so much better.

Writing letters is fast becoming a thing of the past as emails have taken over. They cost nothing to send and receive and are there in a flash with a reply likely within a few minutes. Sending cards is, likewise, being overridden by computer cards that also cost nothing to send.

Take away the drudge of shopping in a mall and introduce them to the delights of shopping online and receiving the goods purchased when they arrive at the door of their home instead of humping them around the old way. Show them the hundreds of forums where they can chat to like-minded people, talk about their lives, their ailments, and their families to their hearts content.

Help them find the bargains they never dreamed existed when massive discounts are offered by online stores. Take away the mystery of downloading and being involved with interactive web sites where they can spend hours of sheer pleasure doing what they enjoy most.

These are only some of the benefits to be had by older folk as they give up their prejudices and take up some new interests in the modern concept of communication. It’s up to family members and friends to help them get online and learn how to do it for themselves.…