Wi-Fi VoIp?

The Wi-Fi Alliance wants to make voice a part of Wi-Fi networks, and has introduced a program to certify products, it announced on Monday.

The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Voice-Personal stamp of approval means a product is capable of making or handling good-quality voice calls in the home or a small office environment, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance. Access points, wireless routers, handsets (which are growing at a steady rate) and laptops can all be tested and certified.

The push is a way for Wi-Fi Alliance to keep femtocells and upcoming technologies such as WiMax, HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) and LTE (Long Term Evolution) -- which lately have overshadowed Wi-Fi -- out of the home, according to Richard Webb, directing analyst at Infonetics. Webb thinks Wi-Fi, helped by a low cost and a large installed base, will be able to stay dominant.

"Wi-Fi performance has been continually improved, and this is another step along that road," said Webb.

In a departure from interoperability testing, which has always been Wi-Fi Alliance's bread and butter, it instead looks at performance. To be certified, products have to deliver packet loss of less than 1 percent with no burst losses, as well as latency and maximum jitter of less than 50 milliseconds, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance.

The first round of certified products include Intel's PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (an embedded 802.11a, b and g PCIe Mini Card), Cisco Systems' Aironet 1250 and 1200 Series Access Points, and Meru's access point AP200.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Voice-Personal is only an option for vendors, so users will need to double check a special Wi-Fi product database to see whether a particular product has passed the testing.

Wi-Fi Alliance also has plans to introduce a program for enterprise environments, called Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Voice-Enterprise, early next year. It will be based on the Voice-Personal Program, and add support for bandwidth management, hand-offs between access points, enterprise-class security, network management and other features that are necessary in larger environments, according to Wi-Fi Alliance.

Enterprise adoption of IP (Internet Protocol) telephony over WLANs is growing, and vendors have put a lot of effort to improve performance, but many companies are still reticent about putting voice on it, according to Webb.

"Certification gives it a stamp of approval," he said.

Improve Business Performance

As a manager, one of your myriad duties is the professional development of your employees. Mentoring your employees helps them perform better, improves morale, and can help your business succeed. Most employees yearn to grow their skills with the aid of a knowledgeable, more senior member of their team. Want to take a more active role in mentoring your staff?

Try these tips:

Buddy up. Consider it a kind of matchmaking — send your staffers and more senior members, or mentors, off to discuss past experiences and future goals over lunch or coffee. Pairing those who have fewer years in the business with those who’ve got a wealth of proven experience is a great way to get a fresh exchange of ideas flowing. These pairings needn’t be exactly in line along the hierarchy; all that’s important is that the two parties can learn something from one another. It's also a good idea to take personalities into account, if possible, in matching employees with mentors.

Listen Openly. For one-on-one conversations between junior and senior staffers, encourage both parties to abandon their preconceptions. Instead of “right” or “wrong” ways of meeting challenges, encourage them to approach problems or projects by finding ways that work to replace ways that don’t. Neutralizing this language promotes an open dialogue in which both parties' ideas are equally valid. This parity will encourage the conversation to move freely and ensure that both the senior and junior staffer emerge with new ideas.

Think Strategically. One of the best by-products of mentoring is the slew of novel approaches it can engender. Once your staffers have met to discuss their professional goals and new methods of achieving them, be open to applying these ideas. They may not always work, but with patience and perseverance on all sides, successes will be achieved and staffers will see that their mentoring conversations produce tangible, actionable results that enhance their performance.

While mentoring may seem at first to be a one-way street, benefiting the recipient of the mentoring, it invigorates everyone involved. Mentors are stimulated by the active need for their skills, while they can learn from the junior employee, who brings a fresh outlook and new ideas to what might feel like old hat for the senior staffer. Mentoring can boost communication, inject new ideas into old formulas, and promote a satisfying, more open work environment — all of which benefits your bottom line.

Quotes to Inspire

I recently read a quote that inspired me and thought, "Why not share it with others?" I've also collected a list of quotes from entrepreneurs and other quotes that are relevant to entrepreneurship. I hope one of these quotes inspires you as well.

• I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work - Thomas Edison, inventor and scientist
• The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary - Vidal Sassoon, entrepreneur
• Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't. - Anonymous
• The best reason to start an organization is to make meaning - to create a product or service to make the world a better place - Guy Kawasaki, entrepreneur, investor, author
• Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory - Mahatma Gandhi, political and spiritual leader
• Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners - Robert T. Kiyosaki, author, entrepreneur, investor
• Entrepreneurs average 3.8 failures before final success. What sets the successful ones apart is their amazing persistence - Lisa M. Amos
• Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life - John F. Kennedy, U.S. President
• In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable - Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. President
• The greatest reward in becoming a millionaire is not the amount of money that you earn. It is the kind of person that you have to become to become a millionaire in the first place - Jim Rohn
• Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them - Anonymous
• Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make - Donald Trump, real estate and entertainment mogul
• The entrepreneur in us sees opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere they look. The entrepreneur in us is more concerned with discriminating between opportunities than he or she is with failing to see the opportunities - Michael Gerber, author, entrepreneur
• An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he'll quickly learn how to chew it - Roy Ash, co-founder of Litton Industries
• The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer - Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese's
• I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful - Warren Buffet, investor and billionaire
• I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others... I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent - Thomas Edison, inventor and scientist
• Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the Trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover - Mark Twain, author
• There is a tide in the affairs of menWhich, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;Omitted, all the voyage of their lifeIs bound in shallows and in miseries.On such a full sea are now afloat;And we must take the current when it serves,Or lose the ventures before us - William Shakespeare, author
• Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration - Thomas Edison, inventor and scientist

The MPAA and RIAA are still not smart. - Big suprise huh?

The MPAA and RIAA will leave no stone unturned in their quest to eradicate piracy from the Internet. Their latest target: Evil laser printers, which are surely harboring bootleg copies of "Iron Man" and "My Humps."

Laser printers of course are innocent of the crimes of which they are accused. But two professors and a student at the University of Washington are using printers (which have indeed received takedown letters in recent months) as an example of how poor a job the MPAA and RIAA are doing at finding copyright infringement online.

Using a number of BitTorrent-connected file sharing computers but not uploading or downloading any files, the researchers received over 400 takedown notices during trials in August 2007 and May 2008. All of the notices were directed at spoofed IP addresses which weren't engaging in any infringing activity: In fact, many of the addresses weren't even computers. But in addition to serving printers with legal notices, at least one wireless access point (which has no storage capabilities at all) was threatened with a lawsuit.

The full research report is available online (PDF link). The conclusions find that not only are false positives a real problem because the systems scanning for illegal activity are doing only cursory examinations of the behaviors going on at those addresses, but those addresses are easy to conceal and fake. The result: Mass hysteria in the world of copyright infringement. On the other hand, the study noted that the door swings both ways: IP blacklists, long a standard method of avoiding detection by P2P users, are "wholly ineffective" as a means of avoiding monitoring.

Workers paying for their own work laptops, gadgets

If you've been buying your own gadgets to increase your productivity on the road, you're not alone. A recent study by In-Stat discovered that nearly 40 percent of the professionals surveyed admitted to buying their own work laptop, and it's likely that countless others have used their personal PDAs, GPS, cameras, and even cell phones for work-related projects because most companies aren't willing to buy them one.

Apparently, some employers feel electronics are too expensive and aren't convinced that gadgets boost productivity. However, one In-Stat tech analyst says these companies are being "penny wise but pound foolish" because electronics do add value and cost less than an employee's time.

I'm going to have to agree with In-Stat here. Some of these companies should get with the times and realize that we are a fast-paced society that depends on technology to get our work done. Ok, so maybe we dont' all need a GPS or digital camera for work, but those that could actually get a significant productivity boost should get one.

In this day and age, all companies should at least issue a laptop and a smartphone to mobile workers. And if they're not willing to pay the cell phone bill, the least they can do is offer to split the bill. These are hard times folks, and the last thing workers need to worry about is not having the right tools to get the job done.

Balance Work and Life or Else!

Q: What does it mean to have work/life balance?

A: This is a very personal thing and it is different for everyone. Generally speaking, having a good work/life balance means that your actions and priorities are aligned in a way that is taking care of what is really important to you.

One of the main implications of being out of balance, however you define it, is that you neglect other areas of your life; family, health, etc. are often some of the first. When you become so addicted to only dealing with your urgent tasks you don’t think there is time for the non-urgent. You think that there will be time to deal with them later. But often, when you ask people what they feel is most important in their life, things they really want to accomplish, they are things that take time and long-term investment. By the time these things become urgent, it’s often too late to affect them.

You have to decide what is important.

What do you really want to be and do with your life. What is your mission? What do you want people to say about you 30 or 40 years from now? Then, look at what is being asked of you and see if those things are a part of your life’s important goals. If not, smile and say “no.” If you’ve really decided what is important, you can become an agent in helping the people you work with, your family, friends and boss, know and understand your top priorities. This takes courage. It means you have to stand up for what you feel is important and help others understand why.

There are no quick-fixes to achieving work/life balance.

Your priorities may change as your circumstances change. Thus, I invite you to consider the things that you value most and allow those to serve as the foundation. Then commit to consistently re-evaluate your current priorities, given your current circumstances and based on what you have identified as your core values. It takes courage, but remember not to trade in what you want most, for what you want now.

Get lost on your desktop

With all the discussion about productivity, it made me think about whether I do what I can to ensure I am as productive as I should be.

This lead me onto thinking about the things that divert my attention away from my task in-hand, such as loud music, interruptions and wallpapers. So I came to wonder whether your desktop wallpaper (being the thing you see everytime you get a glimpse of your desktop) could aid you in your productivity.

I believe that having a wallpaper that I choose helps me to concentrate. I am the kind of person where I can work for hours without stopping, skipping meals, and becoming so totally absorbed in what I am doing to forget the outside world even exists. When I burn through that period, I am usually tired, not in the physical sense, and need a break. Staring into my desktop wallpaper relaxes me and gets me prepared to concentrate again, sort of like a good massage will help an athlete for the next game.

Does your wallpaper help you concentrate? If you need a minute to think maybe you can get lost in your desktop wallpaper too. A good place to find some interesting wallpaper is http://www.deviantart.com. Find what you need and let your mind relax a bit before tackling that next task.

You may find that you will become more productive if you take a minute to relax.

Sorry. I have nothing about the office today. I have experienced a loss in my family.

Why does my printer take a long time to print?

HP Laserjet P1505n Problem.?
-asked by Steven B

There are 3 computers connected to this HP printer via the network. Often the printer will fail to print documents, especially web pages with lots of graphics (mapquest or weather.com). The green light on the printer will just blink but it never prints. This happens mostly on the 2 older G4's in the room. It doesn't appear to be a problem with the network because the same problem happens when connected to the printer via USB. It does not appear to be a problem with the computer. I believe they are running the most recent version of the driver.

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
by Pendragon...

The printer doesn't have enough memory to process the graphics. Buy a printer suited to the job. That printer is a personal printer not a workgroup printer.

I have run into this situation numerous times - A customer calls complaining about equipment that is functioning fine. When purchasing any type of office equipment it is essential that you match the equipment to the job. The LaserJet P1505N is a fine printer and works well for home use. It was never intended for an office environment. The decision maker in this instance should have consulted a dealer before purchase. Most likely the company could have saved some money, purchased the correct machine, and avoided the headaches and hassles they now have.

How do I change language back to English on a Printer?

I use a HP Color Laserjet 2700n Printer at work and whilst I have been away some idiot has managed to put the printer language onto something random (looks like chinese or something). Has anyone got any idea how I can change it back to english? Have tried to look at troubleshooting guide but that doesn't help.Thanks for any ideas. - Asked by helen c

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

by Pendragon
Contributing In:
Printers
Best answer 91%
572 answers

1. Press OK to open the menus.

2. Press <> to navigate through the listings.
3. Press OK to select the appropriate option. An asterisk (*) appears next to the active selection.
4. Navigate to System Setup menu
5. Select Language
6. Change to English
7. Select OK

http://www.tangerineofficesystems.com
http://www.d-ros.com
http://officeworldadvice.blogspot.com

Fun at Work and Productivity

We've all heard the maxim "work hard, play hard" applied to workplaces. Often times the whole "play hard" thing is a bit of a red herring. But what is the value of fun in the workplace anyway?

Research has linked fun and employee satisfaction to higher productivity and even higher profits.* Not only this, but I've seen workplace fun contribute to retention. Departments that have fun together can be hard places to leave behind, and they tend to retain their best employees.

What can you do as a manager to bring some fun in? Chances are you won't need to do much other than let others spark it, but here are some ideas.

- Capitalize on your hobbies. I enjoy poetry, so I hosted lunchtime poetry readings at one of my companies. People enjoyed it, but perhaps poetry isn't your thing and movies are? Can you do a departmental film festival during lunch over a period of a few weeks? Be creative.

- Be spontaneous and quick. You don't need three hours to have some fun. Jump on an idea and then jump back to work.

- Go back to your childhood. When was the last time you blew bubbles? Had a sack race? Filled out a Mad Lib? You'll be surprised how much people enjoy a few moments of silliness, no matter how upright they are the other 99% of the time.

- Make it Educational. One client of mine asked two of her supervisors (who were often perceived as quite serious) to put on a skit about customer service for the departmental meeting. One of the managers came dressed like a grumpy old woman and played the part of "fussy customer" while the other demonstrated a slew of customer service techniques. The employees laughed until their sides hurt at the sight of their manager as "fussy customer" and learned a great deal about customer service too.

So, what can you do to embrace a little fun and increase employee satisfaction? Jot down a few ideas. Who knows? Perhaps it's just what the doctor ordered.

Spyware Infections Carry Big Costs for Small Businesses

A single spyware infection on a work computer can impact the productivity of the typical small business employee for two-and-a-half days, according to research commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

A survey of employees at businesses with 10 to 200 computer users found that more than one in four computer users reported having their productivity impacted by a spyware infection during the past six months. Of these, more than one-third reported multiple spyware inflections.
Even more alarming, users of spyware-infected computers reported "living with" the problem for 18 work hours – more than two full workdays – before getting it repaired.

They did so even though they realized that their work productivity was reduced due to the problems associated with spyware. Users estimated their productivity was reduced by 21 percent when the spyware problem was first noticed; and was reduced by 32 percent when the problem was at its peak.

On top of the delay in reporting a spyware infection is the time it takes to fix the problem. A survey of PC-support professionals servicing small businesses and who had fixed at least one spyware incident during the past year reported spending an average of 2.8 labor hours per infected PC. That’s more than 20 hours of reduced worker productivity for each spyware incident at a small business.

CompTIA commissioned Kotler Marketing Group of Washington, D.C. (http://www.kotlermarketing.com/), a consulting firm specializing in value-based selling, to conduct the survey to better understand the frequency and cost of problems such as spyware, viruses and network and server downtime among small businesses.

Two separate online surveys were conducted in late 2007. One questioned 537 end users who work in non-IT roles at small and mid-sized businesses in the financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and professional services industries. The other survey queried 200 IT professionals who support small and mid-sized businesses. Respondents were based in North America, with approximately 80 percent in the United States and 20 percent in Canada. For more information on the study, visit http://www.comptia.org/sections/research/.

iPhone 3G and the Hidden Math

Not mentioned in Monday's you-can't-get-away-from-it iPhone 3G announcement: AT&T's service plan jumps $10 a month. What's this? Did Apple finally figure out what the rest of the retail world did: That when you give away the razor you can charge through the nose for the blades?

Let's look at the math.

Old iPhone: $399 (for 8GB of storage), plus $60 per month for 450 voice minutes and unlimited data. Two-year total (since you'll be signing a two-year deal for either handset): $1,839.

New iPhone: $199 (for 8GB of storage), plus $70 per month for a basic voice plan (presumably the same 450 minutes) and unlimited data. Two-year total: $1,879.

That's $40 more over the course of your contract, which is really not that bad in the grand scheme of things. Had AT&T and Apple raised monthly fees just another $5 per month, the total cost of service would have hit almost $2,000 over two years (not including taxes and fees).

"Business users" get the shaft, big-time, with a minimum of $85 a month for service. That's $15 a month extra just so you can get email via Exchange. Other annoyances: iPhone 3G will have to be activated in stores instead of at home, like before, and the phone won't be available to purchase online at launch.

Still, this isn't too bad. Putting aside the business user issue, $40 extra over two years doesn't sound like much, considering all the extra features and services the new iPhone packs in.
In fact, on paper the iPhone 3G has addressed almost all of the biggest complaints, regarding the original model from a year ago. But then again, don't forget those accessories (a charging base, for example, is no longer included).

UPDATE: For those who've written regarding the time value of money, I did the math based on the present value of the iPhone to Apple at a 3% annual interest rate. The numbers: Original iPhone nets Apple/AT&T (and costs you) $1,795; new iPhone gets them $1,828. So the new phone still costs you $33 in the end if you invest that $200 you would have otherwise spent on the hardware.

UPDATE 2: Several readers write to mention that text messages are no longer included in the iPhone package, so add another $5 a month for 200 SMS messages. Upgrade to the 16GB iPhone and you're hitting $2,100!

Save Money on Ink and Toner

Printers are deceptively cheap these days, but the same can't be said for the ink and toner you put in them. Ink is used by inkjet printers and toner, a powder, is used in laser printers. With both, cartridge costs can add up fast.

To avoid paying too much, understand that the business of selling ink and toner has gotten more competitive recently. Printer makers are taking small steps to help you figure out how much ink a printer will use. And a variety of retailers, both online and off, are selling off-brand and recycled cartridges.

Just finding the right replacement cartridges when you need them can be a challenge as well, so you need to know where to look and the best ways to order what you need quickly. These steps will help:

• Don't let your cartridges empty completely. Dry cartridges can cause print heads to overheat and damage your printer.
• Be careful about recycled cartridges. They'll save you money, but low-quality cartridges can ruin your machine.
• Exercise caution with refill kits or quick refill stores because a refilled cartridge can and does leak.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done.

Establish an account with a dealer you can trust

Buy your cartridges from local reputable dealers who guarantee the quality of their products. Large office-supply chains are a good option, but a business who specializes in Ink and Toner may be a better option.

Save money with third-party brands

Just because your printer is an HP or Epson doesn't mean your ink cartridges must carry the manufacturer's name. You can cut costs by 10 to 40 percent or more with store brands. Also, the shelf life of cartridges varies based upon storage conditions and the manufacturer.

Consider recycled goods

Recycled - Remanuactured cartridges can save even more money — just make sure they're from a reputable seller.

Tips & Tactics

• Use black ink. If you're not printing a marketing brochure, you'll save money.
• Be stingy. Don't print pages you don't need.
• Look for a draft mode on your printer. It'll use less ink on documents that don't need to be perfectly polished.
• Toner costs more than ink, but long-lasting toner cartridges can give you more bang for your buck.

If You Want It, Bid On It - The Keyword Battle

Another court has decided use of trademarked terms in metatags and keyword advertising does not constitute trademark infringement, but the issue is far from settled and only gets more complicated as more courts hear arguments from both sides.

In this case, Designer Skin sued S&L Vitamins for reselling Designer Skin products online. S&L was not an approved retail channel, and was selling the self-tanning product at lower prices. Also, the company dropped the Designer Skin name into the metatags of its site to help with organic search rankings (a practice with debatable efficacy), and bid on Designer Skin keywords in order to drive traffic to the site.

Most often in keyword trademark infringement cases, the issue centers on whether competitors – in this instance, another maker of self-tanning lotion – have the right to use keywords in metatags or bid on trademarks. Courts have come down on both sides.

In this case, heard in Arizona, it is not a question of competition, but of sales channel control. At issue is a concept of "initial interest confusion," meaning when searchers see an ad or listing for Designer Skin, they could mistake S&L, a seller, as the maker of the product. The judge didn't think any consumer with a half a brain would make that mistake:

In contrast to the deceptive conduct that forms the basis of a finding of initial interest confusion, S & L Vitamins uses Designer Skin’s marks to truthfully inform internet searchers where they can find Designer Skin’s products. Rather than deceive customers into visiting their websites, this use truthfully informs customers of the contents of those sites. Indeed, in practical effect S & L Vitamins invites Designer Skin’s customers to purchase Designer Skin’s products. The fact that these customers will have the opportunity to purchase competing products when they arrive at S & L Vitamins’ sites is irrelevant. The customers searching for Designer Skin’s products find exactly what they are looking for when they arrive at these sites. S & L Vitamins is not deceiving consumers in any way.

The outcome of this case will be used as a precedent when deciding others and will bolster the argument that use of keywords in metatags and bidding on trademarked terms for search purposes is a legitimate practice. Fairly often, plaintiffs are more concerned about control of channels and control of competition than they are about trademark infringement.

Eric Goldman, author of Technology and Law Blog, goes into much deeper detail in his posting, and concurs that Designer Skin's suit was asking too much of the legal system. "[C]ourts are realizing that they are being asked to facilitate anti-competitive practices, and wisely they are balking," he writes.

10 Ways to Make Your Flyers More Effective

What fits on one sheet and costs pennies to make?

You see them all the time. Flyers are hugely effective, because you can make so many and distribute them all over the marketplace without having to spend a fortune. But just so your flyers don't get lost in the shuffle, here are 10 techniques that professional designers use to make flyers "fly":

1. It's all about the headline.
What's in a headline? It's the first thing your prospects will see, and this will decide if they keep reading or not. So pick something that will stand out, stick in their mind, and make them want more! Here's a few magic words to start with: Easy, The Secrets To, Unlock, Finally, Insider, Time Sensitive, How To, Free Bonuses, Now You Can, Discover, Proven. Just sprinkle these on your next headline and see how many heads you turn.

2. The eyes have it.
Colorful, striking graphics always make their point. And one large image will pack more punch than several smaller images. A good graphic creates the mood and sets the scene for your message. Getting the perfect "focal point" is easier than ever now with stock photos you can buy on the internet. Get one or a hundred for whatever you might need.

3. What's in it for me?
That's what your prospects want to know. Stay away from words like: we, us, I, and our. Take their perspective with words like "you" and "your". They'll like it when you focus on how your product or service will benefit them. Show them with words like: free, save, love, new, results, and guarantee. Make the benefits easy for them to pick out with bullet points and text boxes.

4. Go tell it on the mountain.
A ringing endorsement speaks volumes. When people read how you have positively affected another customer, they are more likely to give you a try. Make sure you get a first and last name, company name, and location. Then add that stamp of approval to your flyer.

5. Less is more.
You don't need to fill every space on your flyer. Break it up with text boxes, add borders to your key points, and use contrasting colors to add emphasis. It will make the best parts stand out and be easier to read.

6. STAY AWAY FROM ALL CAPS.
They're hard to read! Instead, use bold type for your titles and subtitles.

7. Keep it simple.
Your page layout, that is. Your graphics program should have a "snap to guidelines" function so that you can easily align items to the grid. And watch those print margins - stick to ½" margins on all sides, or add 1/8" for bleeds on items that print off the edge of the page.

8. Proofread, proofread, and proofread.
Oh, and did I mention to proofread? Have someone else do it for you - a pair of fresh eyes might uncover something that yours have grown used to. And did you check that contact information? Dial all the numbers, and type in web addresses to make sure they're correct.

9. On a tight budget? Try this.
Use brightly colored or unique paper and black ink. Use shades of gray for tone and contrast to background areas.

10. Who doesn't like a deal?
Design a coupon on the bottom quarter of your flyer. Put a special offer on it - and don't forget to include any deadlines or limitations. For mail in offers, make it easy for them to pay you with areas for credit card information, mailing address, etc.

Try these techniques on you next flyer. I predict FANTASTIC results!

Create Some Buzz

One of the goals in business is to get people to talk often, favorably and in the right way about your products. Below are three ways you can spur the buzz about your business - best off all two of them are free!

Develop a high quality product.
The first step to generating buzz about your business is to produce or sell a meaningful and quality product. It must possess a quality that is worth talking about. Your product may be something that improves the quality of life, innovative, and connects or elicits passion among its customers. People will not hesitate to pass on or recommend to others a product that they think offers something valuable.

Ask for it.
Don't hesitate to request your customers and prospects to recommend you to any other person or organizations they think might benefit from your products or services. A happy customer will be more than willing to talk about you to their circle of family and acquaintances. Request them to give you a list of friends or family members that you can contact or include in your mailing list. Also ask people to pass the word about important company news and product developments.

Set up a formal referral system.
Referrals can allow you to bring in quality new customers at a fraction of the cost of advertising. The key is to start with a quality product or service that other people can feel confident about referring your business to their friends, family members or others. Then give them incentives to spread the word about your business.

One effective way to solicit referrals is to approach businesses that offer complimentary (but not competing) products or services, then requesting them to refer clients to you. For a business selling baby books and videos, a good referral partner would be a business selling baby clothes or furniture. Same market, but different products fulfilling different needs. For every client referred to you, you will pay them the agreed referral fee.

Printer Spooler Errors

If the Print Spooler service fails when printing, when Windows starts or it can not be restarted, the usual reason is that one or more printer drivers is defective. If the Print Spooler service is not running, the Printers and Faxes folder will be empty and you can not use it to remove (or add) printers or printer drivers.

Check in Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs; if there is an entry relating to one of the printers, select it, then click Change/Remove. Follow the dialog and "uninstall all" or "remove all" as appropriate. Some "printer software" have programs that show up here and it will be a good idea to remove those before going any further. If the Print Spooler service is not operational, or you want to make certain there are no printer driver remnants use cleanspl.exe from the Windows 2000, XP or 2003 Resource Kit. Download it from the link below.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd

Cleanspl.exe from the Windows 2003 Resource Kit tools will work on Windows Vista. Cleanspl.exe does a very thorough job of cleaning up the print spooler stuff, but it does not remove the spooler service dependency on the Lexmark service (see special information about Lexmark printer drivers). When you run it, it asks you if you want to remove some things that are actually delivered (and installed by default) with Windows. In most cases, you should answer No to the corresponding prompts (you don't want to remove the Standard TCP/IP Port or the BJ Language Monitor).

Lexmark Special Instructions: The Lexmark printer installation process sometimes installs a service that makes the print spooler service dependent on itself. If there is a problem with Lexmark service or a Lexmark printer driver (or you removed it using the steps above), the print spooler service may not start. Open a Command Prompt window - (Start - Run - cmd)key the command sc config spooler depend= RPCSS(note the space after the = but not before)Reboot the PC

http://www.tangerineofficesystems.com
http://www.d-ros.com

How to Annoy People at Work - Monday's Suck :)

Monday's Suck. You can have some fun though. Maybe you could drive everyone crazy. Maybe you hate your job, or maybe you're just clueless. Either way, here are some quick and easy tips to help you become the most annoying employee around -- without getting yourself fired.

1 - Assume that you're smarter than everyone around you. In fact, assume that you're smarter than everyone in the company, and possibly everyone in the world. Never question your own brilliance, even momentarily.

2 - Have no respect for others' areas of expertise. For example, if you work in the design department, take every opportunity to tell the IT people or the secretarial staff how to do their jobs.

3 - Cultivate a condescending tone of voice. This is crucial. If you sound too pleasant, people might assume you mean well and actually like you. Speak slowly and loudly, and pronounce your words carefully, especially the big ones. Act as though you're teaching a 3-year-old how to tie her shoes.

4 - Pick something you know is important to a coworker, and make frequent, unfunny jokes about it. For example, if you work with a woman who adores her cat, joke about the cat being a terrible creature who will one day kill her in her sleep. Pretend not to notice that no one ever laughs.

5 - Offer extremely obvious and unsolicited advice. If a coworker's bike has been stolen, ask him, "Did you ever consider locking it up? I find that helps!"

6 - Complain about everything. If there's catered food, complain that it's disgusting. If there's no work to do, complain that you're bored. If there's a lot of work to do, complain that you're too busy. Complain about the temperature in the office and how uncomfortable your chair is.

7 - Never give up! If someone starts to walk away as you're talking, follow them. If your boss tells you to figure something out on your own, continue to ask questions. It takes perseverance to annoy coworkers on a consistent, meaningful level, so don't be afraid to lay it on thick.

Bonus - Don't be rude! It's actually more annoying to be overly friendly and clueless than to be blatantly hostile. Just make sure you come across as totally insincere.