Lost a business card and need the email address?

How often have you met people and promptly lost their business cards? It happens to me all the time. Or I want to find the e-mail address of someone I've never met. Here is a Google search secret that will help you easily locate e-mail addresses by trying to find Web pages where an e-mail address is listed:

• First you need to know where the person works and find their company's Web address.
• In Google, enter an asterisk, followed by the @ sign, and then the company's Web address. For example, *@bankofamerica.com will locate Web pages featuring an e-mail address of someone who works at Bank of America.
• Once you find the e-mail naming convention, you can back into the e-mail address of the person you want to meet. For example, if your Google search returns John_Doe@bankofamerica.com, and you want to track down Sally Smith, her e-mail address is probably "first name" underscore "last name," or Sally_Smith@bankofamerica.com.

GoDaddy suffering from .me deluge

Registrar GoDaddy began offering the .me domains from registration, but the process overwhelmed the company with issues.

Failed registrations and multiple registrations of the same .me domain name cast a pall over GoDaddy's .me debut. The new domain, being sold for $19.99 per year with a required two-year purchase (privacy option extra), should end up a profitable venture for the company.

However it will be a bit of a joyless slog getting there. Mashable cited the problems with .me registrations, and one account arriving by Twitter looks like it won't be fun to resolve.
Several posts on Twitter report multiple registrations for the domain aweso.me. At least eight people may possess receipts for the desired domain.

"It appears GoDaddy is buckling under the pressure and is about to have an ugly mess on its hands," Adam Ostrow wrote of the .me problems. Meanwhile, the GoDaddy complaints from frustrated would-be registrants continue to hit the net.

Make the right impression in your office

The presentation of your workspace could be influencing decisions made about you regarding promotions and special projects. Be sure your office doesn’t fall into one of these classic cube categories:

• Kidding Around - Photos of your college “glory days” or posters of your favorite rock band hanging from your walls could be telling your boss that you’re still not ready to grow up.
  
• Mommy Mania - They are your pride and joy, but be careful that your work area doesn’t look like a shrine to your family. A few tastefully framed photos are a wonderful way to add a personal touch to your workspace. Just be sure not to overload your area, as this may indicate that your mind is at home, instead of on your work.
  
• Sloppy Sue - While you may think that your boss will understand that you’re working diligently and don’t have time to organize amidst your many tasks, they may see things differently. Instead of dedication, your boss may view you as a person who can’t keep their files straight – much less a big project.
  
• Clean as a Whistle - While you may think that a perfectly clean work area indicates that you’re amazingly efficient and organized, think again. A completely clear desk may leave your boss thinking that you have a clear calendar, as well.
  
• Power Position - Ever see a small, tattered chair in the President’s office? Of course not! A quality chair is a status symbol for power – not to mention the key to a comfortable and effective work environment. To show your boss that you mean business, place a request for budget to update your seat with a new quality option or take a stroll around the office to see there are any other chairs available to swap into your workstation. Or, even if you really want to make an impression, purchase a chair for yourself.
  
• Organize Your Organization - By establishing a few rules, you can raise your organization levels significantly. First, determine how you tend to organize. If your desk or floor tends to have stacks of papers, add bookcases or other storage units to keep paper off the floor and out of sight. Once you have your organizational system in place, set time aside each quarter to purge unnecessary clutter.
  
• Work-Life Balance - It makes sense that your workstation should reflect your personality, but remember to keep some “work-life balance.” Instead of displaying photos for the whole office to see, choose a few and place them facing inward for you to enjoy. While making your office more “homey,” be sure that your surroundings are giving what you want to portray.

Email Marketing Messages: How to Promote a Program

Email marketing messages are challenging. Everybody gets too much email, and each time you broadcast you get people who unsubscribe because they aren't interested or are annoyed. But you must send out enough messages to remind people to sign up, especially at the last minute. Otherwise you're leaving money on the table. It's a balancing act of risking so many unsubscribe requests and so many last minute registrations.

You need your email recipients to:

1. Open and read your message
2. Discover something important they can benefit from
3. Convince them they need to learn more about this
4. Trigger their desire to click over to the sales page to read details and register
5. Realize the some sort of urgency so they won't put it off and forget to take action

One of the best ways to make sure your email messages get opened and read is to deliver a tip at the same time you deliver the marketing message.

There's no better way to learn how to write great email marketing messages except to (you're not going to like this suggestion!) sign up for a lot of Internet marketing materials and start studying the email messages you get.

Good Luck :)

Top Technologies You Need to Know About

Software publishers and hardware manufacturers are making significant efforts and progress on simplifying their offerings to the benefit of everyone. Simplicity is about “How do humans really work? What do they really need to do to accomplish a task?” These are very difficult questions to answer, but the answers are coming because a number of designers have been working on the question for some time.

Several technologies and products are examples of simplicity including SaaS and offerings like the Google search engine. What was the theme that came in second for this year. “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Clearly this is an issue as technology becomes more complex and good offerings become more plentiful.

So what are the current “hot” items from a short- and long-term perspective? The short-term technologies that business's should consider include:

Virtualization: All sizes of organizations should virtualize their servers and applications and that many publishers are responding by packaging their software in virtual appliances. Business's can adopt much of this technology now for servers, and over the next few years you will see your desktops, applications and storage all virtualized. VMWare is king of this space, but Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Sun and Citrix all have reasonable options.

Software as a Service: Bill.Com, The Business Analyst, Capital Confirmation, GoFileRoom, MyPay, Run by ADP, PaySimple, SageWorks ProfitCents, SAP Business By Design, TimeBuilder and XCM all have offerings that can be installed quickly and run from a Web browser. In some cases, I do not know of a viable competitor with the same capabilities at any price. In other cases (unfortunately under nondisclosure) there are some superb offerings that you will see yet this year in addition to these new generation products.

Third-party products: These vendors expand and improve mainstream products by finding a need and filling it. For example, for QuickBooks alone there are: LeGrand CRM, MISys manufacturing, Fishbowl Inventory, BillQuick Time and Billing, Avalara AvaTax, SpeedTax, Softrak Adagio FX and Wasp Barcode just to name a few, plus thousands of others. Further, many of these products can work standalone or with other products as well.

Windows Server 2008: Windows Server has notable performance and reliability improvements including the supporting products of SQL 2008, Hyper V, ForeFront and improved Active Directory. SharePoint Services, PerformancePoint, Exchange 2007 and IIS are all becoming more widely deployed.

Windows Vista and Office 2007: The current technology is good, and ready to be deployed. I recommend using the 64-bit versions even though initial implementation may be a little more difficult. For most organizations using Open Licensing with Software Assurance is the best strategy, particularly after you have enrolled in MPAN. Remember that these technologies will be replaced by Windows 7 and Office 14 in 2009.

Improvements in scanners: Both Fujitsu and Canon have had notable and major improvements in their product lines this year. You should definitely take note and make your acquisitions from the new lines. The Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 and S510 are notable improvements as are the Fujitsu fi-6140 and fi-6240.

Reporting: There are significant shifts occurring in business reporting including Excel reporting tools like BizNet Software, Adagio FX, Crystal Xcelsius and the shift at Microsoft from FRx to PerformancePoint. Many of the business analytics companies and products have been purchased by larger companies, for example Business Objects being acquired by SAP, Cognos being acquired by IBM, and Hyperion being acquired by Oracle.

Voice over IP (VOIP): This technology has come of age. In doing the research for my own company this year, I was exceptionally pleased at how usable and affordable advanced features had become. I can see no condition under which a phone system should be replaced without at least some consideration for VOIP compared to traditional PBX or KSU systems. This applies to all sizes of companies.

Green: From the introduction of Intel’s Atom to the announcement by Dell about making their product line 50 percent more energy efficient over the next two years, being energy efficient is more than a fad. You can help your business save money by buying more energy-efficient products today, and by teaching your team about energy-saving steps to use with technology.

Security: Far from being solved, most organizations are just assessing their risks and choosing encryption software. We believe that encryption will be needed on all laptops, desktops, servers and backups by the year 2012, possibly sooner. Passwords still are sufficient today, but two- and three-tier authentication is also becoming more important.

Longer term technologies that will probably have merit include:

New generation communications: Including WiMax, 802.11n and soon-to-arrive on the desktop 10GB Ethernet.

Replacement cellular technology moving from 3G to 4G: Players will include Apple with the iPhone, RIM with new-generation BlackBerry products, Google Android and Samsung.

More SaaS and Utility computing: It should be possible to run an entire business with no servers in-house if you choose this strategy. Assume all current services can be hosted, virtualized or will be offered as SaaS.

Small portable devices replacing laptops: Prototypes have already been created using projection and other techniques eliminating laptop devices. Many of the new-generation cell phones are candidates to have enough computing power to serve as your access to information. Internet and cell phone convergence will lead to even bigger shifts in the way we use technology. Scorecard today: 3.3 billion cell phones, 1.2 billion laptops. I expect even more cell phones within three years and only moderate growth in laptops. I recommend the return to desktops at the office and home unless there is a need for portability. This strategy provides more speed and security at a lower cost.

Nanotechnology: I have long been a fan of this technology that crosses multiple industries. For computing, we expect smaller devices, security implemented via nanotechnology and flexible screen technology

Washington Online Sales Tax Now Law

Online shoppers who are residents of the state of Washington will now have to start paying sales tax on purchases made on the Internet.

Starting today Washington joins 18 other states that require some online retailers to collect sales tax. About 1,100 ecommerce retailers have agreed to collect taxes in exchange for the state not going after them for back taxes.

Last year Washington passed the law to require online retailers to collect sales tax. The new law changes the state's tax system from origin-based to destination-based. Taxes will be collected based on the location of the buyer, not the location of the seller.

"This is a very important step,"Mark Johnson, vice president of government affairs for the Washington Retail Association, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It's a major changing of our tax structure." Brick-and-mortar stores support the online sales tax saying that it allows for fairer competition with ecommerce businesses.

Most smaller businesses do not support the new tax law. They will have to implant new software in order to identify Washington's 350 taxing districts. They are also concerned about the law becoming national, as they would then be required to sift through thousands of tax codes and file returns throughout the year for each code.

Walking Around for the Right Reasons

Management by walking around (MBWA). This concept has been around for a few decades now. Management theories in the 2000's, such as "the Tipping Point" and "the Long Tail," are more marketing- and market-driven. The advent of communication by e-mail and IM has planted many a manager's butt in their seats. Still, there are plenty of bosses and managers wandering the hallways, patting themselves on the back because they think walking amongst the people is a noble act.

The thing is ... it could be. MBWA can pay off big, especially for entrepreneurial companies, but you have to do it the right way and for the right reasons.

If the point is to recognize and appreciate the employees who help make you successful, then what's not to like? Seeing you gives your staff the opportunity to see their boss as less the voice of authority and more a genuine human being who is invested in their ideas and opinions. The problem arises when those who walk the halls do it for all the wrong reasons.

Many business owners walk the floor only when a crisis has hit, and they think their presence will calm their employees. That's not effective if you've been hiding in your office before the you-know-what hit the fan. MBWA only works if you do it regularly -- and if you really want to know what's going on in your company.

Effective leaders (bosses) do more than just communicate with their employees; they encourage all employees to do the same. Open communication is key to business survival, particularly when times are tough. Chances are that some of your employees are concerned about their job security and the stability of the company. If you hide out in your office, rumors will only increase, as will the number of resumes headed out the door.

Real leaders are problem solvers. They don't abdicate responsibility, they don't expect others to make the tough decisions, and they don't shy away from accountability. W. Edwards Deming said it best: "If you wait for people to come to you, you'll only get small problems. You must go find them. The big problems are [the ones] people don't realize they have in the first place."

So be a good leader, be a good boss, get out there and take ownership.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A Free Way to Market Your Business

If you offer complementary consultations send those who take you up on it an invoice showing your cost and value after your "discount."

If you are like many small business's, you may offer a free or no charge complimentary consultation as a way of getting your foot in the door of prospective customers, to simply educate prospective customers about your business, or as a way of meeting other small business owners you can refer business to and to get out of the home office.

Do NOT forget to send them an invoice with one line showing the actual cost they would have spent on your service if you didn't offer this service for free (this is a good time to review what you talked about in the description field). Make sure to add another line showing the discount which reduces the bill to zero.

You can also suggest that they write a compliment on a social networking site, their web site or Blog, or for your web site. Just remember to make it easy for them to do and to not take more than a minute or two to complete. An example would be to suggest that they write a sentence or two about how their business "fill in the blank" benefited.

That way, your value is in front of prospective customers and they are less likely to take your services for granted. In most bookkeeping programs, you can set up income and discount lines to track this marketing expense (even if the net is zero dollars) and see how effective this type of marketing really is.

A bonus tip! After you make a first sale/service to a new customer send a thank you letter along with the invoice. I have many repeat customers because of that thank you letter.