7 Technology Gadgets For Better Productivity

It doesn’t matter if you’re a student, CEO or an entrepreneur, there are tech gadgets that will make your life simpler and move productivity smoothly. The following list will help to organize and produce great results.

Samlex Pure Sine Wave Inverter

If you’re working mostly on the road or a student living in a dorm room, here is a phenomenal gadget. Power inverters will direct DC power (as batteries) into AC power, as electricity. You’re able to use an electric razor, toaster, coffee pot and other small appliances with an inverter. This inexpensive gadget, will make your life much easier; you won’t have to worry again about finding an outlet.

Intuit Quickbooks Pro

All business owners have to be very careful with expenses. Keeping account of money activity is the bottom line to productive managing. An accounting software is an important investment. Intuit will help you stay on budget, makes it easy to file taxes and gives you great advice on money management.

Ingenico Payment Terminal

via ingenico

If you’re not always in front of your computer but you have customers who want to make payments, a payment terminal is ideal for you. Great investments will help to produce even greater results. You no longer will have to worry about carrying cash or waiting until you’re back in your office to receive a payment.

Apple IPhone

This tech gadget doesn’t even have to be explained. The IPhone is the greatest invention next to the computer. It has a very clear display, camera, video recording, voice recognition and a processor. You’ll want to get rid of the landline telephone in your office once you start using an IPhone.

Brother Multifunctional Printer

This printer is a business in a box. It’s a printer, copier, fax, and scanner. It not only saves you the clutter, it keeps you organized and efficient. It saves on electricity and will go into power saving mode, when not in use. It’s prints black and white and color. It’s lightweight, portable and has built in networking and wireless capabilities.

Pocket eDGe 7.0 Dualbook

image courtesy of lewro

The Pocket Dualbook is a reader and a tablet all in one. It’s much easier to carry than a laptop. and conveniently tucks away in the most slim briefcases. If you need to take notes at a meeting or review and update market material and review information about a client you’re coming to meet, this gadget will be a great buy.

iGo Portable Projector

This convenient little gadget works with Mac and Windows software. You’ll be able to show your presentation to your clients as you eat lunch. It’s small, durable and the display screen is clear and concise so that nothing is missed. The sound clarity is brilliant and your work will be presented professionally and successfully.

These are my endorsements to make your professional life easier and more productive. You can never be ready “enough” when it comes to business.

Tags: Accounting Software, Apple Iphone, Brother Multifunctional Printer, iGo Portable Projector, Inexpensive Gadget, Ingenico Payment Terminal, Intuit Quickbooks Pro, Pocket eDGe 7.0 Dualbook, Power Inverters, Samlex Pure Sine Wave Inverter

Source : techtalkafrica[dot]com

Should Small Businesses Invest in a Mobile Version Website?

Should small business owners invest in a mobile version of their business website or not has been a serious matter of debate for quite a long time. It depends on one’s personal opinions, ideas and perceptions when it comes to investing resources for a mobile version website, but the statistics show a desperate need of such a step.

The need for mobile version websites has been knocking at the door for the past couple of years. However, with the recent advancement in mobile technology and introduction of different tablets and iPads, etc. investing your time and resources in designing a mobile version website has almost become an imperative decision to take.

Why is it Necessary for Small Businesses to Invest in a Mobile Version of their Website?

It is necessary for small businesses to invest in a mobile version of their website, mainly because it is an absolute need of time right now. Moreover, as the time goes on, this need is going to become bigger only. For the past couple of years, using mobile devices for surfing on the internet and doing business have become a growing trend. In the past 2 years, this ratio has been increased by 500%. Moreover, for doing online shopping or business, 43% of the people use their mobile phones and devices. This means that if your website does not have a mobile version, then you lose around 43% of your potential customers – which is too big a number to ignore.

Among all the business types, small businesses need to invest their time and resources in a mobile version of their website as soon as possible. Unlike the big giants, small businesses face fierce competition because of too many sellers and no dominancy of their brand name. Having your mobile website can give you a great edge over your competitors, and you can even knock them out.

This theory can be supported and justified by the following two facts:

1.    Approximately, 93% of all the small businesses do not have a mobile version of their websites. In short, 93% of small business websites cannot be rendered properly on a mobile phone or a mobile device. This means that by having a mobile version of your website, you can jump ahead of those 93% small businesses.
2.    After having a bad mobile experience with a small business website, approximately 40% of consumers shift to their direct consumers for the same type of transaction. This means that you can easily snatch an average of 40% share of customers from your direct competitors if they do not have a good mobile website.
To gain such a high level of customer base, a small business needs to invest tons of money on advertisement and marketing.

Negative Impacts of Not Having a Mobile Compatible Website:

Following are some negative impacts of not having a mobile compatible website for your small business:

•    Approximately 23% of your possible customers are not likely to do business with you if you do not have a properly working mobile website.
•    You will not be exposed to local searches done using mobile devices, and approximately 51% of people use their mobile phones for local searches.
•    You lose approximately 43% of smartphone users who use their smartphones for online shopping.
•    You lose another 57% of your customers, who do not recommend doing business with an organization who does not have a mobile version of their website.

Conclusion:

In short, a mobile version of your website has become an absolute necessity for your survival. Sooner or later, you will have to step up and make a mobile version website. So, why not invest your resources now?

Today’s author, Matt Fuller, works for Website Hotline, and specializes in small business web design.

Tags: Mobile Technology, Mobile Web, Mobile Website

Source : techtalkafrica[dot]com

A whole lotta clickin’: Microsoft launches its first Surface ad

A week before its new Surface tablet hits the market, Microsoft has launched its first ad for the device, giving nothing away about its price....or anything else for that matter.

OK here we go, it’s lift-off for Microsoft’s Surface ad campaign, a week before the tablet is due to launch.

Microsoft’s first ad for its new tablet is a stylish 60-second skit, an all-clicking, all-dancing affair featuring, among others, young families, business workers, dancing schoolgirls, smooching senior citizens and a whole lot of colorful Surface tablets. The wide range of participants in the ad is the Redmond-based company saying, “Hey, this tablet’s for you (oh, and you and you and……).”

It’s more of a teaser than anything else – there’s nothing about specs and no pricing information – designed to create awareness and make those who haven’t heard about Microsoft’s first foray into the tablet world look up and say, “What’s that all about then?”

The ad starts in silence – you might think your video player is on mute at first. Then things start to make sense. It’s all about the click – the click the tablet makes when it connects with its magnetic Touch Cover keyboard; the click it makes when the kickstand is put into action. Within seconds, the screen is filled with a mass of dancing people clicking their tablets to the music. And, well, that’s about it. You can check out the new ad below.

Microsoft’s upcoming Surface tablet has a 10.6-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio and comes together with the Touch Cover click-on (yes, it clicks on, did we mention that?) keyboard. The tablet comprises two models, one powered by Windows 8 Pro and a more basic version running Windows RT.

The RT model launches next week while the Surface Pro is expected to be available early 2013.

The Surface’s price tag is still a mystery, though last month Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer dashed hopes of a cut-price tablet when he suggested a likely launch price of between $300 and $800. C’mon Steve, you could’ve narrowed the range a little, no?

Next week looks set to be a busy one in the world of tablet computers, with Apple reportedly unveiling (no, really, it might be happening) its iPad Mini on October 23, three days before the launch of the Surface.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Watch these three hilarious Apple Maps parody videos

The deficiencies of the new Apple Maps app may not a laughing matter for the iOS users, but the rest of the world is not going to stop making jokes just because of that.

The latest portion of hilarity at the expense of the Apple Maps are three videos based on popular movies – The Dark Knight, The Hunger Games and The Shining.

Enjoy!

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

The OwnFone: A perfect phone for kids, backup for adults

OwnFone lets parents create customizable, super simple phones for their kids or good emergency phones for adults

Turns out, it doesn’t matter who won the patent wars because there’s a new (possibly) must-have phone on the market: the OwnFone. Created specifically for those users who couldn’t be bothered with a feature-rich smartphone, the OwnFone is programmed for the sole purpose of calling the people you talk to the most. Numbers aren’t stored on an internal storage device either. Rather, to make the phone as simple as possible, numbers are stored in the cloud and retrieved when needed.

Launched first in the UK, the super simple device allows you to configure up to 12 contacts. The names of each contact will then be printed on a large white button, push the button and it will call that contact. As far as features go, that basically sums it up — though it’s worth mentioning that braille and photo buttons are in the works. And just to be clear, there is no keyboard or screen on the device.

The OwnFone has the dimensions of a credit card, weighs 40 grams, and manages to be a slim 7mm thick. The size is great if you need a back-up device for when your main one drains battery. You can even forward your main number to your OwnFone if you want a fairly-disposable phone to take travelling. The look of the device is left up to you. First, you can choose from 2, 4, 8, or 12 contact layouts. Then you choose from pink, blue, green, orange, red, or black for the main color of your OwnFone. Finally, you can choose to leave it plain or add an image or pattern to customize it further.

Besides catering to smartphone-haters everywhere (they exist, right?), the OwnFone seems like a perfect fit for kids to carry around without having to add another expensive mobile contract to the monthly bills. Alternately, less tech-inclined adults could definitely benefit from a device that does one thing and does it well. Plus, it’s easy on the wallet with a meager price tag of £55. Throw in free replacements and you have a pretty stellar deal.

Unfortunately, if all of this sounds like your cup of tea, the OwnFone is currently limited to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Would you consider ordering an OwnFone? What would you use it for?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Changing Cities: A Wind Turbine That Creates Fresh Water Out of Thin Air

(Eole Water)

For the nearly 20 percent of the world’s population lives in areas without access to fresh drinking water, getting access is a matter of life or death. Inspired by the mechanics of a dripping air conditioner, French inventor Marc Parent was inspired to create a solution that could bring fresh water to the most remote, driest parts of the world.

Parent created a company, Eole Water, that produces wind turbines that literally pull fresh water out of thin air.  His solution, dubbed the WMS1000 uses the electricity generated from a windmill to collect and treat water without tapping into a water source such as a river, lake or well.

Eole Water is testing the invention in France and Abu Dhabi.  The invention, if the company can get the economics to work, looks to be a promising solution to the water crisis.

I recently interviewed Thibault Janin,  Marketing and Communication Director of Eole Water on the WMS 1000 turbine to find out what’s in store for this new technology.

How was the idea of a wind turbine that produces water developed?
Thibault Janin: The idea came from Marc Parent, founder of Eole Water, when he lived in the Caribbean, and was subjected to water shortages. He began to work on a system that could recover moisture from the air and transform it into water. Soon after, he returned to France. He patented the process and founded Eole Water.

Millions of people worldwide live in remote areas without any access to safe drinking water. What is the potential  for the Eole system to solve this issue?
Thibault Janin: Each unit can create 1,000 liters of drinking water using only moisture and powered only by wind. Let me highlight this word : CREATE. All existing solutions (wells, desalination, lakes/rivers pumping, etc.) only treat an existing source of water. Thus, what happens when there is no or no more water available? The WMS1000 can create water when there is no existing source available. That makes a difference. Our technology integrates water creation, water collection, water treatment and water local distribution.  The WMS1000 can produce and distribute water everywhere.

Today, people only use centralized distribution, from a center point to others. With our turbine, we wish to decentralize the water access. As the logistic and the process are easy to install and operate, it will be an answer to various issues like massive population movements that cause swelling of cities, increased diseases and therefore health care costs increasing, a door to agriculture or a local industry beginning. All economic or welfare starts with access to water. And this is what we provide.

Are any of these turbines in place and operational?
Thibault Janin: Wind turbines (first, second, third generation) can be seen at Eole Water Headquarters in Manosque in the South of France. The fourth one is used to make demonstration during shows and exhibitions. The fifth one, the WMS1000, is the real showcase of our actual company knowledge. It has been designed and manufactured between January 2010 and December 2011. Then first tested in France between January 2011 to August 2011, and second in Abu Dhabi (Mussafah) from November 2011 to April 2012. The final location of this turbine will be Dubai by the end of 2012. The location will be opened to public.

What’s the cost of production and operation of the turbine?
Thibault Janin: The WMS1000 has a price of $600,000. It has been designed to operate in very remote areas, which implies that the maintenance overheads are strictly reduced to minimum. The WMS1000 wind turbine has lifetime of 20 years minimum.

What is the potential for the turbine?
Thibault Janin: Thibault Janin: Do not look only at the 150 million potential customers for this technology. It is much more complex. Water is becoming increasingly scarce. Household needs in the matter should increase by 130 percent by 2030. At the same time, the WMS1000 is only one step in our development. Our range will expand to provide more precise and larger answers to communities with larger turbines featuring higher capacities of water production. We respond to a growing and constant global demand, not subjected to economic classical cycles, since water is essential to life.

What hurdles do you see standing in the way of bringing more of these wind turbines online?
The major challenge for Eole Water is to make this technology more competitive in terms of price per water cubic meter. Our technology must reach maturity as quickly as possible, at several levels: production, R&D, legal or business experience.

This interview has been edited

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

One Laptop Per Child (7 Years Later) Infographic

One laptop per child is aimed at providing each child with not just a laptop that is low cost, low power and connected but a rugged one for that matter as stated in their mission statement, OLPC’s mission is to empower the world’s poorest children through education. I can personally recall seven years ago when this project was launched, it seems like yesterday, One laptop per Child was built on 5 major principles:

1.  Focus on early education
2. No One gets left out
3. Connect to the internet
4. Free to grow and adapt
5. The Kids keep the laptops

Nearly seven years ago, Nicholas Negroponte unveiled his plan for a $100 laptop computer for children in developing countries. This developed into the One Laptop Per Child project, which produces low-cost laptops for developing countries. What has been accomplished since then? The interesting infographic below is from Muhammed Saleem of OnlineColleges.net, it gives you idea of what has happened since the last seven years and I hope you’ll find it interesting

Compiled By: OnlineColleges.net

Source : techtalkafrica[dot]com