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Android/Vibrant App Review – iTriage

Posted on October 18, 2010 by admin Posted in Nerd Girl Tech Toys Leave a comment

Hypochondriacs of the world united under one app…how awesome is that? For the rest of us who will use it for more practical purposes – like looking up great new diseases to call in sick to our boss/work with, we can keep busy with it, too. Me? I downloaded it because the flyer I got in the mail (you remember snail mail, don’t you) promised one could “view emergency room wait times”. While we all know these days to bring a really good book, your portable nintendo game or other time-waster to the ER, I would really like to be uber-prepared and oh, know what I am getting into with the wait times from hell before I get there. It’s the difference between packing “War and Peace” or your favorite bedtime story book for the kids in tow.

So, did this little app bring satisfaction? Uh, NO! At least not with the ER wait times. Crawled over all the options and missed it somewhere. If someone knows where to find it, please leave me a comment. If not, the next time I fall down an open manhole on the street while looking up the nearest place to get a flu shot, I’ll update this article on iTRiage’s other functions ;>

Hey, there’s a thought…an app to find the nearest funeral parlor when you break your neck falling down one of those manholes…no? Well, it was just a thought.

App specs and other commentaries by users can be found here at AppBrian.com.

iTriage.com’s website for you poor slobs still tied to a desktop PC.

The new Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant – I’m in love!

Posted on September 24, 2010 by admin Posted in Nerd Girl Tech Toys

I have a friend that years ago when he got his first iPhone, he used to bring it everywhere with him. We would be sitting in a coffee house and he would ignore us, hunched over his new love with the obsessiveness of someone doing a crack line in public. It was irritating. It was insulting to us, but we put up with it because he was a friend and we all know the allure of tech toys.

I found out first hand when my cell phone bill had gotten to a point where getting a new toy would not cost any more monthly. So, armed with the name of a new networking contact who could get one for me without having to wait for the mail-in rebate, but do it instantly upon my purchase, I haunted Verizon and T-Mobile stores looking for the perfect new love of my teched-out life. Don’t tell my 3-month old Net Book, Amelia (after Amelia Pond from the new Doctor Who series). Wow, didn’t expect the love affair with her would’ve been so short!

Let me say that waiting times in these blasted store SUCK, and it would not have been so bad waiting for help if I could have played with the live demo phones there, BUT 95% of the demo phones didn’t work at the reseller or Verizon stores I hit. *snarl*

Then I went back to the T-Mobile mall store I bought my bluetooth headset and found the Samsung Vibrant demo. It was love at the first color-popping, insanely clear and beautiful touchscreen I saw. Gazing adoringly at it, I knew I need look no further. He (yes, mine is a “he”) latched onto my techy heart and would not let go. Now I squee in public when showing off “Bracewell” (again a name from Doctor Who – very appropriate – ask me why!), my friends and roommate are plotting my death out of jealousy, and I suspect will have their own death match to see who claims the right to my Vibrant – if they can pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

Don’t hold your breath, guys. This baby is coming with me to the grave.

Twitter – useless or useful?

Posted on August 24, 2010 by admin Posted in Networking & Sales Common Sense, Social Networking

(This scares the heck out of me)

When social networking fledgling giant Twitter began to pick up speed and gain popularity last year, all I heard from clients was, “I don’t want to get on it because I couldn’t care less when someone goes to the store, sees a good program on t.v. or is sitting on their porch doing nothing.

I couldn’t agree more.

But then we all started hearing how staggeringly useful it was when a hotel was bombed by terrorists in Southeast Asia – the “tweeters” getting the story out to the world before the media could comprehend what had happened. Again, when unrest hit Iran and their government imposed a media blackout, Twitter was asked by the U.S. government to delay their maintenance cycle so that the flow of information from that beleaguered country was not impeded. I myself used Twitter to warn locals of a water main break and to avoid that area like the plague and recently to warn my clients of the health warning of a salmonella outbreak in eggs across the United States.

What does all this tell us?

That Twitter is a force for either good or evil, depending on who you follow in your network.

It is easy to blame the other guy for their tweets, but since we cannot control the actions of others, doesn’t it make more sense to take the responsibility of harnessing Twitter’s power for good and choose who we follow more carefully? Take a few seconds when considering whether to follow someone or not and do a quick scan of their last few tweets…are they garbage or are they useful, inspiring, uplifting and motivational information? Choosing to association with people that tweet with care will also reflect better of our character to others who choose to follow us. No one with a busy networking schedule wants to follow someone who follows gossipers and time-wasters, or worse, someone who constantly swears…if you really need to follow people like that, get a private Twitter account and follow such people anonymously. You will find it will make life a lot easier.

Follow me at: http://twitter.com/civicsitedesign . If you tweet responsibly, I will gladly follow you back.

Indulging your inner geek

Posted on August 23, 2010 by admin Posted in Inspirational

My roommate Darc, worked on a project recently that paid off big dividends for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Her company was hired by Daniel Logan (the young Boba Fett in “Attack of the Clones”) to create an artistic stormtrooper helmet celebrating the Maori tribe of his native New Zealand. Our friend Shawna carved the actual design and Darc did the paintjob (which, btw, made it look like wood. Not an easy trick on fiberglass!). The helmet went to auction and brought in the highest bid at $3,500.00! Way to go, Darc!

Email Discretion – the foot is firmly in the horse’s mouth!

Posted on April 16, 2009 by admin Posted in Networking & Sales Common Sense

I was attending a non-profit organization’s volunteer meeting last night. This group gets funding from a government agency whose representative made an opening statement last night that should really be taken to heart by many who often make this obvious, yet all too common, terrible business mistake. For clarity’s sake, I will paraphrase the lesson, and then go into what was said and why it was said.

The paraphrase is: “Be careful what you say in emails.”

What was said, “There has been a lot of negativity in the emails back and forth on this upcoming project…many seem to think we are the enemy, but the truth is, we aren’t AND you need us to fund your project.”

My long-time experience with sending emails and seeing the repercussions of poorly-worded/tactless emails made me sit there and silently agreement with this man. He had the grace and tact to word it in such a way as to not make it look like the friendly warning it was, and while I applaud him for his decorum, at the same time I feel sorry for him.

He is fighting an uphill battle against the anger ineffective government has engendered in today’s common people. Whether he or his department is guilty of the all too common funding shenanigans that run rampant in any City Hall, he is still a victim of it, as were the upset constituent, you and I. There is a time and a place for such ventings of one’s anger at officials or the “system”, BUT it is never at a volunteer meeting, or on an email list going to the very people one is accusing. I guess this must be a lesson learned, and not common sense, and of course, when tempers run high, ALL sense and common sense go flying out the window and back into the mouth of the horse who just said it (hence the title of this piece).

What amazed me is the fact that as soon as this official said this, someone spoke up right away (gee, I wonder who sent the email?) and added to the fire by reiterating what was in the emails. Gee, he wasn’t listening, was he? In this day and age in the United States/California, expecting government to have tons of money to throw at small, community projects when their budget is getting cut and their staff is let go is positively ludicrous. But I digress…

…back to the main point, at least in this blog. If you are in business, and I will capitalize this for emphasis, RE-READ THAT EMAIL BEFORE YOU SEND IT! Would you tell that person this to their face if you were face-to-face? I look at words spoke like pointing a gun – if you are going to point it, say it, email it, YOU BETTER BE PREPARED TO USE, DEFEND AND LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF THAT HURLED VERBAL BULLET!!!

Don’t burn your business bridges because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut long enough to rethink that stupid, thoughtless, antagonistic comment you felt it was your God-given right to say. Sure, you have a right to say anything you want, but if it hurts someone else or your business for future, potential business, you better think twice or be prepared to live with the consequences of fewer friends in life and less business.

enewsletters – NetAtlantic vs. Constant Contact

Posted on March 12, 2009 by admin Posted in Social Networking

I did a cost analysis for a client last year when they were shopping around for newsletter hosting sites. They had heard about Constant Contact and currently had Net Atlantic and asked me to do a comparison. Here are the results of that analysis:

Pricing (the thing everyone wants to know first) –

1. An option to build your own templates and include surveys with a “survey wizard” are already included in the price for Net Atlantic, BUT there is an additional charge for the survery option with Constant Contact.

2. With Constant Contact, pricing runs cheaper at smaller numbers of subscribers, but becomes more expensive the higher the subscriber base. For example, at 1,000 subscribers, Constant Contact is less expensive than Net Atlantic’s. This does not even include the additional price for surveys and use of more than 5 images at a time.

3. Hidden Cost – also with Constant Contact, “Image Management & Hosting” has a hidden cost. The customer is limited to 5 images at a time per their “standard image hosting and management” package. Adding more is an extra $5/month and is limited to 25mb of storage. This fee was not immediately apparent. I stumbled across it in my indepth research of the website. (http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/email-campaign-creation/manage-images.jsp)

Ease of Use –

1. Constant Contact appears to be a program that anyone can use – both online newsletter editors looking for an easy, quick alternative, and professionals that do not know/work with html code.

Template Limitations –

One drawback to Constant Contact is that as an easier, quicker alternative, it also means that the choices are more limited. There is also a question of whether the images in their templates can be left off the design completely. This was not answered on the website.

Free Trial Limitation –

In Constant Contact, the “free trial” is limited to accounts with lists under 100 contacts. They say that if “your list exceeds 100 contacts at any time during your trial, you will be prompted to upgrade to a paying account”. (http://www.constantcontact.com/pricing/index.jsp)

Constant Contact’s Pros –

1. Preview and tests of an email campaign can be conducted.
2. Campaigns can be scheduled.
3. Selection of one contact, many or multiple contacts or contact lists.
4. Names can be imported from a spreadsheet or Microsoft Outlook.
**All of these pro points already exist with Net Atlantic’s “Discussion Group Email List Hosting” account level.**

Constant Contact’s Cons –

1. The “free trial” is limited to accounts with lists under 100 contacts (see under “Free Trial” topic).

A further analysis of the breakdown of Constant Contact’s available templates:

“SpeakUp email marketing product” –

1. Email Newsletters (http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/html-email-templates/email-newsletter.jsp) –
As in the case with the “Business Newsletter” template (http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/html-email-templates/email-newsletter.jsp), there are choices for two top images which they call the “Left Column Image Block” and the “Right Column Image Block” but it does not say if these images can be left out or not. Would we be stuck with them even if we didn’t like them?

2. Email Promotions (http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/html-email-templates/email-promotion.jsp) – is geared more towards retail with their ability to insert Paypal Buy Now links, promotions and coupons. All of these items can be inserted into enewsletters created with Net Atlantic, but not as quickly and the code needs to be written for them first. Once an item is created for either your Net Atlantic account or for Constant Contact, however, it remains available to use in the future.

3. Email Cards (http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/html-email-templates/email-card.jsp) – has an ability to add any background image in the users library. Coupons can also be used.

4. Email Event Invitations (http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/html-email-templates/email-event-invitation.jsp). Again the question arises if the images can be left off and this question could really be applied to any of the above four products.

5. Association and Nonprofit Templates – (http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/html-email-templates/association.jsp) – another choice for templates not in their menu. I found it in the non-guided tour of their products. If, during the 60-day trial period, one can find a good or perfect combination of graphics, color schemes and choices for their needs from what is available, then Constant Contact will serve the purpose nicely. If, however, Constant Contact cannot meet a new or unexpected future need by their clients, if they have not upgraded their system to allow more choices and/or the uploading of the users preferences, then they will not do.

A helpful tip – you learn a lot by reading some of the comments in a company’s forums and message boards.
http://community.constantcontact.com/forum

Let us know if you agree/disagree or have any additional comments or experiences with either company, especially with Net Atlantic.

Thank you for reading!

The WebMistress

Take care…

Posted on March 11, 2009 by admin Posted in 2009 A Defining Year of Evolution

I put out this story to you as a word of advice about what you put out on the internet…

An anonymous stalker from my past showed up at the beginning of this year. If you don’t think it’s scary when you have been successfully hiding from someone for the last 27 years who tried to ruin your life, you are in for a shock when it happens to you.

Perhaps this should go under the “Pearls of Wisdom” category? I will find another, more pointed story one day that perhaps might emphasize the point better and do that.

Does that make me a weird person that I had a stalker? No, not really. EVERYONE has had someone in their life they would rather left the planet…we just don’t have the Star Trek transporter technology yet to accomplish such a feat. I look at it as a part of life…we all have a vulnerable point in our lives into which things and people come that are unwelcome, and one day we stand up to that, stop running and tell them, “I am not afraid of you anymore.”. That has been my most satisfying, recent experience this year and it was AWESOME.

I have been told I am a strong woman…one not afraid to speak her mind. Perhaps the latter is true and always has been, but I did not become a strong woman until I faced down that man. I just wish every woman could learn that lesson in her lifetime.

More power to you who do and my prayers to those yet to.