It’s not out yet, but you can sign up to receive notices when Microsoft releases the beta version of its new Office 2010 suite.

Some of the New Features.

Will Kelly at Web Worker Daily was able to get a copy of the technical review paper for the new version of office.  One of the big changes in the new version of Office is that the typical “file” menu is being changed to something called a “backstage view.”  Like “file,” the “backstage view” will have the print, save and other general commands.  An appealing feature has to do with co-authoring documents and being able to track one another’s changes easier.  Another new feature that looks appealing is a new thread formatting feature in Outlook.

Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks.

I have to admit, for many years, I’ve used Corel’s Word Perfect.  Practically all the companies I worked with also used Word Perfect, so we all shared documents using that software.  Eventually, a lead company switched to Word and we followed suit.

We had a tough time adjusting to Word because the formatting was  more complicated than Word Perfect.  It took awhile to adjust to Office 2000, and just  when we thought we had that figured out, Office 2007 came out.   Now that we’ve finally “mastered” it, a new release is coming!

Although we “old dogs” are probably going to be confused as usual with the changes, it looks like the new tricks and features are worth learning.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Are you a “mom and pop” business with some retail products to sell?  If so, chances are that you have been looking for a secure shopping cart solution that is easy to use.

If you are not a programmer, not familiar with CGI or php, do not have a security certificate … and don’t want to spend hours of time trying to figure out how to create a shopping cart, one of the best shopping cart solutions comes from Mals-E.com.

You will need to have your own merchant account if you want to use the cart to accept credit cards.  If you don’t have a merchant account, it will work with other services such as PayPal and WorldPay.

Admittedly, the problem with using a free service is that if the site goes down, you are SOL.  There is nothing you can do about it except migrate to a paid service where you have some recourse.

However, some businesses that I have referred to Mals-E.com have used the service for years and have not experienced a problem.  A small retailer I know, PuebloSouthwest, has a few dozen products that they sell using Mals-E.com.  They’re approaching 10 years of using the service and as far as I know, have not had a single problem, so that’s a pretty good testament.

What is nice about Mals-E.com is that you can configure products with different options.  For instance, you can sell a t-shirt in black, red, blue or white, in small, medium and large sizes.  You can also configure the site to calculate shipping and taxes.

There are tutorials that you can access every step of the way.

You can use the cart to accept checks, any form of credit card, PayPal and even money orders.

Mals-E.com’s cart configuration will also allow you to modify the look and feel of your cart so that it matches your website.  You can change the background, font sizes and colors, and add your own graphics.

You can also set up an affiliate program using a Mals-E.com shopping cart.  If you want to offer special discounts to your subscribers, you can easily code a discount code into the cart and then tell your subscribers what the code is.  For instance, you can create a code called “123savetoday,” and then when your subscribers buy, they enter the code “123savetoday” into the cart and get a 10% discount or whatever other discount you specify.

There are no size limitations.  Sell 15,000,000 products if you want!  It runs off of a script, so except for the appearance of your cart, your product images and descriptions are not remotely hosted.

When you are just starting out with an online store, Mals-E.com offers a perfect solution for selling your products.  It’s so good that it works for people who are seasoned online marketers, too!

Popularity: 1% [?]

If you are looking for content, special scripts (such as a one time offer script), graphics and other useful tools, check out the 4th of July Giveaway.  You have a few more days to sign up and start downloading your freebies.

I reviewed this event earlier this month, if you want to take a look.

The 4th of July Giveaway has practical tools that you can use, as well as some of the usual fluff typically included in these types of events. I’m impressed with some of the downloads, including ebook cover generators, video creation tools, and a sweet selection of PLR downloads.  You won’t have access after the end of the month, so check it out now.

Popularity: 1% [?]

If you’re like me, you are constantly buying photos and graphics in order to create unique, visually appealing websites.  I do not believe in stealing images off of others’ sites, so it can get pricey.

Finally, here’s a great resource:
Top 5 Free Websites for Quality Copyright Free Photographs

Blogger John McClain reviews the top free photography sites that offer hundreds of thousands of images for your personal or commercial web use.

Enjoy!

Popularity: 1% [?]

When it comes to building a website, there’s a niche for everyone.  You might be amazed at what people find to be  interesting.  Choose a topic that interests you, start blogging or site building, and see what happens!  Here are a few that I’ve come across recently that might inspire you to think outside of the box.

TWEET YOUR PRAYERS.

It’s clever, but I’m starting to wonder if the 25-year-old economist who started it has bitten off more than he can chew.  What’s I’m talking about is his “Tweet Your Prayers” service where people can “tweet” prayer requests on Twitter and he’ll print them out and post them on the ancient Western Wall in Jerusalem.  The service was apparently so popular on Twitter that someone jumped on buying the “TweetYourPrayers.com” site and the official site had to be placed on an “.info” domain.  The owner has already been asking for volunteers in his Twitter feed and complaining about his computer not being able to process the “prayer tweet’ load fast enough.

The bottom line:  Is he making money?  Probably not.   But he is getting  a heck of lot of publicity in the news and his site asks for donations.

PRAYER MEMBERSHIP SITE.

In a related “prayer vein,” someone set up a membership site where you can have your computer recite prayers commonly used by Catholics, Jews, Muslims and other religions.  That way, when you forget to say your prayers, your computer will do it for you.

Are they making money?  Who knows!

HAVE THE INTERNET MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOU.

We’ve all heard about “desperate buyers” being the ultimate target market.  How about desperately confused people?

CNN announced the launch of Hunch, which makes decisions based on information that you provide.  I tried Hunch.com out and it asks some pretty basic questions that determine your personality type.  At the end, it had several suggested “decisions” so I took a look at where Hunch thought I should visit before I die.  You can get a free account at Hunch.  I have not done so yet, so I am not sure how they are making money.

Weird Niches.

If you’re scouting around for ideas, check out Nicole Dean’s blog. She is constantly posting stories about profitable weird niches that should inspire you.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I don’t know about you folks, but I found it quite shocking that Ireland enacted a “blasphemy law” that makes criticizing religion a crime that is punishable by a fine of up to $35,000.

Last weekend, Pakistan arrested someone for using the Internet to distribute “blasphemous” thoughts about Mohammad.  It was the first time it had “nabbed” someone for this Internet offense.   The offender was using a Yahoo.com email address, so I can only wonder if Yahoo — a United States company headquartered in California — assisted the Pakistani Cyber Crime Circle of the Federal Investigation.

Surprisingly, a handful of states here in the U.S. still have blasphemy laws on the books.  I spent some considerable time researching this and put together a list of all of blasphemy statutes, with links to the respective state websites.  For the most part, these laws are unconstitutional and rarely enforced; however, in a recent case in Pennsylvania, a filmmaker was not allowed to form a limited liability company because the state said the name was blasphemous.

As to whether the Irish blasphemy laws affect publications on the Internet, my gut feeling is that they will not be enforced.  For instance, if someone in Colorado wrote a scathing commentary about religion on a blog that someone in Ireland could access, would there be a crime?  Or what about Irish blog publishers?  As a practical matter, it seems that these laws will be next to impossible to enforce.  On a more philosophical note, it is unclear what constitutes blasphemy.  One religion may view another religion’s doctrine as “blasphemous.”

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and if Ireland will repeal its draconian law.

Popularity: 1% [?]

ZDnet pointed out earlier this week that the version of Adobe Reader that is available for download from Adobe’s official website is an older version that is full of security holes.  I checked and as of this morning, this is still true.

The insecure Adobe Reader 9.1.0 is the version that visitors receive on the download page rather than version 9.1.2, which fixed the flaws.

The security holes in the 9.1 version will not be fixed by anti-virus software programs.  People who download Reader are advised to immediately download and install Adobe’s security patches.  There should be automatic download alerts, but if not, click the “Help” link and then check for software updates.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Ever hear the saying, “Work smarter, not harder?”  Well, according to a survey published by the employment service, Kelly Services, we’re doing a bit of both.

The overwhelming majority of the persons interviewed in the survey say that technology has improved their efficiency at the workplace, but at least one third of those surveyed are now working longer hours. This is because mobile technology like laptops enables people to work at home as well as the office.

Despite the longer hours, most of the people surveyed were happy with the balance of their work hours/personal life.

The ability to work remotely — whether from home or elsewhere — instead of reporting to an office is becoming an important factor to potential employees when they choose a company to work for.

With today’s “green” focus and municipal challenges to cut down on smog and traffic, I personally think we will see more opportunities to work from home, particularly if governments give companies incentives to reduce their employees’ driving.  Some companies are switching to a 10-hour-a-day, four day workweek.  That is not always possible, though.   It might be more efficient to allow employees to report to the office four days a week and work the other day at home.  Online teleconferencing, document sharing and other technologies are creating opportunities that are changing the face of the workplace. Of course, there will always be jobs that cannot be done from home, but when it comes to office work, I do believe that we will see an ongoing trend toward telecommuting.

For those who work longer hours, if they can work from home, they still have a chance to see their kids and spouses and get their projects done.

Popularity: 1% [?]

If you are tired of seeing pornography on Craig’s List, a new religious-based online classified service has been created called “Christools.com.”  Because of its Christian focus, it may not be for everyone, but it does offer free classifieds for:

• Jobs;
• Wanted to Buy;
• For Sale; and
• Other.

There are a lot of religious based services and classifieds that are advertised on the site, which sets it apart from the popular — and secular — Craig’s List.

The site owners boast that in just one month’s time, they have had over 400 listings.

One of the problems with Craig’s List is that it is so heavily used that your ad may get buried quickly and no one sees it.  If Christianity is okay with you, the Christools service might be a viable option to make sure that your free classified ad will be on top.  They are doing a lot of marketing to Christian-based news services, so this might be an excellent opportunity for you to get your wares before the eyes of potential buyers.  The service accepts classifieds worldwide.  Just keep your submission clean and be sure to read their terms of service.

Here’s the link again:  Free Classifieds.

Popularity: 1% [?]

With school starting in a month or so, parents or college-bound students might find that they need to buy a computer.  Whether it is for school or home/business use, knowing what to look for is essential when buying office equipment.  A computer shop owner in Albuquerque, New Mexico, described what he called the five steps in picking the right personal computer on a local television interview.

1. What will you use your computer for?  High end gaming?  Watching movies?  Basic word processing and emailing?
2. Are you ever going to want to move your computer around?  Because they are designed to be portable, laptops tend to be more expensive than desktops.
3. If you decide on a laptop, make sure that it meets your requirements in terms of RAM, hard drive memory and so on.  Get a laptop that is upgradeable so that it will last 5-10 years instead of just 18 months.
4. Desktop computers are upgradeable for many years.  The parts tend to be ten cents on the dollar after a year passes. For instance, a $300 video card today may cost $30 next year.
5. Consider where you will buy your PC:  The Internet, a retail chain, or a mom and pop computer specialist business.

Although this video is a bit of an advertising plug, the bit about the services offered by mom and pop businesses tends to be quite true.  These smaller business really want you to be their customer, and they will bend over backwards to make sure that you are happy.  They will spend time learning exactly what you will use your computer for and will then tailor a unit to meet your needs.

The video will load in a few seconds.

Popularity: 1% [?]