Adobe: stay tunned for an online and free Photoshop!

I know it sounds like a dream coming true... but wake up! it s true!
You can expect to have a free and online version of PhotoShop within the next 6 months.
Read more in News.com

Business networking?

I just made a post in other Blog about a couple of "business networking" services that are available on the Internet for free.
Using this kind of technology can make a difference if you are looking to expand your "contact list" and if you wish to organize better your contact information.
I think this is a very good tip because it can translate into better relationships, more business, more opportunities of employment, professional growth and the list can go on and on.

Weekend reading and browsing

This weekend is for sure a very productive one. On Friday we had a great full day meeting with my team and then we went for some drinks with Matjaž and Vida. On saturday I have found some great weblogs and articles that are helping me for the challenges of his year; after that I went for some drinks with Bojan and Mateja. Today I countinued my research and I found some other cool applications.

• I have started my journey exploring the Codeplex site. So, what is it about? it is the equivalent to Sourceforge but from Microsoft; it is a web site that hosts many open source initiatives that use Microsoft technologies. And they have really great projects, all of them free to use.
• I was also reading the Blog of a very interesting person. His name is Michael Mace. He is writing a book and in the process he is building a blog. You can read chapter by chapter and of course make comments on it. The book name is "Stop flying blind" and talks about how to use external information to drive business strategy. If you are an entrepreneur you will enjoy reading that blog. Other of his blogs is called Mobile Opportunity and he describes it like that: "The walls between the web, wireless, entertainment, and computer industries are coming down...".
• I also was looking for alternative business opportunities and I found a great open source CMS system. So if you would like to have a web site running and with capabilities for editing contents then you need to go to Umbraco CMS web site. Their web site is well designed because includes good screen shots, videos and all kind of resources to get the best of their free platform. They also have some commerce licensing opportunities and even a hosting solution. I think that it is a good thing to count with their work because it is well made and you or your company can customize it for your particular needs. You will really feel happy to sponsor them :)
• Are you looking for business opportunities? Give a check on XING. It is a very good business networking service. If you need an invitation just write me a comment and I will gladly add you to my list of contacts. I'm using the service for many months but to tell you the truth I was not investing too much time in it. But each time I go to see my account I found new ideas and people that could be very interesting for my business development.

I hope my weekend reading and browsing is useful for you too.

A good Blog with great videos

Pogue's Blog is a great place where to get an original point of view about what is going on with technology. The videos are very entertaining and informative as well.
You can subscribe to the weekly videos using Itunes. Or you could search also on YouTube.
The video on the image is really a good one. It shows a very critical opinion about the ultra portable PC.

Google apps now with a premium eddition

Google released a new version of their set of applications for businesses. You can try the premium version until april for free. After that period it will cost 50$ per user per year.
Check the free version Vs. the premium version.
There is a full article about it on Cnet News.com.

Place a picture in a map

I was reading an article from Technology Review about a new feature from Flickr. really good thing!
It is about a new way of tagging pictures. Its name is "geotagging".
This is a very good idea especially for commercial purposes. Because business could use this technology to show what are they offering or what is going on on their stores placing pictures in "their" map.
There are available other services like this one but according to Technology Review Flickr is the easier to use. I still have some problems because I placed the tag in Austria instead of Slovenia.
Some of the services are:

1. http://www.mappr.com/
2. http://beta.zooomr.com/home
3. http://www.platial.com/splash
   

A good way to use technology to sell

I have to confess that Starbucks is a place I enjoy very much. And I know I'm not the only one.
This time reading a post from a friend I discovered that Starbucks sells online and in a very interesting way: with video, great graphic design and high quality products. Especially with a touch of taste for what is important for us, the persons.
Give a check on the site. It can inspire you with new ideas.

Iomega

Just 2 days ago we received a couple of new storage devices. One is the Iomega Rev and the other is a 160GB USB/Firewire pocket size hard disk.
Both units are really nice gadgets. Especially because they will extend our capacity (for services) very much. Now we have the possibility to make easy the process of backing up information no matter what!

1. Scenario 1: A Windows PC can make a full back up and store it in its hard disk, but some times the HDD doesn't have the required space. No problem, then the portable HDD can store the backup file without the need of installing any driver. Just to have 2 USB 2.0 ports available. After that the file can be moved to a Rev cartridge that includes 70GB of capacity.
2. Scenario 2: A small company needs to back up the important documents of each of their PCs. In that case all of them can run the Windows backup and store the file in a file server. When the process is finished (it can be scheduled) then with the Rev unit will be simple to transfer the files to 1 or more cartridge.

Something that I find very interesting is that the REV cartridges are like hard disks. So, you can run applications, drag and drop files, open files. That is a significant advantage if you think on tape backup systems. The Rev unit is portable and you can have as many cartridges as needed. And they are not expensive.
The only problem we found is that we can't make the Windows Backup to store its file directly to a Rev cartridge. I hope to find a solution soon.

How the music business work online?

I took some minutes to read a message from Steve Jobs regarding the part of the music industry that concerns his company. It is truly interesting and to tell you the truth helped me to understand the "mistery" of "DRM" or digital rights management.
It also offers interesting numbers.

Use your computer or game console to improve your meantal health

Some weeks ago I started the experience of the "game console world" with my new Nintendo Wii. There are many articles on the internet about how to use that game console to loose overweight. Now I see there are articles about using computer games to make people feel better about themselves and even to keep our brains in good shape:
Scientific American: New genre of video games target mental health
Within the article you can read about a company named MindHabits, here is its address on the Web: www.mindhabits.com
I find it interesting not only because of the use we can get from this trend. But also to think about potential business ideas. The game consoles are now connected to the internet and they are a new way to get information using a component always important for our Human nature: Fun! That means that educative games, fitness games, simulations that feed from real information can be a great opportunity. "You can be playing a spy game and check real news on your TV screen like part of your environment", "You can be playing tennis while listening to an online music radio", "You can go to play puzzles from images stored in a web service".
Learn, improve, keep healthy, from home and having fun.

SharePoint Learning Kit

B4Contact, my company, is involved in the world of e-learning. But we are alos working strongly with a technology called Sharepoint that helps organizations to create collaboration web sites and portals.
Now is available for download the SharePoint Learning Kit that is exactly the way to use SharePoint technologies and E-learning contents. Lear more visiting the web site of Codeplex.

Splashcast

SplashCast is a new web service that lets you merge different sources of information into one video. You can include pictures, videos, voice and text. The service lets you to create a "channel" so people could subscribe to it and even post your videos on their pages or blogs.
It was online just a few days ago. I see it is a bit slow now.. probably getting many visits.
Give a check on it.. there is already some nice information published.

Do you want to be a travel guide...online?

There is a new web site (new for me) on the net. It lets you to record audio and create animations with pictures. http://beta.yodio.com/
One of the main things here is that you can record the sound from your phone.
As far as I could see the service is used for advertisement. So if you need to say something about yourself or your company this service could be useful. It also allows registered users to upload MP3 files and embed the audio to a web site.
You can earn some money using this service! give a check on the "How it works" page.