2008 October | money news blog

31 10 2008

Network Notepad creates quick diagrams and flow charts

Posted by: in Productivity

Filed under: Business, Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

While network planning and design isn’t usually part of my job, I do sometimes need to put together a swift sketch of a client’s systems to help me oragnize a plan of attack.

Network Notepad is exactly what I was looking for - a small, free app that lets me lay out network devices, servers, printers, and workstations swiftly and easily. It’s a great tool for documenting sites in case another tech has to attend to a call in my absence. Once you’ve set IP addresses, you’re able to use the F1-F6 keys as hotkeys to ping, surf, or telnet to a device.

Don’t be fooled by the Notepad in the name, though. This app is full-featured enough to tackle complicated networks. Be sure to download the Cisco-created object libraries and hub/switch pack, as they provide several icons that aren’t included in the default set.

There’s even a flow chart icon pack which turns Notepad into a kind of poor man’s Visio (if you’re looking for a Visio clone, try the open source Dia). You can’t argue with the price, and the feature set is impressive for such a small download.

Network Notepad creates swift diagrams and flow charts originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

30 10 2008

Honda creates musical roads for promo

Posted by: in Marketing and Advertising

Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Honda (NYSE: HMC) is about to unveil a truly mind-boggling ad campaign. On stretches of highway in California, it has created sets of grooves, similar to the rumble strips found on highway berms, that are spaced and sized in a way that creates a series of musical notes as vehicles drive over them. Apparently, altering the vibration of the auto can create a scale of notes that are readily discernable to passengers of the right automobile that are passing over them at the right speed.

The video explains the process far better than I have the ability to, but I have to say, I found the audio produced by driving over the test strips striking. At best, I expected a lick or two of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, but the effect produces a much wider range of sounds, not at all similar to the percussion usually produced by rumble strips.

If they ever put them on highways I drive frequently, however, I want a say in what music is getting grooved. Can you envision a daily commute passing over the same advertising jingles month after month? I’d probably detune my car.

Thanks, Advertising Age

Disclosure: I own four shares of Honda. Not quite controlling interest, eh?

Honda creates musical roads for promo originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading McDonald’s makes plans for the McDouble

30 10 2008

McDonald’s makes plans for the McDouble

Posted by: in Marketing and Advertising

Filed under: Analyst reports, Products and services, Marketing and advertising, McDonald’s (MCD)

McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) is planning to replace its Double CheeseBurger with a new sandwich called the McDouble.

The new cheeseburger will be a tiny less cheesy, with two beef patties but only one slice of cheese. Analysts estimate that the McStingy will cost about six cents less to make — combined with the company’s plan to raise the price to about the dollar mark, it could spell increased profitability for the chain.

“We want our customers to know they can depend on McDonald’s to provide the each day value and convenience they’ve come to anticipate, every time they visit our restaurants,” stated Greg Watson, vice president of marketing at McDonald’s USA. “These recommended changes will ensure we continue to satisfy our customers’ tastes and wallets.”

McDonald’s makes plans for the McDouble originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Four apps that will/might keep your wife from killing you

29 10 2008

Four apps that will/might keep your wife from killing you

Posted by: in Productivity

Filed under: Fun, Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

…when her computer crashes.

Jason’s writeup of PMS Buddy inspired me to write a sort of Public Service Announcement. Since I’m sure a lot of our loyal readers are “the friend that knows about personal,” I thought I’d share some programs that I should’ve used long before my wife’s hard drive took a dirt nap.

Prepping a close one’s personal for a catastrophic event is kind of like stockpiling supplies for a fallout shelter. When the proverbial bomb drops, you’ll be safe - as long as you’ve got the right provisions.

1. GMail. I took the liberty of setting up what I think is a phenomenally crafty stealth email backup. Step one: enable IMAP and copy all the old messages to GMail. Step two: set up GMail to automatically check our ISP’s crappy POP server. Step Three: set Outlook Express to access GMail via POP and leave the original copy on the server. Step four: twiddle thumbs. All emails are now stored in the cloud where a hard drive is a lot less apt to take a steaming hot bath in coffee.

I’ve chosen to use POP instead of IMAP because of the odd problem we’ve had with our GMail for Domains access. Phone calls from home that begin “Why is it telling me the server can’t be contacted?” aren’t good for my health.

Four apps that will/might keep your wife from killing you originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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29 10 2008

The magazine business follows newspapers into troubled waters

Posted by: in Marketing and Advertising

Filed under: Competitive strategy, Time Warner (TWX), Marketing and advertising, Employees, Gannett Co (GCI)

Gannett (NASDAQ: GCI) stated it would cut nearly 10% of its staff. This is hardly a surprise. Newspaper ad revenue has been running down over 15% this year and that trend is expected to continue. At some papers, classified ads — mostly real estate, employment, and autos — are off well above 30%. The web has eroded readership. Most of these people will not ever return as newspaper subscribers. Gannett and all its peers trade at multi-year lows.

The advertising sales problem is beginning to spread to magazines. Between the internet and the recession, the magazine business is getting pinched and pinched hard. Ad pages at many business magazines and newsweeklies are down 15% to 20% this year. In some cases, the drop is closer to 30%. As a reaction, the largest magazine publisher in the U.S., Time, Inc., a unit of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) will cut as many as 600 people. According to The New York Times, “No magazines are scheduled to shut, but some are apt to be severely cut back.”

Magazines will have to do something that newspapers haven’t be able to. They need to move their content to the web in a way that’ll pull big numbers of readers so that advertising volumes are massive enough to make up for the erosion of print dollars. Since there are a massive number of content sites on the internet, there is plenty of competition.

The print magazine business is dying and dying faster than many analysts thought it would. Its only life boat is the internet. A life boat only holds so many people.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

The magazine business follows newspapers into troubled waters originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

28 10 2008

Looking for a portable hotkey app? Try QOpen!

Posted by: in Productivity

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

I’m not generally inclined to make use of program launchers. Instead, I like to use the tools that are built in to my Windows OS to save mouseclicks and keystrokes.

QOpen, however, is an interesting alternative for me. It’s portable, insanely light on memory usage (about 2mb) and incredibly useful on my service bench.

By default, QOpen is invoked by pressing win + space. Once the window is displayed, entering your preferred abbreviation launches the specified application: NP for Notepad, for example. It also supports drag-and-drop creation of new hotkeys from shortcuts or programs, grants you to specify command line arguments and working path, and can launch applications maximized, minimized, or hidden.

When would this be useful? A lot of the systems I repair on the bench require the same applications, which I store either on a network share or on my USB flash drive. By launching QOpen first, I have the ability to execute obnoxiously long commands like “c:windowssystem32oobemsoobe /a” (to open the Activation Wizard) by typing something simple like “act” into QOpen.

Its size and low resource utilization is key. I still see the odd Windows XP machine with 128 or 256 megs of memory that needs tuning - some people just love their old beaters and don’t want to upgrade or replace them. QOpen is a handy, light way to access apps like CCleaner, HijackThis, and Adaware from my file server and it doesn’t bog down older machines like Launchy does.

Looking for a portable hotkey app? Try QOpen! originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Like it or not, here’s what your next Pepsi can will look like

28 10 2008

Care about it or not, here’s what your next Pepsi can will look like

Posted by: in Marketing and Advertising

Filed under: Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Marketing and advertising

PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) has joined the ranks of old, canned brands giving themselves brand new cans. As part of a $1.2 billion worldwide campaign designed to give its major soft drink flavors fresh new logos intended to recall “smiles,” the new Pepsi packaging is being tactically leaked to influential marketing journalists.

Blogger Peter Shankman was treated to an elaborate series of courier deliveries that culminated in a sample of the new can: the same royal blue hue, but clean-looking, polished to a metallic sheen, and sporting the sort of lower-case lettering that was last popular during the disco craze.

A few people have already pointed out that the new logo slightly resembles the one used by Barack Obama’s current campaign. I don’t see it myself. Both are circles, and both are red, white, and blue. But if anything, the Pepsi logo looks a whole lot like, well, the old Pepsi logo. And even that soon-to-retire yin-yangy logo, which came online in 2002 but was based on a decades-old design, looks more like Obama’s stamp than the swishier new one.

Care about it or not, here’s what your next Pepsi can will look like originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

28 10 2008

Open Google Calendar in Firefox from any page

Posted by: in Productivity

Filed under: Utilities, Productivity, Google, Browsers, Web

GCal Popup is a Firefox extension for Google Calendar users too lazy to open a new tab when they want to enter a new appointment or check their calendar. Once the plugin is installed, you’ll see a little calendar icon in your status bar. Click it and your Google Calendar will pop up, over the top of whatever page you happen to be visiting. Click the close button and it will go away.

If you’re already logged into your Google account you won’t even need to login to Google Calendar when the window pops up.

This is listed as an experimental plugin, which means you’ll need to register for a Mozilla account and login before downloading. But the add-on seems to be stable enough and hasn’t caused my computer to burst into flames. Yet.

[via gHacks]

Open Google Calendar in Firefox from any page originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

27 10 2008

FlickrDown: bulk photostream downloader

Posted by: in Productivity

Filed under: Internet, Pic, Utilities, Productivity

My wife takes a lot of pics of the jewelry she creates, and she uses Flickr to store and share them. Recently, however, she was shooting out of town and ran out of room on her SD card. Her solution: plug in to a friend’s PC and upload them to her photostream.

When she got home, she wanted a quick way to download all 300+ images for editing. That would have been a pretty tedious chore, were it not for FlickrDown.

You can search by username, e-mail address, tags, or groups. Results display swiftly, and downloading is as easy as checking a few boxes, browsing for your destination folder, and clicking download. Authorization is supported - and necessary if you’re going to download private photos.

FlickrDown will automatically create a new folder inside your destination to make sure your selected pics are stored neatly. Folders are named based on your search text or the group name. You also don’t have to worry about it overwriting existing files - it will automatically append -fd to the new ones.

My only minor gripe is that the download progress shows in a separate window (and adds another button to the taskbar). It’s simple to overlook since FlickrDown so good at what it does.

FlickrDown is freeware for Windows only, and the .Net 2.0 runtimes are required.

FlickrDown: bulk photostream downloader originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.