Kickstartnews Revue - Podcast 08 - Show Notes for June 25, 2005

The show is squarely focused on SOHO and small business needs. This week's lineup:

Kickstartnews Confab — Is Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) software any good? Is the technology of any use to your hobby, SOHO or small business?

Interview — Senior graphic artist and digital imageer Mario Georgiou of Georgiou Digital Imaging & Design provides his take on the business and the new reality for people trying to get started.

Big City Byte — Almost 40 million credit card holders were compromised by a major security breach at a third-party transaction handler. We examine the facts and the implications for your business.

Check the rest of the Show Notes for facts, figures, details and URLs. More . . .

Can You Really Do It All For Free?

The other day, a very nice person asked if she could possibly operate her small stoneware craft work business without having to 'invest' in commercial software. My first response was to chastise her about using pirated software. But she persisted, explaining that it wasn't piracy or warez she was after. It quickly became clear that she was aware of a significant selection of free utilities, productivity programs, financial software and other goodies all available free of charge to anyone who cares to download and install them.

I sat down with her to analyze her business needs. Pottery and stoneware craft work is interesting, creative, and in the right hands, also quite lucrative. It took only a few minutes to assemble the list of needs. More . . .

Kickstartnews Revue - Podcast 07 - Show Notes for June 18, 2005

This show is squarely focused on SOHO and small business needs. This week's lineup:

• Kickstartnews Confab — Is voice recognition software any good? Is it of any use? Does it belong in office environments in which employees are increasingly demanding more silence rather than more noise?
  
• Letters to the Editor — Lots of questions and lots of answers. This week we tackle your questions about Norton Antivirus, Belkin's USB 2.0 DVD Creator, Busker, the PalmOne Tungsten E, and mailing label software.
  
• Big City Byte — Can you find enough free software to effectively run a SOHO or small business? We examine the facts.
  

Check the rest of the Show Notes for facts, figures, details and URLs. More . . .

To Serve or Not to Serve

In the never ending quest for business excellence, hobby excellence, and the struggle and joys of building a small home based business—a SOHO or very small business (VSB)—questions of security, intelligence and basic good practices arise. I know I ask them from time to time. I know that friends and associates ask the same things of themselves from time to time. Lately, one of the questions I've been asking (and hearing) has to do with the need for a small business server.

So . . . do you need a server? Good question! More . . .

Kickstartnews Revue - Podcast 06 - Show Notes for June 11, 2005

This Week's Linueup:

• Kickstartnews Confab — Contributing Editor Lianne Reitter, UK Editor Mario Georgiou and yours truly hash out how Apple's momentous announcement that its moving off the PowerPC chip and onto Intel might (or might not) affect home, SOHO and very small business computer users
  
• Interview — We talk to author Marcel Gagné, whose recent top sellers Moving to the Linux business Desktop and Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye have received terrific reviews by Kickstartnews
  
• The Big City Byte — To Serve or Not to Serve: Does your hobby, SOHO or very small business really need a server?
  

Check the rest of the Show Notes for facts, figures, details and URLs. More . . .

Why I'm Confused About Mac & Linux

I want to talk about Why I'm Confused About Mac & Linux. I'm not completely sure what to choose and I really don't have the time to experiment. I'm busier now than ever before in my life. Some people look at my schedule and demand to know why I'm not burned out. The truth is, I'm nowhere near it actually. Between a busy business, boatloads of new technology and a couple of healthy adult offspring, I couldn't be happier. But I'm in a quandary.

My businesses and most of the work I do in my home office is deeply intertwined with Windows XP and all of the productivity software I use on a daily basis. The virus scares which regularly make the rounds (is it weekly or daily now?) don't bother me all that much primarily because I pay for and maintain sensible antivirus protection. I also exercise good e-mail habits and regularly scan for adware. I make sure my browser version is fully up-to-date. I use Maxthon by the way and I love it. More . . .

Kickstartnews Revue - Podcast 05 - Show Notes for June 4, 2005

The show is packed with great stuff this week. You wrote us about askSam and SpinRite 6 and we've done our best to answer the questions. They're both great programs that work well as long as they're used for their intended purposes.

We've also present our take on the wild Wiki technology and its biggest manifestation online right now: The Wikipedia—the world's largest encyclopedia

Last but not least, the Big City Byte OpEd this week is all about making the difficult decision to switch to another operating system. XP? Mac? Linux? XP? Mac? Linux? XP? Mac? Linux? Round and round we go. Check out the rest of the show notes. More . . .

Podcast Meetup - Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa

Are you a podcaster? Do you want to be one? Then join Tod Maffin of the CBC in Vancouver tonight, Toronto on Tuesday and Ottawa this coming Thursday for a Podcast Meetup. Everyone is invited, even if you are just a listener, so don't be shy.

Lianne and I will be at the Toronto meetup and we want to see you there too. Join us!