A YouTube video showing Today Show anchors Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric trying to figure out what the Internet was back in 1994 has been making the rounds on Facebook lately. 

My how far we’ve come in 17 years! 

Today, most of us know what the @ symbol is and don’t regularly say things like ‘my email address is name then the a with the little ring around it last name dot com.’ We clearly remember when we first heard about this new-fangled technology called “The Internet.”

A YouTube video showing Today Show anchors Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric trying to figure out what the Internet was back in 1994 has been making the rounds on Facebook lately. 

My how far we’ve come in 17 years! 

Today, most of us know what the @ symbol is and don’t regularly say things like ‘my email address is name then the a with the little ring around it last name dot com.’ We clearly remember when we first heard about this new-fangled technology called “The Internet.”

It’s January 28 and most resolutions are long forgotten, but not yours, right?  You have the tools to better manage your email, use technology more productively, achieve your social media goals, and keep up with each of those in a manageable, realistic way throughout 2011.  And because your plans so far are manageable, realistic, and already scheduled in your calendar, you can also focus on yet another resolution – your Website! 

Updating Your Website

“I want to update my Website” is vague, so let’s focus in on what specifically you want to update. 

• Is the look and feel of your site outdated? 
• Does your content need updating? 
• Do you need new content? 
• Do you want to improve your search engine placement?
• Do you need a way to update the site on your own? 
• Is new functionality needed on your site?
• Do you want to integrate social media tools to expand the reach of your site?
• Are you starting a blog?

Unless you are prepared to invest the resources (both time and money) in a large-scale Web project, pick just 2 or 3 things that come to mind when you say “I want to update my Website” and write those down now. 

It’s January 28 and most resolutions are long forgotten, but not yours, right?  You have the tools to better manage your email, use technology more productively, achieve your social media goals, and keep up with each of those in a manageable, realistic way throughout 2011.  And because your plans so far are manageable, realistic, and already scheduled in your calendar, you can also focus on yet another resolution – your Website! 

Updating Your Website

“I want to update my Website” is vague, so let’s focus in on what specifically you want to update. 

• Is the look and feel of your site outdated? 
• Does your content need updating? 
• Do you need new content? 
• Do you want to improve your search engine placement?
• Do you need a way to update the site on your own? 
• Is new functionality needed on your site?
• Do you want to integrate social media tools to expand the reach of your site?
• Are you starting a blog?

Unless you are prepared to invest the resources (both time and money) in a large-scale Web project, pick just 2 or 3 things that come to mind when you say “I want to update my Website” and write those down now. 

Yes, week 2 of resolutions.  Many may have already given up on their resolutions, but ours are still intact and we hope yours are too.  We covered resolutions to help you use your technology more productively in your business last week and this week, we are taking on a topic that seems to plague everyone in one way or another – email.

My email is overwhelming.

I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t made this statement at least once, or sometimes even once per hour!  The original intent of email when it launched in its earliest version the mid 1960’s was a way for multiple users of a single mainframe computer to communicate with each other within one organization.  Today’s email has certainly evolved into much more than that and if we let it, it can easily overtake our entire day every day!  We’ve talked about time-saving Outlook productivity tips in earlier posts, but now it’s time to talk about your email strategy. 

Yes, now even email needs a defined strategy to keep it manageable.

After more than four years, AT&T’s exclusivity on iPhone in the U.S. has come to an end; the iPhone 4 is coming to Verizon on February 10th.  Some questions remain unanswered: Will the antenna issues that plagued the iPhone 4's AT&T launch last summer also be a problem on Verizon's network? Will the differences in the AT&T and Verizon networks mean differences for iPhone users?  Based on all the news reports and first look reviews today, here is what we know so far about the iPhone on Verizon.

What's different?
In terms of hardware, Verizon will have almost the exact same device. The major difference is the CDMA chips inside the Verizon iPhone that will allow it to run on Verizon's network. On the outside, the most eagle-eyed observers will notice that the Verizon iPhone 4's ringer/mute switch on the top left side has been moved slightly downward. Apple says it was done to accommodate the CDMA chips on the inside, and consequently iPhone 4 cases and bumpers currently on the market will not fit correctly.

The Verizon iPhone's software is slightly more advanced too: it's running iOS 4.2.5, while the most current release for all other iPhones is iOS 4.2.1.

In terms of wireless service, CDMA technology currently does not allow voice and data to be sent over the network simultaneously, which means you can't, for example, make a phone call while checking e-mail or using the maps app. The CDMA Development Group has said this will change for all CDMA operators sometime this spring.

One feature Verizon will offer that AT&T does not, though, is the ability to use the iPhone as a Wi-Fi hot spot. Verizon says up to five Wi-Fi devices can connect to the iPhone's Internet connection at the same time.

Resolutions.  Most of us make them, and most of break them too.  It’s January 7 – have you kept all of your resolutions so far?  Don’t worry, me either (leftover Christmas cookies proved too tempting!).  Let’s forget about the word ‘resolution’ for a moment and instead call them ‘goals.’  When most people set goals, they also know how important it is to create a plan to achieve those goals.  So, why not create a plan to help you achieve your resolutions (yes, we’re back to resolutions now)?  Throughout the month, we will be providing you with ideas and strategies to develop the plan for the email, social media, website, and other technology resolutions you have set, either for yourself or for your business.  And, we’ll also be referring back to these and measuring progress throughout the year to help keep everyone on track. 

We are thrilled to finally be unveiling the new OpenSpark website!  We've been planning it for months, and one of the biggest decisions we faced was the platform to use.  We knew we wanted a content management system (CMS) and after working with many systems over the years, we knew from the moment we started using Drupal for building client sites that it would also be the platform of our new site.  There are tons of technical reasons for this decision, but we'll try not to bore you with those.