Anything from starting a business to working in a corporate environment.
Business
What's the best e-commerce solution for my business?
Episode 1002
Jerry fromJerry is rebuilding his business website with video and tips and wants to know what the best e-commerce option is. Leo recommends SquareSpace. They've just recently added an e-commerce platform that Leo says is excellent.
Another is BigCommerce.com, which is solely focused on e-commerce and will be a bit more expensive.
(Disclaimer: SquareSpace is a sponsor).
How can I get Microsoft Office installed on several PCs?
Episode 990
Steven fromSteven has to install Office on about 30 PCs. Leo says it's called a deployed install. Microsoft has a program called PSExec from SysInterals. He'll have to put the installer on first. Windows IT Pro has an article on how to do it.
SysInternals has tons of great tools that any budding IT guy should have in his quiver.
What program can I get to manage scanned documents?
Episode 966
Ross fromRoss owns an auto shop and he'd like to start scanning documents to manage them in the computer. Leo says that optical character recognition (OCR) is a key feature in order to glean the data from the scanned forms. Leo recommends OCR scanning software from Nuance.
Futurist Ray Kurzweil Joins Google
Episode 936
Futurist and mega geek Ray Kurzweil is being hired as Director of Engineering at Google. He's a proponent of the Singularity theory, where computers will reach the point of being indistinguishable from humans.
Futurist Ray Kurzweil joins Google, will focus on machine learning and language processing (The Verge)…
http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/14/3768332/futurist-ray-kurzweil-joins-google-will-focus-on-machine-learning-and
Netflix Streams a Billion Hours of Video Streaming
Episode 934
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has announced that the company has passed over a billion hours in video streaming. But in announcing it on Facebook and Twitter, he may have violated SEC rules about informing investors properly and could be subject to civil action.
digital signage
Episode 859
Kenneth fromKenneth has a tour company and he wants to create a visitors’ center that’s digital to attract more clientele. Leo says that restaurants are using HDTVs attached to a computer via PC interface that has software running that autoruns. Powerpoint would even do it. In fact, you can even crosslink Powerpoint to a Spreadsheet to automatically pull in the updated information. A Mac would probably have a more elegant look via Keynote and a MacMini would work great.
eLance
Episode 860
Dennis fromDennis needs a high end project manager that can understand databases. And it has to be custom. Leo suggests going to eLance.com to find a professional programmer. There’s over 1 million programmers on eLance and it’s a great place to find one.
eCommerce membership
Episode 860
Peter fromPeter has an eCommerce site for amateur astronomers. He’s been using SquareSpace to rebuild the site, but there’s no paid membership module to charge his members a monthly fee. Leo says SquareSpace has an audience feature. Peter wants an auto billing feature, rather than a manual option. They do have Paypal integration. There’s also Adobe Catalyst, but Leo thinks it’ll put Peter in the same manual issue. Amazon payments is another option.
Manufacturing an idea
Episode 862
Anthony fromChris has a patent and wants to know how to go about getting his gadget manufactured. Leo says that’s a challenge because it’s probably not cost effective to make it here in the US. China is probably the best idea. Check out ChinaSources.com. But that’s probably the least of your worries since it’s probably going to cost you $100,000 just to get to prototype and your first run of product.
How do I recognize a computer scam?
Episode 925
Shamus fromShamus got bit by a scam that asked for his credit card for a political donation. Leo says it's best to not give anyone his credit card number. He could instead tell them he will go online and donate. If the caller is offering to fix his computer, then that's a scam and Shamus was right to avoid it. Microsoft will never call anyone to offer to fix their computer.