Small Business Computing Staff

ITBusinessEdge: A New Version Of Microsoft’s Free Security Essentials Microsoft didn’t bother to announced Security Essentials 2.0, but ITBusinessEdge SMB columnist Paul Mah noticed. The new version adds a network inspection capability to detect threats in incoming network traffic. “Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) 2.0 was quietly released last week with nary a press release or […]

Open Forum: Making The Case For Windows Phone 7 Smallbiztechnology.com editor Ramon Ray has been testing a Microsoft Windows Phone 7 smartphone and likes it. He tells you why, and why it makes sense for small businesses. “For the past few days I’ve been reviewing a Windows Phone 7 and I like it. I have […]

Entrepreneur: Essential Tools For The Virtual Business Chris Brogan’s virtual business toolkit of mostly online software tools includes Google Apps, Skype (telephony), Yammer (internal twitter-like app), Adium and Trillian for internal instant messaging, and four or five others. “When I started Human Business Works, there was never a question that it would be a virtual […]

ITBusinessEdge: SMB Storage Solution – Synology DiskStation DS1511+ NAS Paul Mah praises the intuitive Synology DiskStation Manager software interface and explains why this product makes sense as a main office storage platform for SMBs. “Network Attached Storage (NAS) specialist Synology earlier this week announced the release of a new, improved DiskStation to succeed the flagship […]

Entrepreneur: Avoid These Website Design Sins The seven deadly sins of website design include the fairly obvious, such as clutter, difficult navigation and never-changing pages, but also some less obvious flaws and failings. “Is your website driving away customers? If you’re committing these site development sins, it could be costing you more than you know. […]

No Jitter: The Small Business Phone System: Options Abound Despite the proliferation of hosted phone services and their supposed appeal to small businesses, many SMBs continue to prefer on-premise solutions from traditional PBX makers. But that may be changing. “My colleague Alaa Saayed has released a great market insight on the SMB market for premises-based […]

Smallbiztechnology.com: Staying Connected To Your Business Over The Holidays Mardy Sitzer’s online staying-connected toolkit includes fanpagemonitor for Facebook, Nutshellmail.com for keeping up with Twitter, etc., remote office network login tools and voice mail as e-mail. “Let’s face it; we are tethered to our streams of tweets and posts almost as much as we are to […]

Laurie McCabe’s Blog: High-priced Data Plans Slow SMB Uptake In Mobile Arena McCabe blogs about the SMB Group’s new “2010 Small and Medium Businesses Mobile Solutions Study.” It shows that SMBs have been slower to adopt mobile solutions, and that while momentum is gathering small businesses are still checked by the high price of mobile […]

Entrepreneur: Social Media: The Shape Of Things To Come Location-based marketing, the rise of non-YouTube online video platforms and marketing campaigns by mobile text message are among the trends Star Hall predicts will be important in the year ahead. “Just when you thought you had Twitter down, a basic understanding of LinkedIn and you finally […]

PCWorld: Review – Brother HL-4570CDW Color Laser Printer The reviewer says text output is superb, but quality falls off on graphic and photo material. It can connect directly to a PC or wirelessly to a Wi-Fi network. “In most respects the Brother HL-4570CDW color laser printer is a good value. Its $500 price tag (as […]

Wall Street Journal: Privacy Alert – Big Smartphone Is Watching WSJ reporters Scott Thurm and Yukari Iwatani Kane have exposed serious privacy/security breaches with many popular smartphone apps that send personal and location information about users to tracking companies. “Few devices know more personal details about people than the smartphones in their pockets: phone numbers, […]

Entrepreneur: Boost Holiday Sales Using Social Media This article includes three mini-case studies of small businesses that used social media to broadcast special seasonal promotions and saw a measurable increase in revenues as a result. “The holiday retail push is in full swing and virtual cash registers are virtually ringing as consumers the world over […]