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Gnomedex 8.0: Kris Krug: Making Better Photographs

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Productivity

Kris Krug is here at Gnomedex to talk to us about taking better pictures. He goes into tips:

  1. Light in the Eyes: You want to try and get light in the eyes.
  2. Evaluate the Light: Sun? Shade? Incandesent? Halogen? Look around and find highlights, spotlights, and shadows, and then put your subject in good light. Look for reflection and light in the eyes, and if possible, use lamps.
  3. To shoot in low light: Turn your ISO UP, Increase your aperture (make number lower), decrease your shutter speed, focus manually if autofocus fails you, tinker with manual settings/metering, brace on things (tripod, wall, gear bag)
  4. Reflections are Yummy: Look for puddles, glass, metal, shiny floors that may have reflections in them, and then take an image of that reflection.
  5. Focus on a theme: Black and white, portraits, funny faces, laptop stickers, over-exposed. This will give you a goal.
  6. Learn Your Camera: Isolate the variables like depth of field, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc. ALso, Tinker, tweek, shoot a bunch of photos, share them, get feedback, and feel free to change up your style. Share your gear by finding someone you can test out lenses, flashes, etc. with. Last, but certainly not least, set the white balance.
  7. Take a look at your background: No trees sprouting out of peoples heads, less busy puts more focus on the subject.
  8. Fill the frame: Hold your hand out, and if your subject isn’t bigger than your hand, you are too far away.
  9. Get High! Swing Low: People look better from above, so stand on things, lay down, get the angle, and change your perspective. This is why people are always taking MySpace photos by holding their phone above themselves.
  10. Tips for being a good subject: Laugh, smile, have fun. Make eye contact with the camera. Stand in the light.
  11. Camera buying advice: Lenses are more important than the body. You should spend 2/3 of your camera budget on your lens. Don’t fall for megapixels. Look for manual controls. Cameras from Canon, Nikon, and Fuji are great.

You can find Kris at Static Photography. This dude is an amazing photographer.


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Is Your Online Business A Hobby Or A Real Business?

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Planning, Productivity

A common question today is: “Why aren’t I making any money from my web site?” The main reason for this lack of success is that there are too many hobby sites rather than real business sites on the internet.

Your web site is a hobby business when:

Wireless Office Gives Small Business Owners An Edge

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Business Tools, Productivity

For mobile entrepreneurs who are always on the go, Office Depot has what looks to be a great service meant to give your small company the appearance of seeming larger than it is. As we all know, that can mean the difference between a new client or one that walks away. The Wireless Office service starts at about $65 per month, and includes all of the following services.

After Hours Answering Service
Need a way to manage calls after hours? Wireless office service works for a fraction of the cost of a live answering service and can actually connect the call rather than setting up a call back With Wireless office service, you avoid playing “phone tag” and connect to your callers after hours.

Virtual Receptionist
Don’t have an office? Don’t have a receptionist? Need to present callers with a main business number that routes calls to the right people or information? Wireless office service works as your virtual receptionist 24hrs/day for the fraction of the cost of a dedicated person.

Consolidating and Connecting Virtual Workers
Are a majority of people in your “office” not in the office at all? Most phone systems deliver calls only to office phones. If your company primarily uses home or cellular phones, then Wireless office service is for you.

Consolidating and Connecting Multiple Offices
Looking to consolidate multiple branch offices with one phone number and one phone system? Wireless office service lets you do that and much more.

Making Small Businesses Look and Sound Larger
Tired of your small business sounding like a small business to callers? Wireless office service makes any business sound like a large enterprise.

Retail Call Routing
Are your retail employees spending too much time answering the phone and too little time helping customers? Wireless office service allows retail store to focus on customers while providing automated information to callers and only connect the right callers to the store.

Not bad, eh? If anyone is using, or has used, this service, let us know how it is.

Read More | Wireless Office


Toshiba Terca A5 Is Under $1,000

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Business Tools, Productivity

Toshiba is introducing a new business grade notebook computer. If you just want a portable, no frills system, this would be a great steal. The 14-inch WXGA unit includes the Intel Centrino chipset with optional NVIDIA GeForce Go 6200 video platform. The best part, it weighs right around five pounds, and will cost less than $1,000.

Read More | Network World


How To Pitch An Idea

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Productivity

As a businessman, CEO, or entrepreneur, one thing that people will tell you that you need to know is the art of being shrewd. Others will say it’s all about hustle. While these factors are important, I actually think that the art of getting people to buy into your ideas is huge. You may need to convince a vendor or business partner to buy into an idea that you know is a stretch, but will work. You may need to simply negotiate rates for a service you would like to use. No matter what it is, it is good to know how to get your point across in the greatest way possible. This article gives great insight into not only how to time your pitch right, but how you need to personally prepare for these moments and do the research.

Read More | How to Pitch An Idea


ClockWorkTimer: Keep Track of Multiple Projects

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Productivity, Software

Here’s a neat little website meant to keep you aware of the time you are spending on various projects. The ClockWork Timer let’s you fill in different tasks, and start and stop timers while you perform them to keep you on track. You can even run multiple timers at once if you are into multi-tasking. You can pause the timer if you get interrupted, and hit Done once complete. It will save a list of all tasks you have marked done. Check out the site for a demo.

Read More | Clockwork Timer


ClockWorkTimer: Keep Track of Multiple Projects

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Productivity, Software

Here’s a neat little website meant to keep you aware of the time you are spending on various projects. The ClockWork Timer let’s you fill in different tasks, and start and stop timers while you perform them to keep you on track. You can even run multiple timers at once if you are into multi-tasking. You can pause the timer if you get interrupted, and hit Done once complete. It will save a list of all tasks you have marked done. Check out the site for a demo.

Read More | Clockwork Timer


Backpack: Stay Organized On The Go

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Productivity, Software

During my normal interweb travels for the day, I came across a service that many are calling a “must-have”. Backpack is an ingenious organizational tool that is very customizable. There is no download or installation required, as all data is housed on their servers. You can use it to keep track of inventory, plan a meeting or business trip, or even use it for brainstorming. Uploaded files can be integrated into your outline, keeping everything together. Even better, you can share these outlines with others. If there is an important date you need to be reminded of, Backpack will send you an email or text message (or both if you prefer) the day before. I will be taking a closer look at the service over the next few days, but until then check out their hefty example page.

Read More | BackPack


Mobile Internet Entrepreneur

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Productivity

One thing that I thoroughly enjoy about being an Internet entrepreneur is that fact that as long as I have an Internet connection and my laptop, I can consider myself to be “at work”. For example, I am currently in New York City on vacation (I live in Seattle) posting this from a Starbuck’s in Times Square which offers the T-Mobile Hotspot service. This allows me to take a break from sightseeing, grab a Tazo Chai, and check my email all at the same time. No need to worry about getting back to the office! Anyone else out there take advantage of the unique situation us Internet business owners get to enjoy?


Wi-Fi Digital Hotspotter

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Productivity

Nowadays, Internet access is as close as your nearest coffee shop. The trick is finding which one offers Wi-Fi service. The Wi-Fi Digital Hotspotter aims to help in your quest by proving information on signals up to 200 feet away. Using two AAA batteries, the Hotspotter lists signal strength, SSID, channel, and even security status. In other words, all the essentials needed to allow you to judge where you should head if you need quick Wi-Fi access on the go. You can pick one up for about $60.00.

Read More | ThinkGeek


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