There are some secrets that market giants Apple and Microsoft don't want you to know: You don't have to pay them a dime to get a good operating system and productivity software for your personal computer. This is good news for individuals on a tight budget or for small businesses owners who don't want to spend a large amount of money on computer software.As an example, I am composing this story on a netbook that runs an operating system that cost me $0 and with a word processor that cost me $0. My total cost was $200 for the netbook itself. I don't pay for upgrades to the operating system or …

News agencies around the world are constantly challenged with finding and keeping consumers of their published content. Content is certainly king, but the business model has been stressed for many organizations over the past decade based on the advancement of technology and changing consumer habits. It’s still about getting the attention of readers, listeners, and watchers. But now, your news source wants you to consume their content through digital media and share it within your friends, family, and professional circles. Consider that the traditional subscription model is based a one-to-one …

Looking for a crafty idea? Want to see what new styles and trends are? Searching for inspiration? Need a bulletin board full of everything interesting, beautiful, cute and funny? Pinterest.com, an online pinboard/organizer, is all of these things. It's catching on fast -- there are about 3.5 million monthly users of the Pinterest page on Facebook. The site reportedly gets 1 billion page views per month. When first getting on the site, there is so much going on that it may be overwhelming. Going up to the top left corner and clicking on "Everything" will give you a drop-down menu to choose …

On June 28, 2011, Google announced a new social platform named Google+ (also written as Google Plus or G+).  Most people I know and reviews I’ve read compare the platform to Facebook. The influence of Facebook is apparent from the stream (status updates) to connections (friends) to photo share.  But Google+ has some unique features and a few advantages that I think you’ll want to consider. Google rolled out Google+ initially by invitation only. Once someone was a registered user, they were allowed to invite a limited number of friends to also participate.  This gave Google a controlled ramp-…

Suwanee is a very connected city. The abundance of recreational activities, Town Center, and the parks system provide visible examples of a vibrant community with thriving relationships between residents. There are visible signs of connections in the electronic world as well. Social media sites on the Internet connect individuals and business for communication, commerce, friendship and more. Despite what you may think about social media, it has a wealth of practical purposes that solve real-world problems. Examples include creating a professional network, finding the calendar of public events…

Many people have formed an impression that Twitter is online status update area for people to put exactly what they are doing at that moment in time. These type of  "tweets," as they are called, don't resonate with many people. I often hear comments like "I don't need to know that someone is brushing their teeth" or "Why do I care if someone is drinking coffee at this very moment?" To be fair, this was part of the original vision of Twitter. The initial question on the interface was "What are you doing?"  What happened over time was that individuals, groups and businesses began to share other…

You don't have to be a techno-wizard to track your exercise progress and goals these days. The phrase "there's an app for that" is now commonplace in our society of smartphones and yes there's an app to help you track your exercise. While there are a few options to choose from, I use a program called RunKeeper, which is available for iPhone and Android phones. Don't be fooled by the name, this program tracks more than just running. It's really a tracking program for distance, time, and calories burned. You can also use RunKeeper without a smartphone or by logging your activities manually on …