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  • The Benefits of Taking Card Payments Online

    The Benefits of Taking Card Payments Online

    Card payments are now commonplace online and it’s a rarity for a small business with an online presence not to offer this option to customers. Indeed, not offering a card payment service can be a quick way to lose business both in the short and long term – as consumers will likely avoid your site in the future. While the benefits are multiple there are potential pitfalls to accepting online payments, not least in choosing the right card acceptance provider, however, integrating card payments into how you do business online is likely to be the right move. The chief benefit is simply increased revenue.

    If you are in retail, for example, and you’ve gone to the trouble of creating a virtual storefront, which prospective customers can browse, then an online card payment mechanism is an essential accompaniment. The impulse purchases that follow from browsing activity can account for a significant percentage of overall revenue.

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  • The Keys for Online Business Success

    The Keys for Online Business Success

    The advancements in internet technology not to mention its popularity have convinced business owners to go online. For customers, doing business transactions over the internet is ideal, since it is more convenient for them.

    If you are planning to start a business, then I suggest that you go online, since it will allow you to reach a wider audience in a very short time. Still, you must be careful in doing so, since many people have failed in online business because they have not followed the marketing methods and techniques used in online business.  Here are some tips that will help your online business grow.

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  • iPad Tricks that Business Users Should Know

    iPad Tricks that Business Users Should Know

    For most common users, Apple’s iPad provides a means for consuming content, and for that matter anything – music, video and text. As a business user, you may want to put the iPad to better use. Apple’s documentation, though elaborate, throws little light on how an iPad can be used to enhance your performance in a business environment. Business users hit upon some features accidentally and use those features, or simply miss them entirely. Smart business users however, take time off to discover features and abilities in the iPad to make it work harder for them.

    The iPad has features that make it ideal for sharing data with personal computers and services that use the web. Some users discover features for themselves but it usually comes too late. Most tips and techniques that apply to an iPad also work for an iPhone because both use Apple’s iOS. However, don’t expect them to work the same way. There are couple differences here and there.

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  • Scanning Photos and Negatives Resolution

    I have began archiving the photos and negatives that are conveniently stored away in boxes. It is a great undertaking, but one that I’m sure I’ll enjoy. I describe my organizing method in my post titled Data Archiving Method. The one issue I have had, however, is determining the resolutions I will use for the digital archives.

    There are many questions about resolution with regards to scanning. I haven’t found any conclusive evidence on which resolutions to use, but I have made up my mind as to which ones I will use.

    Photographs

    One of the most debated points with regards to scanning pictures, negatives, and slides is the resolution to use. The general consensus is to print at 300dpi (dots per inch), so what should we be scanning the original in at? The answer to that question is it depends. Let’s take a look at how resolution plays a roll in the printing of a picture.

    Suppose you have a 4×6 photo that you want to scan in and eventually print. You scan the document in at 300dpi with the size in pixels of the picture at 1200×1800. The size is calculate by taking the size of the photo, in this case 4 inches by 6 inches, and multiplying each number by 300, since you are scanning in at 300dpi.

    Now if you want to print the photo at 300dpi you would get a 4×6 photo, which is the same size as the original. If you want to make a larger print of the photo, you can do one of two things: either print at the current resolution by decreasing the 300dpi to something like 180dpi, or rescan the original at a higher resolution.

    If you were to rescan the original at a higher resolution, say 600dpi, you will now have a photo that is 2400×3600 pixels. Dividing both numbers by the print resolution of 300, you can now enlarge the photo to an 8×12.

    Keep in mind, however, that because you are scanning a photo, and not the original negative, you won’t gain much if you continue to increase the resolution. That only helps to enlarge the photo, and not increase the clarity.

    Negatives

    I read somewhere that some think the resolution of a negative is equivalent to a 20-megapixel digital camera. I’m not sure how accurate this statement is, but I can tell you one thing: you can get scan at a much higher resolution and get better prints from scanning negatives than an actual photo. When you do scan negatives, you will definitely need a higher resolution, unless you like really small photos.

    The size of a single 35mm negative is 1.42×0.94 inches. If you scan a negative at 300dpi, you will get an image size of 426×282. Printing this image at 300 will give you a picture the same size as the original negative: 1.42×0.94 inches. That is a really small photo. You will need to scan in the negative at a much higher resolution.

    Many scanners can now scan above 3000dpi. If you plan on scanning hundreds or even thousands of negatives you may want to go with a scan dedicated to slide and negative scanning. I didn’t have the money for one, so I have invested in a flatbed scanner. Dedicated slide and negative scanners can go as high as 4000dpi, or possibly higher, while my flatbed can go up to 4800dpi, although with results not as good as a dedicated scanner.

    If you were to scan a negative in at 3000dpi, you would end up with an image that is 4260×2820 pixels in size. This is equivalent to a 12-megapixel camera. This allows you to print 9×14 inch photograph at 300dpi (4260 divided by 300, and 2820 divided by 300). For most people this will more than suffice for printing.

    If I were to scan at the full 4800dpi, the image size would be 6816×4512, or 31 megapixels. The file size would be monstrous to the point where I wouldn’t be able to easily save many photos because the larger the image files, the more space you are going to need to store it. If you do scan at a high resolution, make sure you have the storage space to accommodate all of your files.

    To help you determine what resolution to use, please check out Scanning and Printing Resolution Calculator. The Web site also provides great tips on scanning for both photos and negatives.

    Summary

    I have read many posts regarding scanning resolution online, and everyone seems to have there own opinion. For me, when I’m archiving my photographs, I’ll scan them in at 600dpi to leave a little room for enlarging. For negatives I will scan them in at 3200 since it is a nice compromise between file size and resolution. I probably won’t be printing any large photos, but it would be nice to have enough overhead just in case I would like to many years in the future.

    In the end, however, scanning resolution will be decided by your requirements, needs and capacity.

  • Macintosh Applications for Small Business

    Macintosh Applications for Small Business

    The subject of small business involves many aspects. Traditionally, small business is known to be a considerable part of any separate countries’ economics in general, and millions of people are involved into it.

    And not in vain – after thorough thinking we have to confess that small business has a few very significant pluses that make it much more profitable than many kinds of regular employment, and by simplicity and amount of income a few different spheres of small business bring larger profit and less headache than a single sphere of middle-sized business.

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  • Hi-Tech Tricks to Keep Long Distance Love Alive

    Hi-Tech Tricks to Keep Long Distance Love Alive

    While business keeps you and your spouse on opposite sides of the world, technology keeps you connected. Use your tech-tools wisely and your romance can flourish despite the distance.

    Do not be naïve: Distance definitely can destroy a relationship. Loneliness and boredom drive people to very stupid mistakes. Managed well, though, extended absences need not ravage a good relationship. Well-traveled couples say frequent, loving communication makes all the difference, and they stress the essential role high-tech tools play in keeping love alive.

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  • About Scanning Photographs

    I have read many articles and posts on the Web on how to scan photographs. There are many opinions as to the best way to perform the scan, and I have my own. This post will explain the most common settings that I use when scanning photographs.

    Pixels Per Inch (PPI)

    There is some debate about how many pixels per inch to use when scanning a photograph. Some say 240ppi, others 300 ppi, and a few say more than 300ppi. My take on the situation is this: I try to aim for 300ppi. What do I mean by this? I’ll show you.

    Lets say you have a 4×6 photograph that you would like scanned in, and printed at 4×6. This is rather simple to do, simply specify 300 in your scanner software where it says PPI and scan the photo. When completed, you will get a photo that is 1200×1800 (4×300, 6×300) pixels in size.

    What if you want to increase the size of the photo to 8×10, and still print at 300ppi? You would increase the PPI in the scanner software to allow for a bigger print. In this case 600ppi would double the size of the print to 2400×3600 (4×600, 6×300), which allows a print of 300ppi at 8×12 inches.

    Most of the time, however, I would print the same size of picture that I scan in. This means that I would keep the PPI at 300.

    48bit Colour

    I always scan photos in at 48bit colour. I usually need to correct colour casts in the scanned photos, and 48bits provides me that extra overhead to change the colours of the photograph without any banding. Banding can be seen when using Adobe Photoshop using the Levels tools to view the distribution of pixels in the different tonal values. If there are gaps between the lines, then it shows that those tonal values don’t have any pixels, otherwise known as banding. One of the downsides to using 48bit colour instead of 24bit colour is file size. The size of the photos is double at 48bit, meaning more memory and hard drive space is needed. With the large hard drives and 1-2GB of memory in most systems these days, most people would have the space. Another downside to 48bit is that not all photos-editing software can edit photos at that colour depth. Many of the big name editors, such as Adobe Photoshop, are providing more functionality for editing 48bit images.

    Saving

    When saving photos for later use, I like to use the TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format. This file format is uncompressed, can be used on many types of systems (PC, Mac, Unix), and supports layers and 48bits. The downside is that it can be much larger than a compressed format, such as JPEG. Since it is uncompressed, there is no data loss, so you can continuously edit and save the file with any image degradation.

    When sending the photo through e-mail or posting it online, I use JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). This is the same format used by digital cameras, and can compress to a much smaller size than TIFF. The big downside to this format is that it uses a lossy compression, meaning every time the picture is saved, it is compressed and some information is lost. The compression can be adjusted to help balance between size and image quality.

    Summary

    Here is a summary of what I mentioned in the post to make things easier to remember:

    • I scan the photos in at 300ppi if I will printing the same size as the scanned picture. I will increase the PPI only if I’m planning to make a larger print.
    • I scan the photos in at 48bit colour depth to provide extra headroom when editing the photo, such as removing colour casts.
    • When editing photos, I save the photos in the TIFF file format.
    • When sending through e-mail, or posting to the Web, I will compress the photos using the JPEG format.

    In later posts I’ll describe how I catalogue and archive my digital photos, both scanned and those taken with my digital camera.

  • JPEG Or RAW Format

    As anyone with a digital camera knows, pictures are saved as files on a memory card. They can then be downloaded and printed. Some of the higher end digital cameras, however, have an option of saving the pictures in two different file formats: JPEG or RAW.

    Both formats are completely different. One can easily be used by many different systems and applications, while the other is proprietary and needs to be converted first. One is compressed, while the other isn’t (although some say it can be). One is result of processing performed by the camera, while no processing is performed to get the other. As you can see the two formats are completely different, and yet there is a great debate on which format to use.

    This purpose of this article is to discuss the differences to help you make a decision on which one fits better with our needs.

    JPEG

    The famous JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) file format is beyond a doubt the most common digital camera file format. This format is used by all digital cameras, and can easily be downloaded and printed. It has the ability to compress images with 24 bits of colour data (8 bits each for red, green, and blue), or 16.7 million colours. This is more than enough colours to produce photo-quality images.

    A JPEG file is also compressed, and uses a lossy compression. A lossy compression discards some data when in compresses an image. Usually applications, or in this case a digital camera, have a method of controlling the amount of compression applied to the image. The less compression applied to the picture, the better it looks, but the larger the size. If the compression is set too high, JPEG compression artifacts may appear in the picture. These can be seen as irregularities in the picture.

    The JPEG format is very popular for posting images to the World Wide Web, or to send in an e-mail.

    RAW

    This format can be found in higher end digital cameras, such as DSLRs. Unlike the JPEG this format can’t just be downloaded and printed without first processing and saving the picture into another format. A RAW file is a proprietary format which is unique to each camera maker. This causes problems as vendor applications that provide the ability to edit RAW files must update their application to accept any new camera RAW formats. Usually, however, a camera will also include software that can edit the RAW format.

    The RAW file is unprocessed data from the camera, meaning it is exactly what the camera’s CCD sees. No in-camera sharpening, contrast, or white balance settings are applied to the file before being saved to the memory card. This provides the flexibility of being able to set these settings manually after downloading the file to a computer.

    While a JPEG file is 24 bits total, a RAW file stores up to 48 bits (16 bits each for red, green, blue). This provides more room for correcting the colour when processing the image on a computer.

    It is important to note that many of the DSLR cameras also have the option of saving both a JPEG and RAW file of the same image. The downside to this is that it will use up more memory since you will be saving two images instead of one.

    Comparison

    Item JPEG RAW
    File Size Small. Depends on the compression. Large.
    Compatible Can be used by any photo editor and Web browser. Limited to specific photo editors that support the format for the camera.
    Compression Lossy None, but if used the compression is non-lossy.
    Printing Can be printed right from the camera. Needs to be edited and saved to another format first before printing.
    Colour Bits 24bit (8 bits red, green, blue). Up to 48 bits (16 bits red, green, blue).
    Editing Ability Can be edited but not too much or banding may occur. Should not be saved too many times or artifacts will become worse. Can be edited many times before banding occurs. Should save to a standard non-compressed format such as TIFF when editing.
    Processing Time None. Can be printed from camera. Much. Must be edited (sharpened, colour balanced) and saved to another format first before printing. Could use automation and bulk-editing to reduce the time.

    Summary

    Determining which format to use depends on your photo editing skills. If you enjoy editing photos, and have a powerful computer then you may want to choose the RAW format. If you don’t feel like sitting in front of a computer and edit a photo, or can’t wait to print your photographs, then choose JPEG. In the end, it’s really a personal preference.

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