Yearly Archives: 2012
Everyone forgets things once in a while, but forgetting things often can become a major hardship in your life, especially if you forget things like important projects or meetings at work. You will probably always forget something occasionally, but there are some things you can do to minimize your forgetfulness.
Do It Now
It seems simple, but one of the best ways to avoid forgetting something is to do it as soon as you know that it needs to be done instead of waiting and doing it later. This works because you cannot forget to do something if you do it right away. Sometimes it’s inconvenient to stop what you are doing, but getting small things done now means that you’ll have more time to do other things later, and you won’t forget what you were supposed to be doing. This tip obviously doesn’t work for everything you do, as you have little control over the timing of things like business meetings and doctor appointments.
Write It Down
Writing something down helps to ingrain it into your brain. It also gives you a tangible reminder to refer to later. It’s best to write down everything, even the small tasks that you are sure you will remember. People tend to write down the most important things they have to do and assume they will remember the small things. This technique doesn’t work because you are much more likely to remember to do something that is big and important that something that is smaller or more insignificant. Writing everything down also gives you more things to cross off your list, which leads to a greater sense of accomplishment.
Set an Alarm or Reminder
Many people use the alarm clock on their cell phone to help them wake up on time, but they rarely use the alarm for other purposes, such as reminding themselves when they have a meeting or appointment. For example, as salesperson who told a customer that they would return their call by the end of the day can set their cell phone alarm for 5 p.m. as a reminder. Your cell phone may not allow you to write a message that will be displayed when the alarm sounds, but it probably has a calendar where the name and phone number of the client can be recorded, along with the nature of the call.
Reminder Tools
Use your cell phone calendar for tasks as well as appointments. Some calendars even allow you to set a certain reminder for the same time every week or month. This forces you to set a date and time for every task you put into the calendar, even if it doesn’t really have to be done at a certain time. Giving yourself a deadline is a good way to motivate yourself to get things done quickly. You can also use several websites to send yourself reminders through email. These reminders are great for tasks that happen at the same time each week or month. These reminders are great for periodic tasks that you may forget, such as sending an invoice to a client or setting your trash can out by the curb.
Ask Someone To Remind You
Sometimes delegation is the best way to remember, especially if you are trying to remember something that involves someone else. It’s easy to ask your sister to remind you while you are setting up a lunch date for next Tuesday. This only works if your sister remembers, so only ask people to remind you if you are sure that they will not forget. Most kids have great memories, so asking your kids to remind you of something usually means that they won’t forget. They will probably remind you too often, especially if what you are trying to remember involves them.
Create a Habit
It’s easier to remember things if you do them in the same order every time. For example, you may put on your shoes, gather your cell phone and keys, and grab your purse before heading out the door. If your brain is used to doing these things in the same order every time it will feel odd if you forget one of the steps or complete them in a different order. The odd feeling gives you a chance to stop and think about what you are doing, cutting down the risk of forgetting one of the items.
Automate It
There are some things in your life, such as bills, that you can set on autopay and not have to worry about individual due dates. Most banks allow you to enter the information once to have your monthly bills automatically drafted from your account before they are due. There are also shopping websites that will automatically send you a specified supply of an item every month, three months or six months so that you never run out. Autopay can make your life easier, but you do have to keep your bank account balance high enough that your automatic payments don’t cause you to overdraft. You should also check your statements as they come in the mail to make sure that you are paying the full amount and there are no billing issues that have come up during the month.
About the Author
OnlineClock.net is one of the leaders when it comes to online reminder tools. Try any of their free online alarm clocks, countdowns, stopwatches or timers to help you remembering important times, dates and events. All of their tools are web-based, simply designed and free, so try them today!
It seems that not a day goes by without some kind of controversy exploding on Twitter. Even a seemingly innocent tweet about mosquito diseases could spark off an all-out flamefest.
However, for one young man in the UK, a frustrated tweet about a cancelled flight led to more than just some awkward insults traded through Twitter. He ended up arrested, charged and convicted of a crime.
Menacing Communication
Back in January of 2010 the UK was paralyzed by heavy levels of snow. Paul Chambers was on the way to visit his girlfriend, and when he found out t the snow meant the airport was closed, he took to Twitter to vent his frustrations.
For many of us, this seems perfectly normal â?? who hasnâ??t used Facebook or Twitter to express their annoyance from time to time? Unfortunately for him his tweet may have gone a little bit too far.
References to a weeklong ‘deadline’ for the airport to re-open, with the promise to blow it up if the deadline was not met, brought him a visit from the police, a trial and a fine. His defense, that he was just joking, was not looked upon with favor by the original court or by the judge in his first appeal. Comedians and Twitter users railed to his defense, and he launched an appeal against his conviction.
The Final Appeal
More than two years after his first trial, in July 2012, his appeal was heard yet again, by the UK’s High Court. This time the verdict was a victory for humor.
While the court’s written judgment didn’t seem to think much of Chambers’ comedy skills, they did find that if it was reasonable to think those who saw the tweet would think that it was a joke, then it couldn’t really be considered to be menacing.
So, Chambers had his conviction quashed much to his relief, given that the original result had interfered with his employment.
Social Media Consequences
It looks like UK residents are now free to make off-color and hyperbolic jokes on Twitter again. Given the hyper-sensitivity to terrorism and threats of terrorism that we now face post 9/11, in some ways, it was almost obvious that a tweet about a bomb was going to cause some kind of a reaction.
However, this doesnâ??t mean we should simply sit back and relax when our rights are violated. For Paul Chambers it took three trials before his lack of malice was recognized by the courts.
With US authorities possessing even less of a sense of humor when it comes to terrorism, itâ??s probably best to simply avoid any mention of illegal activities on Twitter â?? whether youâ??re joking or not!
This guest post was written by Carl, who enjoys blogging about all kinds of technology, from social media to new diagnostic techniques for mosquito diseases.
What do I mean when I present a ‘smartphone conspiracy’? It means you are being duped into focusing your attention on a red herring . . .
To me, they shouldn’t even be called ‘phones’ anymore, as it’s just one function amongst a myriad of other functions. To me, the ‘phone’ is really stealing the limelight on devices that can literally assist you in nearly everything  you do in life now, and these mini-computers can fit into your bag or pocket. The future is here, but phones are more lucrative and so are pasted on to these devices as if without a phone they would cease to exist.
Introducing the cash cow
Phones are a cash cow, especially in the West, where phones on contracts are pushed and anything else is made awkward or costly. ‘Pay as you go’ phones must really be spat on in secret by the monopolies forcing contracts onto people by cornering them with, well, no other option. Instead, they control this service with high costs as they realise they will push their luck on exposing the monopolies if they start providing the option of contract free REAL ‘Pay as you go’ services, as in actually paying for phone calls made without your card expiring on a sell by date ‘experienced by packets of crisps and loaves of bread’ and getting blasted by spam messages. If it wasn’t for this fact, I think ‘a phone’ would take more of a back seat on devices that can do so much more than just make ‘a phone call’. Just think about it . . . we’ve been able to make a phone call for many years now. But we’ve just now been able to analyse a golf swing by using a device’s gyro capabilities, can download books, maps, access the Internet, catalog songs, videos, podcasts etc. etc. etc.
Free calls already developing
What about Skype and Viber which are leading the way to free Internet calling. One day the Internet will be worldwide and free for sure unless monopolies oppress people into shelling out cash for little pockets of Wifi. The main phone producers are in bed with contract wielding phone coverage monopolies for sure in the background. It’s time to expose the red herring. It’s time to reel in the lie and showcase it to add pressure to the one last hurdle that these smart devices (a much better name I’m sure you’ll agree) will encounter before being taken seriously as to what they really are now  . . . complex and minimised computers.
Tax – not a penny invested in Internet coverage
Why aren’t taxes invested in countrywide Internet free coverage. I’m sure people worldwide would gladly shell out $1 per month than sign up to often duff Internet service providers which charge the earth sometimes. Mainly because competition divides sectors of land up into neat little,’these Internet users are ours’ sections. There is no need for this and worldwide open source coverage with the help of a very small tax charge would be all that would be needed. Internet cafes would turn into phone box type operations. Lifting a receiver and frantically stuffing coins into an already vandalised phone box instead of moving a mouse or gliding your finger over a track pad would seem laughable in the future I’m sure. Okay, an exemption for very poor countries would be in order, but would any of the big monopolies be interested in them anyway? Check out the signs on your company’s light switches . . . ‘Protect the environment, save energy, switch out the light’. Do you then see the manager driving away in a smart mini car and living in a small bungalow plastered in solar panels? No, more likely a large Audi, BMW or Mercedes and driving at full speed in the third lane. Don’t fall for all the diversions / guilt burdening hype.
Open source gladiators
So who are the real stars facing up to tech monopolies? Open source developers of course. However, they lack the financial clout to put up a real fight against these monopolies. So, what would be a real humdinger of a headache for the ‘Buy now, just xxx dollars a month for a phone that you could easily pay off in a few months and make free phone calls with a free service like Skype or Viber?’ The answer may be to be challenged by a political party promising free Internet countrywide. But is this possible? You might ask . . . of course, with the right funding and taxation to build the infrastructure of course it would be, as well as investing in better tech to ensure the most productive cover and latest innovative ideas.
Houston we have a problem . . .
What about if one of the major phone producers went AWOL in the monopoly’s gentlemans’ club and provided strings free phones, no contract required or rubbishy out of date cards. You pay for what you get . . . This would also be a kick in the teeth for the businessmen already comfortable in the ‘You must get a phone on a contract or buy a high-priced, time limited card thrown as a bone to keep you gnawing away at the scraps.’
Hackneyed saying now wearing thin
The now hackneyed and corny ‘Smartphone’ thing is wearing thin with people who are keeping one eye on the business monopolies. These are ‘smartdevices’ and deserve the appropriate respect. What’s the big deal about a phone anyhow. This is old technology being thrusted at you as if it’s new tech to blind you into paying for just one function amongst a multitude of other functionalities. Rather like the BBC thrusting tax on people who have a choice of so many other TV channels other than the BBC channel. Where is all that TV tax going anyway? If it all went back into the BBC, each program would be like Avatar reloaded lol.
What’s with the big deal about the phone anyhow?
These smart devices often have  a simple torch included. Should all torch users be charged a monopoly rent for using torches? What a ridiculous concept the ‘phone’ functionality is based upon now.  It’s almost like blackmail in some countries . . . ‘Unless you take out a contract with us for the phone bit or buy ridiculously priced phone cards you won’t get a look in on the new smartdevices available, because we are controlling production with a blanket excuse, a must have ‘phone’ . . . old technology but it still has people by the short and curlies.
Byline: Siron  Kcuhc is an enthusiastic Russian blogger who enjoys eating Marmite and Olives with red wine.
The phenomenal success of Angry Birds and the potential for making money from indie games might have you wondering whether or not you should put your programming skills to work and design your own game.
However, before you start getting to work, it’s important to consider how you are going to monetize your project. This is something you should consider early on, as your choice will have a large impact on how best to design your game.
For example, if you choose to support the game with advertising, you may need areas of the screen where the ads can be displayed without interrupting gameplay. If you decide to offer in-game items for real money, you will have to incorporate those elements into the game.
By figuring out how to monetize your game before you start creating it, youâ??ll save yourself time â?? and money â?? in the end.
Up-Front Payment
The advantages of an up-front payment for your game are relatively straightforward.
- You don’t have to worry about people getting the benefits without any money for your efforts.
- You have an easier time figuring out your financials when you know you will get a set amount of income for every game that you sell.
- No need to interrupt the interface or display with ads.
- No need to come up with methods to sell in-game items or credits.
However, there are disadvantages as well:
- More effort must be expended on marketing and describing the game as people cannot play without paying.
- Without integrating extra upgrades or ads, revenue per player is restricted to a one-time payment.
Free to Play
In a gaming context, the term â??free to playâ? means games that can be downloaded, installed and played without any financial barrier. However, this does not mean there is no way for you to generate an income.
Free-to-play games can bring in revenue by various means, including advertising and by instituting a payment system for in-game items, rewards or extras. For example, a racing game could allow players to access novelty vehicles like street sweepers for $2.
Advantages include:
- Technically unlimited revenue potential.
- An increased likelihood of visits converting to downloads due to reduced barriers for players.
Disadvantages include:
- The need for integration of your revenue sources into the game.
- More complicated revenue streams.
- Potential for a perception of unfairness if wealthier players can substantially increase their abilities through payments.
Both options offer a great degree of flexibility, although this is more apparent with free-to-play. Developers should remember it is possible to incorporate advertising and paid items into a paid-for game; however, this can lead to players feeling cheated or hard done by.
Another option is to release a playable ad-supported demo, which can be upgraded to a full version.
Michelle, a guest blogger, regularly writes about technology, from video games to the technology behind street sweepers.
I spend a lot of time, eight to twelve hours per day, online and so even small efficiencies can make a difference to my life. Over the past few years Iâ??ve tried many options to accelerate my progress, highlights of which follow below.
Upgrade your computer
Surfing the web may not sound like a demanding task, but modern browsers have a lot to do. In addition to displaying static content on screen they have to handle dozens of plugins from Flash to Java, while downloading content from multiple sources and processing audio, video and 3D animation.
As a result todayâ??s browsers are hungry beasts, with every tab requiring additional RAM. Our work machines have all been maxed out to their 8MB limit and some days we wish they had more.
Multicore processors are well suited to handling multiple tabs and so this is another area where you donâ??t want to cut too many corners. Any mid-to-high end i3, i5 or i7 should be fine, but avoid stripped down Celeron type cores unless youâ??re really on a bugted (in which case you should buy more RAM first).
Uninstall unnecessary applications
A few months ago I upgraded to a swanky i7 laptop thinking that it would run like a dream. On day one it felt great, much faster than my previous i5, however, by the end of the first month the difference was far less noticeable.
So, I used Soluto, a clever Windows boot up manager, to see what was taking so long and stopped many rarely used applications that were trying to preload when Windows starts. This saved a couple of minutes per boot (down from four minutes to two) and stopped my new machine from feeling like an old one. On older machines the time savings are even more significant and unlike hardware upgrades this solution is free.
Uninstall unnecessary plugins
In the same way that Windows can be reduced to a crawl by unnecessary applications your browserâ??s performance can be hampered by excessive extensions, toolbars, add-ons and plugins. No doubt some come in handy, but itâ??s worth uninstalling those you donâ??t use regularly since a fully loaded browser can easily have its load time increased from 5 to 25 seconds.
Clear your cache
When you surf the web, every icon, picture, ad, text block and video on each page you visit is cached by your browser i.e. quietly downloaded and stored locally, in case you want to see it again. Over time, this adds up to thousands of files, many of which are no longer required. It takes almost as much effort for your computer to keep track of a small file as a large one, so clearing bloated caches can make a difference.
Defragment your disc drive
Because it take similar effort to for your computer to keep track of a small file and a large one, itâ??s much more efficient to have a small number of large files than a large number of small ones on your hard drive.
These days most operating systems come shipped with defragmentation scheduling software pre-installed to all you have to do it tell it to run overnight, once a week to keep your data optimised.
Please note that this advice is for computers with conventional disc drives and may not apply to SSD drives, which work differently.
Upgrade your internet connection
Often itâ??s not your computer which makes the web feel slow, but your internet connection itself. Most of the UKâ??s broadband networks have been upgraded over the past couple of years and so many people can now upgrade to a faster package than theyâ??re on.
Even without the indulgence of a high speed fibre optic line, which are great when you can get them, most people in the UK can achieve actual download speeds of 11 to 20 Mbps through a BT telephone line, which is plenty fast enough for most users.
Further, gamers, homeworkers and other heavy users can often pay a little more to receive a prioritised line. This means that your traffic is prioritised over other users at busy periods (i.e. when it matters) avoiding that feeling that the whole web is slowing down when your fellow countrymen (and women) go online in unison.
Further, if your current provider doesnâ??t offer the service youâ??re after, there are plenty of alternatives to choose from. Beyond BT, you can choose from Virgin, Sky, TalkTalk, Plusnet (a BT subsidiary, but with more competitive packages and potentially better service) or any of the mobile phone operators.
The choice can be baffling so, if in doubt, try a broadband comparison site such a Uswitch.com. Not only do they provide the lowdown on the packages and prices of offer, but you can start off with a broadband speed test to see whether your connection can be improved.
Nathan Morgan has been an IT professional for 14 years.
Google aims to provide a new experience to make over 200 signals for improvement of the searching algorithm. A new filter project for Google search starts next week.
Ranking of search results will take into account the number of valid copyright removal notices received from the copyright owners. Sites with high number of removal will automatically move down in the list of Google search results. It will help users to find legitimate, quality sources irrespective of whether they want to find.
Google’s representatives say that removal of web links with pirated content from a database is not their task. They do it only after receiving a valid copyright removal notice from the right owner. Also Google’s representatives assure that they still provide â??counter-noticeâ? tools for those who believe their content had been wrongly removed. This action is been done in order to advance web sites with legal content to the top ranks. For example, when user is entering the query “watch movies online”, the first web links will show the official websites while the torrent links will be available only at the end of the list.
Tricky Google exception
YouTube is famous for its copyright violation. It is owned by Google. So will Google company make an exception for this web resource? And what about other popular media websites?
According to Google’s reports, new filter development handles not only the statistic of complaint requests, but also such specific moments as popularity of the websites, its activity, etc. Nobody knows what kind of factors it will be, but the company assures that the filter works properly. There is no any “white list” of the sites. The special algorithm automatically evaluates all characteristics of the website, its reputation, and the relative factors instead.
What is next?
There are lots of people who donâ??t accept these changes and predict limitation of the net freedom. They promise to start using other search services like Bing, Yahoo, etc. An illegal placement of copyright content in the network allows users who could not buy media rights viewing it.
Big media companies require Google to secure copyright protection. For today Google, in turn, needs cooperation with trustworthy and reliable partners.
Let’s be honest, such actions donâ??t make things harder for the most of online pirates. Besides, users who enjoyed the torrent trackers did not notice anything at all: their favorite websites had been already in their browser bookmarks for a long time.
The article was written and published by Andrew Smith, QArea Company.
Also visit company’s FB page.
CMS platforms are basically platforms wherein people can create their very own custom websites from scratch.
Most of them are free and even though there are some paid platforms, they donâ??t have a lot of customers; because, WordPress one of the best CMS platforms available, is totally free.
Using this platform you would be able to organize various web pages and if youâ??re not good at web designing, there are plenty of templates to try out as well. WordPress isnâ??t just free â?? itâ??s customisable and therefore thereâ??s no limit as to what you would be able to do with your website.
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by bobbigmac: http://flickr.com/photos/bobbigmac/5036291025/
However, the above facts are just a few of the advantages of this great platform. There are plenty of other advantages, some of them include:
Ease of Installation
WordPress is really easy to set up because it comes along with a template and youâ??re free to upload your very own template as well. There are plenty of free as well as premium templates available that give your website a unique look and feel.
Thereâ??s no need of technical knowledge in order to make effective use of this platform as there are plenty of guides available. But, if youâ??re good at programming you would be able to enhance the websites even more and thereby satisfy the viewers.
You can customize it
Whether youâ??re setting up a full fledged website or just a simple blog, you have the ability to change any and every aspect to meet your desired needs. You could even hire a designer to build a template for your website from scratch. However, this could be a bit pricy as thereâ??s a lot of work involved.
Great Plugins
Without the right plugins you wouldnâ??t be able to do anything on your website. Even setting up the text on your website needs some plugins. Since wordpress is the largest CMS network, there are plenty of plugins created as well. These help improve the SEO aspects and help drive more traffic to your site. If youâ??ve got something specific in mind, you would even be able to hire a developer to create a plugin just for you.
Permalinks
Permalinks are a really important aspect of SEO and WordPress helps you create these â?? actually, you donâ??t have to do much, itâ??s all done automatically on every page and post you create. However, you do have the option to customize them and add backslashes at the end of each URL if you think itâ??s necessary.
Social Media Integration
Social media integration is the single most important factor in most of the websites and blogs today. Itâ??s a great way to get your word out there. Most startup websites donâ??t have the funds to advertise online and therefore the next best option would be to make effective use of this sort of free advertising â?? let people do it for you.
WordPress has plenty of other advantages that youâ??d notice when you use it. But, one thingâ??s for sure â?? itâ??s the best CMS platform today!
Abhishek has developed websites on Joomla, HTML and many other platforms but he likes WordPress the most. He has recently developed a website for a client dealing in wordpress upload plugin
We know the basic password rules by now; don’t use passwords that are easy to figure out. This could mean a number sequence like 123456, or one of the passwords identified as being commonly used, such as ‘iloveyou’. Or at least, that’s what we’re all supposed to know by now.
But in the war to keep our data safe, there has come some alarming news: we are actually more exposed than ever before to security breaches due to our passwords. And hackers aren’t the only ones to blame.
One Landmark Incident, Many Questions Answered
Near the end of 2009, an attack against an online games service resulted in over 14 million passwords being exposed and then posted or ‘dumped’ online. This made it much easier for all hackers to crack weak passwords, meaning that they could devote more time, energy and resources into cracking stronger passwords. It also revealed what kinds of passwords are being employed by an incredibly large number of users. And this proved to be a large part of the problem.
Shocking Numbers
Analysis of the dumped passwords revealed some shocking realities. Despite the many warnings from security experts against using passwords that are easy to crack, they appeared to have gone unheeded, as almost 1% of those 14 million users employed the “123456” password.
Unbelievably, those passwords largely thought to have been long a thing of the past were found to be in the top ten most used. For example, at number four was the password “Password”, with “iloveyou” coming in at number five.
Certain names used as passwords also earned high places on the list, perhaps because of the popularity of those names at the time births occurred – babies born in the mid to late eighties would now be in their early or mid 20s, and therefore very likely to be using the social media games service whose passwords were hacked.
Another surprising fact revealed was that approximately one third of users chose passwords of six characters or less, a far cry from the strongly-recommended combination of lowercase and uppercase letters and numbers.
Convenience Passwords
In addition to the apparently rampant use of incredibly-easy-to-crack passwords and completely overhauled hacking methods is another phenomenon. We appear to be using the same password for accounts at multiple sites.
When combined with the equipment now being used to reveal account passwords, which is thousands of times faster than what hackers were using just ten years ago, the password situation is a dire one that definitely needs to be addressed.
Creating Hacker-Proof Passwords
Changing your password frequently is still a very viable idea. But if you’re using “abc123” and then switching it to a password like “princess”, it’s very unlikely that your account will be protected. The first way to protect your accounts is to understand what not to do:
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â do not use all-lowercase letters
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â do not use all numbers, especially not in an-easy-to-guess pattern
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â do not use a name
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â do not use too few digits
A password of at least eight characters, using a mix of upper and lowercase letters, along with numbers will be much more secure than the old six character password. Considering the information that many put in their online profiles these days, you will want to refrain from using your birth date, phone number, family names or any other passwords which can be connected with you personally.
Nonsense can be the key to a secure password. Have you ever seen a license plate that you just couldn’t make sense of? This could very well be because that license plate had significance only to the owner of the vehicle. So, if you have a dog named Jed who is 10 years old, you can take the sentence “My dog Jed is 10 years old”, and turn it into a password that looks like “MdJedi10yo”.
You can also replace some letters in your password with numbers. For example, the number 3 is often used to replace the letter “E”, and the number 4 for the letter “A”. So a word like “lego” would be “l3go”, and “apple” would become “4pple”.
Don’t Be Fooled By a Sense of False Security
Today’s hackers are more sophisticated than ever. And the passwords you are using for your online accounts could very well be posted somewhere online. It may only be a matter of time before that site you trust has their security breached. The bottom line is that no one is safe from having their account compromised or their site hacked. But the more prepared you are with secure passwords, the better off you and your data will be.
Citations:
Guest author Ruth Suelemente enjoys writing on a variety of topics, particularly related to technology. She is a frequent contributor at http://www.highspeed-internet-providers.com/, a resource dedicated to heloping consumers find internet providers in their area. You can also find Ruth on Google.
In an ever-changing society, a company or service must be willing to quickly adapt to new technologies. One of the greatest evolutions of the 21st century is the smartphone and its limitless apps.
While you may not associate pest control services and termite inspection with smartphone apps, you may become more familiar with exterminator companies that are evolving because of new technologies.
Terminix recently released their Account Manager App on iTunes and Google Play, bringing the termite inspection, pest control, and exterminator services into the modern era. Through the Account Manager App, customers who download the app and enter their customer account number can have access to many functions that would normally require a phone call to the company to complete. Now, itâ??s more convenient for customers to modify their account information and request pest control services.
If a customer needs to view or reschedule an appointment, he or she can do so with help from the app. This can save a customer a lot of time because they can view or change their appointment time or date just by pressing a button on their phone. Additionally, the app can remind the user of an upcoming appointment. If you need to speak with an expert, the app will allow the user to contact a licensed professional.
If there is an emergency, such as an invasion of ants, the pest control provider can be quickly notified and schedule an emergency pest control visit. This eliminates the need to be on hold on the phone while a customer representative tries to schedule you in for the day. Another benefit of the App is that users can access their billing information and account history without having to call their customer service line and deal with upselling or customer surveys.
A further enhancement the Account Manager App provides is the ability to leave the pest control expert notes about the visit when making or rescheduling appointments. If the customer is unable to be at the location when the expert arrives, the expert will have access to the instructions and information the customer wants directly. This is far more beneficial than having to rely on the person present to share that information and possibly get it wrong. Additionally, if the customer has pets or other special needs, he or she can simply input that as notes for the technician, giving the technician a much-needed heads up so that the visit can be tailored better, improving customer service in a fast, efficient manner.
In addition to smartphone apps, many businesses have mobile-friendly websites. This is another must-have in today’s information-heavy society as consumers are increasingly accessing the web through smartphones and tablets. The smaller screen real estate often makes displaying the site at full size an exercise in frustration. Mobile-friendly websites are sized much more appropriately.
Companies operating in the current age should never discount the usefulness and convenience of smart phone apps. Not only do they make it easier for customers to manage their accounts, they benefit a company by helping them interact with loyal customers. This helps prevent possible mistakes or misunderstanding that could take place during the process. In the end, apps provide better customer service than any other form of communication between companies and their customers.
Author Bio: Rose McMillan is an experienced pest control professional, turned freelance writer. She has experience working the New York metro area and now she seeks to share her knowledge through blogging. Sources: Terminix
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