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Burn: Burn DVD’s and CD’s with ease and for free

Big Mac Blog — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:29:39 +0000

Although not as sophisticated as applications such as Roxio’s Toast, Burn is one simple and useful application for making various format discs that is completely free. Isn’t that lovely?

CLICK HERE

Carbon Copy Cloner: Clone, Copy and Backup your data…..tasty!

Big Mac Blog — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:25:39 +0000

Carbon Copy Cloner has been around for quite some time now but that has not diminished quite how useful this application can be. Its especially useful for making a completely cloned copy of drive and has got me out of trouble many a time. In its latest iteration it has a simplified interface and really feels like a premium application rather than the freeware that it has always been!

Enjoy.

CLICK HERE

Dropzone: The Swiss Army Knife of Drag and Drop

Big Mac Blog — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:43:35 +0000

Its only when using a PC I realise how significant drag and drop functionality is on a mac and how it is mostly intuitive. However there are times when I wish things could be simpler. Step in Dropzone.

Basically Dropzone lives in your dock and you set up various locations and send-to actions like uploading to Flickr or an FTP Server. Then it simply awaits your dragging and dropping escapades!

CLICK HERE

Dictionary Cleaner: Remove Added Dictionary Words in Leopard

Big Mac Blog — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:10 +0000

Hmmmmm….. unusually I have been unable to find a way to remove learned words in the Mac OSX dictionary on Leopard.

Luckily for me there is a free application that adds a new system preference pane to system preferences and allows you to add and delete words en masse…..which is nice.

GET IT HERE

Small Business Special…

Big Mac Blog — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:11:56 +0000

PART 1 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Today I am going to be looking at various tools that can help you with setting up, running and making a success of your new small business the relationship between you and your clients.

In each section I will be looking at various software solutions for running a small business which will be a mix of Freeware, mid range priced and Professionally priced options.

First lets have a look at some CRM or Customer Relationship Management tools.

First up we have…

DAYLITE by MARKETCIRCLE

PRICE: from £129

Daylite is a purpose built database for tracking clients, quotes, estimates, projects, pipelines and more.

PROS:

• All your info in one place.

• Integration with iCal and Address Book.

• Readymade solution.

• Excellent Support and Training Materials.

• Remotely Accessible.

CONS:

• Quite pricey

• Initial steep learning curve.

• Relatively fixed use

One of the great things about Daylite is that at any point during its use you really do feel like your using a mac application, which, as you all know, greatly increases the usability factor.

VERDICT: A generally sound all round contender that although a bit pricey can be purposed for pretty much any type of business. The real winner is the accompanying iPhone application that means you can be mobile with your company data.

USEABILITY 4 STARS

PRICE 2 STARS

FLEXIBILITY 3 STARS

COMPATIBILITY 4 STARS

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Next up….

Basecamp, Backpack & Highrise by 37SIGNALS

Price: Monthly plans from $24

37SIGNALS have created a suite of web apps that help you stay connected wherever you are.

The three main applications are…

Basecamp – “Manage projects, collaboration and communications.”

Backpack – “Organise and Share information across your Business.”

Highrise – “Track your contacts, leads and deals, always be prepared.”

PROS:

• No Software to download or maintain.

• Access from anywhere.

• Secure, Backed Up regularly.

• Cross Platform.

• Works with iPhone.

CONS:

• Monthly Price plan may be prohibitive for many.

• internet access of some sort required.

• CRM split across different modules.

VERDICT: A genuinely innovative attempt to shake up and revolutionise the CRM and Business communication market that works well and is very easy to use. Being able to access anywhere and the fact that your data is safe and backed up are a huge advantage but not being able to use off line. Having a rolling fee may also put off small businesses and freelancers.

USEABILITY 4 STARS

PRICE 1 STARS

FLEXIBILITY 2 STARS

COMPATIBILITY 5 STARS

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Lastly…

FMStartingPoint by Richard Carlton Consulting Inc.

PRICE: COMPLETELY FREE

FMStarting point is deceptively simple looking. It is actually an amazingly straightforward yet powerful solution for any business.

The nature of a filemaker database is that you need to understand the basics of Filemaker but in this case the hard work has been done for you. Even customising invoice templates for your business is a breeze.

The upside of a Filemaker database is that it is infinitely customisable.

It is hard to believe that this is free as its power certainly warrants a levy. Richard Carlton Consulting also make a home version called Data4Life which offers similar functionality for running your personal as well as your business data.

PROS:

• Amazingly, completely FREE.

• Integrated and all-in-one solution.

• Customisable.

• Outputs Customisable Documents easily.

• Can send E-mail via SMTP directly through interface.

• Very easy to use.

CONS:

• Requires Filemaker Pro 10 (although FM PRO is infinitely useful)

• Requires knowledge of FMPRO 10 if you want to network the data or share via the internet etc.

VERDICT: A super addition to any businesses arsenal. Incredibly easy to use, impressive looking documents such as invoices, estimates etc, built in email distribution and most of all COMPLETEY FREE!

USEABILITY 5 STARS

PRICE 5 STARS

FLEXIBILITY 3 STARS (5 STARS IF YOU KNOW FM PRO 10)

COMPATIBILITY 4 STARS

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

iWeb SEO – Optimise your site for search engines…

Big Mac Blog — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:54:14 +0000

iWeb SEO is a free Search Engine Optimisation tool that will enable your website for google analytics and also add meta tags as well as being able to tag images.

And of course, as (mostly) usual, its Free…

CLICK HERE

Mozy Online Backup – 2GB Free Online Backup Space!!!

Big Mac Blog — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:51:16 +0000

Mozy is a great and easy to use service for backing up any files to an online storage area.

I have used it for some time for the super important stuff I cannot afford to be without. It offers clients for both mac and windows and will allow you to restore through the client, from the web or even by dvd that is fedexed to you (for a charge of course). All in all I think this can be a great addition to any computing arsenal against lost data and data protection.

According to the guys at Coolosxapps, this is what you get for free with mozy…

2GB Of Free Secure Storage (UNLIMITED Storage ONLY $4.95 A Month)

Open/Locked File Support

Block-Level Differential Backup

128-bit SSL Support (Secures Your Data During Transport)

448-bit Blowfish Encryption (Secures Your Data On Their Server)

Continuous Or Scheduled Backup Options

Automatic Or Scheduled Backups

New & Changed File Detection

Block Level Incremental Backups

Bandwidth Throttling

File Versioning

Public Or Private Key Encryption

Much More

So please click below if you would like to get 2gb of free storage (as well as an extra bonus amount of storage for signing up through bigmacblog.com)

CLICK HERE