Web Worker Daily |
| Verizon MiFi 3G Router Goes on Sale Sunday Posted: 15 May 2009 04:00 PM PDT Written by Simon Mackie.
The MiFi is a pocketable, battery-powered combined 3G modem and Wi-Fi router that effectively provides a hotspot that you can take with you anywhere. James Kendrick over at our sister site jkOnTheRun has had a pre-release version of the device for review and says that it’s “mobile broadband done right.” Once the device has been activated, hit the power button and — in a matter of seconds — your laptop, phone and any other devices (up to five at any one time) are connected to the Verizon Mobile Broadband network via Wi-Fi, without needing to install drivers. Although the device goes on sale on Sunday from Verizon stores, if you ask nicely you might be able to get your hands on one now. The MiFi costs $99.99 (after a $50 rebate) and is available with a choice of two subscriptions:
Alternatively, you can buy the MiFi with no contract for an upfront cost of $269.99, with “day passes” available for $15. The MiFi is a branded version of the Novatel MiFi. Other carriers (like Sprint) will be offering their own versions, too. Will you be picking up a MiFi?   Are you looking for opportunities in Cloud Computing? Then check out GigaOM’s Structure 09 conference.      |
| 5 Most Popular Posts on WebWorkerDaily This Week Posted: 15 May 2009 03:00 PM PDT Written by Simon Mackie. Just in case you missed any of them, here are the five most popular posts on WebWorkerDaily this week: Dawn shares three great apps she uses to mine Twitter for information. If you're new to Windows netbooks, or thinking of getting one, Sam rounds up four utilities that will make working with them much easier and more efficient. The release candidate (RC) of the latest version of Windows, Windows 7, was released this week. In this post I explain why you should consider upgrading. Aliza explains why Second Life should be considered part of the social media ecosystem, and why it shouldn’t be ignored when constructing a social media marketing campaign. Because Jenny spends most of her day in Gmail, she’s set up her Twitter client inside her Gmail interface using a gadget. Here she explains how she did it.  Are you looking for opportunities in Cloud Computing? Then check out GigaOM’s Structure 09 conference.     |
| Thanks to Our WebWorkerDaily Sponsors! Posted: 15 May 2009 02:00 PM PDT Written by Edit Staff. We’d like to say thanks to this month’s WebWorkerDaily sponsors:
 Are you looking for opportunities in Cloud Computing? Then check out GigaOM’s Structure 09 conference.     |
| Email Tip: Save Time and Stress with One New Folder Posted: 15 May 2009 11:00 AM PDT Written by Meryl Evans.  Photo credit: malkowitch I’m a freak about staying organized — and that includes having an email process complete with filters and rules. However, the new messages in my inbox quadrupled as I plunged deeper into the world of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks. This was manageable until a few months ago, but what used to be a trickle of only a few emails a day turned into a torrent, flooding my email inbox and drowning more important messages. The answer? Create a new email folder called “Social Media,” and drop all these emails in there. I created a filter in Gmail to send all social networking emails into my new folder. Now, instead of cluttering my inbox or screaming at me to take action, these messages sit quietly in a self-contained folder that I check once or twice a day. Another bonus: By the time I get to them, Twitter will have deleted some of the spam accounts, saving me even more time. Here’s how you to filter emails in Gmail. Most email clients should be able to do something similar: search for the name of the app and “filters” or “rules.” What tips do you have for managing the email deluge?  Are you looking for opportunities in Cloud Computing? Then check out GigaOM’s Structure 09 conference.     |
| Losing Gracefully: What to Do When You Can’t Deliver Posted: 15 May 2009 09:00 AM PDT Written by Darrell Etherington.
It most likely isn’t, so don’t panic. There are steps you can take to mitigate the damage and come out as clean as possible on the other side. I’ve run into this situation on two previous occasions. Once, I brought it on myself; the other time, the firm I was working for passed me a project due to staff transitions that had already been handed off so many times there was no clear record of who began it. The following tips come from what I learned from both experiences. Review Your Initial Commitment Before you resign yourself to failure, make sure you aren’t mistakenly writing off a success. The parameters of an engagement have a tendency to shift once you’re underway, and you end up doing work that you never planned or promised to do in the first place. The temptation is just to keep working as long as the client is willing to pay you, regardless of scope changes, but that’s not always the best way to go about it. If you’ve already accomplished what you intended, and you haven’t renegotiated based on a scope change, you might want to bring it up with your client, especially if you feel you’re getting out of your depth. Better to cut your losses and suggest another service provider with expertise in the new area. Your client will think better of you than if you carried the project through to completion but did a sub-par job. Provide a Transition Package If you have to leave work half-done, your client will likely want to have it completed either in-house, or by someone else. You can make that person’s job a lot easier, and soothe your client, by preparing a hand-off package. This can contain any number of things depending on what you’re working on, but make sure to detail your workflow to date, what has and hasn’t been accomplished, and what might need to be reviewed or corrected. A smooth hand-off is especially important if you’re giving the project to someone else in a firm that you work for, but it’s a definite must either way. It proves to your client that you’re a consummate professional, even if this particular situation is beyond your expertise. Propose a Solution You Can Provide Just because you may not be able to give the client exactly what they want doesn’t mean you can’t come up with another, possibly better solution. There are often more than one means to an end, and providing a client with alternatives will also show them that you’re committed to the project and trying to exhaust all possibilities before throwing in the towel. Be careful how you frame alternative suggestions. Some clients will respect your opinion immediately because they hired you. Others, though, will be quite set about how and what they want you to deliver, so proposing alternatives will be a delicate matter. Payoff In the best of all worlds, we’d all finish all of our contracts with a 100 percent satisfied customer, who got exactly what they were looking for. In fact, that’s not always possible. Falling short is a depressing event for any freelancer or contractor, but with a little care, it can be just another unpleasant memory and not a career-ending disaster. What do you do when you can’t deliver on a project? Image by flickr user purpletwinkie.  Are you looking for opportunities in Cloud Computing? Then check out GigaOM’s Structure 09 conference.     |
| ContactHelp: Quick Telephone Support Numbers and Tips Posted: 15 May 2009 07:00 AM PDT Written by Samuel Dean. In a recent post, 5 Free Online Answer Sites for Tech Questions, I discussed places you can go online for getting tech questions answered, and readers added some useful ones to my list, including the impressive Stack Overflow site. These kinds of sites can be very helpful for web-based answers, but what if you want to ask, say, a hardware question and you need to call a live support technician quickly? AltSearchEngines is calling out a very useful site to visit when you do: ContactHelp. If ContactHelp just provided support phone numbers, it would be only mildly more useful than simply Googling for numbers, but the site goes well beyond that. It’s designed to allow users to add tips on how to get support efficiently; supplies hours of operation for most support centers listed; often provides support email addresses and, in many cases, describes how to get support in multiple languages.
“How to reach a live person: Keep pressing 0 (3 times) and ignore the error messages.” In other cases, users have posted similar tips such as: “Keep pressing # and ignore their messages until they say ‘Sorry but I’m having trouble helping you’ and then you’ll be transferred.” These are good tips! Who likes to listen to elevator music or get unhelpful responses from non-human attendants? Users at ContactHelp can even upload recordings of unhelpful support calls, and there are a lot more tips on how to reach live attendants than the ones listed above. I also noticed that the site is good at providing phone numbers and tips for the many e-commerce sites that seem to deliberately make it difficult to get phone support. Amazon is the most searched-for company at ContactHelp, for example. Give it a try next time you need to get support on the phone. Share your telephone support tips in the comments.  Are you looking for opportunities in Cloud Computing? Then check out GigaOM’s Structure 09 conference.     |
Verizon will start selling the MiFi 2200, a nifty, credit card-sized 3G router this Sunday, May 17th. It’s definitely worth checking out, especially if you use more than one device on the go.
Much as we wish it wasn’t true, on occasion we take on a contract that gets us in over our heads. Especially when we’re just starting, out or are unfamiliar with the field or industry in which we’re working. Obviously realizing that you can’t deliver what the client is expecting, and what you originally agreed to produce, can be a very stressful experience. It may even seem like it’s the end of your professional life.
| You are subscribed to email updates from WebWorkerDaily To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Inbox too full?  Subscribe to the feed version of WebWorkerDaily in a feed reader. | |
| If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: WebWorkerDaily, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.