Small businesses use the suite primarily for email and web hosting and after midnight on Tuesday, those websites can be taken down. Information that is lost will still be available after filling out a form and Microsoft offered help migrating to Microsoft 365. However websites with custom design features have been having technical difficulties during the migration and users don’t seem thrilled with the change. Although Microsoft 365 has more features, it’s also more expensive than the original Small Business Suite although the first six months are free for users who made the transition.

Microsoft says that they’re making the switch because small business owners were asking for a more comprehensive product. The new features may be worth the price and inconvenience of making the transition and so we look forward to hearing from users after everyone has settled into the new system.

As we come to rely more and more on technological services like this one, there are plenty of cases where changes to design and technology could affect our daily routine. I don’t know about you, but every time Facebook makes a design change it seems that there is uproar among my Facebook friends.

There are a lot of examples and very little to do about something that I can’t quite call a problem or flaw. If this really is an improvement, then it’s great. As much as it may throw off my rhythm every time technology changes, I think I’d better get used to it. So while still keeping an eye out for gradual price hikes and marketing tricks, I’ll try to take things as they come. Which may be easier said than done.

However, these two areas need to go hand in hand. As technologies and products develop, new services also crop up. The New York Times reported on an interesting example this week. Related Companies is the developer for MiMA, a new rental development in Manhattan where combination jacks are installed in all of the apartments. They also installed wireless distributed antenna systems throughout the building to make sure that cell phones get reception on every floor. But that was just the beginning.

Once the technological systems were in place, the next logical step was to provide additional service to help manage them. The development now has a technological concierge who can supervise installations and wiring for new residents and help to set up home theaters and gaming systems. The concierge’s team can also help residents who want to integrate remote controls and mobile devices with other technologies in their apartments and have even helped to install parental controls.

As informed consumers, we spend a lot of time making sure we have the best possible products. We research, test and get recommendations.  Often though, we forget that sometimes it will come down to the people behind the products. Depending on the item, researching the user support available may end up being just as important as looking into the specs and features that come with our technology.

I’ll take it one step further. Even for our gadgets, community is important. If you’re getting a smartphone primarily to socialize on-the-go, then getting a smartphone that doesn’t support your friends favorite social platforms may not be a good idea, even if it’s a better phone. It may be worth picking your video game console based on what other family members and friends have bought, so that you can share games.

We tend to think of technology as a way to cut out human interaction and automate our lives. But in the long run, I think we’ll still need each other as much as ever.

While the most popular application is in classrooms, these are also used in business meetings, by professional level sports coaches and in broadcasting studios. Interactive whiteboards don’t just make standard projectors obsolete, they also mean we can phase out those giant pads of paper I remember from my school days and later brainstorming sessions.

For most consumers however, this technology isn’t really that relevant. These boards are only useful in a home if you want to take showing off vacation slideshows to a brand new level. For small business owners however, these could come in handy but it’s hard to justify such a large expense.

And that’s where today’s gadget comes in.  For about a quarter of the price, a company called Interphase will be manufacturing a “pen” that lets you turn any surface into an interactive whiteboard. It comes with a little projector that you can use to turn any wall into a screen and then use the pen as a mouse to navigate or a pen to mark that screen itself. At any point, you can take a picture of the screen and store it in the pen’s memory.

Not only is this cheaper than the full interactive white board, but it’s also much more portable. If you are a freelancer or own a small business and have to present yourself to clients, this could be a great way to make a very professional impression.

In the meantime however, this gadget is still in the preorder stage so we can’t know yet what it feels like to use and if it really lives up to the potential.

Some companies will simply paint your iPhone for you while others actually replace the casing. Zeetron, a Brooklyn based company, will either make the switch for you or sell you a kit with everything you need to switch the casing of your iPhone to green, yellow, silver or metallic blue, among others. iFixit, a website whose primary business is repairs, offers replacement back panels that include a mirror and a clear sheet which makes the phones inner workings visible. If you want a wood backing to your phone, Material6, based in Tucker, Georgia, offers them handmade in a choice of woods, including beautiful engraved options. Colorware can modify your device so that the apple logo on the back glows when the phone is in use.

Of course, a simple internet search will reveal a million more ways to modify your iPhone. There are ways to attach SLR camera lenses to the phone’s existing camera and create a solar powered iPhone charger. There are even people out there who have figured out how to get their iPhones to control robots, play video games and even drive cars remotely. Of course, that is besides the millions of different cases, easels and mounts available.

It’s important to remember however, that modifying your iPhone can be a bit risky. The more you play with the iPhone’s hardware, the more likely you are to void the warranty. That could be pretty frustrating if something goes wrong while you’re tinkering.

The photo used was taken from the non-profit website, the Unsung Hero Fund, created by the family of Lt. Burks. The charity was started soon after Peter Burks’ death and sends care packages to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Allegedly the dating sites had an advertisement that displayed Lt. Burks’s photo with the headline “military man searching for love.” Both sites stated that they have taken action to deal with the matter.

While I’m sure this issue will blow over and will not hurt either brand in the long run, I believe there’s something to be learned from this incident. Many dating sites use photos in their promotional messaging to show potential customers a ‘sampling’ of the types of singles they can meet on their sites. From a marketing standpoint, this seems like a logical technique since people want to know who they can expect to meet once they sign up for a dating site subscription. But as a customer, once I see a photo of someone that catches my eye who I can meet on a particular dating site, I might be inclined to sign up and search for that person. So if marketers place photos of people that are not real customers and are nowhere to be found on their sites, it’s deceptive to consumers. The fact that in the case of Lt. Burks it was allegedly done with a fallen war hero obviously makes it all that much worse. But either way, it’s wrong.

I hope all the dating sites out there learned a lesson from this incident and will check to make sure that images of users they claim are their members are indeed active members. But as consumers we must be aware that deceptive advertising is alive and well, so let’s all exercise a bit of caution when responding to marketing messages.

Web hosting services provide a server and internet connectivity, usually in a data center. This allows individuals to make their website accessible to the public via the internet. Sometimes, files are simply uploaded and delivered to the web with very minimal processing. More comprehensive, and more costly, packages include support for databases and application development platforms which allow users to create more sophisticated websites with things like forums, e-commerce tools and content management systems. Some providers of web hosting will include things like email along with your website.

Blog software is a type of web host that is much simpler to use and includes a content management system. It allows you to post and edit content in text, pictures, video or audio and helps you set up tools to allow viewers to comment on and share your content. Although it may sound limiting, some of the biggest content sites on the web, such as The Huffington Post, use the same blog software that is available to individual amateur bloggers. Usually these software providers offer both a free and paid version, so that a beginner doesn’t need to pay for tools they won’t use and a large established site can have all the flexibility they need.

Of course, a blog may just be a start. If you’re deciding which of these is right for you make sure not to think only about your current needs and resources, but also about how you hope your site will grow.

Inkjet

Best for: Printing images and high-quality photos as well as printing on unusual textured paper or other materials.

Although the lines between inkjets and laser printers have blurred in recent years, inkjets still tend to be better at color printing. These are traditionally found in private homes because they are often less expensive than laser printers and take up less space.

However, it’s important to remember that even though the initial cost may be less, the price of ink for these printers can really add up. They are also relatively slow and often have low capacity paper trays, which can make high volume printing very frustrating.

Laser

Best for: Printing clean and professional looking text quickly and in high volumes.

Laser printers are the common choice for businesses and home offices where a lot of printing is done every day. They have higher capacity paper trays and work much faster. When printing in black and white, text appears crisp and clean. Unlike inkjets, laser printers use single toner cartridges and therefore their maintenance is much simpler and cheaper.

On the other hand, the initial cost of a laser printer can be high. Although small, light versions now exist, most laser printers still take up a lot of space. If you plan to print in color using a laser printer then you are likely to have many of the same disadvantages that come with an inkjet printer, such as multiple expensive cartridges, without the advantages of high quality photo printing.

Dot Matrix

Best for: Infrequent printers looking to keep costs low.

The printers described above are both non-impact printers. Dot-matrix printers are impact printers which use wire pins to strike an ink ribbon directly to the paper, similar to a type-writer. The cost of maintenance and ink for these printers is significantly lower than for other types. However, these are becoming less and less common and it will probably become difficult to find ink and replacement parts for them in the near future.

These are the basic technologies that you are likely to come across when choosing a printer. However, there are also a lot of specialized computers such as photo-printers, portable printers or all-in-one machines which combine printers, scanners, copiers and fax machines.  Although there are better and worse printers out there, the most important aspect of your printer choice should be the specific needs of your business or home office.

Although Norton One will be on the expensive side, it sounds like it may be worth it for the hands-off experience it’s supposed to provide. One account can be used on five devices; will include 25GM of online storage and a really simple online interface. The installation is as simple as they can make it, with a customized link sent to your email with the license key already entered. The best part though is that it comes with access to “premium” support which promises that calls to customer service and tech support will be answered within 2 minutes. It will be released for sale in the spring in English speaking countries only: the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

The idea of finally taking fairly complicated software that everyone needs and making it match the tech comfort-levels that everyone has shouldn’t be a novel one. But it is. This is the first software of its kind.

I’m not too afraid of technology but for us naturally cautious (and clumsy) people out there, every time we play around with our computer’s security appears like a chance that we will accidentally delete everything we own and open our computers to hackers, spammers, ID thieves and alien spies. The more hands off I can get my computer security the better.

And there are plenty of people out there more afraid of their computers than I am, although I’ll name no names (cough-Dad-cough). For their sake, I’d like to think that this will be the beginning of a trend. Although all software is created to be user friendly, I’d like to see more software very specifically keeping the non-techies in mind.

Faxproducts.com, a subsidiary of Black Ice Software LLC, claims that Essilior of America, the country’s largest optical lens manufacturer bought their Print2Email product to use on-site within the company but gave the license key out to its own customers. BlackIce says that if Essilior had paid them for all of the computers that are using the software, they would have made $13.1 million, rather than the $999 that they actually received.

Essilior has been using the software as part of their Visioffice product, which lets eyeglass customers look into a camera and “try on” glasses and have them fitted. The Print2Email software allows them to send the pictures to friends or family to get second opinions about which frames look best. Users originally were given temporary free trial versions of Print2Email, but when those began to run out, Essilior would remotely log onto the user’s Visioffice account and put in the company’s license key which was supposed to be for limited use.

This made me wonder: As consumers, should we be on the lookout for this kind of thing? On a day to day basis, internet piracy is a much more common dilemma we face. However, software piracy is an issue for individual consumers as well. According to BlackIce, users may not have known that they were using a license code that had not been paid for. That means they can’t be blamed, but perhaps software piracy is something that as consumers we should learn to recognize.

Of course, that comes back to a greater question of consumer responsibility.  How vigilant we’re prepared to be and how much we’re willing to invest to be ethical consumers is a question we face with every individual purchase we make but unfortunately, there is no right or easy answer.

Aurora Clark, a professor at Washington State University is using the technology behind Google’s PageRank software to search molecules. One of Clark’s students pointed out that the interactions between molecules are very similar to links between webpages. Google uses those connections between pages as an important part of the algorithm used to rank web pages. MoleculaRnetworks, created by Associate Professor Clark, with Barbara Logan Mooney and L. Rene Corrales, ranks water molecules  by how many hydrogen bonds they’ve made and how many bonds each of the neighboring molecules has made.

This idea allows chemists to simulate molecular shapes and chemical reactions without actually having to do the experiments in a lab. Not only does that save a lot of time and money but it can also be much safer, especially for scholars like Clarke whose research centers on toxic metals like uranium, plutonium and lead. She and her associates have published an article explaining the new software in the Journal of Computational Chemistry. Ms. Clark says that even though the software currently focuses on water based molecules it could easily be modified in the future and used to help find causes of disease and to develop medications.

This is a great example of something I’ve always found fascinating about modern technology. While we still work to develop tools to shape materials and create tangible items, so much of what is being invented is software that finds new ways to analyze and organize information. Even if it’s developed for a very specific type of information, it can help us look at all sorts of things differently.

So that is my hope for today: That every bit of technology I use today will give me a slightly different perspective on the world. A big part of what we do hear at Consumer-Rankings is analyze software. But for today, I’m hoping to get some tips from the software itself about new ways to see the world.