7 Essential IPhone Apps for DIY Projects

Nov 9 |11:45

With the vast choice of apps available for your iPhone, it’s difficult to know where to start when you’re looking for something to meet your specific needs. I was checking out the range of apps for my do-it-yourself needs and came up with a long list of options. I narrowed my choice down to the following essential DIY apps which are ideal for painters, plumbers, designers, constructors and home improvement fanatics (like me).

Handyman Sidekick

The Handyman Sidekick is a useful little app for carrying out the calculations you need for painting, flooring, wallpapering and gardening projects. If you need to know how much paint you’ll need or how many tiles will be enough without going over budget, enter your measurements and hit the calculate tab. The Handyman Sidekick will do the math. The Handyman Sidekick also contains a flashlight app so you won’t be stuck in the dark. This app is useful for having all the calculator tools in the same place but one review mentions it’s a bit pricey for what you get.

 

Convert Units for Free

 

The Convert Units for Free app does exactly what you’d expect – converts units for zero cents. It also offers custom conversions if you want more flexibility in your home improvement calculations. There are 13 ready-made categories of conversion – angle, area, data, energy, force etc – but you can create your own if you don’t see what you’re looking for. The interface is user-friendly and you don’t need a mathematics degree to handle the programs.

 

Convert Aid

This conversion app is no-frills – simple and easy to use. No flashiness, just basic categories for converting units of measurement in five categories, distance, volume, area, weight, velocity and temperature. This app will be handy as a pocket aid but it won’t do much for your complex home improvement or construction projects.

 

iHandy Carpenter

If you’re looking for more gadgets for your virtual tool box, the iHandy Carpenter provides five of them to help you on your construction projects. Handy tools include the plumb bob to measure the verticality of walls, a surface level to level flat surfaces, a bubble level, steel protractor and steel ruler with inches and centimeters. Reviews say “great for quick reference when checking a job,” “the ruler is useless but the level is super cool” and “very useable app.”

 

Home Sizer

Are you working on a large project such as designing a home or remodeling your house? If so, use the Home Sizer app to estimate and measure the size of your home and calculate the area of individual rooms and the usable square footage. Add notes to each room to keep track of your ideas. Once you’ve added everything up you can calculate the value of your home and estimate your monthly mortgage payments with the mortgage calculator. Add rooms, remove rooms, change the size of the kitchen and watch your estimated mortgage payments rise and fall. One review says “I like the new look, after the update. I like the ability to now not only design my home size but get some idea what it might cost or be worth. Thanks for making it easier to get to the room pick list. I use that function a lot. ”

 

Palettes

When it’s time to add a little color to your construction and home improvement projects, use the Palettes app to create and save color schemes. Grab colors from websites and photos and find matching colors to form your own personalized color palette to use for room design and home decorating.

 

Concrete Calculator Pro

This iPhone app features four tabs to calculate the amount of concrete you need for a job, whether it’s a square floor or a tube or circle, and the cost based on your depth and area. You can also convert the measurements to bags of concrete, making it easy to know just how much you need to order to get the job done.

 

 

Social Media Marketing for Business

Nov 6 |12:17

Marketing is the key ingredient for a successful business. Thus doing it in cost effective way is a burning challenge to all the marketing managers out there since the more cost effective  the marketing strategy is, the more is the Return on Investment.

Despite the conventional marketing methods, businesses benefit more from the cost effective online marketing methods. Apart from various online marketing strategies, social media marketing plays a vital role in benefiting your business provided used in a proper way!

Many business owner are still not aware of the benefits of a social media marketing which is why I often posed with questions from clients, the common questions being

I often come across different type of questions from clients, the common questions I get to answer are;

what do i get from social media marketing?
what are the benefits of doing social media marketing?
How many hours should i put in to promote my business?
what if people talk bad about my company?

 

Before knowing the benefits of social media marketing for business, lets see some statistical data of social media sites.

Facebook

According to recent Facebook press announcement, Facebook statistics are;

  • More than 500 million active users
  • 50% of these active users log on to Facebook every day, so roughly that equates to 250 million users
  • An average user has 130 friends

 

 The highest number of Facebook users (country-wise) are nicely visualized in the below chart.

Twitter

The following are the estimated Twitter stats based on comscore.

  • More than 80 million global users
  • Generating more than 60 million tweets a day.

The highest percent of Twitter users (country-wise) are nicely visualized in the below pie-chart.

Blogs

Blogs are the best way to keep your target audience updated on your products, services or even about your business as a whole.

Advantages of Social Media Marketing

The above statistics shows how many millions of users use these sites and how potential are these networks for a business to grow. These social media sites can help your business in

  • Increasing the exposure
  • Branding
  • Knowing your target audience (Start-a-dialog, Interact & Engage)
  • Increase the Relevant traffic, leads/sales
  • Increase ROI (cost effect marketing)
  • Building community around business
Marketers indicated that blogs were the top area in which they planned to increasing their social efforts – Michael A. Stelzner

Understanding the importance of social media does not get your business the benefits. You need to learn the right way of promoting through social media marketing.

Learn

First things first, you need to learn which social media site to begin your marketing. You do not want to hit the tough road right at the start of your marketing.

Do a your research;

  • Based on demographics of the social media sites, you can identify the consumer group and know if a particular site has your target consumer group.
  • Know from your existing customers, you can get such information using feedback forms (add this in your regular feedback form along with email id).
  • Online surveys can help you gather this information.

The better you understand your target group, the better you have the chance and ability to serve them.For instance, your research tells that majority of your target audience use Facebook and only few others use twitter & 80% of the local people visit local news/entertainment blog.

With such information you can decide from where to start your social media marketing, ie. from Facebook in this instance.

Reach & Focus

Create your company/business profile(s) in the selected social site(s). Let your regular customers know that you have your business profile on these social network site. Invite your existing customers for friends. Target only those whom you believe are your target audience. Reaching the right audience is key here.

Have your focus on your goals and do not make your business profile a personal profile. You should interact with your network friends/fans/followers but should maintain your focus on your goals. Business should staff those who believe in social media and who does not loose their business focus.

Communication & Consistency

Make sure your objective is making more and more sales. Do not sound like a robot or a sales pitch, start a dialog, reply to your network friends/fans & engage. Make sure you maintain the consistency in updating your profile, either it's Facebook, Twitter or your company blog. Consistent transfer of information is very important to keep your social network fans/friends interested and entertained. This does not mean you just send automated updates or sound like a robot.

Social media marketing is an opportunity to increase or better your company image as in whole – Vinod
Attract

Attract your network friends/fans by

  • Replying or commenting on their updates
  • Giveaways/Discounts
  • Special Coupons
  • Sharing interesting news
  • Be creative and not just copy others
Build

Build community but not with increasing just the friends/fans in numbers. Successful social media marketing depends on how effective the response is from your network friends/fans and how influential you are in the network.

Try to be responsive and responsible as a business, you should be ready to handle any customer's negative feedback. If a genuine case, you address it and get it sorted. Ignoring social media marketing just because you are worried about negative feedback is just like a "bad business wanting good feedback". Businesses can be successful if you aim at customer satisfaction.

Opportunity

Be realistic! if your company has a negative image offline, then you cannot expect an over night image change for just being on social media/networks. If you want to be benefited from your social media marketing, then you should be ready to serve those negative feedback customers and turn them to positive, this is an opportunity to your business – utilize it.

Manage & Promote

Managing your social media profile is very important. Delayed response to a query does not really give a good impact. Always protect your profile from spam. There are tools that can help you in managing these tasks. Last but not the least, promote your business profile on regular basis to gain target audience and build your community.

 

 

Ziio Android Based Tablet Launched in UK

Nov 3 |18:28

Z

iiO android tablets were launched in London on 2nd November by Creative, to modest applause. Creative with its ZiiO android tablets aims to push entertainment and mobile computing forward with a super-compact portable device you’ll love to play with. But does the ZiiO android tablet cut it? Is it smart enough and playful enough to compete with the iPad?
Ziio Android-based Tablet
Ziio Android based Tablet by Creative
Well, the specs are certainly juicy. Creative ZiiO android tablets come in 7-inch and 10-inch versions and run the Android 2.1 OS. The gadget promises top-notch sound through the Pure Android Audio application which gives X-Fi and apt-X oomph – the X-Fi Crystalizer makes up for detail lost in CD ripping and the X-Fi Expand technology makes your games more lifelike and your music clearer. Of course, Creative ZiiO android tablets boast Bluetooth connectivity. You can enjoy wireless sound on the move through compatible Bluetooth headphones and it’s not limited to music – pick out a movie, browse the Internet or play games and it’ll sound good too.

The ZiiO android tablet boasts a front-facing camera, a built in microphone and a handy microSD card slot. Input comes from a mini USB and 3.5 stereo jacks. Plus GPS and FM radio if you’re not already gadgetted-out. In terms of processor speed, you’ll bag a Creative processor but the speed is still being optimized. Battery time looks like being around 10 hours of mixed use or 25 hours of music. But the screen is a sticking point for some users. The resistive touchscreen is unlikely to set the world on fire and the image – 800 x 480 pixel resolution on the 7-inch version – won’t win prizes. The resistive touchscreen just isn’t as responsive as the more expensive versions.

Of course, the ZiiO android tablet also does what other android tablets do best – thanks to Wi-Fi compatibility built in. You can surf the net, shop online, send emails and update your Facebook while lounging on the sofa, walking the dog or sitting in a café. Back at home, link the ZiiO android tablet to your HDTV for impactful viewing. It’s certainly light and it looks flashy, although the black and white color choices are not exactly inspiring. At 13.7mm in width, you’ll be able to comfortably hold it.

Does the ZiiO android tablet measure up in terms of price? The gadget is available in 8GB and 16GB versions and comes in at around £199 for the 8GB version and £219 for the 16GB. The 10-inch screen ZiiO android tablet will set you back around £249 or £300 for the 16GB. Set some money aside to shop for apps, games and books at the Creative ZiiStore. The price for this pair of portable friends is around half that of the Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy Pad, a key advantage if you’re keen on keeping your cash in your pocket.

With the abundance of options available in the mobile computing market, does the world need another nifty handheld device? I guess the proof is in the playing. If it works, it’s got a place. If the technology is lacking, it could turn into just another gadget burning a hole in your pocket. The Creative ZiiO android tablet can be yours in December 2010. Will you be playing?