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MaxFilings Offers Free Domain Registration for Businesses Incorporating Online

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MaxFilings business incorporation service provides free web site domain name registration for businesses incorporating online. Organizations can get a head start in online promotion when they incorporate or form an LLC today by registering the web address for their site at the same time.

Tampa, FL (PRWEB) October 3, 2007 — Today's competitive business environment demands that new companies get in the online marketing game from the onset of the business. Marking online business territory and establishing a brand presence early on gives start-ups an immediate advantage, and creating a web presence is an important first step. MaxFilings business incorporation service (www.maxfilings.com) has partnered with SEO Advantage, an online promotions firm, to provide free web site domain name registration for businesses incorporating online.

Free web site domain name registration is available to any company incorporating online through the MaxFilings business incorporation service. The promotion includes one year of registration. (More details: www.maxfilings.com/promotion.php) The MaxFilings and SEO Advantage partnership also provides those incorporating online access to additional promotional services such as graphic design for logos, business cards, corporate stationery and web sites, as well as specialized services including search engine optimization.

"This is an excellent opportunity for business owners to incorporate online and, at the same time, establish a web presence," commented Jim Reuning, Senior Vice President of Operations of MaxFilings, Inc. "Partnering with SEO Advantage to make essential web marketing services available to newly formed businesses is one more way MaxFilings provides exceptional value beyond any other online incorporation service. This partnership certainly helps our customers hit the ground running as they incorporate online and grow their businesses successfully."

SEO Advantage Marketing Director Lisa Banks said, "We are enthusiastic about this partnership, as MaxFilings truly offers an affordable, simple means for forming a business online. The free domain name registration is designed to help new corporations and LLCs start promoting themselves online right away, and also gives them a sample of other beneficial online marketing services like website design, search engine optimization and copywriting. We look forward to providing these services to MaxFilings customers, and we hope the new companies we serve will continue to work with us for all their promotional needs as they grow."

The free domain registration promotion is available for a limited time only. Companies are encouraged to submit their online incorporation or LLC formation at www.MaxFilings.com as soon as possible.

More information on the promotion can be found at www.maxfilings.com/promotion.php and more information on forming a corporation is available at www.maxfilings.com/incorporation-knowledge-center/form-your-c-corporation.php

About MaxFilings:
MaxFilings is an online incorporation service that lets businesses incorporate or form an LLC online easily in 10 minutes, or just start organizing all their information until they are ready. There is no charge to store incorporation information in the secure MaxFilings system, and there is never any obligation to order. MaxFilings' incorporation fees are very affordable, and an extensive online incorporation library for business owners researching their choices is available at www.maxfilings.com/incorporation-knowledge-center. In addition, newly incorporated businesses have access to online promotional services such as business cards, PR, web sites, and SEO services through partner company SEO Advantage. For more information, visit www.maxfilings.com.
About SEO Advantage:
SEO Advantage, Inc. is a professional search engine optimization firm providing online marketing services for small and medium-sized businesses. SEO Max represents SEO Advantage's leading-edge technology in SEO/SEM offering excellent ROI, backed by exceptional customer service and the Web's Best Guarantee™. The company also offers comprehensive analytics and reporting, copywriting and press release optimization, web design, pay-per-click advertising management, and additional online promotional services. For more information, visit www.seoadvantage.com.

Small Businesses Hurt Themselves in Relationships With Bankers, According to New Paper

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Most small businesses fail to develop their side of their relationship with commercial bankers, and this undermines both their ability to raise capital and the services they receive. In a just released paper, John I. Todor, Ph.D., managing partner of The Whetstone Edge, LLC, interviews R. Blake Hendrix about the proactive steps that the small business person should be taking to improve their lot.

Pleasant Hill, CA (PRWEB) October 2, 2007 — "More than 70% of small businesses fail to develop their side of their relationship with commercial bankers and this undermines both the funding and financial expertise they receive," says R. Blake Hendrix. In a just released paper, John I. Todor, Ph.D., managing partner of The Whetstone Edge, LLC, interviews Hendrix about this statement and probes to find out what proactive steps the small business person should be taking. This interview is available now at www.thewhetstoneedge.com/papers/clients.pdf.

"Relationships are critical to business" says Todor. He cites a recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit where over 90% of business executives believed that customer relationships, not products or services, were the key to competitive differentiation in today's marketplace. "But relationships" he adds, "are about the interactions between two parties and both parties must be actively involved for it to product mutual benefits." However, "much of the advice and strategies are directed at only one side–what the business should do to cultivate better relationships with their customers."

In the interview, Todor questions Hendrix about the ideas in his new book "Accounting, Finance and Presentation for Small Business." In particular, he queries him on the client's role in building mutually productive and profitable relationships in a B-to-B environment.

Hendrix, a former commercial banker and now a consultant to small businesses, explains in down-to-earth terms how many clients take a self-defeating approach to working with vendors and service providers.

"Two clients with essentially the same profile on paper can end up with dramatically different financial packages as well as the guidance and expertise they get from a bank" Says Hendrix. He points out that the difference is in the relationship, and the client can do a lot to tilt the scale in his or her favor. "That's why I wrote this new book" adds Hendrix.

The complete interview is available for free at www.TheWhetstoneEdge.com/papers/clients.pdf.

About Blake Hendrix and saltmineconsulting.com
Hendrix draws upon 20 years experience facilitating small businesses. His practice stresses perspective and simplicity in defining and solving the issues that confront the small businessperson. His keynote is integrating Strategy, Logistics and Tactics to achieve the goals of the organization. "Accounting, Finance and Presentation," is his second book directed at helping small businesses thrive. Learn more at www.saltmineconsulting.com.
About John Todor
John I. Todor, Ph.D., is the managing partner of The Whetstone Edge, LLC, a customer experience consulting and training firm that applies scholarly research on human behavior to buyer-seller dynamics including customer loyalty, trust, retention, customer service, CEM (Customer Experience Management), and marketing strategy. He speaks and consults worldwide on the underlying psychological principles that lead to customer satisfaction, trust, loyalty, and long-term, high lifetime value that profoundly affect customer care, acquisition, and client relationships. His latest book is "Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked on Your Company." More information is available at www.AddictedCustomers.com or www.TheWhetstoneEdge.com.

AMD Announces Cuts in Dual-Core Prices

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American Micro Devices announced price reductions in their line of dual core processors today. In an E-mail blast to solution providers AMD stated they would cut suggested prices on five dual-core AMD Athlon™ X2 products. The price reduction is slated to begin Monday, October 8.

AMD will reduce suggested prices on the  AMD Athlon™ X2 5000+, 5200+, 5600+, 6000+ and 6400+ processors and hinted to solution providers that now would be a good time to upsell customers to dual core technology.

 

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Microsoft Admits Secret WU Update Blows XP Restore

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Microsoft Corp. confirmed Friday that the secret WU update allegedly pushed onto Windows XP machines breaks the patch process after a restore. Users who perform a repair from a Windows XP CD are unable to update the operating system due to stealth files sent to users this summer.

The issue caused by the stealth WU update was first reported by Scott Dunn in the Windows Secrets newsletter last Friday.  Microsoft later confirmed the issue on their Technet blog but insisted they were working on the problem.

"When an XP repair CD is used, it replaces all system files (including Windows Update) on your machine with older versions of those files and restores the registry" Program Manager Nate Clinton wrote in the company blog. "However, the latest version of Windows Update includes wups2.dll that was not originally present in Windows XP", he explained.  Therefore, after the repair install of the OS, wups2.dll remains on the system but its registry entries are missing. This mismatch causes updates to fail installation."

According to Computerworld, their testing confirmed the problem, which prevents 80 patches from installing after a restore from a copy of Windows XP on a retail CD. Computerworld reminded readers that wups2.dll is only one of seven files discovered by Windows Secrets that was secretly pushed onto user PCs without their knowledge or consent as it was forced onto systems even when Windows Update was disabled.

Microsoft said the problem would be resolved and Clinton offered a solution in KB94314.

 

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Apple releases update to brick iPhone

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Apple, Inc. released a firmware update for their popular iPhone yesterday to disable or "brick" unlocked units. The update, a response to recent hacks which allow the iPhone to be used by cell phone service carriers other than AT&T, apparently not only circumvents the hacks but disables some third party applications as well.

The  iPhone initially  was locked into service only through AT&T but users soon discovered ways to unlock the phone and allow it to function with other cell carriers. The hack helped spur sales of the phone as consumers who were reluctant to purchase the device were able to choose their carrier.

Apple told customers unlocking the device would risk damage and void their warranty. Earlier this week they informed users a firmware update would be released to patch the hacks. Yesterday they made good on the threat.

According to iphonesimfree.com, which provides software and service to unlock the iPhone to resellers the deployment of firmware update 1.1.1 does relock some iPhones but the IPSF hack still functions if the user has an original AT&T Sim card. In addition the block disables third party applications and tools to enhance funtionality of the iPhone, mostly written by open source developers.

 "The thousands of open source developers who have put a cumulative 10s of thousands of man hours into various apps and tools now have no way to get them onto the phone as well." iphonesimfree.com posted in their blog Thursday.  They added, "We are all looking into the jailbreak issue as it affects us all, and we will keep updating our site as well as the open source community at large with any information we can about this."

The latest move by Apple to relock the phone angered users, many of which view it as both arrogant and ironic, especially given Steve Jobs' recent stand against another unpopular locking mechanism, DRM.

 

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New WinRAR 3.71 is Released

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win.rar GmbH announces the release of final version of the new WinRAR 3.71.

Berlin, Germany (PRWEB) September 27, 2007 — win.rar GmbH, publisher for RARLAB software, is proud to announce the release of final version of the new WinRAR 3.71. win.rar GmbH is dedicated to offering the highest level of quality support to its customers, and to constantly improving its software according to their needs and feedback. With the release of this latest version, they have once again ensured that WinRAR continues to be the most complete and technologically up-to-date compression tool. The new WinRAR 3.71 fixes some vulnerabilities that were just recently discovered.

Some of the features which are improved with the release of version 3.71 are:

  • compatibility of high DPI display modes with WinRAR tray icon and inclusion of full path of Archive names in rar.log error log file.
  • WinRAR could crash when decompressing some of corrupt RAR archives; this has been corrected.
  • WinRAR is now able to unpack an individual file from subfolder of ACE archive using the drag and drop without fail.
  • high ASCII names in ISO files using ISO 9660 format without Joliet format extension would now be displayed correctly.

These are just some of the features that were improved. More information on all the improved items can be found here: http://www.win-rar.com/whatsnew.html

Of course, as always, the upgrade to 3.71 is absolutely free for all registered users. Upgrading is quick and easy. Users only need to download and install the newest version of WinRAR to continue using the best compression tool around. No complicated uninstalling of the previous version is necessary.

About WinRAR
WinRAR is a 32-bit Windows version of RAR Archiver, the powerful archiver and archive manager. RAR files can usually compress content up to 30 percent better than ZIP files. WinRAR's main features are very strong general and multimedia compression, processing of non-RARarchives, long filename support, programmable self-extracting archives(SFX), damaged archive repair, authenticity verification, embedded file comments, and encryption. WinRAR is available in over 45 different languages and runs on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP/Vista. The command line version RAR is available for Linux, DOS, OS/2, FreeBSD and MAC OS X. Pocket RAR, the free WinRAR version for Pocket PCs and the new WinRAR for U3 complete the compression product range. So WinRAR simply is "The Size Solution".

About win.rar GmbH
win.rar GmbH is the official publisher for WinRAR and RARLAB products since February 2002 and handles all support, marketing and sales related to WinRAR & rarlab.com. win.rar GmbH is located in Germany and is represented globally through its local partners on 6 continents and in more than 80 countries. For more information about WinRAR and
win.rar GmbH please visit www.win-rar.com.

 

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Encouraging a Simpler Path to Green IT

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As green IT products appear on the horizon, IT organizations can first rely on the basics of managing capacity and optimizing their infrastructure to reduce energy costs

Austin, TX (PRWEB) September 27, 2007 — As pressure continues to mount for organizations and their data centers to go green, HyPerformix, the leader in predictive IT management, is encouraging CIOs and IT organizations to remember that environmentally friendly computing doesn't always require additional costs.

Before spending budget on new solutions, IT organizations need to first address the capacity levels of the current server solutions because surprisingly, most companies use only 15 to 20 percent of their current server capacity, according to Gartner research. And the electricity to run these servers accounts for nearly half of an organization's overall energy costs.

  According to Forrester Research, burgeoning data centers and corporate PC populations have driven up IT's power consumption two fold over the last six years, accounting for roughly 3 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption. And nearly half the companies in the S&P 500 are actively reviewing their Corporate Social Responsibility policies.

Taking a proactive approach of managing capacity and optimizing the infrastructure already in place will save an organization millions of dollars, not only from energy and IT resource savings but also in capital expenditures, allowing the budget to be redirected back into innovation.

In response, technology vendors are scrambling to add a touch of green to as many products as possible, from server cooling systems, new processors that emphasize energy management over performance to environmental control devices that affect building heating and cooling conditions.

"The idea behind this approach is so obvious, yet we continue to see IT organizations add more hardware as the business side of the house demands more support for new initiatives," said Bruce Milne, HyPerformix vice president of products and marketing. "It's ironic, actually, that it's the business that generates demand on IT resources, yet complains the most about higher energy costs."

Demand on IT for server support comes from many growth initiatives within the company from mergers, acquisitions, new product releases and major software deployments. In most cases, IT organizations will over-compensate to meet these demands with additional hardware purchases, which only exacerbate the problem of under-utilization and drive up additional energy costs.

More than half of U.S. companies deploy virtualization technologies in the data center to help reduce cost and manage the demand generated by the business. Virtualization is instinctively the right thing to do, but it's too risky to virtualize business critical applications without having some insight into how they will perform under demanding conditions. To have insight that reduces risk, IT needs tools that enable them to predict performance before they make changes to their infrastructure and applications.

By accurately predicting server utilization, IT organizations can effectively cut their carbon footprint by reducing the number of servers in their data centers. This will also increase available space and make data centers more effective, without having to install special cooling features or environmental controls. More importantly, it will save money that can be reallocated for other more strategic initiatives, including environmental products and services, when the time is right. In this case, "green" is good for the environment and the bottom line.

About HyPerformix
The integrated suite of solutions for Predictive IT Management™ enables IT organizations to make informed business decisions to predictably, efficiently, and dependably deliver good business outcomes, productivity and growth.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, HyPerformix has offices throughout the United States, Europe & Asia. For more information, contact HyPerformix in the US at 1.800.759.6333 and in Europe at 44 870 351 0206 or visit us online at www.hyperformix.com.

HyPerformix and Predictive IT Management are registered trademarks of HyPerformix, Inc. All other trade names, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Website Hosting Provider Flux Services, Inc. Introduces New Ultra UX Plan

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Flux Services, Inc. (http://www.ultrawebsitehosting.com), a website hosting company, has introduced its new Ultra Ux hosting plan.

(PRWEB) September 27, 2007 — Flux Services, Inc. http://www.ultrawebsitehosting.com, a website hosting company, has introduced its' new Ultra Ux hosting plan. The Ultra Ux allows for the hosting of unlimited websites under a single hosting account for a monthly cost of only $9.95 a month. No setup fees or necessary annual contracts are required to receive this offered price.

Features include live support, site builder, website template package, Dual-Core Intel Xeon Servers, a monstrous 150 GBs of disk space and 5TBs of monthly transfer. Other features included are a script installer, daily backups, advanced SPAM protection, automatic web stats, PHP 4.4.x and 5.x support, GD, Imagemagick, Zend Optimizer, Ioncube Loader, hotlink protection, password protect directories, custom error pages, log file accessibility, sub-domains, parking domains, an IP deny manager, Directory Virus Scan, Dreamweaver and FrontPage compatible, website marketing tools and much more. Another offered plan, the Ultra 1x, allows for the hosting of a single website with the above features at a reduced price.

The new plans provide the capability for web designers and developers easier administration with an increased feature set while reducing cost. With the new Ultra Ux plan web designers and developers can add multiple domains and content within seconds. Individual web pages can also receive their own ftp account information used to upload content which allows for micromanagement of accounts as well if required.

With one consolidated interface and one low monthly cost the Ultra Ux hosting plan is an extremely convenient and attractive option for many web designers and developers.

"The Ultra Ux and 1x web hosting plans are the most competitive hosting plans on the market. Without the requisite of an entire year in advance for payment as with most website hosting providers, new clients may sign up for monthly hosting at the same offered price and start using services immediately," explained Mr. David Turner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Flux.

Flux Services also offers to price match competitor hosting plan prices. If a client's existing hosting provider supports the cPanel interface which is a popular control panel for websites provided by many hosting providers, Flux Services also offers to transfer the entire hosting account to their service free of charge. For more information on the Ultra Ux plan visit the following link: http://www.ultrawebsitehosting.com/hosting-plans.php

Flux Services was established in 2002 and provides value website hosting and domain registration services. The company maintains its operations in Seattle, Washington.

 

Visa Unveils New Contactless Payment Device – Visa Micro Tag

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Visa unveils the Visa Micro Tag, a new key fob that allows cardholders to pay by simply waving the device in front of a contactless payment terminal. To celebrate the debut of the new smart card device, Visa Micro Tags loaded with $15 will be distributed to the first 1,000 San Francisco Giants fans entering AT&T Park's Field Club level September 26, 2007.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) September 27, 2007 — Visa announced today the availability of the Visa Micro Tag, a new key fob payment device embedded with Visa payWave, Visa's contactless technology feature. The Visa Micro Tag is designed to easily attach to a key ring, and it allows cardholders to pay by simply waving their Visa Micro Tag in front of a contactless smart card reader without the need to physically swipe or insert the device into a point-of-sale terminal.

The Visa Micro Tag allows financial institutions to offer cardholders a companion smart card device to an existing Visa credit, debit or prepaid account. Designed to be small and durable, the Visa Micro Tag makes paying for purchases faster and more convenient.

Visa Micro Tags display the Visa Brand Mark and contactless indicator. A Visa account number is not required to be embossed or printed on the device, providing an additional layer of security for consumers carrying a Visa Micro Tag in visible ways, such as on a keychain.

"Visa cardholders consistently say they would like to use their Visa accounts at more merchant locations and are looking for faster and more convenient transactions," said Pam Zuercher, vice president, product innovation and coordination, Visa USA. "As one of the smallest payment devices, the Visa Micro Tag offers the experience cardholders demand with the added layers of security they expect from Visa."

Visa Micro Tags can be easily manufactured and personalized as part of an automated manufacturing process similar to that of standard cards. This helps issuers control costs while more readily providing an exciting new payment choice to Visa cardholders. The Visa Micro Tag can also be made into a variety of shapes and sizes, from flat to three-dimensional, delivering innovative payment product design options.

Visa Micro Tag Promotion at AT&T Park
To celebrate the debut of the new payment form factor, Visa Micro Tags loaded with $15 will be distributed to the first 1,000 San Francisco Giants fans entering AT&T Park's Field Club level September 26, 2007. In addition to distributing the Visa Micro Tags, Visa ambassadors will educate baseball fans on how the device works and encourage trial at concession stands located throughout the stadium.

Added Zuercher, "After using the Visa Micro Tag, consumers will understand how this innovative device can quickly make their lives easier by speeding them through checkout lines. We believe the Visa Micro Tag will help shape the future of payments."

About Visa PayWave:
Since its introduction in 2005, Visa's contactless technology has grown rapidly in popularity. Customers in the U.S. with Visa payWave cards enjoy the convenience of not having to sign for payments under $25, a feature that also benefits merchant locations where speed is important and where cash has been the traditional means of payment. The technology is already in use at convenience stores, sporting venues, gas stations and fast food restaurants nationwide.

Cardholders with Visa payWave-enabled products receive all the same security protections the industry has come to expect from Visa, including zero liability for fraudulent charges and Visa's industry-leading anti-fraud technology. Cardholders making purchases with Visa PayWave-enabled products enjoy additional layers of security because the payment device never leaves the customer's hand, can only be read at extremely close proximity to a reader, and submits dynamic authorization data to the Visa payment network that is unique to each transaction.

About Visa USA:
Visa USA is a leading payments brand and the nation's largest payments system, enabling banks to provide their consumer and business customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored to meet their evolving needs. Visa USA is committed to increasing the choice, convenience, acceptance and security of Visa payments for all stakeholders — financial institutions, cardholders and merchants. As of March 31, 2007, in the United States, more than 521 million Visa-branded cards have been issued by more than 13,000 financial institution customers.

Visa products generated $1.8 trillion in total volume in the United States during the four quarters ended March 31, 2007. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the globe. For more information, visit www.visa.com.

TechHotline Announces Low-Cost Technical Support Service

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The TechHotline, an industry innovator in corporate technical support, announced a $24.95 flat-fee, "fixed or free" service for all consumers nationwide.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) September 26, 2007 — The TechHotline, an industry innovator in corporate technical support, announced a $24.95 flat-fee, "fixed or free" service for all consumers nationwide. From its headquarters in Massachusetts, the TechHotline launched its new number, 1-866-76-FixPC, with radio ads and new website, www.techhotline.us. Opening its support system to the public is part of a bold new strategy to provide home consumers with the same professional level of service that corporate users enjoy at big companies.

"Traditional technical support options for home users are terrible," says Matthew Ferrara, CEO of the TechHotline. "Most manufacturers overcharge for service or provide low quality support. The whole industry charges too much for poor quality support. We think the consumer deserves much better and we can do it at a much lower cost."

  The TechHotline's new public line, 1-866-76-FixPC, supports a wide variety of computer problems, such as operating systems, office productivity software and email, plus accessories like digital cameras, printers, scanners and wireless routers. Special services such as virus removal and spyware elimination offer consumers options rather than doing it on their own.

"Consumers deserve fast, friendly support. We have a proven record of answering the phone quickly and fixing problems by logging on to the customer's computer. They sit back and let us do the repairs. And we charge less than half of most other companies," Ferrara adds.

The TechHotline has been providing support to corporate customers since 1999. Adding the public line was the logical next step in transforming the support industry. "The consumer usually has nowhere to turn. Vendors make them wait on hold forever. Downloading programs from the internet is risky." With home computers in the sub-$500 range, many repair bills end up almost as much as the computer. "That's why we charge $24.95 for almost all of our calls," says Ferrara, "and we fix it, or it's free." Some specialty services do cost more, Ferrara acknowledges, such as networking or a system cleanup, "but we're still cheaper, faster, better all around."

About The TechHotline
The TechHotline, owned and operated by Matthew Ferrara & Company, is located in Massachusetts, serving more than 600,000 business users nationwide. The service was founded because its owners were frustrated with their experiences with outsourced support that didn't care about the customer. The company's core principles are: answer the phone fast, employ friendly technicians and fix the problem. The TechHotline answers 10,000 calls a month, with an average wait time under two minutes, employing the latest support tools at its state-of-the-art call center to deliver a totally different technical support experience to consumers. For more information about the TechHotline, visit www.techhotline.us

 

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