Here’s Why You Need Employee Management Software

If you operate a business, you should know that your management style determines its success or failure. Managers need to keep the employees active and engaged from the different places they operate from. This can only be possible if you have a digital work-related communication system that promotes engagement amongst all parties involved. For instance, employee management software can go a long way in helping managers and employees to achieve organizational goals. While management software may seem optional, it has recently become more common and it’s not as costly as you’d think. 

Here is why you need employee management software to improve the operations of your business. 

Fosters Real-time Communication

Regardless of size, there is no organization that can survive without communication. Happy and motivated workers are productive while unmotivated and unhappy employees can tear your company down. One way of achieving success in your business is to promote open and real-time communication with all your team members. With the right employee management system, you can maintain an environment that fosters communication. The system helps managers and employees to work together toward the attainment of the company goals. 

Employee management software also helps reduce some of the pressure and stress that can develop between the employees and the managers. In other words, a better management tool helps create a good relationship between the managers and employees that leads to increased productivity and more efficiency. A good work environment also leads to better employee retention and less conflict amongst workers. A major cause of employee turnover in different organizations related to strained relationships.       

Enhances Employee Engagement

Employee engagement plays a crucial role in boosting productivity, enhances company culture, employee retention, and encourages good customer satisfaction. When you have the right employee management app, you can engage all the workers in a meaningful way on top of busy schedules and this fosters a good relationship. It is important to engage with your employees from the very first day of their work. You can achieve this by using the right employee management system. There are different stages involved at every stage of the employee life cycle like hiring, on-boarding, staff scheduling, tracking time, task management, and more. Your software can determine the workforce you need and help you ensure that you meet your labor targets and stay within your budget. 

Promotes Constructive Feedback

One thing that is critical for any organization is constructive feedback. However, conducting annual performance reviews can be a challenge since, in the absence of the right tool to get feedback from different angles, the process of gathering feedback tends to be one-sided.  With employee management software, you can send messages directly to various employees, and they can also do the same. To boost employee morale, you can send messages to everyone since this helps to promote engagement. The system can also help you provide feedback to the workers in real-time. The system also removes other barriers that can affect communication between the employees and the management. 

Reduces Paperwork

As more organizations are going “green” in their operations, digital communication and management platforms are increasingly gaining popularity in different sectors. You can customize an employee management system to suit the needs of each department while at the same time reducing paperwork. Apart from being efficient, it encourages accuracy in data processing. The system is quicker, and it is more secure than keeping data on hard files. You can use the system for various tasks like tracking time, vacation requests, invoices, processing inventory. You can perform all these tasks from anywhere as long as you are connected to the system.  

Helps Track Time

Employee management software helps provide managers with insight into their workforce. They can use this system to track time, control labor costs, and increase productivity at the same time. The managers and the employees have access to the real-time record of the number of days worked and cases of absenteeism. The system helps you to stay on top of the situation and you can manage issues like absenteeism before they go out of hand. The employees can also view their current and past timesheets. This helps to prevent conflicts and other related labor disputes. 

Managing people in a company is critical since it determines the success or failure of your business. To increase efficiency and productivity in your operations, you need to obtain the right employee management software. This system helps to promote open communication amongst all team members which thereby improves performance in the organization. No business can survive without communication and feedback from both ends.  

Record Any Area of your Screen for Free with IObit Screen Recorder

Looking for a screen recorder that can catch every detail of your screen while no lagging when HD recording? Follow this post to get the best screen recorder free of charge without a watermark.

Why Do You Need IObit Screen Recorder

There is no doubt that videos are becoming more and more popular than texts or images. After all, texts are plain. Meanwhile, image delivery limit information. But videos can contain rich elements including words, icons, animations, as well as audios. It takes less time for anyone to get a lot, learn a lot from a video than an article or an image. No matter you are a teacher who wants to record a tutorial, or you are a student who wants to learn skills and review all lessons you have learned, you can finish the task with a nice video.

Therefore, you need a screen recorder. But what makes people disappointed is that you always need to pay for a screen recorder, monthly or yearly. And what makes things worse is that most software limits the record time and adds the watermark by default. If you want to a long video or remove the watermark, no problem, just pay more. On the other hand, people always want an HD video so that they can clearly see what happened during each frame, but only to find large videos with a lot of lag.

Thus, the FREE IObit Screen Recorder comes into being, with all of your needs covered, such as recording any area of your screen, unlimited recording time, no watermark, recording the screen with audio, no lagging while HD recording, taking screenshots while recording, multiple outputs/convert formats, edit after recording. The most interesting thing is the IObit team also provides an online version, which means you don’t need to install any extra software to get a high-quality WebM video. If you are hurry for a tutorial, just enjoy this free online screen recorder now.

How to Use IObit Screen Recorder

Let’s see how to use IObit Screen Recorder to record your screen and make a fantastic video.

Step 1: Head to recorder.iobit.com and download this free software, and install it on your computer.  Vista, Win7, Win8, Win8.1, and Win10 – all supported.

Step 2: Run IObit Screen Recorder and select the area you want to record. By default, it will record all areas of your screen. You can select one specific window to only capture everything within that window. Or you can select any area you want to get started.

Step 3: Directly start or change the default settings before starting. Actually, you can now click the “REC” button to begin recording. All default settings are optimized according to the hardware of your computer, to make sure you have the best experience. In case you want to change something such as the output directory, the video and audio format, the frame rate, the hotkeys, or the watermark.

Step 4: Use F9, F10, and F11 to control the recording process. Press F9 to start or end recording. Use F10 to pause or resume. Sse F11 to take screenshots while recording, which may be the most useful feature as the IObit team broke through technical barriers between video & audio recording and screen capture taking simultaneously.

Step 5: Preview and edit your video. If you want to cut some parts off from the original video, just click the edit icon from the video list. Then you can drag the progress bar to only save the parts you want to keep.

Conclusion

This post gives you a simple introduction to IObit Screen Recorder and clearly displays the steps to use it. Hope your life could be more interesting with this free recorder online or offline.

What to Look For in a Desktop Computer

Are you looking to buy a desktop computer? Whether this is for work or personal use (or both), it is a major decision to make and inevitably will be a high cost to cover. As such an important piece of equipment for people in today’s day and age, you need to take the time to find the right device for your particular needs so that it will be a good fit and allow you to easily carry out whatever you need the machine for whether this is playing video games, working with specific software, watching TV and/or simply for internet browsing and creating documents. Read on to find out what you need to look for to find a high-quality desktop computer.

Processor

The processor is the chip that carries the core operations and calculations that drive everything in the computer, so this is essentially the “brain” of the computer and highly important. It is difficult to upgrade a processor once it is in place, so ideally, you will want to get this right the first time. If you plan on heavy use, such as playing video games, you will want to make sure that you have multi-core processors, which are multiple processors working in tandem.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM is the computer’s short-term memory and directly impacts speed and efficiency. When you ask the computer to complete a task, such as opening a file, the task is loaded into RAM, and the higher the RAM, the better. It is measured in GB but does not confuse it with storage space. This can be relatively easy to upgrade, but it is still something that you need to consider when looking for a desktop PC.

Storage

The storage is the long-term memory and for keeping all of your files, programs, games, and anything else. You do not want to run out of storage, so think about the type of things that you will be storing on the computer and give yourself plenty of space if you play games and have large video files. You can also buy an external hard drive if you run out of space (and for backups), but this will be another expense.

Choosing a Good Keyboard

There are many different types of computer keyboards on the market today, each with its own set of functionality to meet certain needs. If your main computer use is for gaming, choosing your gaming keyboard is very important. If you want to get serious about gaming, you’ll need more than the keyboard that came with your PC, and competitive gamers’ gaming keyboards are built to last, even after years of intense use.

Monitors and Hardware

In addition to the actual computer itself, you will also need to consider the monitor and hardware. A powerful desktop computer is not much good with a low-quality monitor, particularly for gaming or streaming. Hardware such as a mouse and keyboard are other important factors that will greatly impact the performance. You can buy all-in-one packages, or you could do your own research and find your own hardware but be sure that it is from a reliable brand and has good reviews.

These are the key areas that you need to focus on when buying a desktop computer. A desktop can bring many benefits over a laptop, especially for activities like gaming and using certain software, but it can also be daunting and a lot of money to spend, so hopefully, this post will help.

The Advantages of Using Managed IT Services

Regardless of whether you are a business executive or an IT expert, the best IT managed services in Washington DC can make your work easier so that you can focus on other important things. Managed IT benefits can include the industry knowledge, dedication, and expertise of the whole IT department, who can deliver your core business. These benefits allow you to focus on growing your company’s core competencies. 

Remember that a managed IT service provider can assist you with daily tasks that are complex and time-consuming, such as disaster recovery planning, data center solutions, cloud computing, and end-user support. As a result, these providers can improve the company’s efficiency and competitiveness. This article discusses the advantages of using managed IT services. 

Predictable and Scalable Spending

No doubt, it can be quite expensive to invest in IT infrastructure and systems. When  you decide to invest in IT requirements upfront, then it can be hard to predict operating expenses as the business grows. But with managed IT services, these expenses are put together into a single and fixed set of costs. 

Because IT managed service providers usually operate with a fixed monthly rate, it means rates, such as maintenance, hardware breakdowns, and repairs are calculated using your operational budget, meaning it can’t break the bank once the unexpected happens.  

You Can Avoid Sunk and Operational Expenses

Running an in-house IT team means that you have significant sunk costs like monthly salaries, office upkeep, benefits, and insurance. Also, it can take a lot of time and money to train your employees to become familiar with the existing processes and systems. 

So your Manage IT provider can reduce a lot of capital expenditures that are associated with managing IT systems in-house and even add a bit to no value to your company. Aside from reducing your capital expenditures, you can also lower your IT costs by using managed IT services. 

For example, managed IT services tend to assist you to save on licensing, consulting, training, and emergency repairs. You can also benefit a lot from reduced labor rates once you hire the managed IT services. 

Fast Response Time

Today, employees don’t have to be slowed down by any type of technical problems or downtown. This is especially true when you are experiencing high traffic times. 

This is the reason why you need to have 24/7 support to make sure that your team is always productive. Managed IT service providers offer such types of services and you can expect that they will be available for your users regardless of whether it’s a weekend, day, night, or holidays. 

Expertise and Experience

Another notable benefit you can get by hiring a managed IT service provider is that you can find a team that has the training, qualifications, experience, and certifications required in this industry. 

A managed IT service provider can also offer you access to high-quality IT administrators with a great skill set to negate the need for you to hire such expertise yourself. When you find a managed IT service provider, you can also access the latest technology available on the market.

If One Bitcoin is Worth 60 Cars, Should I Buy Bitcoin Now?

Recently BofA analyst Francisco Blanch issued a report called “Bitcoin’s Dirty Little Secrets”. The long-form-pdf file states “there’s no good reason to own bitcoin unless you see prices going up.” And A “single Bitcoin purchase at a price of ~$50,000 has a carbon footprint of 270 tons, the equivalent of 60 [internal combustion engine] cars. So that becomes the question of the day. Is one bitcoin worth 60 cars?

Is Power Consumption an issue with Bitcoin

Keeping in mind that this same investment advisor has also stated Bitcoin is “exceptionally volatile”, “impractical,” and an environmentally disastrous asset that is useless as a store of wealth or an inflation hedge. Of course, none of these statements address the fundamental question – Should I buy Bitcoin now?

Argument For Deferring Bitcoin Investment because of Power Management

The nature of Bitcoin is that the currency is based on a computational hash. Any commodity is priced according to its rarity. Gold is more expensive than Silver because it is less common. Diamonds are more expensive than Amethyst because it is less common. Bitcoins are “rare” because there is an intentional computation that makes new bitcoins harder to find. This process is called mining, and Bitcoin miners use power to create more bitcoins.

Worldwide Bitcoin mining uses a huge amount of computational power and needs electric power to run. The total power consumption is balanced against power price – as it would be impractical to mine if the cost of electricity exceeds the cost of Bitcoin. So as the price of Bitcoin goes up, more people mine it, and the more power is consumed by Bitcoin mining operations.

The Argument Against Deferring Bitcoin Investment because it Wastes Power

Unless you live in a tent, everything else in your life is balanced by this same power management discussion. For instance, your ability to travel on vacation is directly tied to airline tickets’ price, which is tied to the airline’s fuel cost. If fuel is cheap, you go far away, and if fuel is expensive, you stay close to home. I have never heard someone say they will defer a vacation because it would increase worldwide power consumption. The Bank of America analyst will not turn down the AC in his office because he is concerned about worldwide fuel consumption. To mix a personal choice with some over-arching goal is privileged thinking. Why not point out that the entire investment industry misuses computational resources to effect fast trading because slower trading would use less power? Newer computers use less power, so why does Bank of America still use old computers in their operations?

What is the True Argument?

The author points out that the bulk of the Bitcoin Power Consumption problem is because Chinese miners use Coal Based power which is cheap in their area. Suddenly privilege markers abound because he mixes ethnic bias and nationalism into his discussion. The implication that power usage by Chinese people is bad leaves unstated that power usage by privileged Americans, which one a per-capita basis is four times higher.

The author is simply pulling out garbage arguments to save his privilege and his job. Bitcoin is just as valid an investment as S&P 500 index funds. No one knows if it will go up today or down tomorrow. What people know is that over the past 20 years, it has consistently gone up. Past performance is not an indication of future results.

Is Bitcoin a Worthy Investment?

If you invested $1000 in Bitcoin in January 2017 (1 bitcoin), your investment would be worth approximately $60,000 today. If you invested $1000 in the popular S&P ETF called SPY – (4 shares), your investment would be worth $1558 today. So over four years, SPY has returned about a 50% rise in value. Bitcoin has returned a 6000% rise in value  Bank of America’s investment advisors charge approximately 2% per year to manage your account. So over four years, they would charge $80 for your SPY investment, lowering the net gain to only $300 for the four years. On the other hand, no advisor charges for Bitcoin, so you get the full rise in your pocket.
The Bitcoin Empire app offers a user-friendly interface, real-time market data, and advanced features for secure Bitcoin trading. It’s a smart choice for both beginners and experienced traders.

You can see that Bitcoin is a far better investment than Bank of America advisors can offer you. That is why they write garbage-filled misleading points that one Bitcoin will feed Chinese Menace Coal Miners and destroy the world.

You can easily offset the problem after Bitcoin makes you marvelously wealthy by donating a portion to the University of Sichuan to help disadvantaged Chinese youth. Do not forget to donate to the Unemployed-Investment-Advisor’s Children’s College Fund.

How to buy Bitcoin

Bitcoin is not easy to buy. It takes many forms. The more you learn, the more lost you can feel. There are also many investment rules to follow. You can buy Bitcoin or any alternative like Ethereum, or Dogecoin, or Stellar Lumens. US Tax rules mean you cannot easily hold Bitcoin in an IRA.

One easy way to invest in Bitcoin is to purchase an ETF that holds Bitcoin. As an ETF, you can do this with your IRA. Also, the tax consequences are clearly defined since you are simply holding an ETF. The common EFT for Cryptocurrencies are Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) or Grayscale Etherium Trust (ETH).

You can also buy Defi coins, which don’t have power requirements. How to buy Defi coins, like other cryto is a simple online purchase.

You can use Qumas AI to capture crypto volatility trends and trade cryptocurrency easily.

You can also purchase stock in companies that operate as miners like RIOT, or Bitcoin Exchange platforms like Coinbase. The stock movements in these companies follow the price of Bitcoin. Finally, there are hybrid bitcoin plays like Overstock (OSTK), which use to sell goods but became a big player in Bitcoin, PayPal (PYPL), and even NVDIA (NVDA), which makes chips that optimize bitcoin mining even though they are trying to get out of this business.

Bitcoin is an Easy Investment

You should never invest all of your capital in a single investment. Bitcoin is volatile. At worst, it has at times dropped more than 90% of its value. That means a $1000 investment today might become $100 tomorrow. But over the past ten years, Bitcoin has proven to be a durable asset with explosive value. If you can spare some play money today, perhaps in four years, you will again see something that matches past gains.

Note: The author has been long GBTC since Bitcoin was $400, and often smiles broadly.

Creative Solutions That Will Help Fleet Managers Do Their Duties Better

If you own or work in a medium enterprise business or a company similar to many around the world, there’s a big chance you have a fleet of vehicles. These could include the personal cars used by employees, staff transportation vehicles, or vehicles used to transport goods. It could also include vehicles used in the delivery of services. Whichever the case, these vehicles need someone to operate them and take care of them. They will need fuel, regular maintenance, and mileage accounting to avoid losses. These are just some of the reasons fleet managers are employed in the first place.

If you are a fleet manager or intend to become one, here are some creative solutions that can help you do your duties better.

1. Integrate Technology into Your Job 

We are in the 21st century, where one way to become better at anything you do is by integrating technology into it. Well, this is even more essential when it comes to business, with every industry having relevant technology that can be utilized to improve operational efficiency and profitability.

Now, it so appears that fleet managers need to incorporate technology even more, especially in industries involving shipping and receiving goods. Fleet management involves several things, which include tracking the movement of the vehicles in your fleet, ensuring the vehicles undergo maintenance, as well as ensuring they are compliant with all legal requirements. These are things that need you to integrate technology into your job for effective performance. Thanks to technology, asset tracking has revolutionized fleet management and made it easier for managers. This is achieved through technologies like GPS tracking, which allows you to monitor the whereabouts of all units in your fleet in real-time. Among other things, fleet management software can also help you monitor the following:

  • Where a vehicle is headed
  • Fuel consumption
  • When the next maintenance for a particular vehicle is due
  • How a particular diver is performing
  • Vehicle costs related to fuel and maintenance
  • Vehicle performance
  • Route efficiency
  • Enforce driver accountability based on location and route  

2. Use Appropriate Management Tools 

A fleet manager has several tasks in their job description that have to be performed simultaneously. They include management of the vehicles, HR management, development and management of the mobility plan, and parking lot management. Simultaneous management of these tasks requires you to integrate more than one tool, so you are sure to do all of them in time and perfectly. Make sure that the tools you utilize have a defined working scope. That way, you will know how they are helping you with the tasks, making it easy to determine if they are effective. Use tools that evolve with the evolving needs.

3. Stay Informed About Innovative Solutions 

In the past few years, you probably have noticed that the globe has been doing several updates on motors, so they are more eco-friendly. This is a move to curb the effect that old motor models had on the environment. Every year, there is something new that comes up to solve challenges that have been faced previously. As a fleet manager, it is important to stay informed on new solutions, such as fleet safety solutions like CameraMatics, so you can integrate them into your job and let your business enjoy the benefits.For example, most companies have integrated car-pooling, parking management, and soft mobility to ensure sustainable development. If you do not keep yourself informed, such information will not be known to your business.

4. Build on Your Communication Skills 

Fleet management bounces between logistics, HR, and operations. The smooth of these three factors depends largely on how effectively you can communicate to the people under your management. It is not uncommon to offer the company’s parking lots and vehicles to the employees as part of their benefits. However, these benefits should never at any time be the reason anything in the company that needs to be mobile isn’t. You as the fleet manager need to communicate efficiently to other employees on how their benefits are going to be given to them without injuring the company’s operations. If you foresee a problem in your job, communicate it to your superiors so you have it addressed before it becomes a real issue.

5. Keep Track of the Taxes 

There are several taxing points that you need to keep track of for effective fleet management. When it comes to taxes, you can only minimize the costs of business by paying up early or making sure your superiors know what to expect before the due date. Just for a recap, there are several taxing points in fleet management. Some of these include CO2 emissions, parking lot taxes, and state taxes. They will vary from state to state or region to region. When you know the taxation rates, you can create a plan that makes sure you pay as little as possible while ensuring compliance. This also helps keep lawsuits against your company at bay.

Are some of your employees stealing work hours or engaging in non-company activities/jobs? Are the fuel costs and maintenance fees skyrocketing lately? Have you experienced an increase in late delivery complaints from customers? Well, you could put an end to all these and more using tips from this article. 

Fleet management is an aspect that any company will want to make sure is well handled. It plays quite a crucial role in the eventual success of the company. As a fleet manager, the above are just a few tips you could borrow to ensure excellence in delivering your mandate. 

What is SaaS Hosting? Who’s The Best For Your Site

SaaS Hosting is a specific type of web hosting service where your SaaS software and files are stored on the hosting provider’s servers instead of your own servers. So, your customers and users can access your software solution (your SaaS product) via the cloud.

The Benefits of SaaS Hosting

With a proper SaaS hosting, your customers wouldn’t need to have a copy of your software on their devices, while the hosting service will also provide maintenance and updates at the server level. So, the customers won’t need to update or patch the software.

Hosting for WP SaaS will also provide various benefits to the software developers. For instance, the developer wouldn’t need to host the software in-house, which may require certain infrastructures and management. Some companies also opt for Iaas hosting that maintains the infrastructures.

SaaS hosting can also provide the following benefits:

  • Security: the more widespread your SaaS software is and the more popular it gets, the more exposed your business is to cyber criminals and other threats. A good SaaS hosting service will also offer dedicated protection against various cyber threats like DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, malware and ransomware, hacking, and other threats.
  • Content delivery network (CDN): a CDN is a network of servers that distribute the content, so users can receive the content (and SaaS service) from a server that is located closer to them, allowing better latency and faster processes
  • Scalability: you can easily add more web hosting service with virtual SaaS hosting as your company grows, which is more cost-effective and would save more time rather than investing in more physical hosting and servers.

Who’s The Best For Your Site?

1. SiteGround

Key features:

  • cPanel access
  • Included SSL certification (HTTPS)
  • Free website transfer
  • Unlimited data transfer
  • Free website backup
  • WB-CLI

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Very fast servers with the latest technologies and software
  • Excellent customer support with 24/7 live chat, phone, and support ticket
  • Free CDN (by Cloudflare)
  • Free SSL certification
  • Multiple data centers in three continents, so you can choose according to your needs

Cons:

  • Limited/fixed storage, although the initial storage is quite large
  • Extra fee if you choose monthly billing

SiteGround is our top recommendation for a SaaS hosting for several reasons. First, its VPS cloud servers are based on super-fast SSD architecture, allowing very low latency and excellent reliability.

SiteGround also offers a very powerful CDN service to allow better deliverability of your content and SaaS software, and you can choose between five data centers. Also, SiteGrould will perform automatic daily backups of your site.

Arguably, however, the best reason to choose SiteGround is their excellent customer service: very fast, responsive, and reliable with almost no hold time on live chat and phone. 

2. Liquid Web

Key features:

  • Fully managed VPS and dedicated hosting service (all updates and security fixes are handled by Liquid Web
  • 100% uptime
  • For WordPress websites, Liquid Web automatically updates your plugins
  • PHP 7 and Nginx to boost your site’s speed and performance
  • Manage all your sites from a single location via iThemes Sync Pro

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Fast and secure technologies (SSD, PHP 7, Nginx, HTTP/2, and more)
  • Fully managed hosting infrastructure for various platforms (WordPress, VPS, dedicated servers)
  • Automatic daily backups and updates
  • 100% uptime money-back guarantee
  • Free SSL certification and CDN
  • Free site migration and DDoS protection
  • Premium tools included (iThemes Sync Pro, BeaverBuilder, Jilt, and more)

Cons:

  • Expensive option
  • Need to pay more for an email hosting
  • US and Europe data centers only

Liquid Web is definitely one of the best managed hosting services out there, and actually offers more features than SiteGround. Also, a very attractive selling point is its 100% uptime money-back guarantee (they will credit you 10x the amount when you were down).

However, LiquidWeb is relatively expensive (it is not a shared hosting service) and doesn’t automatically include email hosting. If you do have the budget, however, Liquid Web is a very interesting choice.

3. Heroku

Key features:

  • Fully managed runtime environment
  • Reliable and secure PostgreSQL
  • GitHub integration
  • Various add-ons like New Relic, MongoDB, SendGrid, Searchify, Fastly, Papertrail, ClearDB MySQL, Treasure Data, and more
  • Heroku CLI for interacting with the cloud environment

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Very easy deployment and environment configuration, very fast to launch
  • Very affordable especially for smaller-scale SaaS apps
  • A great free option, where you can deploy demo or test applications
  • Great interface with the Heroku CLI
  • Excellent mobile-responsiveness

Cons:

  • Does not offer static IP addresses, which can make Heroku limited in some applications
  • Pricing can be high for larger SaaS apps
  • Not very versatile for advanced developers

Heroku is a great choice due to its ease of use, allowing us to deploy apps to the cloud very easily. With Heroku, you don’t really need to manage your servers at all and you’ll also get extremely fast software launch times and intuitiveness. You can use Heroku’s Git push feature which will automatically detect your stack and automatically deploy your app.

Not as versatile as other options on this list, but one of the easiest to use.

4. Digital Ocean

Key Features:

  • Various data center locations across many different continents
  • Managed Kubernetes cluster in just a few clicks
  • Real-time alerts
  • Various resource metrics and summary stats with time-series graphs
  • Flexible compute options with various infrastructure options for your workload

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Easy to use, developer-friendly tools and APIs
  • Great documentation features
  • Great user interface allowing easy cloud management
  • Excellent customer service and support

Cons:

  • No South American servers
  • Don’t offer enterprise-level options (no MS SQL, Oracle, Windows Server).

Digital Ocean is another great hosting company for SaaS projects, especially for smaller SaaS businesses with their great pricing versatility and a very easy-to-use hosting environment. Fast, reliable, and secure SaaS hosting at a fairly reasonable price.

While it is not the most versatile hosting service, you get a great load time, decent server uptime, and excellent customer service.

5. Cloudways

Key features:

  • Choice of 5 IaaS providers
  • Fully managed cloud hosting platform
  • Optimized stack for fast load times
  • Auto-healing servers

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • 1-click installation for apps like WordPress
  • Free SSL integration
  • First site migration is free
  • Fantastic support
  • Pay as you go pricing

Cons:

  • No root access
  • Add-ons cost extra
  • No support for cPanel or Plesk

Cloudways is one of the best companies that offers SaaS hosting solutions right now. They have a fantastic, highly optimized stack for fast speeds, and the company is known for its range of support options. Their pricing varies depending upon the provider you choose, making them an ideal choice for most companies big or small.
However, you don’t get root access to your web apps, and since they provide their own platform, you can’t use Plesk or cPanel.

End Words

A proper SaaS hosting can significantly improve your SaaS product’s deliverability and usability, by allowing a faster, managed cloud service from the hosting service instead of your own server.

Above, we have also discussed four of the best SaaS hosting options available today, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

5 Essential Technologies for Effective Remote Working

Whether through necessity or choice, more and more people are working from home. While at first, this might appear to be as simple as plugging in a laptop and having a cellphone nearby, the reality is that it takes more than that to be able to work from home effectively.

It can be difficult to stay motivated and productive when working from home, particularly if you are balancing family commitments at the same time. The right home office environment can make it easier to connect to your colleagues, but you also need the right equipment at hand. Here are five essential technologies that all remote workers should have at their disposal.

1. Laptop and accessories

You need your laptop, of course, but you should also consider other pieces of hardware for your home office environment. For example, it is often much easier to work on complex projects with multiple tabs when you have a second monitor. You should also have a headset so you can take calls efficiently and an ergonomic mouse mat to prevent your wrist from developing repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Note: While not technically technology, it is also important to invest in a comfortable and supportive work chair to prevent back injuries.

2. High-quality Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is obviously essential, but you may find that your domestic Wi-Fi speed is not enough for your work needs. To ensure you can attend virtual meetings and work without interruption or delays, consider upgrading to a more reliable, secure, and faster connection. You might also want to consider adaptive Wi-Fi, which will automatically allocate bandwidth depending on which devices require the most.

3. Virtual meeting platforms

The virtual meeting is here to stay. Emails and phone calls are fine, but sometimes only a ‘face to face’ meeting will do. There are lots of examples of video calling software to consider, but all will enable you to connect with colleagues, clients, and customers wherever you are in the world.

4. Communication and collaboration software

Of course, it is not always necessary to arrange a virtual meeting or type out an email, as often you want to be able to communicate succinctly and quickly with colleagues when collaborating on projects. This is where instant chat tools, collaboration, and project management software come into their own. The best platforms enable you to chat privately with one colleague or in groups/teams. Working from home with software like CoAmplifi enables you to share and edit documents in real-time, track your progress, and stay on top of multiple projects at once.

5. Digital/voice-activated assistant

Digital assistants like Google Assistant or Amazon Echo are often thought of as a domestic product, but they have the potential to support home working as well. You can tell a digital assistant to make a call, send an email, take notes, and check facts on the internet while carrying on with another task or making a coffee. Used as multitasking tools, digital assistants can significantly improve efficiency and productivity. Click here to find out which is the best digital assistant product on the market.

How Jungle Scout Can Make Your Amazon Shopping Easier

Jungle Scout is an Amazon research tool that is designed to help businesses reach success in an easy and efficient way when selling or buying products. Small businesses, in particular, can benefit from this tool to find suitable equipment and supplies with a huge bang for their buck. In other words, Jungle Scout helps entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running. On that note, here’s exactly how Jungle Scout can make your Amazon shopping easier. 

Helps You Research Keywords

No business or startup can survive without the essentials. Having products on hand that helps you get organized and get to work with ease will allow you to progress. For instance, the latest office equipment can prevent a lot of hindrances; however, searching through the many products Amazon offers can be overwhelming. With Jungle Scout, you’ll be able to research keywords that are relevant to your needs, saving you the hassle of having to do extensive research about a product’s quality yourself. Shopping is much easier when you can immediately find what you specifically need for your office or small business. 

Allows You to Estimate Sales

Small businesses don’t have the resources that big enterprises have. For this reason, it can be quite overwhelming for small businesses to manually search products and create spreadsheets to analyze all the data. Moreover, most startups and entrepreneurs cannot afford to hire a big IT company to handle the analytics for them. That’s where Jungle Scout comes in. Since product research is crucial to your business’s success, you can’t overlook it. Therefore, Jungle Scout will help you estimate your sales which helps you evaluate your finances and marketing strategies better.

Allows You to Spy on Competitors

Another major part of a business’s success is being able to stay ahead of the competition. Small businesses don’t have the budget to put towards standing out and getting their brand out there. As such, use Jungle Scout to stay up to date on what is and isn’t working for competitors, and adjust your strategies accordingly. In other words, it makes competitive analysis much easier for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners alike. Amazon Agency will show you how to stand out among your competitors and effectively promote your listings.

Offers the Best Products to Grow Your Business

It’s one thing to make a list of all the products you need to shop for to grow your business; it’s another thing to ensure you’re actually getting quality products. Shopping on Amazon becomes much easier when you can turn to Jungle Scout to provide you with the best products that will benefit your business. 

The competition is growing exponentially in the e-commerce market, so staying on top of the latest trends and conducting regular market research is vital. Amazon has a lot to offer, and most small businesses just don’t have the resources to ensure that they don’t miss any valuable products or information. So, refer back to this guide the next time you are shopping on Amazon to grow your business. With Jungle Scout at your service, you have the perfect business partner you could ask for. 

10 High-Paying Software Development Career Paths

There are several forward-thinking, in-demand, and high-paying career paths in custom software development. Custom software programming is a lucrative and rewarding job field in today’s highly-technical, competitive market. In fact, it is often ranked as one of the top technology careers to pursue in the United States. With the demand for software developers currently so high, there is ample opportunity for your to work in a number of diverse sectors. If you are interested in following a career path in software development, there has never been a better time to get started. This way, you can access a comfortable work environment, unleash your creativity, and challenge yourself with a constant learning curve. To help you find your next calling, read on to learn about the top high-paying software development career paths.

Cloud Development

Cloud development is a fairly new area of custom software engineering, but rapidly growing with job opportunities. Essentially, cloud development involves planning, designing, and implementing structural architecture using cloud delivery models. Simply, it refers to the development and deployment of cloud-native applications. If you are interested in following career paths in cloud engineering, it is important that you are proficient in coding, database maintenance, and network management. Similarly, you may need to be well-versed in managing an integrated software environment, as well as cloud-based cybersecurity. Pursuing job opportunities in this area, you will be able to access diverse job opportunities with high-paying salaries. Of course, these careers often provide valuable workplace environment benefits, as well as flexibility. Certainly, cloud development is an excellent career path for high-tech software developers to follow.

Custom Software Development

Next, custom software development is one of the fastest-growing, highest-paying career paths in the current job marketplace. Principally, custom software programming involves the creation, design, and deployment of solutions configured specifically for a set of users, features, or alternative needs. Working in this innovative field, you will get the opportunity to work with a number of innovative resources, such as code servers. Using a C++ websocket server, you can accelerate build times, promote efficiency, and improve overall productivity across your pipeline. If you are interested in these job opportunities, you will need to have a working knowledge of data structures, operation systems, and coding algorithms. On the other hand, you will need specific soft skills such as organization, the ability to multitask, as well as strong communication. Indeed, custom software development is another high-paying career path to follow this year.

Full-Stack Development

In addition, full stack development is one of the most in-demand job categories by recent software employers. Full stack developers are capable of working with both front and back end application interfaces. This means that they can manage projects involving database configuration, front-end application construction, as well as user experience (UX) design management. If you are interested in these high-paying job opportunities, you will need to be skilled in web architecture, database storage, and interface design. Simultaneously, it is important to have mastered popular coding languages like HTML, C++, as well as CSS. Use one of these top apps to learn coding skills so you benefit from your career choice. After all, coding is one of the most important skills for the future. In addition, you may need to possess key soft skills such as resilience, creativity, and attention to detail. Surely, full stack development is an excellent career path to follow this year.

Software Integration

Of course, many tech enthusiasts have explored career paths as software integration engineer. As an integration specialist, you will be tasked with defining system specification, performing branch integration, and performing subset design analyses. At the same time, you may be commissioned with integrating software interfaces, developing change validation, and monitoring software performance. If you are interested in these professions, you must be seasoned in quality assurance (QA) inspection, vulnerability analysis, and software engineering principles. Additionally, it may be important to be skilled in deciphering technical data, self-management, as well as workload prioritization. Absolutely, software integration is a high-paying career to explore in the programming market.

Operating Systems Development

Then there are career opportunities in operating systems development. As a systems engineer, you will be responsible for writing documentation, drafting operating manuals, and identifying stakeholder client requirements. Then, you will be entrusted with building, code testing, and modifying these solutions to ensure they operate properly. To further inspect OS performance, you may be required to conduct routine tests and continuously monitor output. Working in this sector, you can access growing career demand, ultimate satisfaction, and a comfortable, fast-paced working environment. Simultaneously, these jobs offer you the opportunity to work abroad in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. Indubitably, operating systems development is a great job opportunity to explore in software programming.

DevOps Software Development

Also, there are a plethora of job opportunities in DevOps software development. DevOps involves the strategic combination of development and IT operations departments meant to accelerate build times, bolster communication, and enhance agility. Working in this field, you will be responsible for configuring software solutions, implementing reusable components, and managing technical requirements. Additionally, you will be entrusted with developing user interface (UI) simulators, conducting script maintenance, and planning secure software updates. If you wish to pursue these opportunities, it is important to clearly understand software security, threat investigation, and source code inspection. Simultaneously, it will help to be proficient in change management and automated build technologies. Unquestionably, there are dozens of in-demand, high-paying job opportunities in DevOps programming.

Video Game Development

Further, many professionals have followed high-paying jobs in video game development. Broadly, video game developers manage the full process of programming a custom video game. Working in this field, you are typically responsible for planning game concept, generating storylines, and creating custom visual graphics. Simultaneously, you will be required to write a functional game code, which often involves coding it’s base engine. If you want to pursue these careers, you will need to have strong skills for storytelling, critical thinking, and time management. Simultaneously, you will need to be well-versed in software programming and multimedia development software. Definitely, video game development careers are a high paying opportunity to explore this year.

WordPress Theme Development

Undeniably, WordPress theme development is another high-paying branch of software programming with ample job opportunities. Principally, theme developers are tasked with planning, designing, and publishing top-quality WordPress themes. Essentially, these themes operate as file folders that work together to create a website design. Often, this involves building stylesheets, template files, and potentially even JavaScript code files. Following these career opportunities, you will find job security, career flexibility, and tangible results. Simultaneously, you will get the opportunity to work on a diverse range of projects for a number of website clients. Certainly, consider exploring career opportunities in WordPress theme development.

Software Security Engineering

Similarly, there are plenty of high-paying technical jobs in software security engineering. As a security specialist, you will be commissioned with implementing, testing, and monitoring software protection techniques in compliance with your technical infrastructure. At the same time, you may be entrusted with conducting routine security testing and static code analyses. Other important responsibilities include troubleshooting, investigating, and debugging any potential issues that arise. If you are interested in following these career paths, it is important to have mastered basic cybersecurity principles, technical aptitude, and computer forensic science. Of course, it is important to have a desire to learn, strong problem solving skills, an extensive understanding of hacking and data breaches.  Surely, software security engineering is a great career path to follow in software development.

Embedded Systems Development

With the continuous rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), embedded systems development is an excellent, high-paying career path to explore. Working in this profession, you will be required to plan, design, program, and inspect embedded software systems. In addition, you will be tasked with supporting quality assurance (QA), conducting static code reviews, and delivering post-production support. Unlike traditional software programming, embedded systems engineering additionally requires you to manage hardware design and development. If you are interested in these opportunities, you will need to be talented in operating system programming techniques, IP protocols, as well as hardware interfaces. Of course, exploring these career opportunities allows you to participate in a rapidly growing, in-demand job field. Indeed, there are plenty of high-paying careers in the field of embedded systems development.

There are plenty of high paying job paths for custom software developers. First off, cloud development is a recently emerging, rapidly growing field of software programming. In addition, look for opportunities in full-stack development. Next, research job opportunities in custom software development. Of course, you may want to consider becoming a software integration engineer. Then, many professionals have followed careers in operating systems development. Also, consider exploring jobs in DevOps programming. Further, consider software careers in video game development. Undeniably, there are plenty of incredibly high paying jobs in WordPress theme programming. Similarly, consider high-paying careers in software security engineering. Moreover, you can consider the latest jobs in embedded systems development. This way, you can enter a job market with high salaries and explosive growth. Follow the points highlighted above to learn about the top high-paying software development career paths.

The Role of Operating Systems in Security

For every computer system and software design, it is imperative that it should address all security concerns and implement required safeguards to enforce security policies. At the same time, it is important to keep a balance since rigorous security measures can not only increase costs but also limit the user-friendliness, usefulness and smooth performance of the system. Hence, system designers have to ensure effective performance without compromising on security. A computer’s operating system must concentrate on delivering a functionally complete and flexible set of security mechanism for security policies to be effectively enforced.

An operating system’s protection and security requires all computer resources such as software, CPU, memory and others to be protected. This can be enforced by ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and availability in the operating system. It must be able to protect against all threats including malware and unauthorized access.

Threats to Operating Systems

Let’s have a look at the common threats faced by any operating system.

Anything that has a malicious nature and can be harmful for the system is a threat.

Malware

This category includes viruses, worms, trojan horses and all kinds of malicious software. These are generally small code snippets that can corrupt files, destroy data, replicate to spread further, and even crash a system. Many times, the malware goes unnoticed by the victim user, while the cyber criminals silently extract sensitive information.

Denial of Service Attacks

DDoS attacks run from a single IP address, while DDoS (distributed-denial-of-service) attacks are carried out via numerous devices forming a botnet to increase the chances of the attack’s success. With the growing number, complexity, and severity of DDoS attacks, it’s a good practice to perform DDoS testing to check your operating system’s resilience to them.

Network Intrusion

Network intruders can be classified as masqueraders, misfeasors or a clandestine users. A masquerader is an unauthorized individual who penetrates into a system and exploits an authorized individual’s account. Misfeasor is a legitimate user who accesses and misuses programs, data or resources. Clandestine user takes over supervisory control and tries to evade access controls and audit collection.

Buffer Overflow

Also called buffer overrun, buffer overflow is defined in the NIST Glossary of Key information security terms as “A condition at an interface under which more input can be placed into a buffer or data-holding area than the capacity allocated, overwriting other information. Attackers exploit such a condition to crash a system or to insert specially crafted code that allows them to gain control of the system”

Buffer overflow is one of the most common and dangerous security threats. To exploit a buffer overflow, attackers identify a buffer overflow vulnerability in a program and understand how the buffer will store in process memory to finally alter the execution flow of the program.

Ensuring Operating Systems Security

Operating systems security can be ensured with the following mechanisms.

Authentication

Authentication identifies every user in a system and ensures that their identity is legitimate. The operating system makes sure that each user is authenticated before they are allowed to access a system. Different ways to ensure their authenticity are:

Username and Password

Every user has their distinct username and password that needs to be entered correctly before they are able to access a system

User Attribution Identification

These methods usually involve biometrics verification such as finger prints, eye retina scan, etc. This authentication is based on uniqueness of users and is compared with the database samples that already exist in the system. Users can access only in case of a match.

One-Time Password

A one-time password is generated exclusively for each time a user wants to log in and enter a system. The same password cannot be used again. Methods include:

  • Random Numbers

The system may ask you for numbers corresponding to a set of pre-arranged alphabets. The combination is different every time you require a login

  • Secret Key

This includes a hardware device that generates a secret key for the user id, and changes every time.

Tokens

A user is authenticated with something that they physically possess, such as a smart card or electronic keycard.

Access Control

Access control specifies who can have access to a system resource and what type of access each entity has. A security administrator maintains an authorization database to specify what type of access is allowed to each user. This database is consulted by the access control function for determining whether access should be granted.

Intrusion Detection Systems

Intrusion Detection Systems monitor network traffic or events occurring within a host to identify any suspicious activity. IDS helps identify network, transport and application protocols.

Firewalls

Firewalls are important to monitor all incoming and outgoing traffic. It enforces local security, thus defining the traffic that is authorized to pass through it. Firewalls are effective means to protect local systems or network of systems from all network-based security threats.

Buffer Overflow Defense

Countermeasures to avoid buffer overflow include compile-time defense, that aims to harden a program for resisting an attack to enhance software security; or runtime defense, that detects and aborts attacks in an executing program.

Key Takeaway

Operating systems security plays a primitive role in protecting memory, files, user authentication and data access protection. Consistent protection means that the system meets standard security requirements and have the required functionality to enforce security practices.

Top Tips For The Budding Traveller

Traveling is a pretty rewarding experience. You get to see the world on your own terms, enjoying new cultures and events as you go along. With that being said, there are some aspects of traveling that can be a little stressful.

There are a lot of things to think about, from considering trailer options to figuring out what you need to pack for each trip. With that in mind, here are just a few of our top tips for the aspiring traveler so you can get the most enjoyment out of the experience.

Pick places and things to do that fit how fit and healthy you are. If it is hard for you to move, think about places that have easy access for staying and seeing things. Do not do hard things that could be too much for your body. Check out Fun over 50 Holidays if you are interested in holiday tours for over 50s.

Minimize the Amount That Your Pack

The first thing that we would advise to any new traveler is don’t pack a massive amount of stuff. When you’re first getting into traveling, it’s easy to think that you need to bring every little thing with you. Maybe you think you need a year’s worth of clothes, five different toothbrushes and four first aid kits.

While this can be seen as very responsible because you are preparing for every eventuality, you really don’t need to go this far. First of all, not every disaster is going to occur on your travels. Secondly, you’re going to be the one lugging your travel bag around with you all the time. It can get incredibly heavy if you’re carrying a lot of stuff with you.
So what should you pack? You only really need the essential items like neck gaiters which protect you from warm weather and other insects if you are on a jungle adventure,  consider checking 4inbandana and get yours custom neck gaiter today of your own choice and printing , ultimately. There’s no need to prepare for every possible natural disaster known to man – you aren’t always going counter some of the common horror stories that you hear people talk about when traveling.

Free Yourself Up For New Experiences

Sure, planning can be very beneficial. It can help you to know where to go next or what to do. But don’t travel entirely according to your itinerary. Sometimes it’s great just to have some flexibility – you may see some things that you otherwise wouldn’t have seen. Let yourself interact with locals, be friendly and have an understanding of how to be respectful in the country that you’re visiting.

If you don’t know where to start, choose a destination that’s well-known for its exciting attractions that won’t break your budget. For a beautiful stay in a small beach town, check out the best hotels in Galveston.

Get a Map

Look, we know that we live in an age of smartphones. A phone GPS can be an absolute lifesaver when you’re traveling. With that being said, you never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes you may have very little signal, or your phone could suddenly die. For this reason, it’s better to get a map so that you can find your way to where you’re going without getting lost in a foreign area. You can also ask for some directions when you’re confused – there’s no shame in that! A map is an old tool, but sometimes it’s better to go back to the basics for the best results! 

A quick side note though, sometimes getting lost is a good thing. This is because it allows you to see all new sights that you may not have seen otherwise. 

Have Some Extra Copies of Important Documents

When you’re traveling, your documents are absolutely essential. Make sure that you have some copies in the event that you don’t have the originals on you and you get asked to identify yourself. This is also important if you end up getting your passport lost or stolen. Send a copy of it to your email address and make another paper copy just in case.

Take a Little Time

When you’re going traveling you should spend a little bit of time just to take in your surroundings. Try not to rush – this is for you, so you should allow yourself to enjoy it! Don’t just focus on doing things, allow yourself to truly experience the culture and the atmosphere of where you are. You don’t need to force yourself to visit every museum in Italy! Just allow yourself to take in your surroundings and you will have a good time.

Conclusion

Traveling can be a whirlwind experience, but with a little bit of knowledge and an understanding of what to expect, you can have a fantastic time. Ultimately, the goal of traveling is to have new experiences that will stay with you for the rest of your life, so make sure that you allow yourself a little flexibility while also having some idea of what you plan to do. Maybe do a little bit of preparation in advance such as learning a new language. Let yourself interact with locals to understand more about the culture. Finally, allow yourself just to enjoy the journey! 

Is Kodi Legal? Is it Possible to Use Kodi Safely and Legally?

The legality behind Kodi is based on the type of Kodi addons you opt to implement. Kodi is a legal open-source media player, which is compatible with different devices and hardware. It’s used to stream online content through various devices such as Firestick. Some companies use Kodi as a preinstalled app to help the user enjoy more content.

However, Kodi’s legal terms are compromised by introducing third-party apps such as addons and builds.  Some addons have malware or tamper with the privacy settings on the streamed content. This exposes your Kodi software to the government, ISP, and hackers.  It also causes slow connections or closure of some accounts.  However, the internet has some of the best Kodi addons, which users can install on their Kodi for a better experience.

Whether Kodi is legal or not is an answer determined by many factors. Here we learn several details about Kodi, which will help users decided if Kodi is legal and safe or not. Kodi is available for various devices such as Xbox, IOS, macOS, Android, Raspberry Pi, Windows, Amazon Firestick, and more.  To utilize the Kodi streaming services. The user needs to implement a good Kodi VPN to hide your identity and location.

Is Kodi Legal?

Kodi is a legal open-source; many devices use it. However, the types of addons installed compromise its safety.  Kodi has inbuilt add-ons which don’t work, pushing users to install third-party addons. Some which go against copyrighted content, thus risking your device and data.  However, Kodi is working with big streaming channels such as Hulu, HBO, Netflix, and others.  This reduces piracy through Kodi apps making users enjoy the online streaming contents.

Kodi addons (third-party addons)

These are unique software or apps which provide Kodi with media content. Using the Kodi addons, users can enjoy live sports, music, movies, and TV shows.  Kodi addons offer users free online content from different websites. The user can get the content from the Torrent site or various streaming sites from the internet.

The third-party addons try to provide premium content for free. It is risky but worth the fun; this makes Kodi legal and illegal. However, the user should use a VPN all the time to keep your data safe. It’s illegal if the users use unofficial Kodi addons. The addons assist the user in accessing high-quality online content for free.

There is an order from the European Union’s court banning some of the Kodi boxes, which are purchases with third-party Kodi addons. However, the process is safe if the users install the addons compare to when it’s preinstalled.  Again ensure to include a Kodi VPN to stream at no cost and free from surveillance.

Legal and Illegal Kodi addons

Kodi software has implemented ways to help the user distinguish between legal and illegal content. To access the legal Kodi addons, the user should check from the Kodi repository. Here there are different types of addons from various online providers.

Official Kodi addons

The internet has both official and unofficial addons where some work while others don’t.  It’s the user’s choice to select the best for their device.

  • PBS kids
  • Com
  • Nasa
  • Fox Sports Go
  • NBC live extra
  • iPlayer WWW
  • Plex

Unofficial Kodi addons

There are popular unofficial Kodi addons that provide free TV shows and movies.  The addons require a VPN to hide identity and location.

  • Genesis Reborn Kodi
  • cCloud TV Kodi
  • Fantastic Kodi
  • Mobdro Kodi
  • Oculus Kodi
  • Placenta Kodi
  • Gurzil Kodi
  • Poseidon Kodi
  • Exodus Kodi
  • Covenant Kodi.

These are just a few; the internet holds a variety of working third-party addons.

The legality of Kodi addons and Kodi

The installation on Kodi addons pretty much determines the legality issues.  The user should understand that Kodi cannot work without addons. It’s just an open sour media player who only functions with the help of addons.  The platform allows the user to add apps or addons to help stream online.  To achieve free streaming, the user should invest in a VPN for easier access.

To get the legal or official addons Kodi offers and installation package from the official repository.  The repository contains the default apps and installed Kodi addons.  Kodi also allows for unofficial Kodi addons. Ones that enable the user to watch copyrighted content.  This might stir up legal trouble if the users don’t work on introducing a VPN.

Conclusion

The user’s choice of the installation determines the matter of legal or not legal. Kodi is legal and safe software. However, it also acts as an illegal app if installed with wrong or unofficial addons.  The addons assist in streaming live content for free and sometimes tampers with copyrighted content. The user can use the addons without interfering with restricted content. One can also use a VPN to cover their tracks and enjoy the live stream. However, addons change with time; some get in the hands of authority during crackdowns, and they are shut while new evolve.

How to Be a Paperless Business

There are a lot of benefits to having a paperless office or business. These can include:

  • When you go paperless, it saves time. Your employees aren’t spending their time searching for and organizing paper documents, and instead, they can focus on more strategic tasks. Everyone can access a central repository for documents quickly and easily, and then, with the extra time they have, do tasks that generate revenue.
  • Paperless offices need less space. You may even find that you could potentially downsize to a cheaper space if you go paperless. Take a look around your office and see how much space you currently have dedicated to paper, including file cabinets, shelves, and drawers.
  • You’ll save money. You’ll pay for fewer resources if you have a paperless office.
  • You’re going to be more efficient overall without dealing with paper documents.
  • You can be more eco-friendly and reduce your environmental impact when you don’t use paper. You’re not just keeping paper from ending up in the landfill. You’re also reducing your use of things like ink and toners that have volatile compounds and materials that damage the environment.
  • You can be a more secure office. You don’t have to worry about documents being lost, destroyed, or even taken.

With those benefits in mind, how can you transform into a paperless business?

Automate Your Workflows

There are software tools you can use, such as AP automation platforms, that will allow you to automate your workflows and reduce the need for paper documents. AP software in particular is a good example because your invoice process can become touchless.

This helps you not only work toward your goal of being a paperless office, but it also helps improve your employee productivity and reduce human errors.

Your employees, when you automate workflows, are able to focus on high-level tasks rather than repetitive administrative work.

Another place where you can go electric and use automation is payroll processing.

Before you start choosing platforms that will allow you to automate your workflows, it’s a good idea to do a thorough audit and see where you need to start.

Take on your piles of paperwork, organize them, and identify your priorities as you move toward being paperless.

Use Google Apps

While the more complex workflow management may require software and automation, there are also simpler technology tools that you can use as part of your goal of going paperless.

Google Apps are an excellent option.

You can collaborate via Google Docs, for example.

That not only makes it easier to work together, but you’re cutting down your need for paper documents.

You can share files through Google Drive and use Google Mail for communication internally and externally.

If you don’t want to use Google’s applications for any reason, there are other options. For example, Basecamp lets you collaborate and share documents, although two people can’t edit a document at the same time as they can with Google.

If you need to store and move very large files, you can use Dropbox or something like YouSendIt.

Paperless Bill and Statements

Your business should move to paperless bills and statements. It actually also makes it easier to track your payments too.

Your business bank might offer you a discount if you switch to paperless statements.

For your customers, rather than printing their receipts, email them.

Digitize Handouts

If you have to hand things out to your employees during meetings or training, you can digitize that as well.

One tool that can help is called TeamViewer, and your employees can have remote access to office computers any time through their smartphone or home computer. You can also share files, videos, and whiteboards.

When you digitize your meeting handouts and content, then your employees can have access to it after the meeting ends, which is helpful.

Go Digital with Your Marketing

If you’re still using paper-based marketing materials, such as mailers or printed flyers, now could be the time to stop. Not only is this kind of advertising relatively ineffective at this point, but it’s more expensive than digital marketing.

Work toward a more comprehensive digital marketing strategy using inexpensive and paperless solutions like social media and blogging on your business website.

You can also cut down on how much junk mail gets sent to your business. You can use the website DirectMail that lets you sign up for a National Do Not Mail List. Include your business address on the form that you’re asked to fill out.

Faxing and Scanning

Despite the fact that we have so many digital solutions available, a lot of businesses still use faxing and scanning.

You can use your camera as a scanner, and then that allows you to quickly capture documents, turn them into images and then convert those into PDFs so you can email instead of faxing.

Involve Your Employees

Going paperless is a big undertaking. You need your customers to be on board, and you need them to be accountable for their own contributions to being a paperless office.

It can be a lot for employees to take on because they’re going to have to learn to use new software and systems.

You can provide training and development on any new technology you use, and you should also encourage your employees to provide feedback as you make the transition.

You don’t need to do the full transition overnight. Do it gradually. Set goals for your business—like a 10% reduction in the first month and then go from there.

Make sure your employees know the benefits of going paperless and the positive impacts it will have on their day-to-day work. For example, in a paperless office with automation, there’s less busy work and less room for error.

Once you do transition to being a paperless office, you’re likely to see that your entire organization becomes more productive and efficient. You’re going to be spending time on creating strategies to meet larger business objectives instead of on busywork.

A Quick Guide On Purchasing Real Estate For First Timers

Introduction

Acquiring property can be a stressful process. Chances are, you’re not clued up on how to verify the quality of your house, and then there’s all the paperwork and red tape that come with buying.

With this short guide, we’re aiming to let you know that first-timers purchasing real estate have some benefits that others don’t, and we’ve also gone through some of the main points you need to consider when going through the buying process.

It helps to have your financials in order when going through the process, but everybody needs a little help sometimes. Finding an IRA custodian to help manage your finances can be a great way to manage finances and take the stress off, so consider finding the best self-directed IRA custodian for real estate that you can work with.

First-Time Homebuyers

If you’re a first-timer, you may not know that you actually have a lot of advantages that a lot of people don’t. So, how do you know if you’re a first-time homebuyer? You need to satisfy any one of these points:

  • You have not owned a principal residence for three years.
  • Your spouse owns a home but now you’re buying somewhere together.
  • You’re a single parent whose only owned home was with a spouse. Similarly, if you’re displaced but your spouse owned a property, you should be eligible.
  • Your only owned residence wasn’t connected to a permanent foundation.
  • Your residence violates building codes and cannot be made compliant for less than it would cost to build a new place altogether.

If you fit any one of these, you may be eligible for classification as a first-time homebuyer when going through the purchasing process. I

A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying

Now that you know where you stand as a real estate buyer, check out this step-by-step guide to buying real estate for the first time. If you are not a first time buyer, this concept can and should also be applied when growing a real estate portfolio so that once you launch and cultivate it, it starts working for you. 

Question Time

Before doing anything, you need to ask yourself a set of questions to make sure you have everything in order. You’ve probably asked some of these already if you’re already researching the process but it’s handy to have a checklist to make sure that you’ve considered everything.

  • How are your finances? – Audit your finances to make sure you can front both the initial cost of buying and the recurring payments that will need to be made for upkeep, groceries, etc. Be honest with yourself and spare no prisoners. Take stock of your savings, trim your spending, get good credit.
  • How much mortgage can you get? – Back to finances, check with mortgages you qualify for with your lender. They get a say in what home you can afford too, so you need to clear it with them before getting any ideas. They’ll look at any debt, your income, and your job position and calculate that into your mortgage. Get preapproved before placing any offers on your new property.

Find A Home

Now you need to find the property you wish to acquire. Thanks to the Internet, this is easier than ever with so many listings online that you can access and sort through properties by price and how close they are to your current area or place of employment. If it’s close by, you can go and scout the neighborhood yourself. Also let people know you’re looking to buy so that family, friends, and colleagues can refer to you if they come across any buying opportunities. Research homes for sale in your desired areas, you can learn more by visiting this page.

Make An Offer

Assuming you’ve done your financial due diligence as outlined above, and you like the place, then it’s time to make an offer. Your real estate agent will help with this and relay your offer, where it’ll either get accepted or countered. You can play the negotiation game forever, theoretically, but if you’ve done the math already then you should have an idea of the highest offer you can afford.

Inspect, Then Close or Move On

Finally, you can start to think about closing the deal on your new property. Not so fast though, if you’re savvy then you want to have the place inspected by somebody that’s qualified to tell you how well-constructed the premises is from both the exterior and the interior. If the inspection reveals defects that you weren’t told about, ask for them to be solved and withdraw your offer until any problems are solved or re-negotiate a new offer with those defects taken into account. If you’re happy with the outcome, close the deal.

How to Optimize Your PC for Both Security and Productivity

Have you been in the situation when after hours of fruitful work all your data is being disappeared? It is shocking for every user. It is not a problem for only novice users. Experienced PC users may easily face the same issue. But what differs the former from the latter is that advanced users know effective tools for productivity of your computer. They don’t panic and follow working tips to resolve the issue.

Ensuring data security is crucial for every person working on the computer. Either you want to recover Word document or ensure data backup for your folders, we will help you. By reading the article, you can easily recover deleted folders on windows 10 and perform a high level of data protection.

How to Recover Lost Data on Your PC

If you use Windows, the following guide is for you. It will show you step by step how to recover deleted files and optimize the work of the operative system. Let’s get more information about the data recovery tool and backup your folders to the computer.

  1. The first step is the most essential. You won’t be able to move further without managing the first action. You need to download software for a successful data recovery process.
  2. When the program is downloaded you need to install it and launch it.
  3. When you open the Disk Drill you will see a big window featuring a list of disks. Your task is to select the one with the appropriate folder, i.e. the folder you want to recover.
  4. Now you need to search for the missing data. On the screen, you will see a blue Search for lost data button. Click on it to make the system work and process the information. With the help of working algorithms, the software will scan the data and show you possible options.
  5. When it is done, you will see all the recoverable files. Your task is to choose those to be restored. Here is one important remark to consider. You can’t use the same place to store the retrieved file. If you do so, there is a risk for the file to be overwritten. You don’t need it. So, choose another folder other than the original storage place to back up the data.
  6. When the files have been selected, you can press the Recover button and wait until the work is done.

The process of data recovery doesn’t take too much effort from the doer. You may spend more time depending on the number of files you want to recover. The system may simply process the information longer but the actual procedure is like a piece of cake. The time of the process is also dependent on the methods the software chooses. If you don’t want to get deep into the process, you may rely on the system. It will choose the most appropriate method for your case. For more advanced users, there’s an Arrow button to choose from a variety of methods. You can select the one that you consider to be correct.

It is also important to tell a few words about the software. You may need to restore various types of files. It can be a photo, message, Word document, or any other file. By using Disk Drill software, it is possible to restore almost everything. And the process will take minutes. So, don’t get upset when the information has been accidentally lost. Now you know working methods to get it back to your PC.