RunIt

My first programming job was for a company who's main focus was on their POS software, which is used by many companies in the fast food industry.
There is a company called RunIt who produces similar software only for the retail industry. They have been in business since 1995. They are based in New York, NY. In 1995, they released touch screen Windows based retail software. They were the first in the industry to see the potential of using Windows. The system provides data in real time and is web based, which is a cool feature. Being web based lets retailers access their data from anywhere. Retailers can process orders at tradeshows or at any mobile location with a web browser and internet connection. Business stats can also be viewed from anywhere. POS terminals are not required and on site implementation is not required. It will only take days to get up and running using RunIt, rather than weeks. Software updates and backups are no longer required, so no more having to deal with IT issues. All you have to do is use the software.
Data is managed through RunIt's state of the art secure data center. You can import your existing data and get copies of the backed up data.
The service is available for a low monthly subscription, which allows you to "pay as you grow". Unlimited support is included in the monthly subscription
RunIt is great for small companies or large companies, so if you are looking for a real time point of sale system, RunIt may be the answer.

Buying a new laptop

I'm in the market for a new laptop. My current laptop is running Windows Vista. Guess that says it all. Vista is not the greatest operating system. It's slow and different applications are always crashing. I really want to give Windows 7 a try.
My little 2 year old started popping keys off my laptop one day. I popped them all back on except for the shift key, so I have no shift key at the moment and the little green push thing underneath the shift key fell off. At least I can still use the shift key though. Then I got a crumb stuck underneath the J key. I popped the J key off and the tab which holds the key in place broke off, so I have no J key too. My poor laptop is in rough shape.
For my next laptop, I have a bunch of options. I can go with a brand name like Dell, HP, or Gateway. I can head over to Walmart or Best Buy and get whatever they sell. I can also get a custom made laptop from an independent retailer.
Not sure yet which way I am going to go, but I was recently made aware of Howard custom computers. It is a US based, family owned company in Mississippi. In 1968 Billy Howard Sr. quit his job at General Electric to start his own company with his wife Linda, called Howard Industries. They sell custom computers along with other computer products from Panasonic, Fujitsu and Motion.
It looks like they have a good variety of products available. Besides computers they have storage devices such as hard drives, cd and dvd drives, flash memory etc., network devices such as modems, routers, network cards etc. and software such as operating systems, graphic design and games.
Customer service seems to be important too. Customer service is all based in the US to assist with technical training, support and networking.
Howard custom computers might be a good choice if I decide to go with a custom laptop.

Use the Internet to Comparison Shop!

The Author of this post is Solomon Dejesus

I wanted to buy my husband Rich a new digital camera for Christmas last year, but I'm not the most tech-savvy person around, and I wasn't sure I could find exactly what he wanted in the stores. So I did some comparison shopping using hughes satellite internet service and was really pleased at how smoothly the process went. I finally decided on a FujiFilm FinePix camera -- it had a much longer battery life than our old camera, which was super-important, and it could store literally a thousand photos, which I knew would come in handy at our family reunion this year. :D

The best part was I found a deal on Amazon where I got not only free shipping on the camera, but they also threw in a free carrying case as well. So not only did I get Rich a camera he loved, but I didn't have to spend tons of money to do it -- I think the whole gift was under a hundred dollars.

I'm so glad we upgraded to hughes wireless Internet last fall -- I don't think there was any way I could have done that sort of research using our old super-slow dial-up, and I probably would have just gotten frustrated and given up on the whole thing.

ImTOO DVD Ripper

Seems like everyone these days has some sort of portable electronics device like an ipod, smart phone or multimedia phone. I just have a Samsung Alias 2 multimedia phone, but when my contract with Verizon Wireless renews I'm most likely going to suck it up and go for a smart phone. I didn't really want to pay an extra $30 a month just yet. The Alias 2 gave me a taste of what I can do internet wise like check email, facebook and twitter. All I have is dial-up for my home internet connection, so a smart phone would be a great backup internet connection.
One cool option I did sign up for is Video on Demand. Now I can catch up on the CBS and NBC soap operas. If only ABC had their soap operas available on Video on Demand. With the smart phone I could probably just watch them on the networks websites.
There is also a tool called DVD Ripper by a company called ImTOO. It takes a dvd and converts it to different audio or video formats, including formats supported by the iPod, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, Apple TV, PSP, PS3, BlackBerry, iRiver PMP, Windows Mobile phone, Xbox, mobile phone, NDS, and Wii. If you have one of the supported cell phones, you can just rip dvd to the format you need, transfer the output to your phone and watch it wherever you go. That is another plus for upgrading to a smart phone. Technology these days is so amazing!
DVD Ripper will also rip dvd to hd, which is nice.
Another feature is it lets you edit the video and add effects.
There are 3 versions of DVD Ripper available: standard, platinum and ultimate. Prices range from $35.95 for the standard version to $45.95 for the platinum version and $55.95 for the ultimate version. A free trial is also available. A mac version called DVD Ripper Mac is also available.
ImTOO also produces a Video Converter for mac, which converts media files to other formats.
If you have a smart phone, or even an Xbox, Nintendo or Wii, DVD Ripper sounds like it would be a nice little tool to have to convert your dvds to a new format.