4 Best Tips to Save Time for Businesses on Tumblr

Most small businesses know the benefits that come with having a blog. Today, what they’re looking for is the easiest option that won’t require too much time and effort. The millions of users on Tumblr make the platform pretty appealing for small business. It’s also user-friendly and straightforward when it comes to navigating.

But you have a business to run, so you don’t have time to hang out on Tumblr all day. So, here are plenty of time-saving tips that will make it seem like you’re Tumbling 24/7.

1. Plan Ahead

The queue is your best friend. This feature lets you schedule posts over a period of hours or days. It’s a simple way to stay active while not actually spending all of your time on Tumblr. It’s also a great way to maintain consistency. Rather than coming back to Tumblr multiple times in a day, you can set aside a small amount of time to prepare content for the next day, or even week.

2. Reblog Relevant Content

One of the best ways to get the most out of Tumblr is to engage with other blogs that are valuable to you. Reblogging makes your Tumblr page a destination for great content with little work on your end. What sort of users would provide relevant content to curate? Tumblr has a number of great discovery features — like Spotlight and the tagging system — that will point you to the best pages to follow.

3. Use the Bookmarklet

Tumblr’s bookmarklet is a great resource for quick posts. Rather than opening a new window every time you find something interesting while browsing the web, there’s a button that will upload content to your blog in seconds.

4. Sync Up

It’s generally not wise to rely solely on Tumblr (or any one social platform for that matter) for your small business. Consider Tumblr a place to show character and gain brand awareness, rather than utilizing it as your company website.

Since your small business likely already has other social platforms, you can fix your blog settings to automatically post to Twitter and Facebook each time you post something on Tumblr. That way, you don’t waste time personally posting to each platform.

Amazon Whispercast Helps Teachers Manage Students’ E-Books

It’ll be easier to get students and teachers on the same page with Wednesday’s launch of Whispercast for Kindle. The online tool allows administrators and teachers to distribute e-books and school communications to many students through Kindle devices.

If your child has a personal Kindle or school-provided one, administrators can use Amazon’s free Whispercast tool to wirelessly send books and other learning materials to his or her e-reader.

Not every child has access to an e-reader, but the devices are certainly less costly than tablets. The most affordable Kindle is $69.

There are millions of e-books available through the Kindle; with Whispercast, those books can be accessed immediately by students as soon as teachers or administrators purchase and send them.

School administrators can centrally manage thousands of Kindle devices. Teachers using Whispercast can also distribute their own documents, such as school announcements and syllabi. That means no more flyers or school notices being left at school or buried in backpacks.

Whispercast works on Kindle Fires and Kindle e-reader tablets. The materials can be accessed across Kindle devices and free Kindle reading applications for iPad, iPhone, Android phones and tablets, as well as PCs and Macs.

Administrators need to register and invite students, who can then access content. Admin also have the option of creating groups, for class grades or clubs, so members can receive the same material.

Work From Home: 3 Tips to Avoid Email Scams

Nowadays, jobs allowing you to work from home abound.  However, as they become increasingly popular, so do inventive ways to deceive job seekers. Be cautious of offers to make you rich quick and promises of tons of money in exchange of little work.

Keep in mind that a legitimate job looks for particular skills and requirements and never over-promises. A lot of “!!!!!" or "$$$$” must keep you alert that it’s most likely not a trustworthy job opportunity. Here are some useful tips to stay away from such sneaky schemes. 

1. Scrutinize the URL.

Be cautious of misleading URLs. For instance, you might think you're on the website of CNBC when in fact, you're just on a bogus page that looks so similar. Also, you need to have keen eyes because there are web addresses that look so real, like the one site caught just recently “http://cnbc.com-index.in/.” It may appear like a “.com” at first to make you think that you're on the site of CNBC but if you look carefully, it’s actually a “.in,” which doesn't have anything to do with CNBC.

2. Never pay money. 

Be watchful of companies that claim to hire you but will charge for certain things. Remember that your purpose to get a job is to earn and not to spend money. Double check the reputation of the company you're applying to because these scammers are very clever.  For instance, they may tell you that you're hire but you just have to pay for the laptop that the company will give you. 

3. Ask Google. 

A red flag for beginners is the contact details of the person you're communicating with. Make sure that the email address and the company's URL are legit. It's not safe to provide your personal details to joe@gmail.com.  In general, your new employer should have an email address that is associated with the firm that's hiring you. But still, never be satisfied with it. Ensure that you talk to someone from the company on the telephone before you accept the job. There are scammers that conduct interviews using IM. Just the same with false email address, it’s so easy to make a phony IM account. You can check for these scams on Google anytime to be sure of what you're getting into.

Beware of Hackers: Top 10 Tips to Make a Strong Password

Recently, LinkedIn announced that 6.5 million of their accounts were accessed by Russian hackers. After that, Last.fm, a well-known online radio site, warned all its users that their accounts might be in jeopardy, too. All in all, approximately 30 million Internet users have been screwed!

The best way to avoid cyber criminals from hacking your account is to create a strong password. That means, you should not settle with using your birthday or your boyfriend’s name as your code. Read these tips so you can come up with a strong and secure password: 

1. Never tell your password to anyone.

2. Never use a short password (use at least 8 characters).

3. Never use similar passwords for different social network sites.

4. Never use names of people (or pets) close to you like your family members.

5. Never use common words like “password,” “123,” your birthday or the name you use to log 

in to the site.

6. Choose complex word-combinations that are unrelated to each other.

7. Make sure to put numbers and other special characters if possible.

8. Change passwords as often as possible or whenever you think your account has been accessed by intruders.

9. Choose a password that you don’t need to write down just to remember it.

10. You can make use of sites like Password Meter to test how strong your password is.

If you want to stay away from hackers and make your online transactions secure, it’s high time to change your “iloveyou” or “123456” password now!

How to Make Your Digital Life Uncomplicated

Today, numerous digital gadgets are being widely used such as iPhones, iPads, laptops, cell phones, desktop computers, etc. Many people become too much engaged with all the amazing benefits and digital information that these technologies have to offer. 

However, no one wouldn't want their digital life to win over their real life. In order to prevent this from happening, you need to take it easy. Don't spend most of your time online or playing computer games. If your work involves the use of computers like web designers and graphic artists, you still should step away from your PC once your work is finished or take a few breaks every now and then. Here are some more tips to make your digital life simple and not complicated.

1. Only use 2 email accounts.

  

Don't use several email accounts. At the most, you just need two, one for personal use and one for work. If you have many emails to check, it will consume much of your time since you need to check them out on a daily basis. 

2. Use shortcuts.

Using shortcuts will help you save considerable energy and time. It will be much easier for you to work if you use shortcuts. You just need to learn about the different shortcuts keys and use them to your advantage.

3. Avoid information overload. 

  

You need to filter all the digital information you get everyday. Get rid of any useless or irrelevant pieces of information in your email. You can also filter the notifications you get from different social networks as well as your spam messages. Be certain that important messages appears first in your inbox in a particular folder so you won't miss them.

4. Uninstall software that you don't use.

  

There may be software installed software in your PC that you're not anymore using. Uninstall them so that you can save CPU and memory usage. It will be easier for you to work better if you'll only keep the software you're using because it won't consume too much memory. 

5. Free yourself from the digital world every now and then.

  

Just because your job requires you to be online most of the time doesn't mean that you  will deprive yourself of the real experiences you get from the real world. Take a walk in the park or eat out with your friends and family. This will certainly help you to relax and be recharged for next day's work.

Digital Photography: 3 Smart Techniques to Make the Best Images

If you have a digital camera, then you might think you don't need to be concerned about the quality of your photos because your gadget will do everything for you. All you have to do is to push the right button and amazing photos will instantly appear. You may even think that the more expensive the camera you have, the better your photos will be. Unfortunately, you're wrong.

In fact, it's not impossible to take trashy shots with your costliest DSLR and produce stunning photos even just by using a simple point-and-shoot camera. Keep in mind that beautiful images are not created by the camera but the photographer. With your passion in photography and patience to make adjustments coupled with the important tips below, you can take great shots out of the cheapest digicam.

1. Makes your tones warm. 

Digicams's default for the white balance setting is auto.  While this is okay for many snapshots,  it tends to look a little "cool." If you're taking outdoor photos and landscapes, then you can change your setting for the white balance to 'cloudy'. Doing this put a mild warming filter on your digital camera. It heightens the yellows and reds which result in warmer and richer images. 

2. Use a polarizing filter. 

You need to have a polarizing filter to add impact to your photos. It is a must for a photographer to have a polarizer especially if he is taking images of landscapes and outdoor photos, in general. By lessening glare and unsirable reflections, polarized photos are more saturated resulting to richer colors, particularly in the sky.

If your digicam cannot accommodate filters, you can use your sunglasses as a polarizing filter. Put your glasses close to the lens as near as possible. Make sure the rims are not included in the shot. To achieve a great effect, make sure the sun is just over your left or right shoulder. Remember that your light source must be at a 90-degree angle from your subject so the effect of your polarizer will be the strongest. 

3. Outdoor Portraits That Shine

A digital camera has one hidden feature that is very much beneficial for anyone who wants to take great images -- the flash on mode or the fill flash. Controlling the flash is an essential step in taking high qaulity outdoor pictures.

With a flash on mode, your digital camera exposes first for your background, then adds enough flash to brighten the subject. It will result to a photo that looks so professional because all the elements look good. This technique is often used by wedding photographers. 

The majority of digital cameras, inclusing the point-and-shoot versions, offer remarkable  functionality. You just need to apply some creativity and ingenuity, you can take photos like a pro without the need to break the bank!