What iOS Apps Should All Small Business Owners Have?

It seems nearly impossible to run a small business without technology nowadays, and smartphones and tablets have gained a firm foothold in this market. When speaking with small business owners, they almost always ask which apps I consider “must haves.” Here are the top three iOS (meaning for Apple products) apps I recommend for people either running or looking to start a small business:

iWork/Quickoffice Pro- Every small business owner needs to look at and sometimes edit documents. Be it text documents, spreadsheets or presentations, being able to view and change them on the go is very helpful. If you own a Mac and use iWork, using the iWork apps will make for a seamless document transition between your iPhone/iPad and your Mac. If you use Microsoft Office either on the Mac or Windows machine, Quickoffice Pro will offer a similar experience for your Office documents.

TurboScan- Are you currently using your device’s camera to take pictures of documents? With TurboScan, you can turn those photos into multipage PDFs that you can then either save or email. That means you could take pictures of your receipts while you’re away on a business trip,  turn them into a single PDF and email them to your secretary or simply keep them on your device for your records.

Square Card Reader- If you do any sales, either products or services, the Square Card Reader is highly recommended because it allows you scan credit cards and have the funds transferred right into your account. Now, as a quick side note here, Square makes their money on the 2.75% fee on every charge you make on their app, but they do also give you a free credit card scanner when you download their free app. Yes, a free scanner for downloading their free app.

Practical Tip of the Day:

Looking to connect with other professionals you know in a forum more formal than Facebook or Twitter? LinkedIn is a website that allows professionals to connect, keep in contact with each other and even offer referrals to each other. LinkedIn, in addition to their website also have a free app. 

If you'd like more information about these apps and how to utilize them in your business, feel free to contact me at www.TechKNOWLEDGEyToday.com and I'd be more than happy to help walk you through the decision. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates and periodic tips and tricks to help you with the technology you use daily.

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TechKNOWLEDGEy Today was founded on the idea that through better understanding of technology you can empower people to better their lives more than they ever thought possible. It is with this in mind that we strive to better our communities through the services we offer.

We provide personalized group or individual training on technology in your home or office. Specializing in Apple products like the iPhone, iPad and Mac, we offer purchasing and implementation consultations, software training and instruction on computing basics like the Internet, email and smartphones.

What Is Google Docs?

It seems that more and more things are being done online. We keep our files online, we talk to people online, we place games online, and now you can make your business files online as well. If you're used to Microsoft's Office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) or to Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) you won't be too confused when first you meet the Google Docs suite.

Google Docs does the basics of what you're used to doing in your normal office programs, but cuts out most of the bells and whistles. You can create a word processing document, a presentation, a spreadsheet, a form, or a drawing. You needn't remember to save as it auto-saves up to Google's cloud regularly, and you also have the option of downloading it to your computer so you can work on the document offline assuming you have a similar program on your computer. (You can also upload a file from your computer to Google Docs if you wish to work on it from any computer with internet access.)

You can also share your documents with others with a click of a button, allowing others to either download your document, view it online, or work on it online with you. These are handy options for people who need to collaborate with others who may use different types of computers or programs. It also has a very nice price point- free. That's right, you pay nothing for Google Docs; It's included in your free Google account. Now, keep in mind what I said in the beginning that it is missing some whistles and bells, but if you only do basic document creation and editing, I recommend checking out Google Docs.

Practical Tip of the Day:
In Google Docs, you have many options on which way you'd like to download your document. If you'd like to be able to edit it on your computer without having an internet connection, downloading it in the common Microsoft Office format is recommended (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), but if you do not need to be able to edit it and would like to make it the easiest to view on a wide range of computers and mobile devices, PDF format is best. PDFs (portable document format) are not easily editable, but are able to be viewed using software that is usually included on modern computers, and easily downloaded in case it isn't there. Picking the format of your file is important as it dictates what you can do with your files, and how you can do it. Choose carefully!

What Are Those Wavy Lines In Word?

The area I live in used to have a big typewriter factory. Then they started making word processors. It's been explained to me that the biggest difference between a typewriter and word processor is that a work processor would check your spelling and let you make corrections before the ink actually touched the paper. Nowadays, word processors are programs on computers that let you type things up. From there you can print it, email it, save it, and many other things.

The most common word processing program is Microsoft Office's Word. If you use a Mac there's iWork's Pages, and if you like free things there's a slew of free programs you can get from the Internet (Note: Be careful when downloading programs off the Internet. Not everything is what it claims to be!) In most word processing programs you can do things like make your text bold or underlined, center justified, and even add pictures, but the most basic thing is still the ability to have your spelling checked for you. If you've ever used one of these programs you may have noticed red lines appear under your misspelled words.

If you see a word with a red wavy line under it, right-click on it (that means pressing the button on the mouse that's on the right instead of the left like we usually do) and the program will suggest words it thinks you meant. Keep in mind that this will only catch misspelled words, not misused words. It won't catch "their, there, and they're" problems or "to, two, and too", but it's a very handy tool.

You may also see another kind of line; a green one. If you see a green wavy line under a section of your text that means that the program thinks there's a grammatical error. This will often find things like a word typed twice on accident, sentence fragments and other obvious errors, but again, there are things that it won't be able to detect. Just like with the red wavy line, if you right-click on the text that has the green line under it, the program will tell you what error it detects so you can make the correction.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you're writing something that you're going to share with other people, always proofread it. I know this isn't a technical tip, but you can't replace an actual person reading something. Re-reading your document will find things spelling and grammar check can't catch like run on sentences and nonsensical grammar.