VinaGecko - Part 24

How to Make International Travel Easier and More Productive

Many people who have to travel for business often dread the time they spend sitting in the airport, on the plane, and in taxis just waiting to get from point A to point B. Travel can be stressful, uncomfortable, and time consuming. Because of this, it’s imperative that professionals who travel on a regular basis make the most of their time in transit. Follow the tips below to make your international travel easier and more productive.

Plan Ahead to Minimize Setbacks

When packing for your trip, keep the cramped overhead bins in mind and remember that whatever you pack, you’ll have to lug around the airport. Pack light and keep it minimal. Make sure all your devices are fully charged and that your outfit is practical. You don’t want to show up in pajamas, but a full suit or high heels might make traveling even more uncomfortable.

Double check that you’ve packed your identification, tickets, and passport. Keep your tickets and all forms of identification somewhere that’s easily accessible so you don’t have to sort through your bag at each checkpoint. Most airlines allow you to check in online, 24 hours before your flight. Consider doing this to avoid dealing with it when you get to the airport. When you check in ahead of time, you’ll also have a bigger selection of seats to choose from.

Have the Right Gear

From neck pillows to noise-canceling headphones, there’s an unlimited supply of products designed specifically for avid travelers. For those looking to get some work done in the air, you need to have a laptop or tablet. If you need to communicate with coworkers or clients or send time-sensitive emails, make sure you have access to the internet. Some airlines offer in-flight Wi-Fi for a small fee, but many still don’t. To make sure you’re always connected, consider using a service like T-Mobile’s Gogo In-Flight, which gives you one free hour of Wi-Fi and unlimited texting throughout your entire flight.

You should also look into portable chargers for keeping devices powered up on long flights or the right pair of headphones to help block out the sounds of other passengers. Adapters are also important when you’re traveling out of the country.

Get Your Finances in Order

The first thing to do is to let your bank know you’re traveling abroad. You don’t want to have your bank account frozen because a purchase in another country looks suspicious. Try to avoid exchanging your money for the local currency at the airport. The exchange rates are usually very high, so do your research to find the most affordable option. When you do exchange money, don’t swap out more than you need. Having too much currency means you’ll have to pay additional fees to convert it back into dollars after your trip.

Tackle the Airport

Arrive early. You never know what could happen, and missing your flight could mean missing a big meeting or having to reschedule your flight for the following day. Frequent travelers should create a routine for navigating the airport to optimize time and allow less room for mishaps. You can also look into becoming a member of the trusted traveler program, TSA PreCheck, which allows its members to leave on their shoes, belts, and outerwear and even allows them to keep small amounts of liquids and laptops in their bags. TSA PreCheck lets you get through security within minutes.

Avoid checking your bags if possible. This will ensure that your luggage won’t get lost in transit and that you won’t have to wait for your bags after arriving at your destination. You should also try to avoid spending unnecessary money. Airport terminals have so many things you might want but don’t need like drinks, food, and souvenirs. You don’t want to waste money just because you’re bored and then regret it when you land.

International travel can be tough, especially when it’s for work. By maximizing your time and minimizing possible delays, you’ll breeze through all of your future international trips.

Image via Flickr by AstridWestvang

Best Tricks for Mastering the Art of SEO

These days, everyone is aware that search engine optimization has the power of giving you a massive return on your investment. SEO has become essential for every website, blog and online nowadays, but the fact is that there is no magic formula to it. Those who believe that they can just master the art of SEO overnight are making a mistake. There are a myriad of aspects of search engine optimization and learning about them is a time-consuming and ongoing process. If you want to learn and understand SEO, you have to think about the future. It will not only require you to work diligently in the long term, but some experimentation and risk is also involved.

Some of the best tricks and resources that you can use for mastering SEO are outlined here:

Wing it

In a nutshell, reading about SEO, studying it and actually implementing it is a whole new world. Even after you have read hundreds of articles and blog posts about search engine optimization and watched lots of tutorials, you still need to put all this knowledge into effect. This is where you wing it because you are doing this for the very first time. The best way to do this is to have a website that you can start optimizing for search engines. Yes, there is a good change that you are going to fail in the beginning, but this failure will actually provide you with a learning experience. Some dedication and experimentation can go a long way, but always keep track of what you are doing as this will tell you what works and what doesn’t so you can make adjustments accordingly.

Training Courses

Today, it is possible to get all kinds of education online. A quick search on Google will provide you with thousands of SEO training courses that you can take for understanding different elements of search engine optimization. You can find lots of virtual academies offering a comprehensive SEO training course that covers the ins and outs. Likewise, you can also find a SEO training course that provides you with insights into the latest SEO techniques and practices. In order to increase your likelihood of success, it is a good idea for you to enroll in a good and reliable SEO training course. Some are going to be free while others will cost, but they will offer you value for money.

Forums

Getting in touch with likeminded individuals and brainstorming with them can be immensely beneficial. This is where joining forums can be a great decision. When you become a part of forums, you will have a platform for discussing search engine optimization with others who are experienced and skilled in SEO. Their guidance and advice will come in handy and will strengthen your portfolio. You will be able to gain more practical knowledge from forums where you talk with people who have tried and tested methods.

A combination of forums, experimentation and an SEO training course can go a long way in helping you understand SEO.

What’s New in Mobile Betting – and How You can Get in on the Action

We already know that mobile betting is on the up and up – more individuals are relying on their mobiles to bet on their favourite sports matches rather than physically visiting a brick and mortar shop. The convenience is there, after all, and it can’t be denied – why dress up and go out when you can simply click on a few buttons and place your bets online, from the convenience of your own home? You can do this at any time, at that. Thanks to technological advances, you can take advantage of some of the best free bets on the market and even place bets on real-time games – in-play betting is getting a lot more enthusiasts nowadays, as you can see the results as they happen, in real time. But what else is new in mobile betting, and how can you get in on the action?

More online wagers

As mentioned, an increasing number of punters are placing their bets online through their mobile phones. And this is not just done by younger punters, either – punters who are older and who have seen the benefits of mobile and digital technology are placing more of their bets through their smart phones and tablets as well. In fact, some studies show that bets on mobile could very well reach the £1 billion mark by next year.

Because of the rising trend of betting on mobile, you can expect bookmakers to also do their part. Think faster apps, better live streaming capabilities, more innovations when it comes to the placement of bets, and more. Some bookie sites have even begun offering ‘text bets,’ where you simply send them a text with your choice and the amount of your stake, and they’ll arrange your bet for you.

The social aspect

You may already know that there are many betting forums which you can join online. These betting forums are the perfect platform for anyone who’s into sports betting, because you can get lots of tips and advice from both the experts and enthusiastic punters just like you. But there’s another thing that’s coming up, and it’s coming up big: sports betting on social media sites such as Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook. The community of punters in these sites is growing, and at a great pace. Perhaps, in time, you will see a social network solely dedicated to sports betting – but for now, you can well take advantage of social media platforms to learn more about sports betting and perfect your strategy as well.

The .bet domain name

For the techies out there, there’s one more thing to watch out for: the .bet domain name. It was announced last year that this domain name is ready for purchase, so you can expect to see some new sites springing up in the near future.

Image attributed to Pixabay.com

The Personal Screen: The Gaming Platform of Choice for the Majority

A decade has passed since the launch of the iPhone, the first smartphone as we know them today has opened up a brand new frontier for entertainment providers to explore. Over the years, the smartphone – along with its big brother, the tablet computer – has become the entertainment device of choice for billions of people all around the world. It is, after all, the perfect device to consume various forms of entertainment, from videos and music to pictures, social media updates, and lots of games of all kinds. Mobile gaming’s growth has translated into a lot of money for the publishers – today, mobile generates the most revenue among all the gaming platforms (32%, or $46.1 billion, according to the latest estimates by Newzoo), overtaking consoles (31%) and PC (23%). And the latest estimates expect mobile to continue to grow in the coming years – smartphones and tablets will be responsible for half of all the gaming revenue generated by 2020, with a total of over $70 billion.

The games we play

According to a report published last year by Verto Analytics, the most played mobile game genres today are brain puzzle and matching puzzle games, action/strategy games, Alternate Reality (AR) games, and real money online casino games and their social counterparts. Even though the real money games at the All Slots and beyond hardly ever show up in the statistics (the All Slots Mobile is a browser-based game which doesn’t make it to the stats), they still influence these statistics, especially in Australia, Canada, and the US – here, social casino apps are constantly among the top 10 grossing mobile games with six-figure daily revenues for their publishers.

Building simulation games, RPGs, card games, and racing titles are also on the top 10 list of popular smartphone game genres, yet these fall behind the leaders when it comes to the number of players and the time spent playing them.

The portrait of the average mobile gamer

Who plays what? Well, it depends largely on the genre and the age of the player.

According to Verto, matching puzzle games are predominantly played by 35 to 54-year-old female players, while brain puzzles are preferred by females aged 35 to 65. Alternate reality games appeal mostly to younger generations – they are very popular among players aged 18-24 (mostly males) and 25-34 (mostly females). Interestingly, the interest of males aged 35-44 for such games drops significantly, while the interest of females of the same age grows when they reach this age (as you might expect, a very small percentage of the 65+ demographic plays AR games). And when it comes to the active hours spent playing on the go, card games are the clear leaders – Verto’s statistics show that on average, players spend more than 18 hours a month playing poker on the go, more than twice as much as playing matching puzzle games.

Cinema Box: The What, How, And Why!

Movie watching is definitely fun but watching all your favorite films plus TV shows and cartoons along with animes can take a tool on your mind. The complexity of the process and interruptions galore is likely to have you tearing your hair out. No worries though for you have an easy way out now! Try to down load the Cinema Box apk and get it installed on your Android device. Yes! The device would turn into your very own movie theater and more thereby allowing you to be fully entertained whenever the desire hits on.

4 upgrades for your business’s technology

Staying up to date with the latest technological advances is a fantastic way to show that your company can thrive in the modern world. Potential clients, employees, and business links will be impressed by your ability to make the most of all that technology has to offer. That is why it is so important for you to review the digital aspects of your business consistently. Are there any areas that need updating? Could you use new technology to improve your efficiency? How can you invest in technology to save your business both time and money? These are all questions that a tech savvy entrepreneur should be asking themselves. If you are looking for some suggestions on how to get started, look no further! Below are four potential upgrades for your business’s technology.

Upgrade your presentations

Not so long ago, a well-made PowerPoint presentation would be a sure sign of a modern business. However, the standard PowerPoint presentation has now become outdated. Instead, successful businesses are investing a lot of effort into finding new and exciting ways to convey information. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to do the same. Prezzi is a fantastic solution that is surprisingly easy to use. When used with a smart whiteboard, this online software will help you, and your staff, to create presentations that have a more interactive feel to them. Instead of a standard slide transition, Prezzi allows you to give a presentation that moves around a larger image. You can switch back and forth from one point to another and make interesting links using visual aids. You can also save your presentations online, and even make them available to the public. This could be a clever way to raise the digital profile of your business.

If you already use Prezzi, why not try creating infographics as well? You can find software online that will allow you to design these visual aids for free. This is a fantastic way to create sophisticated and professional resources for your business. You can download the images and use them in your company brochures. You could even have them blown up to create eye-catching displays or upload them onto your website. It isn’t hard to be creative when you have the technology to help!

Upgrade your devices

Although it may sound like an expensive undertaking, it is important that you upgrade your business’s technological devices on a regular basis. Having access to the latest gadgets is a clever investment, as it can end up saving you both time and money. It can also help to bring in impressive potential employees to your business. It is likely that they will be drawn to a company that can offer them top-of-the-range technology rather than devices that are out of date. Make sure that you engage your staff with the process of making new purchases. Give them the opportunity to tell you what new devices would improve their working life. Is there a certain task that takes up an unnecessary amount of their time? Is there a piece of tech in the office that doesn’t operate properly and slows down your staff? If so, research potential solutions.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of choice available. Write a list of all of your requirements, then shop around for the best deal. You might want to try comparison sites, or maybe wait until the right time of year for a sale. However, it is important not to be too distracted by the price of an item. You must also consider how long it is going to last you. It may be worth spending a little more if it means you are getting a piece of kit that will stand the test of time. Pay attention to the warranties offered, as this is another important way to make sure that you are getting the most for your money.

Analyse the performance of your business

An upgrade in your business’s technology can help you to analyze your performance. By relying on technology, instead of simply asking your staff or checking your books, you can get an unbiased picture of how your business is operating. Technology also removes the potential for human error, so you will know for certain that the information you are looking at is accurate. You can find free software online, or you can invest in more advanced software that will provide an even more specific analysis of your business. By taking this approach, you will get the chance to see things that you would have never noticed without the help of technology. For instance, this process will alert you to areas where your business is spending most of its money. Some of this will make sense to you, but some of your costs may seem higher than expected. You will then be able to review these costs and look for cheaper alternatives. This action might not have been possible if you didn’t have such a specific breakdown of your company finances.

Streamline your sales

If you are a tech savvy entrepreneur, your business may already depend heavily on the use of apps. However, now may be the time for you to get Salesforce to NetSuite connector to streamline operations for your company. This software will use pre-built integration flows to synchronize data between Salesforce and NetSuite. This will allow your company’s system to recognize revenues faster, provide a 360-degree view of customer activity, achieve faster time-to-value, and minimize your ongoing costs. Instead of switching between two different systems, you will be able to get the most out of Salesforce and NetSuite. The two programmes will be able to communicate with each other so that you don’t have to transfer the data manually. This will save you, and your employees, an enormous amount of time and effort. This technological upgrade can also help to improve the relationship you have with your customers. By synchronizing your account, Salesforce will immediately become aware of any changes to the products, or the prices of products, in NetSuite. This way, no customers will be left disappointed by miscommunication or human error.

5 Ways to Make Your Customers Feel More Valued

Constantly battling to get new customers is an uphill struggle that does not guarantee a payoff. Convincing new people to become loyal customers is hard, and it isn’t the core of your business. Your business is fuelled by loyal customers, the people who keep coming back because they like you, your brand, and your product. You want your customers to personally vouch for you to their friends, their family, and their co-workers. Nothing is better than someone vouching for you, which is why you need to use these 5 methods to make your customers feel more valued:

Communicate with Your Customers

With social media, customers have multiple means of communicating with you. This communication can come in the form of either comments, direct messages, or posts. Responding to these posts in a genuine manner is a great way to make your customers feel more valued, however, it is crucial to respond to complaints. Not only will you resolve one customer’s problem, but you will also demonstrate to others that you not only are available for them, you also care. Be sure to sound genuine!

Offer Ongoing Support

This is more than resolving customer complaints, this is the constant upsell. Offer ongoing specials, sales, giveaways, contests and other means to charm your customers on an ongoing basis. This is to satisfy your customers in the long term and give them incentives to continue their relationship with you.

Alert Them to Changes

People like to be in the know. When you change your terms of service or any other major change to your brand, inform your customers. Be upfront and honest and be welcoming of feedback. You need to either face the flaws in your plans and change accordingly, or you need to be able to defend your decisions. Either way, letting customers know what is happening and allowing them to input their opinion is great for making your customers feel valued.

Personalize their Experiences

Using marketing automation is a great way to tailor each customer’s experience. You cannot manually do this, and that’s okay. Automation works wonders for everything from tailored email campaigns, to social media ad campaigns, to tailoring a user’s experience when they visit your store. Cut out what your customer is not interested in and increase your chances of repeat business.

Be Open to Feedback

People love to give their opinion. Typically, they are more likely to tell you about their negative experiences over their positive ones. Accept the negative feedback as areas you can improve, and otherwise make the review system a simple click. For instance, after someone makes a purchase, ask them how their experience was using faces – smile, neutral, sad.

Your customer is the most important part of your company. They are the reason you exist. Your very purpose is to provide a service or product for them, so it only stands to reason that you should cater the rest of your efforts in making sure they are happy. A happy customer will tell 4 to 6 people about their experience, and if they have a poor experience, they are more than 50% likely to tell others about, too. Focus on making your customers feel valued, and you will have a loyal customer base.

How Mobile Games Are Profiting from Micro Transactions

The Mobile Industry is filled with games these days and all of them are unique and fun in their own way. The number of free games on the app stores is incredible and it’s only growing larger as time goes on.

Most of these free games have in game purchases called Micro-Transactions. Purchases you can make to further yourself with real money or buy little extras for the game.

There are tons of benefits for having Micro-Transactions both for the games themselves and the gamers. So let’s look at a few of these benefits in better detail.

The Benefits of Micro-Transactions

Freedom

Micro-Transactions have been around for a long time and started mostly in MMO PC games back in the early to mid-2000s. Having games that played mostly for free, or even had a fee at some points, while having in game things you can buy was always an interesting thing to mess around with.

In the mobile scene with a lot of the games being free, Micro-Transactions are how the gaming companies behind the game make their money. And by making money they can make the game better with updates and more content within them.

Now the best thing about these in game purchases is that they are completely optional. You can pretty much play the entire game to the fullest with out ever spending a dime or dealing with a pay wall.

But playing completely free, as possible as it is, basically, makes it so some things will take longer for you to do. Where if you bought something in the game it could potentially speed up the process or further you in a good way depending on the game.

What they offer

In a lot of cases, Micro0-Transactions are just for simple things. More in game currency, more time currency to keep playing, or items to upgrade something within the game.

These things are all things that can be gotten in a game just by playing but it takes longer. Having the option to buy these to free up your time is entirely okay to do.

Money is valuable but replaceable, time is valuable and is nonrefundable. That’s not to say you should go out and spend all your money so you free up your time to play more it’s just a matter of opinion.

Micro-Transactions offer a lot, especially in character collector games that involved dozens of different characters to play as. In some games Micro-Transactions allow you to get more ways to obtain these characters.

Where as others flat out let you buy the characters you want with real money instead of taking cases in the random summons or lotto pulls. So it’s extremely helpful and a viable way to play a game if you can afford it and choose to do so.

How Mobile Games really profit

The big thing about Micro-Transactions is how much they help the game they’re in. As stated before, many mobile games are completely free to play and make no initial revenue where most games you pay for often do.

Free mobile games make their funding from Micro-Transactions and these are what give developers the means to make their games better and all around more fun. By giving you the option to support them by paying a little bit of money is a really good way to make you feel like you got the best bang for your buck.

Everything is optional and everything has its purpose and uses. There is no kind of Micro-Transaction in games that are useless in anyway or tries to scam you by paying for it.

Mobile games take time and money to make from developers and by putting your money in a little bit at a time helps them spend that time and money even better. Keeping Micro-Transactions alive is a good idea for everyone involved.

Keep the freedom and ability to choose to have the transactions and keep the benefits they give to both players and the developers making the game. They are a good system and should be around in all Mobile games for years to come, especially the free ones.

SpyHuman Android Monitoring App Review

In this digital era, you can monitor your employees and control your children using certain app. One of the recommended android monitoring apps is SpyHuman. This application will give you several advantages. You may find other similar programs on the market. However, not all of them have what SpyHuman has to offer.

The benefits of using SpyHuman

Based on the SpyHuman Home Page, this program has various great features. Those features will allow you to have more comprehensive monitoring over your children and workers. This comprehensive app surely gives you more convenience than other similar applications.

This Android program does not only offer you with comprehensive features. It also offers you with other conveniences. One of them is that it has various free features. Those free features are perfect for you who are on a budget but want to monitor your kids’ Android use. They are also suitable for you who want to prove the performance of this app before purchasing the premium version.

This Android monitoring app is easy to install. When you are installing it, you don’t need to root your Smartphone. In addition, this app has powerful user interface. Therefore, you will have no problem in operating. This responsive app will make you feel more in control.

SpyHuman features

Here are some of the features you will get from SpyHuman.

– Call logs monitoring

This feature monitors the call logs on the targeted device. It helps you find out the incoming and out coming call of that device.

– SMS tracker

It helps you track the text messages on the targeted device.

– Location tracker

It helps you find out the whereabouts of your device.

– Social Media tracker

It allows you to track the social media activity of the device. Some of the social media platforms can be tracked by this device are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Other features on this app are web monitoring, live monitoring, monitor gallery, and restrictions.

How to install SpyHuman

To install this Android monitoring app successfully, you must remember to read SpyHuman App Install Guide. This guide consists of step-by-step guide that can help you install the app without any troubles. First of all, you must create an account. You can log on to the home page to register. Once you have an account, you can download the app. To download the app, you can click this SpyHuman App Download Link. Once you download it, you can install it. You need to use your login details. After that, you must log on to the website to check the monitored data.

Top Tips on Designing your Business Card

Even though we rely more on digital technology such as email and text message than we did in the past, there are still a few things that have stayed the same. One of these things is the humble business card, which is still the best form of giving your details to someone face to face. However, to design great business cards, you still need to implement the help of technology, such as design software and printing methods.

The way you design your business card says a lot about you and your company, so you need to think about what you want to portray. Here are a few tips on designing a great business card to hand out to your clients and customers.

Keep to the Basics

Because you are working with paper printing, there are certain things you need to adhere to get the best results. You also need to make sure your font size will be legible at business card size. Also, make sure you’re aware of colors that clash with each other, and colors that are complementary.

Many designers use a grid style for their projects because it helps get all the information on the page and keeps things aligned, so think about putting your information into grid areas.

Get all the Information on your Design

You will only get a certain size to work with for a business card; this is typically 55x85mm. There can be slight variations, but you need to be able to fit all your information into this size. It might call for you to be a little creative with the space available.

You want to include the usual name, email address, phone number and maybe Skype or some other video conference app. Once you have included this information, you can decide if there is anything else you want to add to any space that is left.

Common Mistakes

Although creating your business card design is a fairly simple process, there are some things you should avoid. Even though you want to stand out from other people, try not to go over the top with your design. Maintain a professional touch so that people will take you seriously.

You also need to avoid harsh borders if possible, because it may look crooked if they do not print correctly.

Printing and Design

You don’t need to go to a designer for your business card design, there are other, less expensive ways to do the same job that are much easier. You can design and order batches of cards from websites that will print and deliver them to you. You can also use free software such as Adobe Spark which has a business card maker. You can choose a template and design your business cards easily; then you can either send the design to be printed or print them yourself if you have a printer that’s capable.

You need to remember that the design of the card is a reflection of you and your business. Use your cards to show your clients and customers that you are a professional person who can be trusted with their important projects. Just a simple business card can make all the difference.