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Thursday, November 15, 2012

The Function Mixer: Bypassing MyDownZone and similar sites

The Function Mixer: Bypassing MyDownZone and similar sites: "Bypassing MyDownZone and similar sites"

Just before reading the rest of the post, you should that many of the warez apps which use MyDownZone and other similar sites to store the password of file X are just fake apps, scam, etc... They aren't malware, but only a way to some bastards to earn money each time someone fills one of the surveys.

Anyway, if you want still to get the password without completing the survey, follow this steps:
I will use http://mydownzone.com/pwbk.html as example.

1. Enter the website with Google Chrome. If you want to use Firefox, make sure Firebug plugin is installed.
2. Right click in the center of the page and select "Inspect element".
3. Expand the HTML code until you find the JavaScript function showHidden()
Copy the packed part of that function, that is:
    eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,r){e=function(c){return ...
    ...
    ... split('|'),0,{}));

4. Enter the website Try It Editor: http://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_basic
and paste the copied code in the following way:
   
   


5. Press "Edit and Click Me »" and copy the website URL which appears at the right side:
In this example, the website is: http://www.satellitetvonyourpcblog.com/app/4/pindex.html
6. Enter that website. You will see "Process is successfully completed!". Then, press "Continue" and you will be redirected to another site (in the sample case: http://www.satellitetvonyourpcblog.com/app/4/ghjdftzrtvnsdxfnjgdcdbdhgj.html).

There you will find the password. :-)

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Apkudo's Antidote To Android Anxiety | Dr Dobb's

Apkudo's Antidote To Android Anxiety | Dr Dobb's: "Apkudo's Antidote To Android Anxiety"


Android application development specialist Apkudo has been vocal of late with regard to its online application test platform. The company's developer proposition rests on providing a place for programmers to see their apps run on every available Android device, thereby reducing what Apkudo calls launch anxiety.
"Apkudo lets developers run their apps on every Android device on the market. Period," said Josh Matthews, Apkudo CEO and cofounder. "Improving user experience on devices consumers actually buy and own benefits the whole Android ecosystem, from developers to OEMs to operators to end-users."
Apkudo points out that the openness of Android has fuelled its rapid growth but that it can also promote platform fragmentation, which is the bane of Android developers, device manufacturers, mobile operators, and end-users alike. When Android implementations diverge in look-and-feel, behavior, APIs, and other aspects, developers can find their apps working on some Android phones and tablets but not on others. With hundreds of Android-based devices on the market, app testing is daunting and risk of consumer rejection is high.
"Apkudo finesses fragmentation by testing on every available Android device. Developers upload APKs (Android Packages) for testing and view streamed video output of applications running on the actual Android device collection," said Apkudo's Matthews. Developers also receive test reports detailing execution and performance results across the whole Akpudo portfolio. When new devices are released and integrated into Apkudo, apps are automatically retested and updated results pushed out to subscribing developers.
Apkudo is free to Android application developers. The Apkudo team is working in "lean startup mode" to evolve and mature Apkudo capabilities to match developer needs and eventually the requirements of the larger Android ecosystem — mobile enterprise developers, ISVs, device OEMs, mobile operators, and beyond.
"The Apkudo vision for a better user experience builds on developer feedback and gleaning insight from exercising apps on Android hardware," noted Benno Leslie, Apkudo president and director of Products. "Lean startup methods and data analytics give Apkudo a clear edge over device clouds that just rent device access by the minute."

Implementing TPS: Part One - Introduction of 5S (1) | Lean Manufacturing

Implementing TPS: Part One - Introduction of 5S (1) | Lean Manufacturing: "Toyota  Production System"


Implementing the TPS: Part One
JIT Promotion Project:
Q. When a company decides to introduce the Toyota Production System (TPS) into their company, it's very important that the management take the leading role in the project. What kind of role does the management play and how should they support the implementation of the project?

A. Before introducing various Just-In-Time (JIT) techniques, there must be a big JIT project. The top management must be aware of the risks that we are experiencing right now. For instance, because of the sub-prime loan problem the economy is quite problematic and the revenue is decreasing so top management must realize the need to decrease the outlays or costs in order to increase the profit and this risk management must be shared between people. Even though people often say that Kaizen is important they are forgetting for what purpose the kaizen must be conducted. That is cost reduction and the need for cost reduction must be shared by both the top management and the general employees. So, in order to introduce TPS we have to establish a JIT promotion project.

Q. When the company establishes this kind of project, which employees should be in the project team?

A. The president must be the chief of the project team, the vice-president must be the vice-chief of the project and also, all of the department heads must be members. In particular, the directors in charge of the manufacturing department are very important and also the production engineering department chief and the general management chief. Of these, the production management director must be the center of the project team. Actually, the president and vice-president won't be involved with the actual promotion itself. There must be some practice team for the implementation. The members of the JIT practice team must be the current routine staff that includes the people in the manufacturing department, the production engineering department, the general management department and the foreman for each process and the team leaders of each process.

5S:
Q. What exactly is the beginning practice for JIT?

A. That is the pilot line and when that has finished, its success can be moved to other processes, in order, from the final process to the proceeding process. When carrying out the pilot lines you should start from the final assembly line. However, before handling the assembly line or manufacturing line there must be 5S, which means the abandonment of all kinds of Muda. 5S represents the five Japanese words: Seiri (to clearly separate necessary things from unnecessary ones and abandon the latter), Seiton (to neatly arrange and identify things for ease of use), Seison (to always clean up), Seiketsu (to constantly maintain Seiri, Seiton and Seiso) and Shitsuke (to have workers always confirm to rules).

Q. What kinds of Muda are there?

A. Muda means unnecessary things, such as unnecessary inventory of materials, work in process (WIP) and defective products etc. It also refers to unnecessary jigs, tools and machines. Over time, various kinds of Muda can accumulate in the factory and 5S is the process of removing this Muda. Before introducing 5S most of plants and most of the processes are in a kind of mess.

Q. Obviously deciding what is muda and what is not muda is a big task. What criteria should they use?

A. Usually that criteria is one month's use in the production planning sheet and if those inventory items and/or quantities are not being used in the following month's production planning then they are considered unnecessary. The production schedule for the next month is the output of the MRP system. When they have this information then they can go around the shop floor and judge whether something is necessary or not. This is the Seiri part of 5S.

Q. What should they do with the unnecessary inventory? Should they throw it away or do they need to be careful about what they do with it?

A. At first there is a red label that must be attached to the unnecessary inventory, machines or jigs etc. Those things must be moved to the red label storage area at first and then we should evaluate whether they are truly unnecessary or not. If there are defective units amongst the inventory then this dead stock must be abolished. Even though the same unit is being utilized within the plant if they don't need that much inventory of it then that excess inventory much be moved to the red label storage for a while.

Q. Do the workers really need to understand why they are doing this?

A. At first, people often say its laborious and don't want to do it, just like children at home who don't want to clean their room. However, unnecessary inventory must be reduced. When only the necessary things are left we can then apply the Kanban card system. After the red labels are pasted and the unnecessary things are abandoned, the remaining necessary things must be rearranged. The first step was Seiri and then the next step is Seiton. This is important for 5S. Seiri is just to remove the unnecessary things and then the necessary things that were left must then be rearranged in order to use them easily. The Seiton must be carried out after Seiri has been finished.

Q. How should Seiton be performed?

A. To carry out Seiton we make use of the indicator plate (see figure below), which has such information as the address of the shelf, the vendor name of the parts, item name and item code number. We also mark the MAX inventory and the MIN inventory levels as well. The MAX inventory is equivalent to the lot size, when we apply Kanban card system, and MIN inventory is the re-order point. When the parts are completed then they are stored here and the people working on the subsequent process will bring their Kanban card and take out the completed parts from this storage. Then, the level of the inventory will decrease to the reorder point and the lines here will start production. This indicator plate for Seiton is linked closely to the Kanban card system. This is a part of the 5S movement. For inventory reduction itself, if we reach this level then the necessary inventory does not exist in this storage and we can shorten the lead time because the inventory carrying time was reduced. When we promote the 5S then eventually we can reduce the lead-time because the inventory size is reduced. Seiton is also the prerequisite to shortening the setup time as well. When carrying out Seiton, mark the location where everything should be. For example, equipment that we use in the plant, such as a forklift truck must have the location that it is placed in determined and then marked with white lines. This is also part of the 5S movement.
TPSIndctrPlt.jpg
Figure: The indicator plate and indication of max and min inventory quantities

Monday, November 12, 2012

"Lean Accounting's Fat Problem"

Forbes.com - Magazine Article: "Lean Accounting's Fat Problem"


There is an obscure accounting battle bubbling up around the world that has broad implications for how to run a business. The battle begins when a company starts to implement "lean manufacturing," a practice that pits costs against productivity.
This week's column examines the implications of the way lean philosophy asks companies to rethink their businesses starting with basic principles.
Lean, in the simplified form, involves three fundamental concepts: flow, pull and continuous improvement. The idea of flow is that manufacturing processes should operate as a continuous flow with as few interruptions as possible. In lean parlance, flow processes are called value streams and they run counter to the departmental and functional silos that dominate the org charts of most companies. The generalization of lean has taken this paradigm and applied it to processes outside of manufacturing such as health care, financial services and construction.
The idea of pull is that manufacturing should occur in response to actual demand, not predictions about inventory. A pull system is used to organize functions when the flow process is initiated. Instead of making products based on predictions and forecasts, you make them when an order is received.
The idea of continuous improvement is that there should be a constant and never-ending effort to reduce waste and improve productivity. Individual employees in an organization must be encouraged and made responsible for finding improvements and empowered to implement changes.
So in a lean process, the demand signals pull the materials through the flow processes and the right number of products is created with as little waste as possible. When all the suppliers of materials are also making their processes lean, the result is that the entire supply chain is extremely responsive and efficient. One of the biggest benefits of lean is that it allows companies to dramatically reduce their cycle times, that is, the amount of time from getting the order to delivering the product. This happens when the flow processes are redesigned to eliminate delays. Implementing lean also usually means a company can make significant reductions in inventory.
Here's where the accounting fun begins.
If I have $100 of inventory and I reduce it by $80, everyone should be happy, right? The company now has less money tied up in inventory and that money can be used for other purposes. But unless you understand the big picture, when you start to implement lean practices, it looks like they cost you money. Why? An $80 reduction in inventory is a loss from the financial perspective if you handle it as a write off and profits go down. You did have a higher level of inventory and now you have a lower level. That $80 reduces your shareholder's equity, although it is really a benefit. (Note to accounting experts: This is a simplistic case that represents the problem people are having in the field. We could argue all day about different ways to approach accounting for this inventory.)
Unless the accountants understand the way that lean works, in the worst case it seems to them that lean produces losses, not efficiencies. In a typical case, they cannot see the cost advantages. This is the source of many of the arguments I found out about at the Lean Enterprise Summit, a gathering of companies sponsored by SAP, Seal Consulting, Demand Point and several other lean-focused vendors.
The people attending the summit, those who were fighting to introduce lean into their companies, reported over and over again that finding a way to reconcile accounting the way lean does it and standard cost accounting was proving to be much harder than it should be.
Lean practitioners think of accounting in cash terms. Lean is against creating data and reports for their own sake. That would be considered another form of waste. In general, lean advocates have a jaundiced view of enterprise software and any general-purpose automation tools. The lean approach measures how well your value stream is working.
One presenter at the summit used weight loss as an analogy. When dieting, standard cost accounting would advise you to weigh yourself once a week to see if you're losing weight. Lean accounting would measure your calorie intake and your exercise and then attempt to adjust them until you achieve the desired outcome. While this analogy is oversimplified, it does get to the core difference between lean and standard cost accounting. Lean accounting attempts to find measures that predict success. Standard cost accounting measures results after the fact.
But even when the accounting types and the lean practitioners start to understand each other, problems remain. How can we reconcile the kind of data collection and accounting that lean demands and the standard cost accounting? Duplicated data collection and reporting is indeed a form of waste.
Value stream accounting was suggested by Bruce Baggaley of BMA as a way out. The company's revenues and costs are reported weekly for each of the value streams. The costs reported do not include allocations or standard costs, just the costs that actually occurred within the value stream last week. This produces reports that are easy to understand and are used for cost control; they also monitor the cost reductions or profit increases coming from the company's lean improvements. This report also gives the information needed for making routine business decisions. In some cases it is possible to implement value stream accounting using profitability and cost management systems that allow advanced modeling of costs in a way that still connects everything to the chart of accounts and shared cost allocations used in standard cost accounting.
One presenter explained that when financial cost-focused accounting was adopted in the U.S. about 100 years ago, its promoters warned that it would not be a good tool for operational management. A growing body of experience at companies implementing lean accounting is showing that they were right. Too many vital decisions are based on standard cost accounting, which obscures the true operational picture.

business model canvas

canvas to startup a business
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/downloads/business_model_canvas_poster.pdf

Friday, November 9, 2012

Muda 3 inventory

Muda #3 - Inventory Don’t think for a moment that this post has nothing to do with you! Muda or Waste of Inventory impacts virtually everyone at many levels. I won’t bore you with how your expenses are significantly increased by the stores and manufacturers of products you buy due to their waste of inventories. However, I will help you understand how you are wasting your own money and time through the waste of your inventories. Do you have too much or too little of any products or supplies (inventory) in your house? Too much inventory leads to waste. Most would find this common sense. As an example, last month at the big box store you got excited about a special price on milk, you could buy 4 gallons for only $4. Unfortunately, you have overdosed on milk, you can’t drink another drop and the last gallon goes bad before you can open it. The cost of your $1 gallons of milk just went up to $1.33 ea. for the gallons used! This is waste of inventory, but you can also suffer financially and physically by not having enough inventory. With a memory of your wastefulness last month and current distaste for milk you only purchased 1/2 gallon during your last trip to the grocery store. Then your friends and their children stopped by unexpectedly yesterday and emptied your inventory. Unfortunately, you had promised your kids pancakes this morning and now are faced with the need to make a special trip to the store to keep from breaking your promise. In this case, a lack of inventory caused you greater expense by way of a special trip, extra gas and your time to meet your needs. This is also muda of inventory. With this recognition that we can waste our money, effort and time by waste of inventory (both too much and too little), here is the first technique to help you begin eliminating this form of waste. Consider for a moment what you have in the room you are currently sitting. How many computer programs do you have that you’ve barely used if at all? Do you have any books that have not been read? Are there any supplies that have not been touched? I once read that a University of Arizona study found that the average American tosses 14% of the food that they buy. Think about this for a moment, do you ever dump food in the trash at the end of a meal? Do you find yourself cleaning out old or moldy food when you are putting away the latest batch of groceries? This means that if you could improve your ability to manage your inventory of groceries, conceivably you could reduce your food bills by 14%. How do you reduce your waste of inventory? One strategy is simply learning to recognize it, just thinking about what you have and what you don’t and the monetary impact as a result of having too much or too little? In addition consider: Measure what you manage – you cannot manage what you do not measure. This means you must be able keep track of your inventory. De-clutter your cabinets and organize your stuff so that you can easily tell what you have and what you don’t Make lists – get in the habit of keeping a list of items you need to replenish. If it is not on the list, you don’t need it! Don’t buy bulk – unless you are absolutely sure that you can use all the product and only when the unit costs are less than smaller packages Don’t buy – unless you really need the product. Don’t buy just because you have a good coupon, buy only if you are certain to use the product. Don’t cook or prepare more food than necessary. Lastly apply the first technique we suggested in every room of your house. After taking a thorough inventory of your home and considering all the money you could have saved if you had not purchased the things you don’t need and don’t use. Keep these thoughts burned into your memory so that you will be less likely to make the same mistake again. In my usual fashion I have been a bit verbose. A waste of inventory of words? Please comment if you find this interesting or have other thoughts to add!

Muda transportation

Muda #2 - Transportation

supplies or tools unnecessarily in the course of your day? If so, this would be muda of transportation.

As you read this post you may be thinking on the surface that addressing things like waste of motion or transportation are trivial. Keep reading, below is a real world example that will give you some insight on how valuable

your life and work.

Waste of transportation likely

you had no need to move an item then you would not be moving yourself, one form of waste, transportation, may cause another, motion in this case.

The key difference between waste of motion and waste of transportation is that waste of transportation is focused on moving stuff while waste of motion is focused on movement of people. By clearly defining the difference this allows a person to

photo by woodlywonderworks

differentiate and focus on the various forms of waste for the purpose of elimination.

Using the example from the 1st Muda, think about when you are cooking in your kitchen. Do you ever feel like a pinball bouncing from one side of the kitchen to the other while gathering ingredients. In this case the root cause for your waste of motion is the location of ingredients you must gather. To eliminate this waste you would focus on relocating the ingredients to prevent both waste of motion and the waste of transportation.

Are you a naturally organized person? If so maybe you have already reduced much of your waste of transportation. Are you or your significant other not so organized or do you consistently put things in different location or worse simply don’t put things away? If so, not only do you suffer the frustration associated with having to locate a needed item but you also suffer the experience of wasted of transportation.

Big deal, so I have to carry a few ingredients across the kitchen. It only takes a few seconds you may think!

The value in eliminating muda is that if you succeed at eliminating one wasteful activity today in the kitchen you stand to benefit for the rest of your life each time you are cooking. Find several more opportunities and over time it can add up to substantial benefit.

Last year during an informal presentation of lean management with an executive of a small company he was trying to multi-task, dealing with his mail and papers from his inbox. With each document he would decide to put in back into the In-box, file it or throw it away. Dozens of times, to throw away documents he would push his chair back from his desk, sliding a few feet while turning around to his credenza under which was the trash can. The whole process took less than 5 seconds and all if was waste of transportation and motion.

In that moment of sudden awareness he relocated the trashcan under his desk at his feet.

For years he’s been in the same office with the same routine. How much time was he wasting? Not much. If he tossed only 24 documents per day (his conservative estimate) maybe in the course of his day he wasted a couple minutes total. Big deal, you say?

What if this same executive found 9 other ways to save just 2 minutes a day? 20 minutes total; big deal you say? That works out to over 86 hours of additional time available for something more productive.

This company had 168 employees, what if each could save 20 minutes a day? Now it is a big deal! 86 hours times 168 associates adds up to over 14,000 hours!

What would you do with an additional 86 hours each year? Would you relax more, or earn more?

How do you find this waste of transportation?

The first rule to elimination of transportation is simply learning to recognize it, just thinking about what your doing and where you are going will help in this regard. Consider if each trip is really necessary.

Each time you pick something up to carry it, ask yourself if it is in the best possible location to store the item. Could the item(s) be located closer to where the work is being done?

Once you find an opportunity to reduce your waste of transportation consider finding some way to “standardize” the location. Label your shelves or establish a box, container or divider that clearly identifies the location for that item.

The more you think about it the more waste you will find.

Muda motion

Muda #1 - Motion

Muda #1 - Motion

by AberCJ

If you improved your efficiency in your work accomplishing more in less time, what would you do with your extra time? Could you increase your income or productivity or would you increase your leisure time? Maybe you would focus a little more on building your wealth?

One of many ways to improve efficiency is to reduce your amount of motion.

As discussed in the definition of Muda, every activity can be defined as value-added, incidental or wasteful.

Do you move too much, make too many trips back and forth, or travel farther than necessary to accomplish your tasks? Ever have one of those days when you have gone upstairs or into another room 5 times in a row and still forgotten that one last item? At times do you feel like a pinball as you bounce around the kitchen gathering ingredients for a meal? Why do your feet get tired by the end of the day, was all the movement truly necessary?

Much or our motion is simply waste. Using the examples above and thinking about your own life, you are likely recall days that you moved a lot but fundamentally added no direct value with your movement.

I believe most of our motion is incidental. We enjoy a good meal because we walked to the grill in order to flip the steaks. While the act of flipping the steaks adds value to the quality of the steaks, the motion to get there was necessary but did not in itself add value. Some movement must be accepted, but does it all?

When is our motion adding value? The act of flipping the steak itself involves motion and adds value. There are many actions we make that add value but generally speaking each example will likely be short and easy motions that actually accomplish a step in a larger process.

There are many small motions in the act of cleaning dishes and much of it adds value by actually making dishes clean. The trip from the table to the sink with dirty dishes in hand would be incidental. The trip is necessary but does not directly help transform the dishes from dirty to clean. But then consider how many trips from the table to the sink were necessary. If you took many trips with only one item in each hand each time, you probably have waste of motion. If you strategically collect and carry a number of dishes to reduce the number of trips you have reduced your motion and therefore reduced muda.

How can you eliminate the muda?

One strategy is simply learning to recognize it, just thinking about what your doing and where you are going. Consider if each trip or motion is really necessary.

Another way to identify your waste of motion is to wear a pedometer. The average person walks at 2 miles per hour. If you walk 5 miles in the course of your day you have had 2.5 hours of time that potentially could be put to better use.

Consider ways to reduce your motion. Can you reorganize your tools or supplies so that they are within easy reach? Can you organize your day to reduce the number of trips? Can you avoid some trips altogether?

When you cannot avoid motion, can you reduce it? Just because some incidental motion is to be expected, this does not mean we cannot make this motion more efficient.

On the surface these issue may seem better suited to a personal improvement blog or one focused on organization. Then again, if you could improve your efficiency could you use the extra time to improve your income, increase your savings or focus on your investing?

I have applied this an other Lean principles to my personal and professional life with surprisingly positive results. Stay tuned for stories of how, some funny some sad. Want to learn more? Check back next week for the 2nd form of muda.

Can you share how you have improved your work or life by reducing unnecessary movement? Please leave a comment below.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Water damage to mobile

Water Damage

What if you phone or tablet gets wet.
Most manufacturers don't cover water damage under the warranty.
Most phones have a little indicator inside, a white square, that will turn pink or red or something else
to indicate water damage, so you can't fool the dealer if you take it back. I didn't see any indicator
on my Galaxy Tab which got wet.
It's a mater of luck whether or not you can recover. Some people have let their phones dry for a
couple of days and they worked. I dropped a blackberry in water and even though I took everything
apart right away it never worked.
The general consensus is you have a 50/50 chance of saving it.
It may take several months for corrosion on the circuit board to build up and cause a failure
according to one forum post.
1. Dry
Don't push any buttons
Dry it with anything (wipe it on your shirt)
2. Disassemble or turn off
Remove your phone from any protective case.
If you you can, take it apart as much as possible, take out the battery, memory cards,
and SIM card (If you have GSM [AT&T or T-Mobile] ). Water can cause a short on your circuit
board, so removing the battery will help.
If it's an iPhone, iPad, ... which won't come apart, turn it off . Don't turn it on if it is off.
If it has salt water, soda or beer on it rinse it with distilled water.
3. Put it in a bag or container with a desiccant (Something to absorb moisture) for 2 days (48 hrs)
and put the bag in a warm spot. If it was in the water for a minute or more you may have to leave
it in the bag for a week.
Rice
Bag with silica packets. Those little packets that come in some vitamins or other
products that need to stay dry, and say "do not eat".
Use a bag designed for this purpose. e.g. Thirsty Bag $7 from iFixit, Xentris Dry-All
$20 Radio Shack or a Dry-1-1 Emergency Rescue bag $20
Leave it on something that is warm, e.g. your computer for a few days.
Don't put it in the oven or use a hair dryer.
A Popular Mechanics article says, The first step: Immediately cut the power by removing the
battery. I know it's tempting, but resist the urge to power up your phone to see if it works--just
turning it on can short out the circuits.
The most important thing to remember is to avoid heat. That means no hair dryers, ovens,
microwaves or extended periods in direct sunlight.
Forced air
Avoid hair dryers, too much heat is bad and it can blow water further into the electronics.
A Popular Mechanics article says, "But don't use a hair dryer--its heat can fry your phone's
insides. Instead, opt for a can of compressed air, an air compressor set to a low psi or a vacuum
cleaner (a wet/dry Shop-Vac would be perfect). The idea is to use air to push or pull moisture out
through the same channels it entered.
Heat could also warp components and melt adhesives."
Water is conductive and can cause corrosion to the main board. Even if you soak it in rice issues
can occur down the line. Within days or months due to corrosion.
Use a desiccant
Rice or Silica Gel Silica Gel used for drying flowers or the packets of silica gel that often come
stuffed in the pockets of new clothes.
One person reported, "took out battery, all cards and put it in a container with water absorbing
crystals. next morning turned it on and worked perfectly. has not missed a beat since."
Another said, "I would suggest leave it in rice or silica crystals for at least a week - if not two.
Don't turn it on in the meantime."
Alcohol or Circuit board cleaner
A post in Android Forums says,
take your phone and dip it into a bowl of 99% isopropyl (rubbing alcohol). It will displace the
water and not cause corrosion. It takes about a day or two max sitting in the open to dry. And I
do mean max. if you take a fan onto it after it speeds it up a lot as well. You would only want to
dip the phone in for a few seconds and shake it around to make sure the iso mixes with all the
water and once it has the concentration of iso will clear up the water damage.
(I had to go to an electronics store to get 90%, the drug store stuff is 70%) of course.
Radio Shack(TM) Precision Electronics Cleaner that contains Isohexane, Difluoroethane & Ethanol.
This type of cleaner eliminates any corrosion, evaporates, and provides a layer of protection.
A Popular Mechanics article says, "you'll want to avoid dunking the phone in rubbing alcohol (A
prescribed tip on the Web). Alcohol is a solvent and can dissolve the internal adhesives. "
Warranty:
According to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (P.L. 93-637) (1975)
The federal minimum standards for full warranties are waived if the warrantor can show that the
problem associated with a warranted consumer product was caused by damage while in the
possession of the consumer, or by unreasonable use, including a failure to provide reasonable and
necessary maintenance.
Replacement android: (My story)
I got my Samsung Galaxy Wet (it was in a box on my car seat which also had a thermos of tea
which spilled). It was on and the power switch and touch screen stopped working, I kept trying the
power switch which was probably only doing more damage by activating wet circuits. I did several
other bad things, 1. blew some hot air (only briefly) thru the SD card slot to try and force the
water down and out the 30-pin connector on the bottom. I also dipped briefly in some isopropyl
alcohol. It started to work briefly the next day, but stopped. I took it to the Verizon store where I
got it and admitted I spilled some tea on it. They said they couldn't see any evidence of water
damage and sent in a request for a replacement and gave it back to me. I then put it in a bag
with some silica gel for several days. Several days later I got a box with a return label from
Verizon, but it started working again as I was getting ready to ship it back, so I kept it. The only
problem seemed to be some discoloration on the screen, but it did not block the display.
However it stopped again a day later. The note with the return box said they would look at it and
if they determined I had damaged it they would return the original tablet.
So, I decided to use the above instructions to open it and see if there was corrosion or something
I could fix. I got it open, but there was something gluing the back on 3/4 inch down from the top
that I had difficulty releasing. The instructions at iFixIt didn't say anything about that. The battery
was also connected differently than the example at iFixIt. I couldn't find all the screws either so
stopped trying to dissemble it any further. However there was no evidence of water damage at
that point.
I sent it back in the box Verizon sent me with a note admitting what I had done. About a week
later I got a refurbished tablet from Verizon.
Initializing a replacement tablet: The instructions with the replacement gave me an 877 number
to call and enter my order #. It told me to to use VZ access manager to set it up. There was no
VZ access manager on my tablet, but when I turned it on, it put me into a setup wizard. I put in
my Google account information and when I was finished, my calendar and contact list were
synced.
I could go to Market and click click the menu key, select MyApps and scroll down to see apps I
had downloaded from the android market, which I needed to download again.
Avoiding Water Damage:
Aquapac makes waterproof clear plastic bags that allow you to take good pictures right thru the
bag.
An invisible vapor coating for electronic and other devices to prevent water damage was
announced by HzO at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) . It coats useful electronic
components at the molecular or nano-scale level.
See Invisible Vapor Coating For Electronic And Other Devices To Prevent Water Damage | inQuid
Researchers in Korea have now gone one step further and made water resistance a feature of the
device itself by incorporating nonwetting, superhydrophobic components into the electronic device.
See nanowerk.com
Reader Comments:
Lenny wrote:
I got water into one of my palm's while over zealously cleaning the screen of some mess one of
my little friends put on it.Ê Water / liquid got in and seemed to just stay.Ê Seems like the
damage varies with the unit and depends on how well the components are sealed and how much
water gets left in even after vigorous drying.Ê My nephews once over flowed a toilet on top of my
workstation in the basement.Ê No one bother to turn the monitor off or shut down the system.Ê
When I got home turned things off and turned the monitor upside down to drain the water.Ê Let
the monitor sit for 3 days- the air conditioning kept the air pretty dry though.Ê and on the 4th day
everything worked fine.
Ê My suggestion would have been not to put the components in the sun.Ê Even indirect sun light
can cause trouble to some things.Ê I might have tried a hair dryer on low and far enough away
that the unit wasn't heating up but just exposed to the dry air.Ê I guess even a fan could do some
of the same, but just let it air out for awhile at least an hour or two depending on how well you
have the internal component exposed.Ê Even one drop of water in the wrong place while doing a
premature test could a short. Ê Of course this is a lot of speculation based on how much your
components were like the ones I was playing with.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Solution for mobile data serviceroviders

How Good is Opera Turbo?

With Opera 10 one of the new features that was revealed
was a “turbo” mode that sits in the bottom-left corner of
the status bar, and is represented by a little speedometer.
What is it? Opera Turbo promises fast browsing when
you’re on a slow Internet connection by pushing your
requests through Opera’s servers, and making them do the
hard work so that the content you’re fetching is delivered in
a highly compressed format:
Opera Turbo is a server-side optimization and
compression technology that speeds up data
transfer and reduces the amount of data that
needs to be downloaded in order to view the page
by up to 80%. Among other means, the
compression is achieved by image down-sampling
therefore some level of distortion in graphics may
occur.
When I tell people about this feature the common thing I’m
asked is “when will this be useful?” After all, these days
we’re all surrounded by high-speed connections, and saving
a few megabytes doesn’t matter too much. This kind of
thing makes sense on a mobile device, and that’s why
Opera Mini also makes use of it, but when would you use it
on a desktop browser?
I’ve actually found Opera Turbo to be unbelievably handy…
when I’m tethering with my phone. My Internet connection
isn’t always as fast as I would like it to be, and I’m more
than willing to compromise the quality of some images so
that my pages will load faster. Plus, I can turn it on/off at
the click of a button if I need to.
How much of a difference does it make? On average I’d say
that I save about 1MB for each site that I load, but
sometimes it’s even more than that. On sites like
Yahoo.com and ESPN.com I’ll save upwards of 2MB since
they are heavier on graphics. And, to be honest, the
graphics are a bit pixelated, but it normally doesn’t detract
from the experience I have on any one particular site. When
being tethered on my phone saving that 2MB typically
means the page loads five or even ten seconds quicker, and
is a worthwhile tradeoff in my eyes.
I haven’t made Opera 10 my primary browser, but thanks to
the Opera Turbo this is hands-down my browser of choice
when I’m not hooked up to a reliably fast Internet
connection. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation
you may want to consider grabbing Opera 10 for your
machine as well.

How to avoid procrastination

Lifehacker.com Updates

Stop Procrastinating by “Clearing to Neutral”
By Thanh Pham
We often procrastinate because there is this one hidden thing
holding us back. It is this one thing that makes you procrastinate
and most people are not even aware what this is, but if you
eliminate it you can say goodbye to procrastination forever.
Friction
A lot of times we procrastinate because we have to jump through
a lot of hurdles before we can do the thing we actually want to
do. For example, let’s say you need to prepare dinner. So you
need your dishes, cutlery, pots and pans. But what if they are still
in the sink from the time you used them for lunch? That means
before you can actually start cooking, you need to wash them
first.
YUCK.
To put it in other words, before you can do your main activity
(cooking), you have to all these others things (cleaning) before
you can get to your main activity. Can you see how that friction ,
washing the dishes, can prevent you from preparing dinner? Can
you see how you might procrastinate on cooking?
If you make it hard for yourself to get started, that’s when you
will most likely procrastinate. Imagine you finished some work at
your desk and you went out for lunch. Lunch time is over and you
need to go back to do some other work at your desk. Do you
really want to go work at your desk when you see it’s such a
mess?
Now imagine you actually cleaned your desk and now you need
to do some work on your computer. Do you easily get distracted
when your desktop looks something like this?
All these little starting points where you have friction are very
common. When you encounter one after the other, it can be very
demotivating to get work done. You have to do a lot of other
things, before you do what you really need to do. Or you do get
work done but you get easily distracted. Now this is a problem…
but there is a solution to this.
Now this is where, as we at Asian Efficiency like to call it, the
habit of Clearing To Neutral (CTN) comes in. The main idea
behind CTN is that you set yourself up for success. What that
means is that any time you finish your activity, you do a little
routine where you set it up so that the next time you start there is
no friction. In other words, you setup your environment for next
time.
Our friend Eben Pagan uses the analogy of cleaning a grill. In
restaurants, the process of cleaning the grill is very important. It
ensures the grill will last longer, the food will taste better, and
you prevent any bacteria from growing. Before the restaurant
closes, the cooks always clean the grill so the next day when
they come in it is ready for use.
This is exactly the idea behind Clearing To Neutral and how you
need to set yourself up. The reason we call it CTN is because
whenever you finish an activity, you need to move everything so
everything is in neutral position. When something is neutral, it is
stale and you can do anything you want to it.
Now this is why the habit of clearing to neutral is so important: it
prevents you from procrastinating in the future. By making sure
you clean up your environment and toolkit, you ensure that the
next time you need to use them there will be no friction at all. In
other words, you make it easy for your “future self” to get started.
Some of you might think: “So, what you are basically saying is
that you need to be clean and tidy.” Yes and no. Obviously that
helps, but you need to take it one step further. See CTN as a
post-activity habit. After you have done your main activity, do
your post-activity work (clear to neutral). This means you set
everything up so it is ready for the next time. In the earlier
examples, how could you apply the habit of clearing to neutral?
When you finished cooking for lunch, you wash your dishes right
away. That messy desk? When you finish the paperwork, you
clean your desk. That desktop with all those windows open?
Whenever you finish your task, clear to neutral by closing all the
windows so you only see your desktop background.
More Examples
The clear to neutral habit can be applied in many different areas
of your life. While the examples earlier are very common, so are
these:
Getting enough sleep – energize yourself so you set yourself
up for the next day.
Close relationship loops – do you have unresolved issues
with people, especially people you see on a regular basis?
Close them so there is absolutely no friction when you two
need to work together.
Clean your desk – whenever you finish a task or you call it a
day, clean your desk.
Wash your dishes as soon you finish eating – don’t let
dishes linger around for too long. The longer it is in the sink,
the dirtier it will get.
Close all programs – as you as you finish your work on your
computer, close all windows so you only see your desktop.
Post-morning ritual – whenever you finish your morning
ritual, set everything up for the next morning.
Note - this applies on a larger scale too, like in clearing the
small tasks on your to-do list. Sometimes the simple
presence of these 2-5 minute tasks is enough to make you
procrastinate on doing bigger and more important things.
The concept of clear to neutral can be applied to any rituals or
habits you have. By mere definition of the word “habit”, you do
something repeatedly. See if you can add a clear to neutral action
in your current habits, so the next time you start your ritual or do
your habit, you do it without any friction. Your future self will be
thankful for the extra one or two minutes you spent clearing to
neutral. I know this sounds too simple. Maybe it’s too simple. But
those extra one or two minutes of clearing to neutral can make
a HUGE difference to your productivity. Just imagine how
different your life might be when you barely procrastinate….
Next Steps
Make CTN a mini habit for everything you repeatedly start and
finish. Here’s a simple game plan:
1. Make a list of your habits.
2. See if you can add a clear to neutral action at the end of
your habit.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Vet vital signs

vitalsigns

Blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, tongue color etc arre vital signs for finding out the dying animal.

Bosslessness

Lifehacker.com Updates: Mastering the Art of Bosslessness

Conventional wisdom says that when it comes to managing a company, we need organizations to be highly ordered, with a strong and well-defined structure, plus rules and regulations, led by a strong boss. But what if that’s wrong? What if bosslessness and self-organization give rise to an effective order far more potent than what any one individual might impose?

Take the case of the French company FAVI, a small fifty-year-old designer and manufacturer of copper alloy automotive components. FAVI employs nearly six hundred people but has gone without a personnel department for nearly thirty years. It was one of the first things CEO Jean-François Zobrist removed when he took the helm in 1983. But as I found out from Zobrist, that wasn’t all he eliminated.

There aren’t many CEOs who will say, “I am a stupid and lazy manager,” much less do so in the first conversation with a writer. This was Zobrist’s way of explaining why he puts the company in the hands of the people doing the work.

“I have no idea what people are doing,” he says.

What he means is that he does not possess the expertise to do their work, so he should therefore have no input into it. His job, as he sees it, is to “be the headlights and the windshield” of the vehicle that is FAVI, acting as the guiding light and provider of vision. FAVI is as unique as Zobrist, and different from any other factory I’ve ever been to—and I’ve been to many.

Not only does FAVI have no personnel department, it has no hierarchy anywhere. There is no middle management, no central operating committees, no time clocks or cards, and no thick employee handbooks jammed with the traditional “do this, don’t do that” policies. No one at FAVI uses the words personnel, worker, or employee. (And not because they’re English words, either.)

As far as Zobrist is concerned, most of the conventions of the modern organization don’t make much sense, and to him, centralizing operations only serves to impose “arbitrary restrictions on people’s activity and swell their own ranks to police those constraints.”

But it hasn’t always been this way.

The culture at FAVI when Zobrist came on the scene was just the opposite. If you wanted a tool, for example, you had to go to the person in charge of monitoring time cards, who kept the tools under tight security and who seemed to take a rather perverse pleasure in penalizing people for being late. If it was a hot summer day, you might find the windows closed as employees suffered in the unhealthy swelter of the metal foundry to earn a “heat premium” in their wages given for keeping the temperature above a certain threshold. The central planning committee spent two hours a week going over why production was yet again behind and deliveries were late, yet spent no time on the actual planning activity itself.

By the time he was given the leadership of FAVI, Zobrist had grown weary of what he terms the chaine de comment—the “chain of how.” In the chaine de comment culture, he says, “everyone is stupid except the CEO. If you ask the operator, he says, ‘I don’t know, talk to my supervisor.’ Then you go to the supervisor, and he says, ‘I don’t know, talk to the shop boss.’ But the shop boss doesn’t know. Neither does the director, who says, ‘Talk to the CEO.’ ”

So what Zobrist did was to turn the chaine de comment culture upside down. “Now it is the CEO—me—who is stupid,” he smiles, using the phrase “Il faut laisser le ‘comment’ à ceux qui font”—leave the how-to to those who actually do the job.

The way Zobrist tells it, “I came in the day after I became CEO, and gathered the people. I told them ‘tomorrow when you come to work, you do not work for me or for a boss. You work for your customer. I don’t pay you. They do. Every customer has its own factory now. You do what is needed for the customer.’” And with that single stroke, he eliminated the central control: personnel, product development, purchasing—all gone.

Twenty teams were formed on the spot, based on knowledge of the customer: Fiat, Volvo, Volkswagen, etc. Each team was responsible not only for the customer, but for its own human resources, purchasing, and product development.

There are only three job designations in the team: leader, compagnon—or companion—which is an operator able to perform several different jobs, and “linchpin.” Every customer has a single FAVI linchpin, who oversees all aspects of the relationship. It’s such a critical position that Zobrist handpicked each one.

Zobrist basically flattened FAVI and moved it from being one big plant to being twenty miniplants housed under one roof. Performance soared, because job titles and promotions became irrelevant, no longer a distraction, and all that energy was channeled into the work itself, which at FAVI is of the highest quality.

Accountability is to the customer and to the team, not a boss—FAVI people are free to experiment, innovate, and solve problems for customers. They’re known for working off-shift to serve customers or to test out new procedures. Equipment, tooling, workspace, and process redesign all rest in the hands of those doing the work.

FAVI people are encouraged to make decisions and take quick action to improve their daily work and respond to the needs of their customers. Control rests with the front lines, where it adds the most value.

It works. Still, customers aren’t always convinced. A favorite story Zobrist tells involves a customer’s site inspection.

“They asked to audit our procedures,” he says. “They were not pleased because we had no measurement system for tracking late orders—nothing in place, no plan, no process, no structure in case of delay. They are a customer for over ten years, so I say, ‘In that time, have we ever been late?’ They say, ‘No.’ I say, ‘Have we ever been early?’ They say again, ‘No.’ And so I ask them why they want me to measure things that do not exist.”

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Tube packaged squeezable directly applicable intense flavored concentrated sauces

In packaged goods, we expect The Law Of Unintended Consequences to lead to a painful result (the new flavor replaces a long-time steady seller on many store shelves). Much to the surprise of food marketers in Asia, a higher-margin, higher-frequency condiment segment sprang from a “green” campaign to reduce the footprint of products like sauces and salad dressings. Manufacturers introduced concentrated gel forms of traditional sauces and dressings in squeeze tubes alongside traditional water-based forms in glass jars. The smaller and lighter tubes deliver the same amount of active flavoring ingredients as the jars while saving on transportation costs, shelf space, and home storage. Initial sales were good, especially to younger consumers. The big surprise is that repeat sales rates are impressively better than those for the traditional products. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many young people squeeze the gel straight from the tube onto sandwiches, crackers, musubis, or whatever because they prefer the flavor intensity of the concentrated form. Although young American consumers have taken to extra-intense chip and dip flavors, concentrated gel forms of sauces and dressings haven’t (as far as we know) appeared in the U.S.A.

Voice or text it depends upon tarifs offered

That device in your pocket is smart but it’s no longer a phone. As name guys, what to call it interests us. “Phone” is wrong because person-to-person voice communication is a shrinking part of smartphone usage. Voice calling will soon be demoted to “an app” alongside Angry Birds and Find A Pizza. In Japan, text messaging alone accounts for more smartphone usage than voice calls. This trend was kick-started by NTT Docomo (the leading service provider with a 50% market share), who bundled unlimited texting into every account at the launch of its i-mode service on the smart handset below in 1999. On a level voice-text playing field, the Japanese consumer opted for texting. In the U.S., tariffs and rules remain tilted toward voice. Cellphone providers see themselves as “phone companies” – perhaps reflecting the views of senior telecom execs who learned the business in the halcyon days before Ma Bell was rent asunder by deregulators run amok. The decline of voice calls is easy to understand. Voice is “synchronous communication” – both parties must be willing and able to talk and listen at the same moment in time. Text, mail, and just about every other act of socialization possible on your smartphone are “asynchronous”. Each party reads, writes, or whatevers at their convenience. So the smartphone is not a phone. Pocket computer is accurate but uninspired. iPhone is inspired but proprietary and (forgive us Steve) inaccurate. What to call that thing in your pocket? The need for a new generic word cries out to us at NameLab. It’s not a job – alas, the English language is not a paying client – but we’re on it like brown on rice (this is California, after all). Your ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Pakistan trucks

The videogames most packaged-goods marketing execs grew up were first-person shooters (you gun down enemy warriors, giant rats, evil ogres) like Wolfenstein, Doom, Marathon, and Duke Nukem. In the 1990’s, the graphics of these games seemed great. But they feel like kindergarten sketches compared to the eye-saturating imagery of current action games like Crysis, Metro 2033, Mass Effect and Just Cause. Why does this matter? Because (as we all remember) hours and hours of staring at a game screen affects what the non-game world looks like. New food, beverage and personal products packages concocted for the teens and twenty-somethings of today look great to product managers and test well enough against existing products. But we suspect that they seem pretty flat to the young consumers they’re aimed at. What would win a “gnar” from the lips of a shredder? Visual intensity and complexity beyond anything on the shelf (or in the store) would probably work.

Urban housing trends

Condos being built In North American cities today average about 600 square feet. In some places, the average new-build unit is closer 500 square feet. Few industry analysts expect this trend to reverse in the foreseeable future. What’s going on (and how does it affect marketers)? Young couples are crowding into cities. The young are mobile, and suburban housing tracts have become unattractive dead zones. Competition for urban digs has raised the price of a square foot of condo. But it’s more than price. They simply don’t need the space. Bookshelves? Magazine racks? Replaced by an e-book reader. CD/DVD storage? Digital files live in a laptop, pad, smart phone, or “the cloud”. Television? That flat screen is just a moving picture on the wall. With network tv circling the drain of irrelevance and cable tv looking as tired as wired phone service ten years ago, the tv set as a dedicated appliance will probably disappear altogether. Clothes? With the demise of specialized office attire, closets can be smaller. Foodstuffs? Cooking from scratch has been zapped by microwaves and take-home meals, so food storage and kitchen appliance needs shrink. Downstairs from that 600 square foot condo you’ll find a garage with one parking space for every two or three or four units. This dramatic reversal of the traditional one-space-per unit standard marks the confluence of zoning strategies to diminish urban traffic congestion; reduced utility of personal vehicles in cities where businesses don’t provide parking; and a perception among young people that a owning a car is ecologically immoral and fiscally irrational. Public transport and internet-mediated car-share services will do just fine, thank you. It’s obvious why residential downsizing matters. With less room for “stuff”, it’ll be harder to sell stuff. Clearly a boon to the planet, but maybe not so good for annual bonuses.

What should be color of your product

What Color Is Your Product? To a marketer, it is obvious that color choices in socially visible products mirror consumer mood. Design teams and consumer researchers labor mightily to nail the hues chosen for apparel, furniture, socially-purposed alcoholic beverages like vodka and whiskey, and (the big kahuna of social symbolism) vehicles. To do this, they look backward (what happened last year, long term trends); sideways (what’s going on now that could affect what we want to project in identity-defining purchases); and forward (via the social sciences, including politics and economics). They hire independent color labs and the consulting arms of makers of dyes, paints and pigments. At NameLab, we were debating the significance of the fact that the 77% of automobiles delivered in 2010 were painted in “colorless colors”, which we noticed in an article in the excellent Wheels blog of the New York Times (Global Car Colors): 1. 1. Silver – 25 percent 2. 2. Black – 23 percent 3. 3. White – 16 percent 4. 4. Gray – 13 percent 5. Blue – 9 percent 6. Red – 8 percent 7. Brown/Beige – 4 percent 8. Green – 1 percent 9. Yellow/Gold – 1 percent 10. Others – less than 1 percent Does this mean that you should reconsider that proposed orange-and-blue beverage label? We don’t know. But you have to admit it’s an interesting question.

Technical matters in chossing a name for business

Choose Your Business Name

Choosing a business name is an important step in the business planning process. Not only should you pick a name that reflects your brand identity, but you also need to ensure it is properly registered and protected for the long term. You should also give a thought to whether it’s web-ready. Is the domain name even available?

Here are some tips to help you pick, register, and protect your business name.

Factors to Consider When Naming Your Business

Many businesses start out as freelancers, solo operations, or partnerships. In these cases, it’s easy to fall back on your own name as your business name. While there’s nothing wrong with this, it does make it tougher to present a professional image and build brand awareness.

Here are some points to consider as you choose a name:

Check for Trademarks

Trademark infringement can carry a high cost for your business. Before you pick a name, use the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s trademark search tool to see if a similar name, or variations of it, is trademarked.

If You Intend to Incorporate

If you intend to incorporate your business, you’ll need to contact your state filing office to check whether your intended business name has already been claimed and is in use. If you find a business operating under your proposed name, you may still be able to use it, provided your business and the existing business offer different goods/services or are located in different regions.

Pick a Name That is Web-Ready

In order to claim a website address or URL, your business name needs to be unique and available. It should also be rich in key words that reflect what your business does. To find out if your business name has been claimed online, do a simple web search to see if anyone is already using that name.

Next, check whether a domain name (or web address) is available. You can do this using the WHOIS database of domain names. If it is available, be sure to claim it right away. This guide explains how to register a domain name.

Claim Your Social Media Identity

It’s a good idea to claim your social media name early in the naming process – even if you are not sure which sites you intend to use. A name for your Facebook page can be set up and changed, but you can only claim a vanity URL or custom URL once you’ve got 25 fans or “likes.” This custom URL name must be unique, or un-claimed.

Register Your New Business Name

Registering a business name is a confusing area for new business owners. What does it mean and what are you required to do?

Registering your business name involves a process known as registering a “Doing Business As (DBA)” name or trade name. This process shouldn’t be confused with incorporation and it doesn’t provide trademark protection. Registering your “Doing Business As” name is simply the process of letting your state government know that you are doing business as a name other than your personal name or the legal name of your partnership or corporation. If you are operating under your own name, then you can skip the process.

Learn about the requirements in your state and how to file in this Registering Your Doing Business As Name guide.

Apply for Trademark Protection

A trademark protects words, names, symbols, and logos that distinguish goods and services. Your name is one of your most valuable business assets, so it’s worth protecting. You can file for a trademark for less than $300. Learn how to trademark your business name.

A name selection crtiteria

How to Name Your Business
What's in a name? A lot, when it comes to small-business success. The right name can make your company the talk of the town. The wrong one can doom it to obscurity and failure. Ideally, your name should convey the expertise, value and uniqueness of the product or service you have developed.

Some experts believe that the best names are abstract, a blank slate upon which to create an image. Others think that names should be informative so customers know immediately what your business is. Some believe that coined names (that come from made-up words) are more memorable than names that use real words. Others think they're forgettable.

In reality, any name can be effective if it's backed by the appropriate marketing strategy. Here's what you'll need to consider in order to give your small business the most appropriate and effective name.

Related

Start Your Own Business By Entrepreneur Staff

4 Reader Comments. Share your thoughts

spending a reasonable amount of money early for quality expert advice can save you money in the long term.

What's in a Name? Start by deciding what you want your name to communicate. It should reinforce the key elements of your business. Your work in developing a niche and a mission statement will help you pinpoint the elements you want to emphasize in your name.

The more your name communicates to consumers about your business, the less effort you must exert to explain it. According to naming experts, entrepreneurs should give priority to real words or combinations of words over fabricated words. People prefer words they can relate to and understand. That's why professional namers universally condemn strings of numbers or initials as a bad choice.

On the other hand, it is possible for a name to be too meaningful. Common pitfalls are geographic or generic names. A hypothetical example is "San Pablo Disk Drives." What if the company wants to expand beyond the city of San Pablo, California? What meaning will that name have for consumers in Chicago or Pittsburgh? And what if the company diversifies beyond disk drives into software or computer instruction manuals?

How can a name be both meaningful and broad? Descriptive names tell something concrete about a business -- what it does, where it's located and so on. Suggestive names are more abstract. They focus on what the business is about.

Consider "Italiatour," a name that was developed by one naming company to help promote package tours to Italy. Though it's not a real word, the name is meaningful and customers can recognize immediately what's being offered. Even better, "Italiatour" evokes the excitement of foreign travel.

When choosing a business name, keep the following tips in mind:

Choose a name that appeals not only to you but also to the kind of customers you are trying to attract. Choose a comforting or familiar name that conjures up pleasant memories so customers respond to your business on an emotional level. Don't pick a name that is long or confusing. Stay away from cute puns that only you understand. Don't use the word “Inc.” after your name unless your company is actually incorporated.

Get Creative At a time when almost every existing word in the language has been trademarked, the option of coining a name is becoming more popular. Some examples are Acura and Compaq, which were developed by naming firm NameLab.

Coined names can be more meaningful than existing words, says NameLab president Michael Barr. For example, "Acura" has no dictionary definition but the word suggests precision engineering, just as the company intended. NameLab's team created the name Acura from "Acu," a word segment that means "precise" in many languages. By working with meaningful word segments (what linguists call morphemes) like "Acu," Barr says the company produces new words that are both meaningful and unique.

Barr admits, however, that made-up words aren't the right solution for every situation. New words are complex and may create a perception that the product, service or company is complex, which may not be true. Plus, naming beginners might find this sort of coining beyond their capabilities.

An easier solution is to use new forms or spellings of existing words. For instance, NameLab created the name Compaq when a new computer company came to them touting its new portable computer. The team thought about the word "compact" and came up with Compaq, which they believed would be less generic and more noticeable.

Test Your Name After you've narrowed the field to four or five names that are memorable and expressive, you are ready to do a trademark search. Not every business name needs to be trademarked, as long as your state government gives you the go-ahead and you aren't infringing on anyone else's trade name. But you should consider hiring a trademark attorney or at least a trademark search firm before to make sure your new name doesn't infringe on another business's trademark.

To illustrate the risk you run if you step on an existing trademark, consider this: You own a new manufacturing business that is about to ship its first orders when an obscure company in Ogunquit, Maine, considers the name of your business an infringement on their trademark. It engages you in a legal battle that bankrupts your business. This could have been avoided if sought out expert help. The extra money you spend now could save you countless hassles and expenses further down the road.

Final Analysis If you're lucky, you'll end up with three to five names that pass all your tests. Now, how do you make your final decision?

Recall all your initial criteria. Which name best fits your objectives? Which name most accurately describes the company you have in mind?

Some entrepreneurs arrive at a final decision by going with their gut or by doing consumer research or testing with focus groups to see how the names are perceived. You can doodle an idea of what each name will look like on a sign or on business stationery. Read each name aloud, paying attention to the way it sounds if you foresee radio advertising or telemarketing in your future. Use any or all of these criteria.

Keep in mind that professional naming firms devote anywhere from six weeks to six months to the naming process. You probably won't have that much time, but plan to spend at least a few weeks on selecting a name.

Once your decision is made, start building your enthusiasm for the new name immediately. Your name is your first step toward building a strong company identity, one that should last as long as you're in business.