A happy BlackBerry is a happy BlackBerry user.

So, how can you keep your BlackBerry happy?  QuickPull.  One quirky thing about the BlackBerry is that it needs a soft reset every once in a while to keep it running at it’s best.  To do a soft reset you have to do a battery pull which isn’t fun when that means peeling off your cool case and pulling the battery out.  Well, there’s a super cool free option — QuickPull.  You can schedule a soft reset when ever you want it (mine is scheduled daily at 3AM).  QuickPull is available at BlackBerry App World (which if you don’t have that on your BlackBerry get it NOW).

So, what is BlackBerry App World?  It’s the official store for BlackBerry Apps.   There are 100s, heck maybe 1,000s of apps for your BlackBerry on here.  You can download it to your phone to browse at your leasure.  Some apps are free some have a fee.  The nice thing is that most have reviews written by other users so you can see what people are saying before you try it out.  You definitely want it on your phone, though.  Nothing like being on a long car ride and needing a new game for your nephew (or yourself) and being able to click-click your phone and provide some quick entertainment.

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As the Internet evolves from its technology to its software, and changes the way we communicate, it has opened us to a whole new world of social media. Blogging is one such evolving method of communication, and WordPress is one of the foremost accepted platforms for people wanting to get into the blogging action.

Evolving Software

WordPress is free, web-based software that is open source, which means it is available for developers to build upon and alter at will. Over time, its open source flexibility has allowed WordPress to become a content management system (CMS), or a program that creates, edits, and manages website content as well as blog content.

The best part about WordPress is that it doesn’t require knowledge of PHP or HTML code to use it. The blog or website creator chooses the look and rearranges the content simply and without rebuilding whole pages through the code.

While utilizing WordPress to build a website is possible, my preference is to maintain separate platforms for my website and blog by using traditional website development options.  I believe it allows me to take advantage of different options, and search engine optimization methods to capture as many prospects as possible.

Themes and Plug-ins

WordPress has a theme system that allows for easy customization for your blog allowing the creator to change the look of the site as often as they like. WordPress also has features that assist with link management, complex indexing of blog posts, and the ability for multiple authors to add blog or site content. WordPress works well with other blogging services like Trackback and Pingback as well as easy importing of content from other blogs. WordPress also has security features such to control spam and visitor comments, user registration, and password protection for selected posts. There are also hundreds of compatible plugins available that can greatly extend the functionality.

WordPress for Business and Pleasure

WordPress started as a communication tool for the individual, but it also has many benefits to offer to the business world. Since WordPress is so simple to use and maintain, this means less overhead and less time spent for creation and maintenance of the blog platform. The blogging aspect of WordPress also means that companies have an on-demand method for keeping their audiences updated on company business and advertising their products and services. Plus, blogging offers a wonderful method for companies to get feedback from their consumers. It allows you to keep the content fresh, which increases search engine ranking so that the company’s content will have a better chance of audience exposure.

Everyone’s Doing It

With the popularity of social media and the flexible program, ease of installation, and added functionality of plug ins, WordPress provides a way for everyone to be involved and engaged in social media, and utilize the benefits it provides to your overall presence on the Internet.

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s).  For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”,  a 2-month trial in her Insider group coaching program, or 1-month trial of her coaching club visit:  http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

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I recently stumbled across this really cool, geeky tool for practicing speed reading, and thought it would be a great share with all of my fellow geeks.

About Spreeder

Spreeder is an online speed reading utility to help train you to read faster. It does this by flashing words at a rapid rate, which helps in three ways:

1. Reduce subvocalization
2. Increase chunk comprehension
3. Eliminate backreading

You can read more about it and access a tutorial here.

How to Use Spreeder

The Spreeder website is super simple and at first glance, it may not be clear exactly what you should be doing, so here’s a really easy rundown:

• Go to www.spreeder.com.
• Paste any text that you want to use for your practice in the box on the screen and click spreed!

Once you get the hang of how it works, you can play around with the settings:

From the settings menu, you can change things like how many words per minute are flashed, the chunk size (number of words flashed at a given time), and background color.

The background color was a biggie for me — for some reason, I thought the black text on white was brutal. I changed my settings so the text was a dark gray and the background a lighter gray. Much easier on my eyes!

There is also an advanced settings option that lets you change things like speed variability, pauses, skipping “stopwords,” etc.

It’s a really cool tool for anyone who wants to learn how to read faster (and become more productive in the process). Oh, and did I mention that it’s free? Give it a try!

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