Blogs

Running Simple Groupware On Nginx (LEMP) On Debian Squeeze/Ubuntu 11.10

This tutorial shows how you can install and run Simple Groupware on a Debian Squeeze or Ubuntu 11.10 system that has nginx installed instead of Apache (LEMP = Linux + nginx (pronounced "engine x") + MySQL + PHP). Simple Groupware is an open source enterprise groupware that offers email, calendaring, contacts, tasks, document management, project management, synchronization with Outlook and cell phones, full-text search, extensions and many more. nginx is a HTTP server that uses much less resources than Apache and delivers pages a lot of faster, especially static files.

Looking for a new client? The FreelanceSwitch job board is a great resource of freelance gigs and opportunities. These opportunities are in various fields, from development to writing to design, and come from a wide range of potential clients. The job board is hand-moderated by dedicated staff and volunteers from the freelance community.

Each week, we’ll feature a selection of the best job opportunities posted for the week. This week, we’re featuring jobs in WordPress Design, Web Development, PHP/Facebook Development and more!

To apply for any of these jobs, simply pick up a FreelanceSwitch membership for an affordable $7 a month. See something you like? Join now!

Magazine Style / WordPress Content Website Design

Budget: $2,500 to $5,000

I need a magazine style/ wordpress content website designer someone with specific experience and specialist in designing these types of websites understanding content flow, layout, background, icons, and typography all which play a major role in these style of websites. Sites like adweek.com, bonappetite.com, buzzfeed.com, and newser.com you must have a special touch, and creative detail to do these sites. You also have to meet deadlines establish weeks ago and come in working quickly, efficiently, producing quality, this is a high impact, strict time frame project so only apply if you can and are will to do this project.

Learn more & apply!

Junior Web Developer

Budget: $10,000+

Have you yearned to work on stuff that leaves the world a better place? Ever wanted to stand back at the end of the day and see how your 8 hours made a difference? This is the opportunity to do just that. Work on a highly motivated team that is working to save North American Charities over $1billion dollars every year. Want to contribute to our lofty goal? Join Team Frendo.

The Junior Web Developer will work with the development team to contribute to the evolution, support, and maintenance of our current projects. The primary responsibility of the Junior Web Developer will be to provide support for internal systems and site users.

Learn more & apply!

Freelance WordPress Developer for premium theme

Budget: $500 to $1,000

We are looking for a freelance WordPress/PHP/jQuery expert to help with development of a premium WP theme that will be sold online. We have already used our own design and front-end/PHP skills to build the bulk of the theme but are finding we lack the jQuery and advanced PHP skills to finish it.

Learn more & apply!

Freelance PHP / Facebook Web Developer

Budget: $500 to $1,000

Need an intermediate level PHP developer with Facebook experience. Our application is just about finished and we require an extra hand to help get the bugs out and finish some functionality. We’ve built a large codebase as a combination WordPress plugin and theme.

Learn more & apply!

Flash/ActionScript Developer (2 month contract)

Budget: $5,000 to $10,000

Segue Technologies, Inc. seeks a Software Engineer to develop new software and to integrate new and enhanced modules into an existing code library using Flash, ActionScript and object-oriented JavaScript technologies. This position will have a duration of two months with possible extension.

Position Duties & Responsibilities:
The effort requires working in a fast-paced, team environment to realize interactive, browser-based applications within an existing object-oriented JavaScript framework. The right candidate must be able to develop parameterized interfaces callable from JavaScript, create ActionScripts to interact with SWF files, including capture, crop and extract sections, and use Flash with browser XML capabilities to render rich content in a maintainable and sustainable application or module. Candidate will create engaging, maintainable and sustainable animations.

Learn more & apply!

View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.

This week we look at Paul Boag: Get Clients to say ‘Yes!’ by Paul Boag. This weekend we’re sharing a great talk from Carsonified. In this talk at FOWD NYC, Paul Boag covers strategies for working better with design clients.

Paul Boag on “Get Clients to say ‘Yes!’” from Carsonified on Vimeo.

Computers store every piece of text using a “character encoding,” which gives a number to each character. For example, the byte 61 stands for ‘a’ and 62 stands for ‘b’ in the ASCII encoding, which was launched in 1963. Before the web, computer systems were siloed, and there were hundreds of different encodings. Depending on the encoding, C1 could mean any of ¡, Ё, Ą, Ħ, ‘, ”, or parts of thousands of characters, from æ to 品. If you brought a file from one computer to another, it could come out as gobbledygook.

Unicode was invented to solve that problem: to encode all human languages, from Chinese (中文) to Russian (русский) to Arabic (العربية), and even emoji symbols like or
; it encodes nearly 75,000 Chinese ideographs alone. In the ASCII encoding, there wasn’t even enough room for all the English punctuation (like curly quotes), while Unicode has room for over a million characters. Unicode was first published in 1991, coincidentally the year the World Wide Web debuted—little did anyone realize at the time they would be so important for each other. Today, people can easily share documents on the web, no matter what their language.

Every January, we look at the percentage of the webpages in our index that are in different encodings. Here’s what our data looks like with the latest figures*:

*Your mileage may vary: these figures may vary somewhat from what other search engines find. The graph lumps together encodings by script. We detect the encoding for each webpage; the ASCII pages just contain ASCII characters, for example. Thanks again to Erik van der Poel for collecting the data.
As you can see, Unicode has experienced an 800 percent increase in “market share” since 2006. Note that we separate out ASCII (~16 percent) since it is a subset of most other encodings. When you include ASCII, nearly 80 percent of web documents are in Unicode (UTF-8). The more documents that are in Unicode, the less likely you will see mangled characters (what Japanese call mojibake) when you’re surfing the web.

We’ve long used Unicode as the internal format for all the text Google searches and process: any other encoding is first converted to Unicode. Version 6.1 just released with over 110,000 characters; soon we’ll be updating to that version and to Unicode’s locale data from CLDR 21 (both via ICU). The continued rise in use of Unicode makes it even easier to do the processing for the many languages that we cover. Without it, our unified index it would be nearly impossible—it’d be a bit like not being able to convert between the hundreds of currencies in the world; commerce would be, well, difficult. Thanks to Unicode, Google is able to help people find information in almost any language.

Posted by Mark Davis, International Software Architect

Installing Webuzo Wordpress Stack

Webuzo Wordpress Stack is a free-quick-install package that allows bundling of all software (dependency) necessary to run Wordpress for development or production purposes. It includes the latest updated version of Wordpress and is pre-configured and ready-to-run.

There are a lot of stories written about home-based businesses—trust me, I just did a Google search. Working from home has changed drastically over the years, thanks to technology.

If you think back not even 20 years about home-based businesses, you might envision a low-tech service business such as a daycare or landscaping company. To run a professional business, you needed to be located in commercial office space. Not only did commercial space provide the technical services you needed, but it also provided a professional atmosphere appropriate for meeting with clients. —seacoastonline.com

Luckily, for us freelancers, that is no longer the case.

I have a computer, high speed internet, printer, and cell phone that allow me to do my work at home. And I have a nice office/laundry room to do it in. I know a bunch of people who work from home and I have some tips on how to run it right. See if you agree.

Find Your Own Space

Working from your kitchen table is hard. Especially if you have a spouse and/or children who like to use that kitchen table. My desk is chaos to an outsider, but I know exactly where everything is and no one is allowed to touch it.

I work on a desktop computer (an iMac)—if I didn’t I’d undoubtedly work in bed or in front of the television, and that’s not very productive. I have an ergonomically correct chair and lots of natural light pouring in all day.

Having a space all to yourself is important. You can shut the door when you need to and focus. You don’t need to rely on a noisy coffee shop or the hours at your public library to get things done.

Schedule Kid-Free Time

A lot of people who work at home make the mistake of thinking they can also take care of their children during the day, saving on the cost of child care for younger children. More often than not, you end up working in spurts when (and if) your child goes down for a nap. And since that’s only a couple of hours (if you are lucky) during the day, you are playing catch-up at night after the kids have gone to bed, leaving you no time to socialize with your spouse.

Depending on the amount of freelance work you have, this arrangement may work out fine. If you are busy, however, it could prove to be your downfall.

Also, I can’t tell you how annoying it is when you are on the phone with someone and your child is howling in the background. I have had several conference calls where this has happened. I didn’t appreciate it, and your client won’t either. If you are going to take important phone calls, make sure your lovely children aren’t causing a ruckus in the background. It’s unprofessional.

Find Someplace Where You Can Have a Client Meeting

If your clients are local, you may have to meet them face to face on occasion. Please don’t invite them to your house if it is a catastrophe. I know several professional photographers who work from home that have a separate meeting space where they can sit down with their clients that is a part of their home, oftentimes with a separate entrance.

If you need to have a meeting, and it can’t be at your client’s office, try to find a quiet place outside of your home to have it. Scope out some coffee shops in the area and find out when they aren’t busy (i.e., quiet) and schedule a meeting there. Many co-working spaces and libraries have designated conference areas—see what it would take to use these spaces if you have frequent meetings.

Hire A Virtual Assistant

If having a professional presence is important to you, a virtual assistant can be a great help. It’s like having a secretary that doesn’t work in your office. This person works remotely, and can help you with your bookkeeping, scheduling, and even answer your phone calls and forward them to your phone or voicemail.

Create Separation Between Work and Home Life

The downside to working from home is that you can feel like you should be working all the time. It’s nice to have an office door that you can close to create a literal barrier between your work space and home space.

Trying to keep regular office hours can help with this, but, as any freelancer knows, that can be a tall order. Set your alarm to get up at the same time every day and have a routine. The later in the day you start your work, the later in the evening you will be spending on finishing up.

Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you can’t run a professional office. Do you have any tips on ways to make freelancing from home even more successful?

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by xilius.

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at growing into an agency and freelancing internationally. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.

Question 1

I have been a successful freelancer for many years now, and I had such a successful year last year that I’ve realized it’s time for me to start hiring and building my own team. I am looking to start my own agency, but could use some advice on funding to help cover the initial hiring and marketing expenses to boost up from a freelancer to a full-blown agency.

Believe it or not, I am having a hard time finding any type of information on this subject online or in forums. How does one take your successful freelance business and officially move it forward to the “cooler” side of the creative corporate world?

The funding options available to a freelancer looking to grow her business are extremely varied, and you’re going to have to decide what really works for you. That said, here are a few ways to get started.

Hiring Your Own Freelancers: The greatest portion of freelancers who have built up businesses beyond themselves have done so by bringing in other freelancers when there was work available, rather than hiring on a permanent basis right away. It’s not a perfect situation, since you can wind up spending a lot of time on finding freelancers when new projects come along. But it’s probably the cheapest option.

Getting a Small Business Loan: Provided that you’ve been building up your business credit as you’ve freelanced, you may be well positioned to take out a business loan to make the transition. This option is attractive because you can get a lump sum and just get everything done, but it can also be tough to get through all the layers of lenders to actually get money.

Build Up Some Savings: Just as you might be advised to sock away some cash before striking out as a freelancer in the first place, you might consider setting aside a certain portion of your freelance income every month until you’ve built up the amount you need to launch your agency right.

Question 2

I am a freelancing wanna be based in Egypt. I know it’s hard to freelance internationally, especially from a third world country, what with scams and lack of trust along side with different culture and lifestyles. I have lived in the U.S for a year as an exchange student so I kinda understand the culture better, but my question is: Is it possible to freelance from the other side of the world, especially a third world country?

It absolutely is possible. One of the most reliable freelancers I’ve had the pleasure of working with is based in the Philippines. The thing is that I don’t think most of her clients really realize where she’s based. It’s not a question of lying to her clients — she simply presents herself as a professional and doesn’t bring up the matter of location unless it actually impacts her work.

If you’re looking to freelance and want to land clients from other countries that typically pay more, the first thing to focus on is presenting yourself as a professional. If you have a great website and portfolio, written perfectly in the local idiom of the clients you want to attract, you’re going to be more attractive to them — most people want to work with freelancers that seem like they’ll be easy to explain a project to, so not only is a shared language crucial, but so is a shared dialect.

Simply leave off your address in Egypt — or wherever — from your website. if a client asks, be truthful. You’ll be surprised how many people don’t ask, though.

Women make up more than half the global population, but hold fewer than a third of the world’s engineering jobs. In the U.S., female students comprise fewer than 15 percent of all Advanced Placement computer science test takers. Even in high-tech Israel, few girls choose computer science. Not only is this a loss to companies like Google and everyone who benefits from a continually developing web; it's also a lost opportunity for girls.

Beginning in 2008, a group of female engineers at Google in Israel decided to tackle this problem. We established the “Mind the Gap!” program, aimed at encouraging girls to pursue math, science and technology education. In collaboration with the Israeli National Center for Computer Science Teachers, we began organizing monthly school visits for different groups of girls to the Google office and annual tech conferences at local universities and institutes. The girls learn about computer science and technology and get excited about its applications, as well as have a chance to talk with female engineers in an informal setting and see what the working environment is like for them.



Since we started this program over three years ago, we’ve hosted more than 1,100 teenage girls at our office, and an additional 1,400 girls at three annual conferences held in leading universities. These 2,500 students represent 100 schools from all sectors and from all over the country: Tel Aviv, Haifa, Tira, Beer-Sheva, Jerusalem, Nazareth and more; what they have in common is the potential to become great computer scientists.

The results are encouraging. For instance, some 40 percent of the girls who participated in last year’s conference later chose computer science as a high school major.

We encourage people in other countries, at other companies and in other scientific disciplines to see how they could replicate this program. You can read more at the project site. Currently, we are working with the Google in Education group to expand the program to more offices globally and get even more young women excited about computer science. The difference we can make is real: At one of our first visits three years ago, we met a 10th grade student named Keren who enjoyed math but had never considered computer science as a high school major. Last month, Keren informed us that the visit made such an impact on her, she decided to change her major to computer science. “Talking to women in the field helped me change my mind,” she said.

Posted by Michal Segalov, Software Engineer at Google’s R&D Center, Israel

Running ownCloud3 On Nginx (LEMP) On Debian Squeeze/Ubuntu 11.10

This tutorial shows how you can install and run ownCloud3 on a Debian Squeeze or Ubuntu 11.10 system that has nginx installed instead of Apache (LEMP = Linux + nginx (pronounced "engine x") + MySQL + PHP). ownCloud enables universal access to files through the widely implemented WebDAV standard, providing a platform to easily view and sync contacts, calendars and bookmarks across devices while supporting sharing, viewing and editing via the web interface. It offers the ease-of-use of Dropbox and box.net without vendor lock in. ownCloud users can run its file sync and share services on their own hardware. nginx is a HTTP server that uses much less resources than Apache and delivers pages a lot of faster, especially static files.

A recent story in The Australian caught my eye. The title of the piece is “Online magazine offers less than 2c a word to freelancers”. The name of the online magazine is Breathe Magazine Australia (BreatheMagazine.com) and it is scheduled to launch in April 2012.

The Australian journalists’ union, called Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) has a recommended word rate of 93c a word (which is comparable to U.S. currency).  The MEAA criticized Breathe Magazine’s owner, Flujo, stating that “Employers must realize that journalists must be paid properly for their work.”

Flujo is looking for three full-time writers, and is asking journalists to agree to write a minimum of six 400-word articles throughout the course of a month in the hopes they are hired for the full time gig. A 400-word article, by Breathe Magazine’s pay rate, is $7.

Many established freelancers would scoff at that rate—and it’s unclear by this article if the full-time writer would be paid more than that once hired.

The editor of Breathe Magazine Australia, Cedric Chenefront, conceded that it was a low rate but defended the offer on the grounds of his publication’s limited advertising budget.

“We’ll give it three months (at the $7 per article rate) but we’re hoping to pay them more as soon as we have more budget,” he said. —theaustralian.com.au

When I first started freelancing for a couple of monthly publications in Boston, MA in my early 20s, I wrote for free. I was testing the waters. I had a full-time job that I liked, but I was trying to figure out if I wanted to go back to school to become a journalist. I got perks—like free movie tickets and DVDs—but that wasn’t what I cared about. I wanted to see my name in print for the first time ever. I didn’t care about getting paid.

Fast forward 10 years and I have a graduate degree in journalism under my belt, and a handful of bylines at newspapers and magazines along the East Coast. I work as an editor for a regional publication and I do some freelancing on the side. I have some great credentials and I have a lot of experience. Heck, I even teach undergraduate courses at a local university. I am a good writer, and there is no way I would accept a job that paid 1.7 cents a word—not in the stage of my career today. I know my worth.

If you are just starting out in the freelance world, writing for little to no pay might help you get some clips under your belt. If you’ve never written before, you might have to write for free (or very low pay) because you have no experience. We’ve all been there at one time or another. Once you start building your portfolio and getting better paying clients, you can start turning down work that doesn’t help your bottom line. And pretty soon, 1.7 cents a word is going to sound pretty ridiculous to you, too.

“It is clear from the work that the alliance has done into freelance rates in Australia, $7 for a 400-word article is clearly well below the rate a professional journalist would expect to receive for their work.” —MEAA spokesman, Jonathan Este

It always makes me roll my eyes when any magazine offers the following retorts when faced with people complaining about their low pay rate:

• We may be paying below the industry standard, but your byline will get tons of exposure on our site.
• We’re hoping to pay our readers more as soon as our budget increases.
• We’re a new publication and don’t have a lot of advertising revenue.

These are excuses, and not a sound way to run a business. Clearly, magazines that are not willing to pay their writers a fair wage, are not overly concerned with publishing the best content.

Freelance payment should be worked into a publications monthly budget from the get-go, and should not be predicated on how much advertising revenue is generated. What happens, say, if you raise your rates because you are generating more revenue, and then have a few months when your ad sales are abysmal? Are you going to pay your writers less because your ad sales team is not doing a good job? Good luck keeping any of your best writers on board.

Unless you’ve been living underneath a very large rock for the past couple of years, you’ve probably heard that Europe is teetering on the brink of financial armageddon.

While there’s no shortage of doom and gloom in the the global outlook, it’s not all bad news – especially if you’re a freelancer. There’s opportunity in every crisis, and mobile workers are now in a better position than ever.

As freelancers who aren’t tied to a desk and a physical location, we’re uniquely poised to take advantage of the shifting financial landscape.

The Euro Crisis in a Nutshell

The Euro (EUR) is used by 17 member states within the European Union. The common currency performed well in the early 2000s, but since 2009 has been embroiled in a severe and complicated debt crisis.

The net result of all this is that the EUR has nosedived in value, relative to most other major currencies.

The looming threat of one or more Eurozone members defaulting on their debts has scared the bejesus out of currency investors, who are dumping the Euro en masse and looking for a safer place to park their money.

The net result of all this is that the EUR has nosedived in value, relative to most other major currencies. The US, Canadian and New Zealand Dollars are all worth significantly more against the Euro now than they were three years ago.

The biggest winner, however, has been the Australian Dollar, which has gained a whopping 60 percent on the Euro since early 2009.

Dollar-Earning Freelancers Can Capitalize on a Weaker Euro

The huge advantage that remote freelancers enjoy is the ability to earn money in one place and spend it somewhere else. If the bulk of your freelance income is dollars, you might want to give some serious thought to a long-term working holiday in Europe.

As an Australian freelancer living in Germany, I’ve watched the value of my income rise steadily over the last couple of years, without ever increasing my fees or taking on extra work.

I’ve crunched some numbers and determined that my cost of living here in Berlin, taking account of the current exchange rate, is less than half of what the same lifestyle would cost me in Sydney or Melbourne. Earning the AUD while spending the EUR has been a very favorable arrangement. And Berlin is an amazing place to live.

For a regular 9-5 desk jockey, currency fluctuations mean next to nothing. But for freelancers and remote workers, this is the stuff we thrive on. We’re the lucky few who can jump the fence and turn financial turmoil into personal gain. So I say pack your bags, and get in while the getting is good.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by brux.

While thousands of lucky fans will brave the crowds at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. to fill the coveted seats at this Sunday’s Super Bowl, many more in the U.S. will enjoy the game from home—in front of the TV, with mobile phones and tablets at the ready.

As the New York Giants and New England Patriots prepare for kickoff, here are several ways to make the most of the big game with Google—wherever you’re watching. You can explore the full list in our Game Day with Google playbook, a new page on Inside Search that we’ve filled with tips on how to use Google to enjoy the game.

Get the inside scoop
Visit the Giants and Patriots Google+ pages for behind-the-scenes coverage and details on a chance for you to join the Giants pre-game hangout on Thursday for a face-to-face chat with the players. Be sure to leave a comment on their post for a chance to participate.


On Monday, Feb 6 at noon ET, stop by the NBC Sports Google+ page for a Hangout On Air with CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell. He’ll chat about the previous day’s game and review the best commercials with fans that drop in. Leave a comment on this NBC Sports post to throw your name in the hat to be one of the lucky participants who will chat with Rovell On Air.


Plan your party
Super Bowl party rivalry is already in full swing with Indiana leading the pack in Google searches for [super bowl party], ahead of both New York and Massachusetts. Despite New York being the home state of the buffalo wing, searches for [chicken wings] are nearly 50 percent higher in Massachusetts.

If you’re looking for a dip recipes, [hummus] reigns supreme, followed by guacamole, queso and bean dip. Use Google Recipe search to find a recipe with the ingredients to make everyone happy. Or, swing by ChefHangout on Google+ to join a cooking class on favorite Super Bowl party foods.

Talking babies or barking dogs? You decide.
It wouldn’t be the Super Bowl without the commercials. We’ve already seen a flurry of pre-game teasers pop up on YouTube and Google+, but which commercial will reign supreme? Our fifth annual YouTube Ad Blitz in partnership with NBC Sports enables you to replay and vote on your favorite commercials online from a laptop, mobile phone or tablet. Tune in to the YouTube Ad Blitz channel or NBCSports.com to watch and rate the commercials.


Watch the Madonna premiere on YouTube
If the halftime show interests you more than counting yards gained and lost, get an early taste of the show with Madonna’s music video premiere for “Give Me All Your Luvin” featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A on her official youtube.com/Madonna channel this Friday and on the YouTube Ad Blitz channel pre-game on Sunday. You can pre-order her deluxe album right there in the video description. And make sure to tune in to Madonna’s Google+ profile all week long for her latest news.

May the best team win!

Posted by Sue McCauley, YouTube Ad Blitz program manager (and die-hard Giants fan)

Our business at Google is rooted in STEM and CS, so we’re passionate about supporting organizations that are expanding access to these fields, especially for students who might not have the opportunity otherwise. The annual Google Roots in Science and Engineering (RISE) program supports organizations running innovative STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and CS (computer science) enrichment programs for K-12 and university students around the world.


This year, the Google in Education group received a record number of inspiring applications for RISE. We expanded the awards to include Sub-Saharan Africa, and in total, we’re awarding more than $340,000 in funding to 13 U.S., eight European and five African organizations.

Our recipients are diverse, ranging from girls robotics teams building high-tech machinery in Nairobi to after-school programs that have students configuring cluster computers in Salt Lake City. Below are just a few of the outstanding organizations receiving RISE awards this year for their efforts in advancing CS and STEM education:

United States

• Santa Clara Valley Society of Women Engineers, San Jose, California. GetSET is a program created for underrepresented ethnic minority girls in the San Francisco Bay Area to expose them to engineering while building self confidence through leadership workshops, tours of technology companies and participation in team-building exercises.
• Saturday Academy, Portland, Oregon. Saturday Academy serves 2nd-12th grade students from Oregon and SW Washington with high quality and creative learning opportunities taught by STEM experts, including hands-on, real world activities that create meaningful connections between academic content and practical application.

Europe

• Frauennetzwerk Informatik at Universität Passau, Passau, Germany. University students from Passau act as ambassadors for computer science, engineering and math by reaching out to juniors and seniors at their former high schools and running workshops on topics like robotics and mobile app development. Ambassadors go on to serve as mentors to the students throughout their high school and college careers.
• The Centre for Academic Achievement, Dublin, Ireland. This center runs free after school educational classes in a university setting for bright primary school students from disadvantaged areas. Each term, students from 32 local primary schools have the opportunity to study science, math and engineering subjects and are encouraged to pursue college degrees in the future.

Sub Saharan Africa

• Savana Signatures, Tamale, Ghana. Savana Signatures educates youth and women, building their capacity to access information for the benefit of Ghana’s social and economic development.
• Fundi Bots, Kampala, Uganda. Fundi Bots is a technology outreach program for students in high school and university that uses robotics to introduce young children to the endless possibilities of technology in both their day-to-day lives and potential careers.

Organizations interested in applying for 2013 funding can sign up for more information here. We look forward to hearing about all the great work being done in CS and STEM education.

Posted by Roxana Shirkhoda, K-12 Education Outreach

Hardening Postfix For ISPConfig 3

The goal of this tutorial is to harden the mail server postfix used by ISPConfig for internet mail servers where authenticated users are trusted. With this setup you will reject a great amount of spam before it passes into your mail queue, saving a lot of system resources and making your mail server strong against spammers and spam botnets.

I love sleeping. Always have, always will. I was the kid whose parents had to wake up on Christmas morning. If I don’t get enough sleep—watch out.

Admittedly, sometimes I feel ashamed at getting nine hours of sleep at night. But when I read this article in Inc.com about how important sleep really is, I decided to never feel ashamed again.

The overall arching theme of this article? Working overtime doesn’t increase your output. It makes you stupid. AMEN!

This, however, is hard for some people to understand—especially if they are working on deadline.

Early productivity studies show that up to 40 hours, us humans are pretty productive. After that, when we get tired, we’re less able to produce reliable work.

“Although we might all like to imagine that we can work happily through the night, once again the data’s all against us. Lose just one night’s sleep and your cognitive capacity is roughly the same as being over the alcohol limit. Yet we regularly hail as heroes the executives who take the red eye, jump into a rental car, and zoom down the highway to the next meeting.” —Inc.com

Ever heard of quality over quantity? I would rather work a solid six-hour day without fatigue and call it quits—even if there is more stuff to do—than push myself to work 10 hours. Trust me, I’ve done both (and worked longer than 10 hours a day) and guess what? I was miserable. And one day like that affects the rest of your week. Here’s some science on what I’m talking about…

When we are tired, our performance doesn’t degrade equally. Instead, when you lose a night’s sleep, the parietal and occipital lobes in your brain become less active. The parietal lobe integrates information from the senses and is involved in our knowledge of numbers and manipulation of objects. The occipital lobe is involved in visual processing. So the parts of our mind responsible for understanding the world and the data around us start to slow down. —Inc.com

Have you ever caught yourself not being able to figure out simple things? Maybe you are having a hard time finishing a sentence or finding the right word to use in something you’re writing. You feel dumb, and numb, and you are off your game. Call it a day and take a nap.

I’m sure some of you out there are arguing “but I don’t have time!” Make time. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and wake up at the same time every day. Make a schedule for yourself and stick to it. It’s better for you to put in a little extra time on the weekends than to try to pull an all-nighter. You’re not in college anymore. You can’t stay in bed the entire next day because you were up late studying the night before.

Depriving yourself of sleep is also related to weight gain.

After 24 hours of sleep deprivation, there is an overall reduction of six percent in glucose reaching the brain. (That’s why you crave donuts and candy.) —Inc.com

Your diet is compromised when you aren’t working regular hours. Skipping dinner with the family to work late? What are you grabbing from the refrigerator at 9 pm when you’re stomach won’t stop growling? I opt for bagels or baked goods. Carbs. They’re my weakness.

Here are some tips on how to get more sleep:

• Create a bedtime schedule and stick to it—no matter what.
• Hire someone or outsource some of the daily tasks that take up your time: like data processing or bookkeeping. It will save you time and stress, and allow you to focus on your clients.
• Eat well and regularly. If you have to put in some overtime, make sure you are eating healthily. Keep plenty of fruit and vegetables around for snacks.
• Remember that you are only one person, and you can only do so much. Don’t be a hero if it’s going to affect your health. It’s not worth it.

Sleep depravation also causes you to make mistakes. I remember we were really pushing the deadline on sending one of our magazines to the printer. We were cranky, tired, and unhappy people. When the magazine came back from the printer I noticed all sorts of mistakes that embarrassed me. I knew our team was better than what we produced, but because we worked an 80-hour workweek, we weren’t in top shape. I hope it never happens again.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Yuri_Arcurs.

So you finally got a call back and that client is ready to move forward with working with you! Great! Now it’s time to get down to business.

How do you make sure you get paid for the work you do? We all hate this part, but the nuts and bolts of a business relationship are the foundation for freelance success. It’s time to make a contract.

This is a part of the freelance gig that most of us all hate with a passion. Let’s face it – not too many people enjoy having to go through the process of reviewing and signing a contract. Unfortunately, it’s a necessary part of doing business.

In the context of a “safer” client contract, the temptation is to automatically jump to the idea of an “airtight” contract that covers every possible situation or scenario. For the most part, that’s just not the case.

Do You Need a Contract?

Of course you do, but that doesn’t mean your contract is formal. Contracts serve many purposes, but the real function is to help everyone know what’s expected. You should know how much work to do and how much you’re getting paid, when you’re expected to be finished, and other technical matters. Contracts help spell these types of details out.

Some freelancers or clients will only work if and when a contract is produced.

Some freelancers or clients will only work if and when a contract is produced. This is often because they’ve been burned in the past and are playing it safe. That’s their preference and there’s nothing wrong with that.

On the other hand, some clients just want to get to work and don’t or won’t move forward if you demand a contract. This can be for legitimate reasons, such as the dollar amount not being worth the trouble for the formality. The situation may call for moving quickly: they trust you, they’re in a really big hurry, they’re comfortable with the arrangement, and the time it takes for legal to review means they can’t move forward quickly.

A client not wanting a contract should set off a warning bell, but don’t automatically reject a client that doesn’t want a formal contract either.

What Makes a Contract?

The most basic contract simply spells out what is being offered to whom and why. The legal terms are offer, acceptance, and consideration. Simply put, in the freelance world we offer our services, the client accepts our proposals, and the consideration for both parties is pay (for you) and the finished product (for the client).

Once the client has engaged you and given you the go-ahead for a project, so long as you in turn provide what they ordered, you should get paid.

The point here is that a formal contract document is not necessary. Contracts can be complicated documents that spell out each party’s responsibilities to the letter, but that’s not always necessary.

Keep it in Writing

One of the keys to safer client contracts is to keep everything in writing. If you have a phone conversation or meet face-to-face, always follow up with an email to spell out what was agreed upon. Bullet points are fine. The point is to make sure that you have a paper trail should a dispute arise later.

Safer contracting means keeping everything in writing, even through an informal email.

Believe it or not, these written communications can become part of the contract between you and your client. In fact, they may be the only form of contract that you really need. From a legal standpoint, any documentation showing that you and your client have agreed upon some terms is a contract.

The most recent documents generally are the only ones that matter. So, if you fail to follow up on that last meeting where the client agreed to increase your payments but “forgot,” you’re out of luck unless you can show in writing the conversation took place.

Safer contracting means keeping everything in writing, even through an informal email. This also serves to ensure you are communicating effectively, and most clients always appreciate the follow up anyway.

Formal Contracts at a Threshold

Do you really need a formal contract for each client? Your attorney would say “Yes!” but let’s be practical – some jobs just don’t justify the extra work. What about that long-standing client relationship where you have a clear process and you trust each other? How about that small project where messing with a contract means you cut your profits in half?

These are just a few examples of when you should consider skipping the formalities and moving forward without that airtight contract. “But that’s not safe!” you say? You can still cover yourself legally without the formalities (see above).

One way to figure out whether or not to move forward without a formal contract is to set some thresholds. Two general thresholds work: amount of money and complexity.

If the dollar amount for a project reaches a certain point, you always reach for the contract. You know how much time it takes to put a contract together. If not, you’ll figure it out at some point. And if you have an attorney review contracts, then you have that cost to cover as well. Practically speaking, you probably don’t need a contract for every project.

If a project starts to get incredibly complicated, you may want to take the time to put together a formal contract. Complexity is the reality of freelancing. Some projects are going to juggle multiple workloads across several team members, and at some point you realize that the project has taken on a life of its own. That may be a good time to move forward with a contract to ensure everyone stays on the same page.

Consider a Kill Fee

One very simple way to make your contracts safer is to always include a kill fee. If you’re not familiar with this concept, a kill fee is the amount you get paid if the client cancels the project, even if you haven’t done a single thing.

Having a kill fee often sets the unscrupulous apart from the legitimate. Industry standards vary, but generally speaking if you ask for 5-10% of the project value as your kill fee, you’re safe.

Even if you don’t use a formal contract, you can get a kill fee established for the project. In any initial proposal you make or final follow up documents, include your kill fee. Also, it’s better to put an exact dollar amount for your kill fee, rather than a percentage in writing. Use the percentage to develop your kill fee amount.

Critical Terms for All Contracts

Remember, a contract is mostly about communicating. Whether that’s a formal document or an email, the key is to get all the pertinent information included.

• Who – make sure to include your name/company and contact information as well as theirs
• What – get specific about your project. Detail what’s expected to be turned in. Word counts, final product specs, or whatever it is you’re working on, be very specific.
• Where – this may not matter if you work from home, but if the client is expecting you to show up somewhere, include the location.
• When – timing is everything, they say. So make sure to include due dates, even down to the hour. Also include when you expect to get paid.
• Why – this has to do with “consideration,” but also helps clarify the purpose of the project. A simple statement like, “to make your website better” is a consideration.
• How Much – here’s the dollar amount. Late payment fees, hourly rates, over-time rates, and other amounts may be included here. Most freelance projects are a firm fixed price – you quote an amount and they agree to it.

Other Points for Pondering

My grandfather once told me, “Only get into a contract with someone you trust.” I think this is sound advice for every freelancer. Regardless of the formality of your agreement, if the client can’t be trusted to pay you for your work, you’re out a lot of time and effort if you need to recover for your work through the legal system.

So the safest client contracting method for working with anyone is to make sure you trust them. If they’ve burned you before, they’re likely to do it again. A contract might make them think twice, but shady clients usually don’t turn into angels just because a contract is on the table.

What has your experience been when it comes to safer contracting? Do you have any horror stories of your own? What about those of you out there who will only work with a formal contract?

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Fotografia.

Virtual Users And Domains With Postfix, Courier, MySQL And SquirrelMail (CentOS 6.2 x86_64)

This document describes how to install a Postfix mail server that is based on virtual users and domains, i.e. users and domains that are in a MySQL database. I'll also demonstrate the installation and configuration of Courier, so that Courier can authenticate against the same MySQL database Postfix uses. The resulting Postfix server is capable of SMTP-AUTH and TLS and quota. Passwords are stored in encrypted form in the database. In addition to that, this tutorial covers the installation of Amavisd, SpamAssassin, ClamAV and SquirrelMail.

I love a good infographic, and this one created by Jobvite (view full infographic post or view it at full size) is really cool. It shows how Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter help people find work.

This research looks at how people are using social media to look for and find work. Facebook leads the pack, with 44% of job seeking activity followed by LinkedIn at 26%. Are you a ‘super social’—someone who is highly active in social media circles with more than the average number of contacts? Twenty-eight percent of you found their last job through social networking, and 85% of you did so on Facebook.

And my mother thinks you can still find good jobs in the daily newspaper…

This infographic doesn’t just look at the millions of unemployed workers, it also takes into consideration the 61% of Americans (sorry, foreign readers) who are currently employed but are open to a new job.

Some statistics from this infographic I found especially interesting…

• 4 out of 10 job seekers are ‘super social’ and have more than 150 contacts on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
• 1 in 6 job seekers found their last job through an online social network.
• 48% of ‘super social’ job seekers made contact with a recruiter on LinkedIn, as opposed to 9% of all job seekers.
• 65% of males use Twitter in their job search, as opposed to 35% of women.

There is a great story on Forbes about how one man, David T. Stevens, found not one but TWO jobs through LinkedIn. It’s worth a read but I’ll boil it down for you below:

Stevens signed up for LinkedIn in 2008 in the hopes that it would help him organize his sales contacts at the radio stations he worked at in San Jose, California. Seven months later his boss told him he would no longer be earning a salary and benefits—but could work on a commission-only base if he would like. He did not like that idea and left his job. Before he packed up his things at his office he updated his LinkedIn status to say “I’m up for grabs. Who wants me?”

In the car on his way home he got a call from one of his LinkedIn contacts who knew of a job opportunity at a local Chamber of Commerce they thought Stevens would be a good fit for. Stevens scheduled an interview that very same day and landed the job less than two weeks later.

Fast forward two years and Stevens was getting restless in his job and was interested in looking for a new opportunity. He turned to LinkedIn again. He emailed one of his contacts and asked her some questions about her job. In a phone conversation Stevens told this person he was thinking about changing jobs and was told of an opportunity his contact knew about. The next week he sent in his resume for the open position, had two interviews, and within two weeks the company made him an offer.

This story led me to another post on Forbes on what to say on LinkedIn when you’ve been laid off. I liked Stevens’s “I’m up for grabs. Who wants me?” update, and wanted to see if the author of this post (Deborah L. Jacobs) would think it was kosher.

In her blog post, Jacobs interviews a New York-based executive coach named Sandra A. VanGuilder. Here are her tips for updating your LinkedIn page when you are laid off and looking for work.

• Develop a robust, 100% complete LinkedIn profile.
• Be very public about the fact you are looking for work. These days, with the lagging economy, there is absolutely no shame in being laid off.
• Use a generic description of your professional headline. Label yourself what you would like to be, rather than being limited to what your last title was.
• Delete the “Current” heading under “Current Position.” Before you do that, though, cut and paste your previous company and job title into the “Past” section. Then click “edit” and “delete,” and make the “Current” heading disappear.

The same tips can be used for freelancers—even if you haven’t been laid off. Here are some LinkedIn tips for your profile.

• It’s ok to let people know you are looking for new projects. Unless you tell people, they can’t help you with your search.
• Make sure your job description matches what you are looking for. It’s ok to put Freelance Graphic Designer as your professional headline. If that’s the kind of work you are looking for—advertise for it.
• Go for quality over quantity when it comes to your connections. Five great connections is better than 50 perfect strangers. Be picky in who you connect with, and connect with people you have worked for or with. Seek out other freelancers in your market and network. It’s a great way to partner with other freelancers who are looking to outsource for their projects, and vice versa.

The way people look for and find jobs has drastically changed in the past 10 years. Do you have a success story you’d like to share about your social networking job search? We’d love to hear it!

To do list task managers and full productivity software is essential to a freelancers business. The style of design your looking for in a to do list app will differ based on the size of your small business, the nature of the services you offer, and your personal preferences.

You may be a one man freelancer and prefer a stripped down, easy to use task app that syncs well in the cloud and works with your preferred devices. Or you may regularly work with a team and need some specific features to have you all working in harmony and efficiently.

While every user will have different needs in a to do list manager, there are some features that clearly add functionality, and looking at them will help you choose the best to do app for you.

How a to do list task manager implements these features has a big impact on it’s user base. Here are some of the most prevalent and useful features to consider in reviewing task based productivity software:

• Categories, Tags, Smart Lists, and Hierarchies – Simple to do list managers will keep lists flat, possibly allowing you to categorize or tag your tasks (or use GTD methodology to segment your tasks based on where you are). More complex apps offer the ability to place tasks into hierarchies, which allows you to organize your to do items into projects or different areas of your life.
• Priority Settings, Due Dates, Reminders, and Calendar Views – Being able to mark an item as important gives you the simple ability to quickly look up what the next item on your list is to tackle. Due dates and calendar features allow you to plan your tasks well into the future.
• Note Fields and Document Storage – Attaching a note to a task item allows you to add important information needed to complete the task, or additional steps, such as talking points for a meeting or list items for a trip to the office supply store. Having the document right there attached to the task is great for improving collaboration efficiency.
• Online Access and Data Synching – For freelancers on the go it’s helpful to have access to our task lists anywhere and on our most used devices. For me, it’s essential to have a to do manager that can be accessed online, on my laptop (on my favorite operating system), my smart phone, and synch with my other devices (like my iPad).
• Data Security and Portability – Having our data secured in the cloud is essential to protecting our information, as well as our clients data. It’s also important to not be completely locked into any one system. A task manager that allows for easy backup and data download in a common format is an often overlooked feature.
• Collaboration Tools – For many of us solo freelancers we have little need to share our to do lists. For those of us that work with regular clients as part of their team though, this can be a must have feature to consider for your task manager solution.
• Simple UI Design and Customization Options – Do you want another bulky app that will take you time getting set up with, or one designed intuitively, that you can jump into immediately and start using? I know which one I’d choose. It’s nice as well when there are additional features that are available, without impacting the UI (such as Hotkey options) or the ability to customize the UI.
• Advanced Features – There are some advanced features that can set productivity apps apart, such as the ability to sync with your favorite apps, like Evernote and others, as well as natural language ability for ease of setting to do tasks.
• Affordable Pricing – All of these features need to be weighed against the price of the solution. Some of the featured to do list managers below are affordable, others more expensive, and some are free. Surprisingly, many of the affordable (and free) options are high quality and worth trying out.

Featured To Do List Apps

If you’re still lugging around a paper based day planner, then now is the time to switch to digital. Here are 20 to do list apps that will help you get organized and increase your productivity.

Keep an eye on features you are looking for, what fits your freelance company’s needs, and give these apps a trial run. Many of these apps are free or have a free trial version to get started with.

1. Wunderlist

This is the to do list manager I currently use. It looks like a native mac app, has an intuitive UI, which you can change the skin of easily to fit your taste. It has most of the features mentioned above, such as categorizing, prioritizing, setting due dates, notes, multi-device synching with the cloud, and collaboration tools.

It does lack the ability to tag and organize your tasks with hierarchies. It also lacks a full calendar view or calendar integration. With a price tag of free though, it’s an awesome solution that I’ve been happily using.

2. Teuxdeux

Teuxdeux is a simple task manger that is free on the web and has an affordable iPhone app that synchs with the cloud. It has one calendar view, which is weekly with Someday tasks shown below.

With the limited functionality and simple design you can get up and running quickly. It does lack collaboration, note fields, categorization, and other features you may need. This is a nice bare-bones solution that could work well for solo freelancers with little need for advanced task manager functions.

3. Tadalist

This app has been around for ages. When writing this article I logged into the app with an account I hadn’t used in years. The app is still as intuitive, simple, and easy to use as it always has been. It fits in with the 37 signals software design philosophy of less is more.

It features the simple ability to make multiple lists, with multiple items, add notes, share them with others, and complete tasks. It’s free to use, but lacks helpful features, such as setting due dates, tagging, and adding notes. It does have a well thought out mobile version when browsing to the site on your iPhone as well.

4. Remember the Milk

Remember the Milk is a web application with numerous mobile app options on popular devices. It can also integrate into Gmail, Outlook, and other apps. This task manager allows you to create an unlimited number of lists, which can be prioritized, tagged, have notes added, and more. It has sharing features and advanced notification options. Some advanced options for this to do manager require a Premium subscription. Most of the features though are free to use.

5. Do it Tomorrow

Do it Tomorrow is about as simple as it gets for managing your tasks. The only thing simpler would likely be plain old paper. This app has a simple interface with two columns, one for tasks to do today, and the other for tasks to do tomorrow. Anything you don’t complete today will automatically get moved to the tomorrow column.

The interface is beautifully designed and has multiple app options for popular gadgets. There is a small cost for these apps, but accessing the app via the web is free. While this is a great solution for simple task management, if you need to keep track of advanced projects and deadlines, it’s likely not the app for you. Here is a more in-depth review of Do it Tomorrow.

6. Toodledo

Toodledo is a robust task manager solution. It offers all the tools you’d want to organize your tasks, such as tags, contexts, and subtasks. It has numerous options for working with your various devices, through native apps, browser extensions, and more.

Toodledo has advanced customization options and for Premium users the ability to share tasks and collaborate. It offers a unique scheduler and can send you alerts. You can get started with a free account or upgrade to Premium to take advantage of its more advanced features. Visit the Toodledo Task Manager Review here on FreelanceSwitch for more in-depth information.

7. Flow

Flow has a mac feel, with a polished, beautiful UI design. It function on a PC in your browser, but has a standalone app for mac users, as well as iPhone and iPad apps. If you’re a Mac user, you’ll love this app. This app is more than a simple task app to track your to do list. It has advanced collaboration ability, allowing you to assign tasks to other users, and work with your team.

It also helps cut down on your need for long-winded email discussions by including a commenting system. Flow is made to track both your personal and work projects in one application, yes this productivity app can be used to manage all your projects and life.

8. Hitask

Hitask is another high quality collaboration task manager. This to do list app has great data support and is ubiquitously available across whatever device you’d like to use. It has a clean interface design, though it feels a bit more at home in Windows operating system.

There is a calender integration built in, as well as ease of use collaboration, and management features by task or project. Popular blogger Chris Brogan also gave the app high marked in this review: HiTask is My New Favorite Organizer.

9. Todoist

Todoist is a leading personal task manager that’s useful, fast and easy to use. It has a clearn interface design. It integrates with various browsers, email apps, and operating systems. Tasks are organized by project type and can be color coded. It’s a simple task based web app that you can get up and running with for free quickly. It does have a Fremium business model, so you can add additional features at low cost if you need them, such as labeling ability and more.

10. Get it Done

Get it Done is an easy to use and powerful to do list task app. It’s as easy to keep track of your grocery list as it is to use to keep track of your client projects. It supports many of the features you’d want in a to do list manager, such as tags, calendar syncing, notes, task delegation, secure data backup, and more.

The app is based from the productivity book Getting Things Done. So if you’re a fan of that popular productivity system, then you’ll feel right at home in this productivity application. They support apps in iPhone, iPad and Android, all the major operating systems, and of course everything is synced in the cloud application.

11. Stay Useful – Do

This is a very simple to do list app. It doesn’t have any advanced features, or even common tagging, assigning due dates, or categorizing features. That’s part of the beauty of it though, it’s very easy to use and focussed. It allows you to narrow down to what you need to get done today. It reminds me of how I use paper lists. I always write down todays task with good old pen and paper, so I have a focused list of what I need to do at work for the day.

I use my task app managers to track most of my longer term tasks. This manager could replace pen and paper for managing tasks for me. It has a simple interface that can be accessed through any browser on just about any device. It’s a web based to do list, but boasts the ability to function while offline.

12. Producteev

Producteev is free for up to 2 users. It’s a powerful to do list task manager and full feature project organizer. The interface is really well designed and it has powerful featured packed inside it. It’s available across multiple devices and operating systems. It offers advanced collaboration options and calendar synching.

It’s organized first by workspaces, which is a sectional way to organize your projects. It offers multiple options for importing tasks, it can be done via email, Twitter, IM, and more, which brings loads of flexibility to how you can add tasks. This is one of the best to do list managers available.

13. Coolendar

Coolendar is a to do list app with a narrow focus. It lacks many advanced features, but has an attractive and easy to work with interface. It doesn’t have collaboration features, so it’s a solution more aimed at solo freelancers.

Rather than organizing your tasks with categories, this app uses hash tags. Coolander allows you to manage your time and tasks without complicated features getting in the way. In addition to a web app interface there is also an Android and iPhone app available as well.

14. Vitalist

If you’re a big fan of the Getting Things Done method, then you’ll love Vitalist. It implements GTD in an accessible online to do list app. You can access via your web browser on just about any device. It’s set up to easily implement GTD fully, so contexts can be assigned to tasks, as well as due dates and priorities. It features collaboration options as well. This productivity app is feature packed, but it’s interface design feels dated.

15. Google Tasks

If you’re a big Gmail user, then Google tasks is a simple solution you can use for task management. It’s a small window that opens to use for sorting your tasks directly in Gmail, it ties into Google Calendar, and can be accessed through any browser, like all Google services. While not a full featured project manager, this is an excellent addition to your inbox for tracking to do items and staying on top of your priorities.

16. Gtdagenda

Gtdagenda is a to do list manager app that allows you to implement a GTD system. It has multiple tier categorization, which begins with goals, then you can organize projects, lists, and more inside of goals. You can set schedules, which are templates for recurring tasks.

This is a simply designed app, available in multiple languages, and cloud-syncs. It works on mobile apps and in your favorite browser. It’s a bit more pricey then some of the other apps available. This app is really straightforward to use and will boost your productivity.

17. Checkvist

Checkvist is a a to do list task manager that has implemented simple sharing tools. You can easily share a task, with functionality much like the interface in Google Docs. You also have an option of making a list public and accessible on the internet. This productivity app is simply designed and lean to work with. This cloud to do app has multiple features, such as hierarchical lists, advanced keyboard commands, ability to assign tasks, tags, due dates, and more.

18. Nozbe

Nozbe is a robust to do list task manager that supports a feature rich web platform. You can tap into this cloud application via your web browser, mobile phone, or iPhone app. It’s a mature productivity app with a simple interface that’s easy to interact with and drag and drop tasks.

In addition to everything you’d want in a task manager, it also supports GTD methodology. It has more advanced features as well, such as integration with Evernote, the ability to add docs, and collaboration tools. This is a solid solution for those looking for an easy to use to do list app that supports advanced team functionality.

19. Plancake

Plancake is a to do list manager that stands out by being open source. You can create a free account on Plancake’s domain or install the productivity software on your own server. It’s a simple interface and supports many of the features you’d want in todo list productivity software.

It works on any computer, tablet and smartphone – even without an Internet connection (works offline), and it has a Chrome extension. It’s setup for putting the GTD system to use and supports current task options to speed up your productivity.

20. Dooster

Dooster is a full featured task manager and productivity app. This cloud application is robust and made to compete with Basecamp and Outlook. It’s organized based on projects, you assign projects and then organize your to do tasks inside them. The cost structure is also based on projects, starting with a free account for 3 projects and scaling from there.

This web based productivity app offers excellent data protection through Amazon, useful collaboration options, and interesting extras like mindmaps. It boasts everything you’d want in a to do list manager and full productivity software.

Have you a fallen in love with a do do list manager? Did we miss any awesome web based task list applications? What productivity app features are essential for your business? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by robynmac.

When you’re looking at banking options for yourself as an individual, you need different things than you need as a freelancer. A personal bank account is usually part and parcel of building a larger relationship with your bank. After you’ve got the bank account, you’re likely to look at car loans and home mortgages from the same place you handle the rest of your finances.

But when you’re opening a business checking account, you’re looking at the whole enchilada. While you might be able to allow for some leeway in getting good service on your personal account, you have to know that any incoming payments will be handled promptly, and any payments you make to contractors or to buy new equipment will be paid out immediately. A frozen business account can cause big problems with your ability to do business.

Choosing the Right Bank

The first decision you have to make when it comes to your banking options is whether to go with a local financial institution or a bigger bank. You may have some personal preferences right off the bat — at the very least, it usually makes sense to try to do all your banking in one place. However, there are a few different considerations worth looking at before your final decision:

• How do you handle your bookkeeping? If you use one of the many web apps that offer to tie into your bank account and pull in information automatically, you may have to keep your accounts with a larger bank to get full functionality.
• Do you expect to expand in the future? You may be able to build a stronger connection at a smaller bank if you’re hoping to get a small business loan to expand down the road.
• What services do you need? If you’re hoping to get a business credit card, going through a bigger bank can give you more options for rewards and specific services.
• How much time do you have to devote to your banking? Certain banks have reputations as being difficult to work with, even though they may offer lower fees. If you don’t have the time to devote to making sure an extra add-on doesn’t wind up on your account, it’s important to choose a bank with an excellent reputation.

The Trouble with Business Accounts

Most banks consider business checking and savings accounts a great way to make money. Business owners are generally more willing to pay for banking services (especially those that might save time or money) than personal account holders.

You need to do some research and decide exactly what you need in terms of maintaining your business.

When you’re opening an account, someone is guaranteed to try to upsell you, at the very least. You may also find that some of the standard features of personal banking just aren’t available — it isn’t impossible to find a free business checking account, but it also isn’t all that easy.

You need to do some research and decide exactly what you need in terms of maintaining your business. Take a little time and go around to the banks you’re considering and actually sit down with one of their advisers.

As long as you’re firm that you’re still in the research phase, you should be able to have a conversation about what the bank offers without getting too hard of a sell to open a bank account immediately.

There is No One True Solution

Unfortunately, I can’t point to one particular bank account and say ‘this is exactly what you need.’ Each of us runs our freelance business differently, giving us different requirements. I will, however, tell you what I’ve chosen to use.

I have a business account with Bank of America — actually, it’s three accounts. I have two checking accounts (one for accounts payable and one for accounts receivable) and a savings account. By being religious about how I make deposits and pay for expenses, most of my bookkeeping is a breeze.

I chose Bank of America for convenience. I have several clients who pay with paper checks (something I encourage over PayPal when possible) and I can make deposits with Bank of America even when I’m working from the road. I’ve had to make deposits in at least six states now and I haven’t had a problem with that.

I also like that because I’m working with a big bank, I’ve been able to get problems resolved relatively quickly: someone gained unauthorized access to my business account last year. Bank of America resolved the entire matter and while I was worried out of my skull, it took minimal effort on my part to get the matter handled. I’ve heard horror stories about Bank of America’s customer service, but I haven’t had a problem myself.

I do pay a fee for my account. From previous employers, I know I’m on the lower end, but that’s partly due to the fact that I don’t need any credit card processing services or anything like that. For the record, my personal accounts are not at Bank of America — I’ve found better options than that.

I don’t currently have a line of credit open for my business (I’m a bit paranoid about credit in general) but I do have a card I’m considering and it is not through Bank of America either. I firmly believe in picking and choosing what works for me, and if you can handle the lesser convenience this approach offers, I certainly recommend it.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by trekandshoot.