IS Magazine Blog

Internet Today

PhotoShelter Review – Grow Your Photography Business

PhotoShelter is a site developed for professional photographers who wish to grow their customer base. Over 80,000 photographers use their service to increase their sales. A photographer can use the site to sell prints and packages, as well as manage their digital downloads and stock photos, regardless of whether they are royalty-free as well as rights-managed. Photographers can also integrate their page with with Authorize.net, Netbilling, PayPal, and Stripe in order to set up billing.

Photographers can also use professionally-designed template with full access to the HTML/CSS codes of those templates so that you can customize the design as desired. You can also protect your photographs with watermarks and take advantage of a product fulfillment process. In essence, PhotoShelter is an ideal site for a photographers looking to grow their e-commerce business or just find more clients.

PhotoShelter also provides phone support, e-mail support, knowledge base, and webinars to help you understand what the site offers and how to best use the site as well as troubleshoot any problems that may develop. It is a well-rounded support system, and one that you would expect from such a premium site.

PhotoShelter offers a 14-day risk-free trial so that you can see if the site benefits you. One problem is the site requires you to give your credit card information right at the start so that once the free trial is over the payment is dealt with straight away, so that is something to keep an eye on. That said, they do offer a a free month of service if you sign up for a years service, The three plans are Basic ($9.99/month), Standard ($29.99/month), and Pro ($49..99/month). The most popular plan is Standard, which comes with its own domain name, 50GB more storage than Basic, and discounts from related partners. The Pro plans adds another 1000GB of storage. Combined with the other features this means that you can worry less about the business aspect and worry more about taking pictures.

Business FirstHardware Innovations

Our List Of The Best Bitcoin Mining Calculators

BitcoinCalculator

Bitcoin exploded in popularity in 2018, and many websites started to launch and offer tools. This led to the popularity of Bitcoin mining calculators. With that said, we've researched calculators and have created a short list of the best ones.

Calculators For Beginners
When you're mining Bitcoins, but you're a newbie, then things can become overwhelming very fast. There is a lot of info out there and many factors that play a role in the profitability of mining. Some calculators are simpler than others, and this includes:

CryptoCompare- When you search Google for Bitcoin Mining Calculator, the first one that pops up is this one. There's a reason why, and that's because you can customize the hash-power, cost per KWh and power consumption, as well as the mining pool fee. You can estimate what your yearly income will be, as well as monthly, weekly or even daily. It doesn't take into account potential difficulty changes that may occur in the future, so it may provide you with over-estimates of profits.

Anything Crypto- We have a page dedicated to showing you profitability of different ASIC miners. This includes skeptical and optimistic predictions, and we take difficulty changes and price changes into consideration.

Business FirstHardware Innovations

Best Places To Get Startup Funding Online

Crowdfunding

You probably have seen the television show Shark Tank and heard of the site Kickstarter, places you can get your product and startup funded. The crowdfunding industry has taken off in the US with entrepreneurs getting tens of thousands of dollars in funding to millions of dollars. There are hundreds of crowdfunding sites online to get your startup funding, but only a few have a track record of success and the community to fund your product or project. If you money is stopping you from starting your company, look to these startup funding sources.

The collaborative economy has been made possible by the Internet and has boomed in recent years. In 2012 the industry funded $2.7 billion in projects and $5.1 billion in 2013. The Jobs Act of 2012 kicked off the industry so growth has continued every year since for the young market. As an investor in a crowdfunded startup you get either a share of ownership in the company, rewards, products, or perks. Businesses and individuals get to step all the overhead involved in bank financing or Venture Capital.

Sites to Choose From:

Kickstarter

Kickstarter allows for donation based funding on creative projects. This site is not for charities or businesses, its for creative projects like art, films, designs or a music album. The site has helped get 143,000 projects off the ground. You have to pay a fee to Kickstarter if you get funded in addition to a processing fee. And you only have a certain period of time to get your funded. Make sure your submission is good as not all projects make it past the approval process.

Hardware Innovations

How Do Scooter Companies Lime and Bird Make Money?

Bird Scooter Columbus Ohio

You have probably seen the scooters spread across your downtown if you live in a major metropolitan city. Our city of Columbus Ohio recently had the scooters added to our streets in addition to the Ohio State University. They look like fun and they seem inexpensive, but with charging and tracking, and breaking there’s no way they can last. So how do these scooter companies like Bird and Lime make money?

BirdScooter

Lime offers bikes too so you have that option. They bicycles seem less popular, more expensive to rent and not as much of a burden to maintain than an electric scooter. And the bikes aren’t all over the sidewalks making it difficult for some to get past.

With the any new technology there might be money backing it, but there isn’t always profit being made.

According to some sources, there are 5 different companies offering scooters. The bikes are $1 per half hour. The Lime and Bird scooters are $1.00 to start and 15 cents a minute to ride. These prices look great for consumers but how can a company survive with these low rental fees?

How the Transaction Happens

Users start a rental by downloading an app onto their phones and entering a credit card prior to scanning the QR code on the vehicle. When they have completed their ride, they click on a button on their phone telling the company you are done, then the bike or scooter locks up until the next rider comes along. There is no need to dock, just leave it where you completed your ride.

Scale

The companies purchase their bikes and scooters in scale and therefore are able to obtain low purchase prices. Bikes that dock can cost up to $5,000, not a cheap price. Dock-less bikes are less. And the new dock-less model also saves the company from having to install and maintain the docks. But the scooters cost only a couple of hundred dollars and can get 20 rides a day in a busy city. They can pay for themselves in a week if the demand is there.

Internet Today

Namecheap Expired Domains Now Processed Through GoDaddy Auctions

GodaddyAuctions

In the past, domain name registrar auctioned off expired domains through Tucows. A spat with Tucows, which owns competitor NameJet,has lead to a change for Namecheap. One reader of Domain Name Wire recently found domains registered to Namecheap in the GoDaddy Auctions expiry stream. On subsequent searches, more Namecheap expired domains can be found in auction listings.

Business First

H&R Block Debuts Tax Reform Checkup

PaycheckCheckup

There have been many changes in the tax reforms. IRS is encouraging everyone to do a quick tax reform checkup. That's why H&R is in the forefront by offering a free tax reform "Checkup service." It's an excellent program that helps you to track whether your tax obligations are smaller or bigger than usual. This will help taxpayers to change their financial or family situations in the next tax season.

There is a lot to do much ground to cover by taxpayers. The current reforms drastically decreased their taxes while increasing their paychecks. It requires taxpayers to check and fix their W4 forms.

A single taxpayer with one withholding allowance, with no children and a salary of $35000 was entitled to a $600  in refunds in 2017 returns. Changes in withholding tables in February saw a paycheck increase of 32$ in March. However, by next year, April the refunds will be 600$.

Business FirstSoftware Sensations

Square Acquired Weebly: What Does It Mean For Other Website Builders?

WeeblySquare

Weebly has a substantial amount of subscribers at 625,000. Merchant payment processor Square acquired Weebly for $365 million. Square intends on global expansion via this acquisition. A great portion of Weebly users lie outside of the United States, allowing Square to address a bigger audience of entrepreneurs. Revenues are expected to rise from $744 MM to $764 MM. The team members are also included in the merger. Most of the team from Weebly will be joining forces with the Square team.

The merger occurred during late April 2018. The merger is slated to help businesses all over the world. The services of both companies will line up well together. The CFO of Square stated that she feels both companies are culturally aligned. Backers of the acquisition include Floodgate, Sequoia Capital, Tencent, Felicis Ventures, and Y Combinator.

EntertainmentInternet Today

AT&T And Time Warner Merger Is Approved

AttTimeWarner

So now Alphabet and Netflix will have to become ISPs, quickly.

The video industry was turned on its' head this week, and the ramifications of this will take many months to fully play out.

Firstly, the district court decided to allow AT&T and Time Warner to merge. This will produce one of the world's biggest content creation firms, once it goes through. Also, it is predicted to push Comcast to offer a similar proposal for Twenty-first Century Fox, to consolidate the market further. Chip Pickering, who is the CEO of INCOMPAS - an advocacy organisation that supports competition - said: "AT&T will get a merger that nobody supports, but will have to pay for".

However, the second big story is the last repeal of the FCC rules on Internet neutrality, which will enable telecom firms, such as AT&T, to promote their content instead of their competitors. Previously AT&T did not have a lot of content, but now they have acquired Time Warner, they have a huge library including Warner Bros, TNT, TBS, CNN and HBO. All of a sudden, that ruling about prioritization is looking extremely lucrative and potent.

Internet Today

The Top Seven Website Builders For Photography Sites

SmugMug

Not surprisingly, most people judge a photography company by the quality of the images on their site. If you are trying to break into the business or build upon an existing clientele, you need a website builder or CMS provider capable of supporting huge galleries without compromising the quality of your stunning photos. You should also look into platforms that make uploading new images easy, ensuring that you regularly update your content.

That's a lot to look for, especially if your search is up against a time crunch. We've curated the top seven photography website builders below to help you focus your search on only the providers that can meet your needs. Happy hunting!

1. SmugMug

SmugMug is the standard others are compared to for photography sites because it is focused on photography and nothing else. They recently acquired Flickr, the online photo giant, adding yet another tool to its impressive repertoire for photographers to consider.

2. Weebly

Weebly is an excellent choice for all of the technophobes out there. Its interface is incredibly intuitive, allowing you to design a beautiful site without ever working in code. This makes it accessible to nearly any photographer interested in showing off their work.

3. Duda

Duda's platform places a strong emphasis on mobile, widely considered the future of the internet. They also offer powerful collaboration options if your company consists of more than one photographer. Its drag and drop functionality is also helpful if you're uncomfortable with computers.

4. StudioPress Sites

If you've ever wanted to use the popular WordPress platform, this is the way to do it. StudioPress Sites is hosted by the highest-rated WordPress theme developer, giving you SEO-friendly themes through the popular Genesis framework for maximum visibility. It also offers a long list of additional features to help you customize your site to your liking.

Hardware Innovations

Introducing The HTC Blockchain Phone

HTCBlockChain

The HTC blockchain phone is a work in progress.

Several weeks before its' upcoming flagship statement, HTC recently disclosed another item of hardware. Although the Taiwanese firm has consolidated most of its' mobile products, it said at the 2018 New York Consensus Blockchain event that its' Exodus handset will embrace everyone's favorite technology buzzword.

What is a blockchain phone then? Primarily, these phones are characterized by cryptocurrency support and security. The landing page for HTC Exodus says: "Our aim is to grow the blockchain network by producing the first ever phone centered on security and decentralized applications. Once the HTC Exodus is released, this ambition will be realized".

Categories

Calendar