● Web Blog by David Venter ●

Andrew Flocchini from TheAppleBlog wrote an interesting article on why Apple should Buy Adobe…

The rumors of Adobe being bought by Apple come up every so often. Apple could easily afford such a purchase and the results would be interesting. I would love to see Adobe restructured by a company like Apple. Adobe has many applications that are the gold standard but it seems to lack focus. These are my thoughts on what Apple could do with Adobe’s biggest apps and make everyone’s life a lot easier.

Video:

Adobe’s video market could be trimmed down. Anything that can already be done in Final Cut Studio should be gone, including Premiere and Soundbooth. I’m not sure if After Effects would even be worth it in the end. Most believe that Final Cut is a very nice video suite on the Mac platform and in the PC world, AVID holds the crown. Why is a program like Premiere needed? It’s not quite AVID but way better than Windows Movie Maker. Now throw Sony Vegas in there and it’s starting to get crowded. Apple could create Final Cut for the PC or forget about them altogether. This would come down to money in the long run. I personally don’t think Apple needs to worry about the PC side unless they are going to legitimately compete against AVID for dominance.

Design:

Photoshop and Illustrator go hand in hand with Apple. The general public thinks of Apple when Photoshop is mentioned and vice versa. This is known as one of Apple’s strongest markets. Most believe that these design apps run better on a Mac but as we know, Adobe is slow in keeping these flagship apps on the cutting edge. Apple could force them to be designed for the latest and greatest environments. While they’re at it, stop releasing new versions every year that don’t have any significant improvements. Adobe needs the money to keep rolling in through yearly revisions but Apple wouldn’t have this problem. Make a new version when real features are created. In an educational environment, we are forced to upgrade every year because the textbooks only cover the newest versions. This puts a large strain on software budgets.

Documents:

Acrobat should also be restructured and brought back to its core purpose. Every other week we hear of an exploit in PDF’s and it’s because they don’t do the simple task they were conceived to do. Strip out all the extra junk and just make PDF’s do what they need to do. Reader should be killed for the Mac OS also, Preview is way quicker and does the job just fine.

Flash:

Then there’s the elephant in the room, Flash. Oh my dear old friend, you were once so cool. Animations, games, crazy navigation menus and long site intros were such a treat. Now I have grown bored with you.

The problem is that Flash is so ubiquitous with the web that it can’t just be tossed out into the street. Apple would need to clean it up significantly and keep it around until HTML5 took over. They should only provide security fixes but no new features. This would allow it a peaceful death.

Adobe has so many products that it’s kind of ridiculous. Most of them could either be worked into existing Apple products or forgotten forever. If Apple did purchase Adobe, what about the PC side of Adobe’s business? They would have to crunch the numbers to see what products are worth the extra cost of development, but Apple could really limit what’s available for Windows. Whether that would that be a good or bad thing, I’m not really sure. In Apple’s mind, if it sells more Macs then it’s worth doing.

I believe Apple could really improve Adobe’s products and make them more reliable than they ever have been. It would end the grudge that they have against each other and hopefully get applications like Acrobat and Flash back to their roots. Adding useless features just to sell a different version every year will not win you any fans. Make it a worthwhile upgrade or inexpensive and I will gladly support you.

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Original Post on DavidONLINE.co.za | Success is waiting at iLearningGlobal.

A while ago I posted an article stating that I will be creating new funky themes of a select few fellow bloggers. (Click here to view the original article)

Afsana Khan from http://kakfunny.blogspot.com was using one of the default blogger templates. I really love reading her blog and the default layout wasn’t doing it any justice, so I went on a mission to create something unique and eye-catching for her.

Introducing the new Kak Funny Blog:

Thanks a lot for the great patience guys. Other projects have been keeping me really busy and I’m doing these blog re-designs as a free service “on-the-side” to a select few. There are still three other blogs that will be featured here with new templates so please check back often

Click here to visit “Life is Kak Funny”

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Original Post on DavidONLINE.co.za | Success is waiting at iLearningGlobal.

CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Our mission is to serve individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world to escape poverty. We are looking for a seasoned, independent motivated and experienced GANSO Project Manager and Researcher.

The Area Program Coordinator (APC) is responsible for overall management of the CARE’s Community-Driven Reconstruction program (CDR) and is responsible for ensuring that CARE’s standards of accountability are met with regards to management of staff as well as material resources. The CDR ensures that the Maniema region program is implemented in the same manner as the nationwide program and is both consistent with the nationwide design, and coherent with the specificities of the local context.

This 5-year extension to a 3-year community development program aims at supporting communities in building local infrastructure, increasing social cohesion, improving access to social services, increasing good local governance and improving linkage with authorities at the local level. The Area Program Coordinator supervises a robust team over an ambitious rural area and works closely with the CARE Sector Coordinators and his/her consortium coordination team, who are leading the overall CARE program nation-wide.

Based in Kindu (Maniema Province), the APC will be integrated into the Programme team under the supervision of Community Development and Livelihood Sector Coordinator.

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Original Post on DavidONLINE.co.za | Success is waiting at iLearningGlobal.

The folks over at JustPlay are giving away a Citroen C2 in only 35 Days; their biggest prize of April 2010!

The oh-so-cute Citroen C2 – worth R150,000 -The draw is on 14 April – go, go, go Get Entries for this prize and many others by creating a free membership at JustPlay and completing simple online questionnaires.

Click Here to join the JustPlay website Today!

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Original Post on DavidONLINE.co.za | Success is waiting at iLearningGlobal.

Growing companies face the issue of marketing their products or services in a highly competitive environment. It is possible to use marketing consultants to do this, but marketing consultants often cost too much money for small companies. An affordable option is to try the following low cost marketing ideas to promote the business:

1. Press Releases – Make press releases that are newsworthy and draw the attention of the readers. The releases should be short and to the point with an opening sentence or phrase that is convincing and holds the attention of the reader.

2. Search Engine Marketing – Having a website and using the services of a search engine is a necessity in today’s environment where greater numbers of people are accessing the Internet for their requirements. The website host must be reliable so that prospective customers can access the site without difficulty. The website design should be imaginative to draw attention of viewers. Websites are an inexpensive method for accessing a greater number of people. The website should have the company’s contact details, including the business phone number and email address. Advertise in newsgroups that are in a similar line of business so that the site is easily accessed.

3. Trade Shows – Rent space at trade shows and hand out promotional material to clients. Keep a feedback or order address registry of clients. After the show, contact them, keeping the promised made at the booth.

4. Direct Marketing – Create a finely tuned list of targeted recipients and directly market to them by phone, email, or standard mail, providing them with explanatory material.

5. Yellow Pages – Make an ad stand out in the yellow pages with an attractive design and listing under a specific, targeted category.

6. Public Service – Promote the company in a positive manner in the community by sponsoring events, donating products to local charities and holding events with local groups. Distribute promotional t-shirts, pens, mugs, etc. with the company’s brand emblazoned on it.

7. Business Card & Network Groups – Keep professional and well-designed business cards handy. Join a networking group for support and business leads.

Implementing Low Cost Marketing Ideas:

Use knowledge, skills, systems and tools to create a low cost marketing strategy for new businesses to attract customers on shoestring budgets.

Knowledge: Read books on marketing knowledge, buy a couple of manuals from web marketing masters, or subscribe to online continual education services. Learn marketing strategy from the experts.

Skills: Develop these four important marketing skills: Ask straightforward questions to learn of the client’s needs and problems. Listen carefully and provide a problem solving approach. Write a compelling story of marketing materials to attract customers. Demonstrate practical ideas and understand the working of the product.

Systems: Define responsibilities, schedule marketing activities and use computers to automate tasks and hire people for clerical activities. Focus time and attention on the clients to deliver products or services in a stipulated period. Manage contacts to add to the database. Send information to prospective clients and response to each query to handle clients respectively.

Tools: The basic tools required to target a market include: Communication tools like phone, email and websites. Information for clients about the business, life written proposals, brochures or pamphlets. Things displaying the company name, logo and contact information like business cards.

I hope that these 7 low cost marketing ideas will help you in your business! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need any further guidance with creating a successful marketing strategy for your business.

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Original Post on DavidONLINE.co.za | Success is waiting at iLearningGlobal.