It is extremely costly to live on the cutting edge of technology. If you are an “early adopter”, chances are you paid top dollar for the latest device or software. The latest Android smart phones or iPhone, while not terribly expensive up front, around $200, they will cost you thousands of dollars over the next two years in data charges. Tablets, laptops, video game systems all have similar economic models associated with them. Cheap console, expensive games. Sleek laptop, non-upgradeable video card and limited memory. Likewise with software, companies that produce software are constantly creating new features and versions to get you to upgrade to the latest and greatest. And often they produce incompatibilities with older versions of software to almost guarantee an upgrade fee.
My solution for most of you reading this is to “Get off the upgrade train!” What I suggest for most individuals is treating their computer or device like a time capsule. Unless you’re working with others and sharing files back and forth, the software that you’re using right now is probably just fine. New software brings along with it higher memory, processor and space requirements that the older computer you are currently using may not be able to handle. That new OS, while cooler looking with its whiz bang widgets and it’s shiny plasticized icons, will almost certainly make your three-year old computer seem slow and antiquated. In the future there may be software that you need to run as part of your business or that will just plain make your life much easier. By all means get that software, but run it on new hardware and upgrade the whole experience.
I have an example of this from my own life. As I write this I am using a Pentium 4, 1.8Ghz system with 1GB of memory, running Windows 2000. *Gasp!* What can’t I do on this system that I can do on a newer system? Nothing. The system and the software go together, both forged in the early 21st century. I also have Office 2000 on this system. *Gasp!* It has worked perfectly well for every project that I’ve had in the last 11 years. And truthfully the features that I use today are not much different from when I started using it. How many feature do you/I actually need? I’m guessing not that many. Most people only us a small subset of their software’s capabilities anyway.
There is a time and place for upgrading though. Just today we upgraded a couple of seats to Office 2007. That’s right, a five-year old version of the Microsoft Office product. Why? First, it was what the client was using and second it was dirt cheap. How about $69.99 for Office 2007 Standard? Good deal. Not the latest and greatest. And this comes to my second point.
When you do think about upgrading your software, look for the bargains. The equivalent latest version, Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010, is currently $219.99 on Amazon. for the full disk based version. That’s a savings of $150 by buying one version behind the latest. Upgraded software and functionality without breaking the bank. Remember though, without an external catalyst, we wouldn’t be upgrading at all. I give my 13 year-old son the same advice when he is looking at the latest first person shooter to run on his laptop. Usually the requirements for the game are greater than what he has. Those titles are often a third, fourth or fifth release of the game. Well, guess what? There are multiple older version of those games, that he hasn’t played either, that are plenty playable on his system. And, they are in the dollar bin at Fry’s.
There will be a day, in the future, that you will need to upgrade your computer. It’s inevitable. You could upgrade your current computer to run the next operating system or that new game, but there will come a day that you can’t do that anymore. The technology will have changed and you can’t upgrade. If you “Get off the upgrade train”, the money that you saved by not chasing the tail of technology will, in all likelihood , get you a long way toward buying that new piece of tech when it is time.
It’s time to say goodbye to The Podcast Studio.
If you’re a small business and are using the email service that comes with your Internet connection, you’re doing it wrong. Heaven forbid you’re using AOL or Yahoo as your email provider. At a bare minimum you should have a personalized email address with your company’s domain name. For example, I have the domain name russturley.com. When I give out my email address, it has my username, russ, along with my domain name. It’s much easier to remember than some obscure username at some local ISP’s domain name.
Dwight Silverman, tech journalist for the Houston Chronicle, has a great column on the latest practices of the Cnet website Download.com. Apparently they are now offering up a custom downloader that takes the place of the program that you were looking to download. The custom downloader will then offer you change your search engine in your browser, change your homepage and install a toolbar. It will also presumably download the program that you wanted, but the damage will have been done.
Now the third, and most important topic on Social Networks, how do I use them? Too many times I see posts on the social networks that I frequent that are just promoting their blog posts or latest episodes of their podcasts. Social networks are about more than just sending out a note that you have a new blog post. It’s about engaging an audience and sharing, as the definition above implies. If you do a podcast about a certain subject, like marketing, ask questions about marketing. Share what ways you’re using the topics in your podcast in your business. Give examples of how those in your network could use your latest podcast to make them money. Again, the word is engage.
So let’s look at an example someone who engages his audience, and in my opinion does social networks correctly. That person is 
So are social networks important for your podcast? Sure, but make sure the social networks that you choose are not just used as a cheap press release medium. If you’re excited about using social networks to promote your podcast and build a community, there are others out there that can help you in the best ways to leverage social networks. One person you definitely have to check out is 
First off, let’s get this ugly fact out of the way; unless your podcast is a standout in the thousands of podcasts in iTunes, there’s a good chance you’re not going to make a dime on your podcast. If you’re getting into podcasting to make money, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. At least for right now. There are opportunities to make a few bucks, but basically the monetization model for podcasting is far from fleshed out. Even though that’s the case, let’s take a look at the models listed above.
Premium Subscription – When you subscribe to a podcast, it’s not like subscribing to cable. No money changes hands. You simply add the podcaster’s RSS feed to your aggregator of choice. In the premium subscription model, you still subscribe to the podcaster’s feed, however this time you have a username and password and you pay the podcster to subscribe to the feed. This model is much like the premium channels like HBO. You pay an agreed upon amount each month. There are a few services that can provide this type of service, but the one that’s getting a lot of use is