It Came Out of the Airwaves: Where to Find the Inspiration for Your Next Business Project

Written by Donna Schwartz Mills


There's no secret to creating that "killer app" in business: Find a niche and fill it.

If only that was as easy as it sounds! Some of us are entrepreneurial Isaac Newtons -- we get hit onrepparttar head by an apple inrepparttar 118905 form of a need we discover -- and we have a vision of a way to solverepparttar 118906 problem (and earn an income while we're at it).

My favorite example of this isrepparttar 118907 woman who inventedrepparttar 118908 "Stroll'r Hold'r" - you know, that little cupholder you snap ontorepparttar 118909 handle of your baby's stroller. You don't know you need one of them until you actually try to carry a drink while pushing your baby aroundrepparttar 118910 mall... and when you see this very simple product, you say to yourself "Why didn't *I* think of that?"

Most of us need a little help -- I know that I do. And as my universe has shrunk into a little circle consisting of my home, my daughter's school and activities andrepparttar 118911 local supermarket, I find I must do whatever I can to broaden my horizons.

But as is oftenrepparttar 118912 case for us parental units,repparttar 118913 big limiting factor is time. I used to have plenty for reading newspapers, magazines, and books. (OK - I was single and had no social life so I had nothing BUT time!) This is no longerrepparttar 118914 case. Today I pick uprepparttar 118915 slack through my choice of radio stations.

Public Radio has been my savior. Fromrepparttar 118916 moment my alarm goes off withrepparttar 118917 "Morning Edition" theme, torepparttar 118918 evening rush hour traffic (which I am often caught in after one of Megan's karate lessons), I am tuned in to my local NPR station and learning ... which is where I find inspiration for many ofrepparttar 118919 articles I write for my website and newsletter.

Butrepparttar 118920 thing that makes radio such an ideal medium (the fact that you can do other things while you are listening), is also its drawback (because you are focused on other things while you are listening). There are times when I miss important facts, as my mind is just tuning in atrepparttar 118921 end. This is why I was delighted to discover that most of my favorite public radio news and information programs are also available onrepparttar 118922 web. Here's a rundown ofrepparttar 118923 best ones for business:

Marketplace: David Brancaccio's business broadcasts are fascinating, and might I say it: Entertaining! This daily half-hour program does a wonderful job of explaining what is happening inrepparttar 118924 financial markets, deconstructing complex stories such as Enron and Worldcom, and making sense ofrepparttar 118925 mysterious theories of leading economists.

If that's all they did, it would be enough to help you make home business decisions by knowing whererepparttar 118926 economy is trending. But Brancaccio and crew also give you what I think of as "human interest business" pieces -- they regularly cover economic news fromrepparttar 118927 perpective of Work and Family,repparttar 118928 Arts, Health, and Technology.

If your local public radio station does not carry Marketplace, you can hear it broadcast in full at their website. There you will also find archives of past features plus current headlines fromrepparttar 118929 Economist andrepparttar 118930 Globalist.

http://www.marketplace.org

NPR Morning Edition and All Things Considered

All Things Considered isrepparttar 118931 granddaddy ofrepparttar 118932 National Public Radio network, having just celebrated its 30th year onrepparttar 118933 air. ATC looks atrepparttar 118934 news ofrepparttar 118935 day, airing every afternoon (usually during drive time).

Software Localization, What is it?

Written by Grant McNamara


Software localization is, in essence, making versions of software products available,which can operate in multiple languages. In this article we examine what’s involved in developing such software. And it’s not as difficult as you might imagine.

If you develop software to sell, then perhaps there might be market beyondrepparttar shores ofrepparttar 118904 USA. Have you considered making multiple language versions of your software available? Perhaps you’ve given it a fleeting thought but dismissedrepparttar 118905 idea as too expensive or too difficult. Take awayrepparttar 118906 jargon and buzzwords, not to mentionrepparttar 118907 expectation that it is difficult; and many software products can relatively simply be produced for different language speakers. Especially so ifrepparttar 118908 developers have followed reasonable development standards.

And lets face it,repparttar 118909 extra revenue and customer base can be very very lucrative.Nor should you under estimaterepparttar 118910 number of people inrepparttar 118911 USA who don’t have English as their first language. Another benefit of providing your software product in multiple languages is that it also gives an impression that your company is far larger than it is. When I see a web site or software product available in multiple languages I tend to assume thatrepparttar 118912 company must be large.

So let’s take a look atrepparttar 118913 process and examine what’s involved. We concentrate in this article on taking an existing software product and making it available in multiple languages. The ideas presented here are general and assume a relatively simple product, butrepparttar 118914 concepts and approach arerepparttar 118915 same for even a sophisticated application.

First rule: to keep things simple. There are many different languages being used aroundrepparttar 118916 world and you have a wide choice. In English we read sentences written left-to-right and fromrepparttar 118917 top, downrepparttar 118918 page or screen. This isn’trepparttar 118919 case for all languages. We also use an alphabet (script) referred to as Latin, and in technical speak it uses single byte characters. So it’s a good idea to restrict your first multiple language projects to languages that also share these characteristics with English.

The list is extensive and includes; Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, French, Dutch among others. Even restricting your project to these languages widens your market by about 1 billion people. Eastern Europe uses a script called Cyrillic (Russian) which is very similar to Latin and prices for translation into Eastern European languages tend to be very competitive. Asian and Middle Eastern languages offer some unique challenges but they are manageable. But early inrepparttar 118920 process, you need to decide exactly what languages you want your software to be available in.

There are a variety of methods to developing multiple language versions of software. One approach favoured is to separate out all ofrepparttar 118921 text presented torepparttar 118922 user into a file or database table. This text must include everything that a user will see when usingrepparttar 118923 software. It includes screen display text, printed report text, constants, prompt, error and warning messages, and help displays. Your product will likely include a user guide, version notes and licence agreement, and of course these also need to be included inrepparttar 118924 localization project.

The file or database table where allrepparttar 118925 text will exist has to be accessible byrepparttar 118926 programs and so some sort of simple key process and update function must be developed. Again, keep it simple. We’ve found that having a simple key system based on screen or report name and then a unique text item number works fine for most applications. For large a application you may need several text files, perhaps based on text type. You’re probably thinking thatrepparttar 118927 application’s performance will be reduced due torepparttar 118928 extra input/output needed to access allrepparttar 118929 text. There will be some reduction but in practice it is minimal. And there are some benefits to compensate. For instance if screen text needs to be altered then no program change needs be made to effectrepparttar 118930 change.

Our file containing all ofrepparttar 118931 text is then used asrepparttar 118932 basis of our language translation. There are all manner of options to organiserepparttar 118933 translation including translation agencies, freelance translators, computer based translation, even co-workers, friends and family might be able to help. Atrepparttar 118934 end ofrepparttar 118935 day most computer applications actually have quite simple text. But before you do haverepparttar 118936 translations performed review allrepparttar 118937 text for grammar, spelling and ambiguities. The clearerrepparttar 118938 language used inrepparttar 118939 application thenrepparttar 118940 more likelyrepparttar 118941 translation will be accurate. A word of warning. Professional translators tend to be highly educated, and sometimes their resulting work will requirerepparttar 118942 reader/user to hold at least a Masters degree to understand it. Always specify that you needrepparttar 118943 translation to have an equal reader level asrepparttar 118944 original English.

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