Category: Blog

There are so many options and choices available today that it is very difficult to choose the right business printer for your office or organization. But all that choice means that within reason, and of course your budget, you really can get the business printer you need. Price is a primary consideration, but after that it really does come down to what you need your business printer to do. The way to figure that out is to first determine your current and projected printing and photocopying needs.

What are your needs?

Do you just do primarily black and white printing, or do you have a regular need for in-house colour documents? Colour is nice to have, but is it a need, today or tomorrow? Are your printing jobs small or large, simple or complex? These factors will help determine the size and capacity that you need in a business printer. Are you printing things like spreadsheets or do you use a lot of graphics? How fast do you need your printing done and do you have a rough idea of weekly or monthly printing volumes so that you can make a good projection? All of these issues need to be factored into your business printing decision, even before you start shopping around.

Which type should you buy?

When you do start checking out the business printer market, you will find a number of general types of business printers on the market. This will also help you find and buy the right business printer to meet your needs. There are many different choices when it comes to office photocopiers. How you choose will depend on how much you have to spend and your business printing needs.

Tip #1: Cheap but effective

Desk-top business printers are some of the cheapest office printers on the market. Their advantage is cost and size and every employee can have one. Portable printers are another inexpensive printing option and they are so small and efficient office printers that you can take them home or on the road with you. They are great for business travellers and many of them can collapse so that you can fit them into your luggage.

Fun Fact: The other cheap option for business printers is the standard black and white printer. These are great for smaller offices or ones where the printing needs are not complex. They are not expensive to buy or lease and they are simple to operate and maintain.

Tip #2: Second wave business printers

The current generation of business printer that is in operation in offices today are laser and LED printers. Both use a light source to project an image onto a rotating drum, which then transfers toner to the paper. They are fast and reliable, and while they are not cheap they are very useful for sharing and networking. They don’t cost a lot to run. Inkjet printers are at the lower level of this type of printer, but they are great for small businesses in particular and they work by squirting liquid ink through a pinhead.

Fun Fact: Inkjet business printers are also useful when it comes to printing brochures and for any documents with graphics.

Tip #3: Moving on up to the next generation of business printers

In this category you will find colour printers and the newest type of business printer, the all in one models. Colour printers are expensive to lease or buy. They also costa lot to operate because the toner for the individual colours are not cheap. But if there is a need for printing brochures and promotional material with lots of graphics, it might be the one for you. All in one business printers are the top of the line when it comes to your business printing options.

Fun Fact: These types of printers can print, scan and send documents to a USB, e-mail folders or a cloud. They offer full connectivity and networking and can meet all of your business printing needs in one place if you can afford them in your budget.

Going back to school for a business certificate is not a decision to make lightly. There are so many options out there, it can be very difficult to know for sure which program and which school is right for you. Thankfully, there are a few steps you can take to make this process easier and find the best college and program for your needs.

1. Do Your Research

Before you start looking at schools, first determine what you’d like to achieve. What do you envision as success when you’re done your business college journey? What is your ideal future job title and salary? How do you want to study—online or in person? Part-time or full-time? Answering these questions before you even start looking will put you on the right path, saving you the time and frustration of evaluating schools that don’t fit what you’re looking for.

2. Shop Around

Now that you have an idea of what you want, start looking at business colleges using your established search criteria. You shouldn’t always go with the first school you find; you should evaluate at least three options in detail. For your three potential choices, look at cost, program length, courses offered, and anything else that is important to you. It can be helpful to make a table to compare the offerings of each school to begin to narrow down your options to two schools.

3. Talk to Students

Once you have an idea of the offerings of a few business colleges, you should speak to some students who are currently attending. This can be a really eye-opening perspective into what going to school there would be like. Ask these current students what they like most and least about the college they attend. Also be sure to inquire about instructors, school management and classmates. These are all important parts of your school journey that make a big impact if they don’t line up with your wants and needs. This exercise should help you to focus from two schools, now to one.

4. Try it Out

Finally, since you’ve narrowed down your options, inquire about whether you can sit in as a student for a day to get a real-life feel for what going to that business college would be like. How is the commute, both in the morning and afternoon? How is the parking, and food options nearby? Most importantly, do you like the facilities and the teachers? You would be making a big commitment and should make sure that everything the college has to offer is up to your standards.

With these steps in mind, you can be sure that you’re making the right decision of what business college to attend. Before you sign any paperwork or pay any tuition, check off the four items above to be certain this college is the right choice for you. When you’re satisfied that you’ve evaluated everything, treat yourself with something new for the first day of college!

Performance testing is a technical investigation that is carried out to determine or validate the speed, scalability or stability characteristics of a particular product. Products normally undergo performance testing through all stages of their development, rollout and on-going maintenance. This is to ensure that there are no overlooked errors that could damage a company’s reputation or lead to unsatisfied customers or clients. Some aspects of performance testing could involve diagnostics, validation of application performance, proactive performance monitoring, application capacity planning and modelling.

All of this is carried out to try and ensure improved productivity, increased quality and increased speed to market. In software engineering, performance testing is crucial in order to test the software before it is deployed live. It is tested to see how well it performs in terms of responsiveness and stability under a variety of scenarios that mimic the actual application of the software. This performance testing serves to serve to investigate, measure, validate and verify the attributes of the software and how it interacts with other elements of the system. Performance testing can demonstrate that the system meets performance criteria, compare two systems to find which performs better and it can see which parts of the system could cause the system to perform badly.

There are a number of different types of performance tests that can be carried out on a product or on a system. Each type of testing looks at various aspects of the product and how it will perform under a range of conditions.

1. Load testing

This might be the simplest form of performance testing. This type of test is usually carried out to understand the behaviour of the system under a specific expected load. This load could be the expected concurrent number of users on an application doing the same thing within a set duration. It will give the response times of all the important business transactions and monitor the database and server to see if any problems arise.

2. Stress testing

This type of testing is normally carried out to try and understand the upper limits of capacity within the system. Stress testing checks the system’s robustness in terms of extreme load and helps determine if the system will adequately perform the current load goes above the expected maximum.

3. Soak testing

This type of performance testing is also called endurance testing. It is carried out to see if the system can sustain the continuous expected load. Soak testing monitors memory utilization in order to detect potential leaks and to see if there is any performance degradation. Checks are performed at the beginning and end of sustained activity to determine if there is a variation in performance levels. The goal of a soak test is to discover how the system behaves under sustained use.

4. Spike testing

This performance testing is carried out to see whether performance will suffer or fail, and how it handles surges or dramatic changes in load. Spike testing is conducted by suddenly increasing or decreasing the load generated by a large number of users, and then observing the behaviour of the system.

5. Configuration testing

This sort of performance testing shifts the focus from a load perspective to see how the system responds to configuration changes. This might include experimenting with different methods of load balancing to see how it effects the system’s performance and behaviour.

6. Isolation testing

Isolation testing involves repeating a test execution that resulted in a system problem. This just doesn’t happen in performance testing but this type of test can sometimes isolate and confirm the fault domain.

Security is a major issue in the world we live in. Criminals seem to be more brazen and shameless in their approaches. Because of this, more and more security measures need to be put in place, from our computers, to our vehicles, to our homes. An alarm system is a great way to protect yourself from people stealing your possessions. Here are the top reasons to invest in an alarm system.

1. Peace of mind

This is the best reason to get an alarm system. When your house is properly protected, you can rest assured that nothing is going awry that you don’t know about. Not only will an alarm system protect you from theft, it also can notify you (and the authorities) of fire, carbon monoxide, or sudden drop of temperatures. This can help reduce or eliminate the damage that could be caused by such occurrences.

2. Monitor your home remotely

Most alarm systems now offer the ability to monitor your home remotely. This can be done through video surveillance, but if you don’t want to pay the extra for video, you can still get alerts to notify you of what is happening in your home. You can get notifications of when the system is alarmed or disarmed, when doors or windows are opened, or when your garage door is left open.

3. Saves you money

Replacing stolen property can be expensive. You can report the theft to the police, but it is very rare that your possessions get recovered, unless they are very expensive and unique. Having an alarm system saves you the money and hassle of replacing your property. It will also often save you money on home insurance. If you let your insurance company know about your alarm system, you may be able to save up to 20%.

4. Protect your stuff

This is the most important (and most obvious) reason to get an alarm system. You have spent your hard-earned money on things for yourself or your family, and you do not want people to steal them from you. We all know of someone who has been the victim of theft and you do not want that to happen to you. An alarm system will protect your stuff from being stolen by notifying the police as soon as someone tries to break in and steal your possessions.

In Canada, there are strict requirements on what can go into dietary supplements and how they are labelled. Sometimes called nutritional supplements these products must have a statement that indicates the content of protein, fat, linoleic acid, n-3 linolenic acid, saturated fatty acid and carbohydrate, in grams as well as the energy value in calories and kilojoules and the actual amount of vitamins and mineral nutrients.

Dietary supplements are products designed to supplement a normal diet by adding multivitamins, herbal products, amino acids, protein powders to prenatal supplements. In Canada and the United States, they are a fast-growing segment of the food supplement business that has been estimated to be worth $40 billion in the United States alone. They are fully regulated products in both countries under Health Canada and the US Food and Drug Administrations. Labelling of these products is strictly prescribed and there are stiff penalties for anyone found abusing the system.

Any dietary supplement that is brought onto the market must meet the regulatory bodies guidelines and standards for safety, effectiveness and quality.

1. Safety

Dietary supplements contain active ingredients that could have strong effects on your body. Anyone who takes them has to be cautious and aware that there could be unexpected side effects. This most often happens when someone first takes them or when they take them in combination with other supplements or instead of prescribed medicines. There are some very real and sometimes dangerous side effects. They could, for example, affect a person’s response to anesthesia or even cause bleeding after surgery,

They can also interfere with the workings and positive effects of some prescription drugs. Vitamin K can reduce the ability of the blood thinners to prevent clotting and vitamins C and E might reduce the effectiveness of some types of cancer chemotherapy. Other supplements, like St. John’s wort can speed the breakdown of antidepressants and birth control pills and reduce their effectiveness. There are some particular dangers for pregnant or nursing women and this group needs to be particularly careful about which supplements they take and in what combination with any other medicines or prescriptions.

2. Effectiveness

Dietary supplements are a great way to help people get the adequate amounts of essential nutrients that their body requires. They cannot and should not take the place of the healthy foods that make up a good diet. They have also been proven to be beneficial for overall health and helpful in managing some health conditions. Calcium and vitamin D help keep bones strong and reducing bone loss and folic acid decreases the risk of certain birth defects. Others like omega-3 fatty acids from fish oils are helping people with heart disease.

There are many other supplemental dietary products on the market that have not yet been fully tested and until they are, they cannot make any specific health claims on their labels or in advertising. Both the FDA in the United States and Health Canada require that a company test and prove their claims in legitimate clinical trials before they are permitted to make these claims about being an effective treatment for any disease or ailment.

3. Quality

Both regulatory bodies have established good manufacturing practices (GMPs) for dietary supplements. This ensures that these complex products maintain their identity, purity, strength, and composition. GMPs help to prevent the inclusion of the wrong ingredient in the right combination and ensure the proper packaging and labeling of a dietary supplement product. The companies’ manufacturing facilities are regularly inspected to ensure the quality of the products produced.

There are also several independent organizations that offer quality testing and allow products that pass these tests to display their seals of approval. These unofficial seals of approval provide an assurance that the dietary supplement products were manufactured in accordance with accepted practices and do not contain harmful levels of contaminants. They are not a full guarantee that any dietary supplement product is safe or effective.

Some things you don’t want to take chances with. Like your home and protecting your loved ones. When it comes to them, you would do almost anything to keep them safe and secure. That’s why it is really important to have locks on your doors and to have a working fire alarm system in your home or apartment. Fire can damage or destroy your property, but things can be replaced. People, and especially your family cannot. Buying, installing and maintaining a good fire alarm system should be a priority for every home.

It’s hard to know which type if fire alarm is the best one to choose. There seems to be so many options and models on the market these days. It can be a challenge but if you do your homework you can make an educated purchase. The first thing to know is that there are a number of different types of fire alarm systems. The difference between then is the type pf smoke detector that they have. Here are the main types of fire alarm systems that you can choose from.

1. Types of fire alarms

An ionisation alarm contains a smoke detector that uses air ionisation to detect smoke in a room. The detector has small amounts of americium 241 that is a radioactive element that sets up a current within the smoke detector. If there’s any smoke in the room, the smoke particles get into the detector and the ionisation chamber. This disrupts the electric current and the alarm goes off. Photoelectric or optical alarms use light to detect smoke presence in a room. They contain a light strobe which remains on and if there is a fire, the smoke causes this light to diffract and the fire alarm goes off. Finally, there are dual sensor alarms that use a combination of the photoelectric and ionisation alarms to detect smoke in a home or apartment.

2. Not just fire and smoke

The ionisation alarm is often recommended for other areas of the house other than the kitchen because there is sometimes accident smoke in that area. In the kitchen, a photoelectric alarm may be best because it cannot be set off accidentally by smoke from cooking. Some alarms also monitor more than just smoke. Some even come equipped with lights to help people get out of the house when it’s dark. Other detectors monitor smoke but they also work to detect the presence of dangerous gases like carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide gas is a colorless, odorless gas that builds up when fossil fuels are burned. If it builds up in high enough quantities, it can be deadly. If you have a gas fireplace or gas furnace in your home it is important that you monitor for a carbon monoxide build-up as well as smoke.

3. Powered up for safety

Fire alarms are almost always powered by batteries. But these batteries wear out and have to be replaced. Every year you should check your fire alarm system and your battery and replace if necessary. Another option is to have the fire alarm wired into your home’s electricity grid and have a battery in case of a power failure. Fire alarm systems will usually last about ten years but it should be replaced well before that in order to ensure the safety of your home.

4. Be safe and don’t be sorry. It’s the law.

Fire alarms are an important part of a home’s overall protection system. Not only are they important, in many areas they are also mandatory. You have to install a fire alarm system and keep it in good working order to pay serious penalties and fines. But why wouldn’t you want to have a fire alarm to save the ones you love from danger. Be safe and don’t be sorry.

Accidents happen. It’s a reality of life. For most of us, though, the accident happens and we easily recover and go on with our lives. For some people, however, an accident—from a collision, a slip and fall, or another situation—results in debilitating injuries that last a life time. And when the accident isn’t our fault, then an individual deserves to be compensated by the party responsible for the neglect, oversight or other mismanagement that has led to the injury. When that happens, professional advice from an attorney specializing in personal injury law, is a person’s best bet.

1. Types of personal injury

Sometimes something happens and we are not even sure whether the accident is covered in a legal sense. There are many cases where a person can get injured and should contact a lawyer to see what help might be available to them. Some areas where a personal injury lawyer might offer good advice include dog attacks and bites, slip and fall injuries, auto collisions, and bicycle accidents, to name just a few.

Personal injury can also include disability claims. There are times when a disability claim might be denied, or when long-term disability is disallowed. A personal injury lawyer can also help address issues such as these ones.

2. How personal injury often works

When you call a personal injury lawyer, some may take on the case under the arrangement that if the individual does not receive some kind of compensation, there is no charge by the consulting lawyer; that is, you only pay when you win. That can offer some reassurance to a person looking for compensation when they suffer an injury due to negligence or carelessness caused by another person or party.

3. What you might expect

Personal injury covers a lot of ground. Until a consultation takes place, it can be difficult, and nearly impossible, to determine what action is appropriate for a case. Legal suits look to recover damages, and what comprises the damages can vary widely. It could include income, both present and future, out-of-pocket expenses, costs to compensate for pain and suffering, treatment costs now and in the future, are just a few of the areas a lawyer will consider when determining what sort of action any particular injury might require.

4. Timelines to recover losses from injury

Timelines vary, but many accidents do have a time limit to start the claim. It varies from province to province and depends on the type of personal injury. If you believe that you have an injury that has impacted your life in some way, calling a personal injury lawyer may be the best step you could take. They can help to ensure that the losses you might suffer because of the injury—financial, personal, and other losses—are covered, today and in to the future. If you have a question about an accident, disability or other related incident, don’t hesitate to call a personal injury lawyer today. It could change your life. And your future.

Invoice financing is a popular method of improving cashflow for many new and small businesses. Financing agencies help business owners improve their short and long-term cash flow. Rather than waiting for the consumer to pay, a company can sell their invoices to a professional financing group who will then receive the payment from the consumer. There are many pro’s and cons to working with the professional invoice factoring companies. If you own a business, you should look at both the pro’s and cons of financing your invoices to see if it is right for you.

Pro’s:

• As a business owner, you have an instant and steady cash flow so you do not have to wait for the money. With an improved stream of incoming funds, you can buy your supplies at reduced, bulk, or sale prices rather than paying full retail or higher costs.
• A steady stream of money means you can plan your next investment opportunity, business building venture or expansion project.
• A consistent flow of money coming into the business also means that you will have the means to always pay your staff and bills on time. This reduces the stress of trying to budget your money so you can focus on other parts of the business.
• Invoice financing can also help you get through seasonal fluctuations when business is slower and there is less money coming in.
• Financing agencies run credit checks on consumers and will inform you if someone has a poor credit history. You can be alerted to their rating before doing business with them and decide beforehand if you want to do business with someone. For an additional fee, some agencies offer debtor protection so you do not have to worry if the invoice does not get paid.

Cons:

• You will not receive the full invoice amount because you will have to pay a percentage of the invoice to the financing company as a fee for their service. The fee amount you pay will depend on the agency and amount owed on the invoice. This additional expense will cut into your profit margins.
• Some big corporations frown upon using invoice financing. If you are trying to form a partnership with another corporation, using a finance agency could interfere with your business plans. A partnering business that prefers traditional lending institutions might choose to wait until you secure funds with a bank before settling into a partnership.
• Selling your invoices to another company does not guarantee that the consumer will pay. If you do not have debtor protection and the consumer does not remit payment, you responsible or the amount owed to the financing agency. If you do not pay the invoice, a collection agency will be involved.
• Some companies become very dependant on invoice financing options so they never learn to manage their own finances. This could be damaging long term because money management is a significant part of running a business.
• You might be restricted in your business dealings. If the finance agency does not feel that someone is a good client, you could lose out on a great business transaction if they refuse or restrict your dealings with that consumer. Paper trails are important, but they do not always tell the whole story.

As a business, you lose communication with customers because the communication is transferred to the invoice financing agent. This will affect your relationship building and company growth.

Invoice financing has many benefits for business owners, but, like everything, it is not without its risks. Before jumping into any agreement, do your research, ask questions, have a plan, and talk to a consultant first to see if it is right for your company.

Personal cooling vests are products that are especially designed to help both workers and athletes stay cool when the weather heats up. These types of clothing lower body temperature and allow construction workers and runners function in hot climates or environments. In addition to workers on construction sites and paving crews, they help everyone from athletes to people suffering from illnesses and diseases including multiple sclerosis keep their body cooler, even when the heat begins.

❔ Question 1: Are there different types of personal cooling vests?

Yes. There are a number of different types of personal cooling vests that are designed for specific purposes. They come in a variety of weights and sizes and some personal cooling vests are lightweight to allow more movement for athletes while industrial sized personal cooling vests are often found in mining and smelting operations. They range in weight from two to eight and there are five main types of personal cooling vests, with several sub-types to meet certain needs.

❔ Question 2: How do personal cooling vests work?

The first type of personal cooling vests is called an evaporative personal cooling vest. It works by being submersed in water from three to five minutes. Then it is wrung out lightly or blot dried. It is outside the clothing and as the water in the personal cooling vest interacts with specially treated cooling crystals or other cooling agents and the water evaporates, a person’s body temperature goes down.

Ice chilled personal cooling vests utilize ice to bring temperatures down. They use cooling energy packs that are activated in a freezer and then placed in pockets inside of the device. Phase change personal cooling vests use energy packs that are placed inside a refrigerator or freezer and then put in the pockets of the vest. These packs contain liquids that solidify like wax between 14 and 18 degrees. They are good for short-term cooling because they only last between one and a half and three hours.

❔ Question 3: What kind of personal cooling vests are used in construction?

There are a couple of types of personal cooling vests that are very effective for workers in construction and industries. They can provide consistent and continuous cooling to minimize heat stress and increase worker productivity in hot environments.

The personal cooling vests they favour in construction like road work must allow them to have a full range of motion to do their work. In high heat environments like a welding shop, they often wear their personal cooling vests under welding leathers or protective clothing. In construction work, they might wear personal cooling vests during the hot summer months when performing work like laying foundations or paving work. In addition to construction and paving work, personal cooling vests are also effective for many other workers. That includes people working in everything from foundries to power plants, and asbestos and hazardous waste removal.

❔ Question 4: What kind of personal cooling vests do athletes use?

Marathon runners and many other athletes often use lightweight athletic cooling vests that are first frozen and then worn against the skin. They are designed to allow the athlete to effectively run or participate in a game like soccer or football even when the temperatures are soaring outside. Other athletes use a cool water flow cooling vest that pumps water through the vest using hoses. There is also a thermoelectric cooling vest that works on peltier effect by cooling down the inner surface of the personal cooling vest. It is a bit awkward for runners however because it is a bit heavier than other personal cooling vests and is powered by a portable battery.

❔ Question 5: What about people who suffer from heat-sensitive illnesses?

Personal cooling vests are also very effective for people who suffer from multiple sclerosis. They are in constant pain and discomfort because their nerve fibers become demyelinated. The pain increases when the temperature is elevated. Personal cooling vests can keep their body temperature down. That reduces the symptoms and the pain. In 2015 there was a study at the University of Buffalo that found that personal cooling vests were an effective tool for many people who suffer from multiple sclerosis.