The Forge is Greensboro North Carolina’s first Makerspace.

From the Greensboro News Record.

“Pi Day (3/14) Career Exploration Jobs Event

9:25 a.m. – noon, March 14, The Forge, 115 W Lewis St.
Career Exploration event spotlighting math-intensive jobs. Employers will be in the workshop area focusing on aviation manufacturing, machining, and welding jobs and in the “soft space” we will have employers looking for talent in IT and code-related jobs.
Information: Employers may contact Joel@skilltv.net to reserve a table.”
Read more

From The Forge.

“Amenities

• 24/7 hours of operation
• A/V system with projector
• Business class internet and WiFi
• Business class server network
• Community space with kitchenette
• Conference room
• Patio area with parabolic canopy
• Rapidly growing inventory of equipment
• RFID access control system
• Secure environment
• Three phase power

Facility Specs

• 3,700sqft
• 2 Bathrooms (ADA compliant)
  • 1 Shower
• 4 separate areas
  • Workshop
  • Collaborative
  • Conference room
  • Patio
• Garage door
• RFID access system
• CPI monitored security system
• 3-phase power”

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Thinking of starting a business now or later?

Of course you will want a catchy, meaningful and easy to remember business name.

After you have chosen a business name, you should reserve a “.com”, domain name.

I have done this on numerous occasions.

First, give some thought to your business name and try not to limit the scope of your potential business activities if applicable.

Next do a search on the internet to see who, if anyone is using your name and what your competition is.

Next, check with your Secretary of State’s office, or other state agency, to see if the name is being used.

Concurrently have some idea of what type of business organization you will use. Corporation, LLC, etc. You may need to consult a tax/business expert for advice.

As soon as you have a handle on your business name, reserve one or more domain names. If you are reserving a .com you may want to also reserve a .net and other
suffixes to keep a potential competitor from usurping your internet name.

If you have chosen a web hosting provider, you can search for a domain name and purchase it there, although it is often provided with the initial cost of hosting,

If you have not chosen a hosting provider or early on you just want to search for a domain name, here are some suggestions:

InstantDomainSearch.com

“See Domain Name Search Results As You Type

Just start typing! If the domain name you are looking for is taken, you can click WHOIS to find out who registered it or the URL to visit the website.

We apply a $0.99 coupon for .com domain names when you buy at Go Daddy. The offer is valid for only one .com purchase, and does not include the ICANN fee of $0.18 per
domain name per year. That’s a sweet deal!

Love the site? Spread the word on Twitter and Facebook!

All domain searches are encrypted over https, and searches do not leave our servers. Your search results are not recorded. Pressing Enter or Return will take you
directly to Go Daddy or the registrar you’ve chosen where you can buy your domain name. Good luck!”

Search

DomainsBot.com

“The domain name search engine!

Available domain suggestions + expired, expiring and for sale domain name search + whois lookup. Domain + Twitter + Facebook identity suggesitons.”

Search

PCnames.com

“Check Domains, Instantly!

Based on your query, PCNames.com instantly checks whether .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .us, .mobi and .name domain names are available. The domain search results
will appear with 2-second delay for your convenience.

Your domain search results are not shared with 3-rd parties. However, we keep history of your recent domain searches and favorite domain picks so you can easily follow
up on all the important search results.”

Search

From Entrepreneur.

“Do’s and Don’ts of Securing a Domain Name

Consider these six tips from small-business owners and experts before deciding on a website name.”
Read more

I have been using WordPress for blogging and website creation for many years.

I am sold on it.

I highly recommend it for small businesses, but what is surprising is the number of Fortune 500 companies using it.

Why?

It is flexible, cost effective and facilitates getting great SEO, Search Engine Optimization, ranking.

It is far more than a blogging platform.

I was preparing this article and as I normally do, did a search to see what the competition is on the subject.

I found an article ironically written by someone with the same last name. William H. Wells III, as the saying goes, took the words right out of my mouth.

From William H. Wells III, Internet marketing strategist, consultant and public speaker.

“As a web developer for twenty years now, I’ve been privileged to be part of the continuous evolution of Internet technology, website development and SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  Small businesses and non-profit organizations have been forced to balance affordability with having a professional looking website which would also obtain high search engine rankings.  They needed what they couldn’t afford… and what they COULD afford wasn’t what they needed.

Some made the mistake of letting family members, rookies, and novices do it for them to “save” money.  The result was generally amateur looking websites with no search engine optimization at all.  These novices eventually disappeared… sites quickly became outdated and business owners found themselves back at square one… starting over while losing valuable months and perhaps years in the process.  The “you get what you pay for” idea was never more true.  Read some fun articles I wrote on this topic back in the “old days”.”

“WordPress is now considered the “industry standard” website platform and has leveled the playing field when it comes to websites and search engine visibility.  You can now use the exact same platform that many Fortune 500 companies and major brands have chosen to use!  Who’s using WordPress?”

“5 Reasons to Switch Your Website to WordPress

1. Cost Effective
   As with any website, you’ll have your annual domain name renewal and website hosting fees.  The platform software is free and can be found at wordpress.org.  Most add-on modules (plugins) are free.  I’d strongly suggest you seek the help of a professional to assist with the original installation and software set-up.  This should be a one-time fee with minimal or no monthly maintenance fees.
2. 100% Total Control
   You have 100% control over every aspect of your website.  Appearance, layout, categorized links and content, add-on modules (plugins), SEO, photos, videos, calendars, contact forms, PayPal integration, and so much more.
3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
   Search engines love WordPress… especially Google.  Easily include Google Analytics.  Virtually every aspect of WordPress offers the ability to include meta tags, descriptions, keywords and phrases.  From individual pages and posts to images, videos, links, categories, and more.  Each of these plays a crucial role in helping with search engine visibility.
4. Social Media Friendly
   WordPress provides users with the ability to easily include icons, links, and streams for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and others.  It’s, by far, one of the easiest platforms for connecting your website with your social networking tools!
5. Communication, Interaction, and Lead Generation
   WordPress comes complete with powerful communication and consumer interaction tools.   Built right in is the ability for visitors to post comments on articles you’ve written, pages you’ve created, and content you’ve provided.  You can easily add a “Log In” area for users and provide them with “Member Only” content.  Want people to sign up for your newsletter?  Most newsletter services such as “Constant Contact” or “MailChimp” provide you with the code you need.  Insert it anywhere in your website.  The opportunities are endless.”

Read more:

http://www.williamhwells.com/2012/04/21/website-woes/

What is the current usage of the AS/400 family, I Series and System I computers in business?

I wanted a number so I emailed IBM twice today.

I believe that the number will surprise many, but having worked on the entire IBM midrange of computers beginning in 1981, it will not completely surprise me.

Having also begun using PCs early as well (I owned one of the original IBM PCs), the AS/400 family has always seemed more professional and efficient.

Fully functional database processing has always come with the operating system.

At one time, in the early nineties, Microsoft corporate ran on AS/400s. This has always been a source of embarassment for them.

Microsoft replaced their in house AS/400s in 1999.

I had to use the Wayback Machine of March 2, 2001 to retrieve this article.

“AS/400s Extinct at Microsoft Since May, 1999

In late 1995, Microsoft began a project to centralize and modernize its legacy computer systems. The project was vital to saving the company money by streamlining Financial, Human Resources, Order Management, Distribution and other vital line-of-business applications at the very heart of Microsoft’s internal computing information environment. These applications ran on a number of divergent and geographically distributed computer systems requiring complex and custom interfacing to form an aggregate system that was anything but integrated. Included were 12 AS/400s, 3 VAX clusters, and at least 50 Microsoft® Windows®-based client/server systems. In 1999, the project was completed and the legacy systems were replaced with one centrally managed SAP R/3 solution, consisting of just 15 Windows 2000-based application servers that share a SQL Server™2000-based database. Today, with the new system, instead of taking several weeks to close the worldwide consolidated books, Microsoft can now close every month in five days or less.

Situation

In the mid 1990s Microsoft and its worldwide subsidiaries used legacy business systems running on the IBM AS/400 with expensive custom interfaces and no common taxonomy.
Solution

Over the next few years, the legacy system was replaced with a centralized ERP system (SAP R/3) running on Windows 2000 and SQL Server 2000.”

http://web.archive.org/web/20010302103702/http://www.microsoft.com/technet/showcase/itops/as400tn.asp

Obviously the problems that Microsoft was experiencing were not due to using AS/400s.

Their problem was non integrated, out dated systems and procedures.

I am certain that a consolidation using new software on one or more AS/400s could have solved their problems and saved as much money.

But that would not solve their larger problem.

Image.

When I get a number of AS/400 family installations from IBM or elsewhere, I will update this article.

However, I found a great article that dispels many myths about the AS/400 family vs PC systems.

“Keep Your AS/400

You will hear many myths about your AS/400
Here are some bad arguments for migrating away from your IBM i-iSeries-AS/400

The AS/400 is obsolete. It was introduced in 1989. It’s old technology.

The AS/400 (now called the IBM i or iSeries) product is younger than the PC.
Like the PC, it has had continuous hardware and software improvements.
Version 8.1 was just announced around May 2014.
Your iSeries can host dynamic web pages and web services.
It can run PHP, Perl, Java, and Ruby on Rails.

I’m told that AS/400’s use old computer languages like RPG and Cobol.

That’s true.
RPG-ILE and Cobol-ILE date back to earlier versions from the 1960’s.
But Microsoft’s Visual Basic, ASP and .NET languages are really just
updated versions of BASIC which also dates back to the 1960’s.
C++, C# and Java are all updates of C from the 1960’s.
in fact, both Java and RPG-ILE were created in 1995!

And as noted above, you can also use PHP, Perl, Java, and Ruby on Rails.

We want internet applications. AS/400’s can’t do that.

Sure they can.
Click here to see a demo Shopping Cart web page running on this iSeries.

iSeries-AS/400’s also run Java and PHP.
It’s hard to access AS/400’s over the internet.

Not really.
Click here to install a plug-in to Internet Explorer to
start an SSL encrypted iSeries session on this iSeries
This is one of many ways to connect to an AS/400 – iSeries – IBM i

You have to buy expensive software to run internet applications.

No.
The Shopping Cart program and iSeries sessions above
were written WITHOUT ANY EXTRA SOFTWARE.

My iSeries also can automatically zip data files and EMAIL them.
It also automatically downloads and uploads data
using the internet file transfer protocol (FTP).

All this without extra software.

AS/400’s are expensive.

Not anymore. They are price competitive with Windows solutions.
$15,000 will get a platform big enough to run a $100 Million
distribution or manufacturing company.

Application software is not included. There are lots of options.

We want to use mainstream technology used by successful companies.

You’re in pretty good company.

Here is a partial list of companies that use AS/400-iSeries:

Many Casinos in Nevada and N.J. (Harrahs, Ameristar Casinos, American Casino,
Boyd Gaming, Borgata Casino, Table Mountain Casino)

AAFES
Ace Cash Express
Adidas
Affiliated Computer (ACS)
AIG Insurance
Air Wisconsin Airlines
Alcoa Inc
Alcon Laboratories
All England Lawn Tennis Club (Wimbledon)
Allied Waste
Allstate
Amarillo Pathology
America’s Health Insurance Plans (www.ahip.ord)
Amway
Ashley Furniture
Bally Technologies
Bank of America”

Read more:

http://www.texas400.com/keepyouras400.html