Software Solutions

Guru.com

2011-11-20T10:51:00.000-08:00

Guru is a professional networking service for freelance professionals.
It allows companies to find professional freelancers for projects.
They were orginally founded in 1998 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as eMoonlighter.com

Allen Lowder
Custom Software Solutions

WebDesigners-Directory

2011-11-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

WebDesigners-Directory allows businesses to locate web designers based on skill set and geographic area.

Allen Lowder
Custom Software Solutions

Elance

2011-11-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

Elance is a global outsourcing site.
Businesses can post projects and hire freelance professionals.
Freelance professionals can create online profiles and portfolios and submit proposals for posted jobs.
The projects and payment are managed through the Elance site.

Elance allows businesses to post projects and review the freelance professionals who bid on the projects.
The site allows freelancers to search the site for potential projects that fit thier skill set, research the companies posting the jobs and submit bids for projects that interest them.

Allen Lowder
Custom Software Solutions

Business Card 2

2011-11-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

Business Card 2 is a professional social networking site.
You can use BusinessCard2 to help manage your personal brand, personal marketing and relationship building.

Allen Lowder
Custom Software Solutions

Naymz

2011-11-20T09:08:00.000-08:00

Naymz was created to help you define and manage who you are on the internet.
It is a professional social networking site that allows you to network with other professionals and to manage your online reputation.
It is reported to have 1.8 million members and was founded by Nolan Bayliss, Tony Czupryna, and Tom Drugan in January 2006

Allen Lowder
Custom Software Solutions

Linked-in

2011-11-19T22:09:00.000-08:00

Linkedin is reported to have over 135 million users.
It is a professional networking site that allows professionals to network with other professionals to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. It will also allow you to keep in touch with people you have worked with and to stay informed about your contacts and industries.

Allen Lowder
Custom Software Solutions

Steve Jobs and Apple

2011-09-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

I was sorry to hear that Steve Jobs was resigning due to health reasons.
We appreciate his incredible knack for technical creativity and will keep him in our prayers.

Godspeed Steve!

New Site Launch www.LitBand.com

2011-08-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

Custom Software Solutions launched a new site for Lit Band

This is a custom WordPress site that allows easy updates and site maintenance.
Check out the band photos page

World Telecom Group Event

2011-05-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

Custom Software Solutions attended the 9th Annual Tee & Sea event at Malibu Country Club hosted by WTG on Friday.
Allen Lowder attended from CSS and found it to be a great networking opportunity.
CSS is now able to offer solutions to its clients for Bandwidth, VOIP and complete telephone systems via its new partner, KB Data.

-Allen Lowder 5/13/11

Microsoft has agreed to purchase Skype for $8.5 Billion dollars

2011-05-10T16:21:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has agreed to purchase Skype for $8.5 Billion dollars.
The sale is subject to regulatory approval. Microsoft expects approval by the end of this year.
This purchase will give the world's largest software maker a new conferencing platform.

Skype currently has 170 Million users worldwide. Microsoft believes it can attract hundreds of millions of additional users by integrating Skype with it's wide range of products such as Windows, Outlook, Microsoft Mobile and their XBox gaming systems.

Microsoft already has a product similar to Skype, in Windows Live. Skype has a much larger user base and works across platforms.

Microsoft could also incorporate Skype into it's business video conferencing software.
Skype to Skype calls are currently free and Skype to landline or cell phones are offered at a low cost.

This has allowed Skype to offer alternatives to traditional phone companies and offers a cost savings to its users. This has allowed Skype to become the largest provider of international calling services in the world.

This purchase by Microsoft is the largest in the company's 36 year history.

Skype was founded in 2003 by Scandinavian entrepreneurs Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom.
Before founding Skype, they created the file sharing program, Kazaa.

Allen Lowder 5/10/11

Pokerstars update since FBI takover

2011-04-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

Pokerstars has updated their site since the FBI has taken over their domain.

The new homepage indicates that PokerStars will no longer allow real money players from the US.

Pokerstars has reached an agreement with the US DOJ to allow current players to cash out their accounts.

US Players will be allowed to continue to play on the site for play money only.

They list a link to create a new play money account and download a new play money only application.

They also have a link to a Frequently Asked Questions page.

-Allen Lowder 4/24/11

Online Poker sites seized by FBI

2011-04-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

Top online poker sites, Pokerstars.com, FullTiltPoker.com and AbsolutePoker.com have had thier domains seized by the FBI.

If you attempt to access these sites today, you will see a message left by the FBI and Dept of Justice stating "This domain name has been seized by the F.B.I. pursuant to an Arrest Warrant in Rem obtained by the US Attorney's Office..."

According to Reuters, charges were filed against 11 people involved. The charges involve violation of internet anti-gaming laws and fraud by "tricking regulators and banks into processing billions of dollars in illegal internet gambling proceeds"

-Allen Lowder April 17, 2011

FireFox 4

2011-04-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

I downloaded FireFox 4 this week.
Mozilla produced several web demos that show off the new features of FireFox 4 and other browsers that will support HTML 5 and CSS3
See the demo here:
Mozilla's Web O' Wonder

-Allen
http://www.css-oc.net/

2011-03-31T20:08:00.000-07:00

Traditional Search Engines follow links on web pages and return results based on these "surface" types of internet content.
Searching databases of information for documents and large amounts of detailed information are part of the "Deep Web"

One service that provides results from the Deep WEb is KGB People. This site was previously named Whoozy.

You can view my profile by clicking on the button below:

Building My Brand

2011-03-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

I have been working on Marketing by Building My Brand this week.
My Brand is more than just my business, it is my name as well.

I created a Wiki

I created a new Blog AllenLowder

I also created a profile on a Deep Search profile engine, KGB People

I included links to my business website in each of these new locations to create inbound links to my business as well.

New Website

2011-03-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

We have launched a new website to promote both Open Source and Microsoft based services we provide at Custom Software Solutions, Inc.
http://www.css-oc.net/

Contact Allen Lowder for a free quote today.
allen.lowder@css-oc.com

Affordable eCommerce website

2010-09-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Custom Software Solutions - Open Source was created to provide affordable eCommerce, Website and Blog sites to our clients.
We handle all the technical details and allow our partners to focus on their design work.

Click here to learn More
To discuss partner opportunities,
please call Allen Lowder at (949) 870-9145
or email at sale@css-oc.com

Have you tried Google Voice yet?

2010-03-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

In 2007, Google acquired GrandCentral. It has reworked this product and has re-launched it as Google Voice. It is a Unified Communications product.
Google Voice provides a local phone number of your choice which, when called can ring up to six phones simultaneously. You can choose to have your office phone, home phone, mobile phone, etc. all ring when the Google Voice number is called.
Google Voice also offers voice to text transcription of voicemail and call recording, free calls to the US. Competitive rates for outbound international calls, call recording and conferencing.

Features

Transcribed voicemail online
Low cost international calls
Custom greetings for callers
One number for all your phones
Get SMS messages via email
Block unwanted callers

Google Voice is currently available by invite only.

Want to receive an intivation?

Click Here for a Google Voice invitation request.

Free National Wi-Fi?

2008-03-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

Google Wants To Offer National Wi-Fi For Free

Google is lobbying the FCC to obtain bandwidth to be freed up when television stations stop broadcasting analog signals.
Their plan is to use these frequencies to offer Free Nationwide Wi-Fi.

Sign Up for a chance to win $100,000

2008-03-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

Sign up for a chance to win $100,000
Office Live Workspace Sweepstakes (U.S. only)

Microsoft Office Live Workspace (Beta)
You can Save, access, and share documents online

Allows you to store documents online and access them from almost any computer.
You can share and control who can view, comment, and edit your documents.

Start sharing today; It’s easy & FREE
Open and save files directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Manage all changes in a single online copy of a document.

Sign up free for service and sweepstakes
Get a workspace and win $100,000
The first time you share and upload will increase your chance of winning.
Over 30,000 prizes will be awarded, including $100,000.

Use it. Save it. Donate it. The choice is yours.

Win an X-Box 360 Elite!

2008-03-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

Win a Microsoft® Xbox 360® Elite Video Game System. 300 will be awarded.

Just enter the Microsoft Office Live Workspace Sweepstakes for a chance to win.

$100,000 Grand Prize. 30,000 prizes to be given away.

It is Free to signup for both the Live Workspace service and for the sweepstakes.

Sign Up for your own workspace today for a chance to win.

Sign up for a chance to win an Xbox 360 Elite

Guitar Hero

2008-02-10T12:56:00.001-08:00

My son, Ace got Guitar Hero II for Christmas.

Check out Ace on YouTube. I got a camera, he got Guitar Hero for Christmas, so we put him up on YouTube. He wanted to prove to his classmates and teachers that he could play Sweet Child O’ Mine on expert level. He even does the first part with his back to the screen.

SQL Server 2008

2008-01-29T15:57:00.000-08:00

SQL Server 2008

New Concept:
Your Data, Any Place, Any Time

New Features:
SQL Server 2008, the latest release of Microsoft SQL Server, will provide a comprehensive data platform that is more secure, reliable, manageable and scalable for your mission critical applications.
It will also enable developers to create new applications that can store and consume any type of data on any device.

Learn More about SQL Server 2008

Microsoft Windows Server 2008

2008-01-10T15:57:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Windows Server 2008

New Features:
Windows Server 2008 was built from the same code base as Windows Vista.
Since the same code base as used, Windows Server 2008 shares much of the same architecture and functionality as Windows Vista. It benefits from most of the technical, security, management and administrative features new to Windows Vista.

Some of the benefits of Windows Server 2008:
Improved networking stack (native IPv6, native wireless, speed and security improvements)
Improved image-based installation deployment and recovery
Improved diagnostics, monitoring, event logging and reporting tools
New security features such as Bitlocker and ASLR
Improved Windows Firewall with secure default configuration
.NET Framework 3.0 technologies, specifically Windows Communication Foundation, Microsoft Message Queuing and Windows Workflow Foundation
Core kernel, memory and file system improvements.
Processors and memory devices are modelled as Plug and Play devices, to allow hot-plugging of these devices.
(This allows the system resources to be partitioned dynamically using Dynamic Hardware Partitioning; each partition having its own memory, processor and I/O host bridge devices independent of other partitions.)

Learn more about Windows Server 2008

Visual Studio 2008

2007-12-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

Visual Studio 2008

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Vision:
To deliver on the Microsoft vision of smart client applications by enabling developers to rapidly create connected applications that deliver the highest quality, rich user experiences.

With Visual Studio 2008, organizations will find it easier than ever before to capture and analyze information to help them make effective business decisions. Visual Studio 2008 enables organizations of every size to rapidly create more secure, manageable, and reliable applications that take advantage of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system.

Visual Studio 2008 delivers key advances for developers in three primary pillars:
Rapid application development
Effective team collaboration
Break through user experiences

Learn more about Visual Studio 2008

The Fantastic Machine

2007-11-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun links to some YouTube Music Animation videos:

Fantastic Machine

And another for a drum machine

Drum Machine

There is an urban legend that the Fantastic Machine depicted in the video was an actual machine built at the University of Iowa out of Farm Machine parts.

Of course this is not true. The instrument is computer animated and was created by Animusic.

On the Animusic site, they have clips from 7 computer animated instruments and offer the entire set on DVD.

Expression Web

2007-11-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

I recently downloaded the trial version of Expression Web and took a first look.

I see Expression Web as a step up from Microsoft's FrontPage product. I never cared for Frontpage. Each time I attempted to create a web site using FrontPage, I got frustrated with the automated code updates it created and the lack of features and ended up importing the site into Visual Studio to complete and maintain. Expression Web is easier to use than Visual Studio and attempts to put many commonplace code edits into dialog based configuration settings rather than requiring you to update code. I see Expression Web as a possible time saver for building out simple sites with simple logic.

For me, I don't use Visual Studio on a daily basis and don't need most of the functionality it provides. I would welcome an easy-to-use version of Visual Studio and hope Expression Web will provide a new timesaving tool.

Microsoft Expression Web - Free Trial Download

Microsoft Expression Studio

2007-11-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

I am looking forward to experimenting with the new web developer toolset called Expression Studio. The Expression Studio suite is a set of tools including a replacement for FrontPage in Expression Web.

Expression Web provides a WYSIWYG designer and HTML Editor in a tool that resembles and easy-to-use Visual Stuido type application with less funcitonality than the full version of Visual Studio.

Expression Studio suite also includes Expression Design which is a commercial professional illustration graphics design tool. It provides a raster and vector graphics editor.

Another tool in the suite is Expression Blend which provides a user interface design tool for creating rich graphical interfaces for web and desktop applications that blend the features of these two types of applications.

The final tool in the suite is Expression Media which is a commercial Digital Asset Management (DAM) cataloguing program.

The Expression Studio suite is a set of tools that consists of the following products.

Expression Web
A professional web site design tool with WYSIWYG website designer and HTML editor.

Expression Design
A professional illustration and graphic design tool with Raster and vector graphics editor for both Web and desktop application user interfaces.

Expression Blend
The professional design tool with visual user interface builder for Windows Presentation Foundation applications to create engaging, Web-connected, user experiences for Windows.

Expression Media
A professional digital asset and media manager asset management tool to visually catalog and organize all your digital assets for retrieval and presentation.

2007-10-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

I use LinkedIn to stay connected to clients from previous projects, collegues from previous companies and friends. I highly recommend LinkedIn to help organize and manage your Network.

allen.lowder@css-oc.com

Dynamics

2007-10-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions.

Microsoft Dynamics is comprised of the following software:

Customer Relationship Management
· Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Enterprise resource planning
· Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta)
· Microsoft Dynamics GP(formerly Great Plains)
· Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision)
· Microsoft Dynamics SL (formerly Solomon)

Retail management
· Microsoft Dynamics – Point of Sale
· Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) (formerly QuickSell)

Office Business Applications (OBAs)
· Microsoft Dynamics Snap

Silverlight

2007-10-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft® Silverlight™ is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows.

Silverlight will compete with Adobe Flash and the presentation components of Ajax. It also competes with Sun Microsystems' JavaFX, which was launched a few days after Silverlight.

Version 1.1 will include a complete version of the .NET Common Language Runtime, named CoreCLR, so that Silverlight applications can be written in any .NET language.

Links and info:
Get Silverlight
Wikipedia Entry
Silverlight Homepage

Cool Tees

2007-10-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Fashion Design for the White and Nerdy

Despair Wear

Microsoft Surface

2007-10-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

Surface computing has arrived.
http://www.surface.com/

After you have seen the new Microsoft Surface, you can appreciate the parody below :)

Microsoft Surface Parody
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com/2007/06/ms-surface-how-we-would-have-done-it.html

Custom Software Solutions

2007-10-11T14:16:00.000-07:00

Custom Software Solutions, Inc.

Software Development and Web Site Design Services. Software development firm offers computer programming, web development and business solutions. Microsoft Partner.
http://www.css-oc.com/