Newsletter 2011.07

 
 
Posted: Posted in: Newsletter

Welcome to the METHOD IT Newsletter for July 2011

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

New METHOD IT Solution — We are now offering installation, setup and development for Dynamics CRM 2011, Microsoft’s cutting-edge package of online sales, marketing and customer service tools.

Android Apps

With more and more Android Smartphones being released in Japan every month, isn’t it time you considered developing an app for your company? The METHOD IT Development Team are well-versed in Java, the language used to code native apps, and have the skills required to get your ideas to the Android Market.

E-Commerce Solutions

METHOD IT provides E-Commerce website design and development for businesses of all sizes using the popular Magento platform. Our solutions include iPhone Apps and integration with Japanese Payment Gateways.

Tips & Tricks

Go Fullscreen in Windows

Hitting the F11 key in most Windows applications acts as a toggle for fullscreen mode. Very handy for toolbar and taskbar-less Web browsing, presentations and media viewing.

Top Firefox Add-ons

Firefox 5 has just been released and we highly recommend it for Windows XP users as an Internet Explorer replacement.
Already got Firefox? Here are 3 indispensable add-ons:

  • Rikaichan – Incredibly helpful Japanese to English/German/French/Russian dictionary. Just select a word in a Japanese web page to see a pop-up of its readings and meaning.
  • Picozu Shooter – For quickly taking screenshots of full web pages or selected portions of them. Can save to a file, copy to the clipboard and upload to the Picozu photo retouching Web App.
  • FireGestures – Intuitive mouse gestures for faster browsing (e.g. left drag while right-clicking to go back one page).

News from the Web

Google Launches Social Network

Google+ (plus) was made available to the public on June 28th. Dubbed a potential ‘Facebook Killer’ by many, the new social network has many exciting features such as ‘Circles’, the ability to keep separate your social circles such as work, family and friends. Google+ is still in a field testing phase and is accessible by invite from existing users only. Even so, the network gathered an impressive 10 million users in its first two weeks.

CRM Links to Office 365, Goes Social

Announced at Microsoft’s 2011 Worldwide Partner Conference, updates due for Dynamics CRM in the fourth quarter will feature integration with the new cloud-based Office 365 and social functionality such as activity feeds and microblogging.

eBay Acquires Magento

Magento, creator of METHOD IT’s E-Commerce solution of choice, has been acquired by eBay. This is expected to accelerate development on eBay’s new open ‘X.Commerce’ project and will provide Magento with more resources for growth.

Bulk App Store Purchases for Businesses

Apple is soon to introduce a ‘Volume Purchasing Plan’ in the US that will allow businesses to buy iPhone and iPad Apps in bulk and easily distribute them across multiple employee devices.

Any Thing and Every Thing Goes Online

Cisco have created this wonderful infographic that explains how, by the year 2020, there will be some 50 billion ‘things’ connected to the Internet — not just the obvious computers but electrical appliances, cars, and even livestock.