Mar 07
CoatezyUncategorized
Over the past 2-3 years I have been searching for a simple to use but feature rich invoicing/ quotation and reporting package. I have tried many different applications during this time..
One of them being Kbilling, I found Kbilling far to clunky and difficult to use. The overall design of the application was also very unattractive and looked very dated on the latest Windows operating systems such as Vista and 7. Yes it did its job and I was able to manage my invoices fine but it wasn’t a very pleasant experience.
I also tried a few browser based Php/Mysql based applications which I ran on my Server but again these either lacked the features I required or were just simply poorly put together and did everything half backwards.. One of the best browser based applications I found was Bamboo Invoice. Its opensource, pretty and the features that it does have it does well.. Its just simple not as feature rich as I need it to be. I.e No quotation features etc. Hopefully they continue to work on this great platform and add these features in the future.
I then came across an application call SliQ Invoicing.. And it really is SliQ. It does everything I need and more.. Invoicing, Quotation, Statement and Reporting. The interface is fresh and up to date looking and uses its own spin of the Microsoft office ribbon idea. (Which I personally love!)
Entering customer details is simple and you can complete an invoice in 4-5 clicks of the mouse! If you opt for the Plus version you have the ability to design your own invoices, quotations and statement which was a must for me as I wanted to make sure the look and layout of my invoices stayed they same so there was no visible change for our customers.
There is also the ability to enter your email SMTP details and send invoices by email to your customers directly from the software.
Now here is the impressive bit.. SliQ tools are charging £24.99 for the lite version and £29.99 for the plus version. Half the price of the clunky/unattractive Kbilling.
The best 30 quid I have spent in a long time!
http://www.sliqtools.co.uk/
Mar 01
CoatezyUncategorized
Thought I would let you guys know about a weekly Tech show/podcast that I have been watching on a weekly basis for quite some time now!
Tekzilla is a show part of the Revision3 network. It’s hosted by Patrick Norton and Veronica Belmont. It’s another great tech show that delivers excellent content for tech fans, reviewing gadgets, websites, and hardware. I love their reviews and picks of the week, which I find fairly interesting because it’s usually something unknown. They answer fan questions and give splendid answers. Nothing says Tekzilla like two geeks who love what they do and want to share it with their audience.
Every so often, they have specials with building a home media center, or building gaming machines. They give tips every weekday called Tekzilla Daily tip, which you can find on their website. What makes this show different from other tech shows is that they don’t want to cover every tech story, just the ones about cool gadgets or announcements. They really love to get down to the hardware specs and talk about it.
Watch Tekzilla every week or subscribe to them on iTunes.
Tekzilla
Review from podcastsdaily
Mar 01
CoatezyUncategorized
I have been running an old dual core machine for the past couple of months as a Windows Home Server.. It was running brilliantly.. Did everything I need and when connected with a gigabit switch, data transfer was lightning fast! 
But there was just one problem.. The server sits in my bed room and it was just TOO LOUD!!! So I decided to give up on the Windows Home Server approach and buy myself a Network attached storage device (NAS). After a lot of debating I purchased a Synology DS409 from my local Novatech store.. I threw in two Western Digital WD7500AAKS 750gb (which I previously had in my windows home server) and set them up in RAID 0.. In the near future I am planning to max out the DS409’s supported capacity of 8tb with 4x 2tb drives.
I have been running the NAS for just under a month now and I can honestly say it has been one of the best purchases that I have made in quite some time. Not only does it do its primary job brilliantly and connects to both my Windows 7 and Linux machine running Ubuntu 9.10 seamlessly, it also has many other fantastic functions such as; Acting as a web server supporting MYSQL and PHP, online photo gallery, online music player and file manager, torrent, http and ftp downloader, IP camera surveillance centre supporting up to 8 cameras, Itunes and DNLA media server and printer server.. And these are only some of its fucntions which can all be managed via it very simple but pretty AJAX web based manager which again can be accessed from the outside world via https if required.
For full specs on the Synology DS409 visit the synology product page here
http://www.synology.com/enu/products/DS409/index.php
