PSPINC Official Company Blog

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 114 “Being Proactive in Business”

May

5

It’s important to be proactive in business. Rather than waiting for problems to arise, businesses should anticipate them and have a plan in place to solve them. Otherwise, you’ll be left scrambling to fix the problem. And in the process, you may lose customers as a result because they might lose trust in you as a company. To ensure this doesn’t happen, you’ll have to do your research to find potential problems. The best way to accomplish this is by testing everything constantly to make sure your new product and/or service works correctly. It’s exactly why PSPINC has a quality assurance (QA) department. And even if you think it’s great, you should still seek feedback from your employees. Especially because they too represent potential customers.

Additionally, you should test every part of the purchase funnel to identify places that could cause friction. For example, if your payment portal on your website isn’t working properly, customers will likely abandon the process altogether. Instead, they’ll look to your competitors to find a similar product. Today’s customers are smart and hold a lot of influence over the marketplace. If a potential customer tries to buy your product and finds the product problematic or the process too troublesome, they won’t hesitate to tell you. Or worse, they’ll tell others on social media. So, avoid this problem by being proactive before releasing a new product or service.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #businesstips #customerservice #customersupport #digitalmarketing #entrepreneur #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingtips #newsletter #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #qa #qualityassurance #tech #technology #testing #web

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 113 “Dreamersi Customers Earn More”

Apr

28

Did you know that Dreamersi, comes with exclusive access to other PSPINC products? For example, Dreamersi customers also have WebdeXpress and InforMakers at their disposable. And they even get special discounts whenever we discount any of our products or services.

WebdeXpress (WDX) is PSPINC’s intuitive website builder and comes with all sorts of great features. WDX makes it easy for customers to design their website, with the option to use a pre-defined template or fully customize it with HTML and CSS. All it takes is one click to download WDX to get started building your website.

InforMakers is another additional tool that’s available for free for our Dreamersi customers. With it, users can easily create custom online forms. It’s usually priced at $8/month for everyone else, but to thank them for their loyalty, Dreamersi customers get it for free. It’s a great feature for businesses because it can be a way to generate more leads and collect data on their customers.

Dreamersi is our premiere web and email hosting service. We developed and designed it in-house, which means we have full control over the digital environment. That then makes it easier to create custom development for customers looking for website features that aren’t offered by other website builders. So, please consider hosting your website with Dreamersi.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #customersupport #dreamersi #hosting #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #seo #smallbusiness #softwaredevelopment #tech #technology #webdesign #webdevelopment #webdexpress #webhosting #website #webtools

What is Augmented Reality (AR)?

Apr

26

We’ve all heard of virtual reality (VR), especially with conversations around the metaverse getting more frequent. But augmented reality (AR) is similar. Rather than immersing people in a fully virtual world, it incorporates objects from the real-world environment and enhances them. By mapping three-dimensional virtual objects into the real world, it blends virtual objects into the real world. It can trigger your other senses like touch, smell, and even taste, but most AR technology augments what you see and what you hear.

Types of AR Devices

someone holding a phone open to the Pokémon GO app

There are two types of AR devices: head-mounted displays and smartphones. The best examples of head-mounted AR devices right now are the Microsoft HoloLens 2 and the Magic Leap 2. Both Microsoft’s Hololens and Magic Leap One allow you to move holograms through touch and grasp while wearing the device on your head. The device itself looks very similar to VR devices, but instead of a full headset, it’s just AR glasses. Unfortunately, it has a similar setback as a VR headset: it’s a bulky device to put on your head. Additionally, people have mixed feelings about wearing AR glasses all day.

AR on smartphones or even a tablet is much simpler as well as cheaper. Almost everyone nowadays has a cell phone, which comes with a built-in camera and access to mobile apps. The biggest successes in AR technology, regarding it being on a smartphone, are the apps, Pokémon GO and the IKEA Place app. With the game Pokémon GO, users can see Pokémon in the real world through their phones when catching them. But despite the app’s major success, most users immediately turned off the AR features for one big reason: it drains your phone’s battery life. The IKEA Place app, however, allows users to see what furniture looks like in their homes. With interior design being a big part of why customers buy furniture, it’s a smart application. With the app, they have a better idea of how the piece of furniture will look in different rooms and it’ll look good with their existing furniture.

The Future of AR

While AR technology’s gotten more popular over the past few years, there is still plenty to be done to improve it. Moving forward, the customer’s experience will evolve when engaging the senses, namely touching, hearing, and seeing will be improved. Especially when it comes to motion gesture technology, which is perhaps the most appealing aspect of AR technology right now. With the glasses, developers are working on widening the user’s view, so it’ll extend it to the rest of their peripheral vision.

While the glasses look futuristic, they’re bulky. The fact that it’s not a fully virtual reality makes customers hesitant when purchasing them. There’s also the added factor that AR glasses aren’t cheap. It’s not currently priced for customers, rather they’re for the military and medical practitioners, who use them for training and surgeries. While Pokémon GO’s use of AR technology leaves much to be desired, using AR on a mobile device has proven to be successful in other industries like retail. So, while AR glasses as a device don’t seem to be gaining any traction among customers, the smartphone application is where AR technology can grow further.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#app #ar #arglasses #augmentedreality #blog #ikeaplace #metaverse #microsoft #mobile #mobileapp #pokemongo #tech #technology #virtualreality #vr

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 112 “DENREI’s New Mobile App”

Apr

21

Last week, we announced that one of our online communities, DENREI, just launched a mobile app! We still have the browser version available, but we’ve created the app specifically to improve users’ experience. With the app, the sign-up and account set-up process is simpler, eliminating the need for an email client. It also comes with some additional features, making it easier to connect and converse with other members.

On the new DENREI app, users can easily send messages to their followers and read other community members’ broadcasts. DENREI was built for users looking to build and connect with unique and exclusive online communities.

For a full breakdown of some of the amazing features with DENREI’s new mobile app, please check out our announcement blog post.

So, download the free DENREI app today! Only available in the U.S on iOS.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#app #apple #blog #business #community #denrei #email #ios #mobile #mobileapp #online #onlinecommunity #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment

DENREI – App Now Live!

Apr

14

We’re excited to share with you that our online community platform, DENREI, now has an app available to download for free in the app store for U.S users! We still have the desktop version available, but we specifically developed the app to improve usability for the user. With the app, users will no longer have to configure an email client. Instead, it’s already built into the app, making account set-up easier.

What is DENREI?

DENREI is our all-new social platform that uses email to leverage conversations with others, which offers the security and privacy that other platforms may not offer. The name, “denrei”, comes from the Japanese word for messenger. Using the power of email, DENREI allows users to build their own unique online communities and connect with like-minded users on your favorite topics.

What can you do with DENREI?

A Man Sitting Wearing Eyeglasses while Using His Mobile Phone

After signing up and verifying your email, you can start setting up your profile. All that’s needed is your name, language, a unique username, and some information about what kinds of content you’ll be broadcasting. There’s even an option to moderate your new followers by requiring your approval before allowing others to follow you. After that, you can:

• Compose messages to send out as broadcasts to your followers.

• Attach photos and documents to your broadcasts to provide additional forms of media to your followers.

• Search the DENREI community listing to find members that share your interests.

• Receive content from members you follow in your inbox.

• Review, reply, favorite, move, and delete messages within your inbox.

• Manage, organize, and archive your messages by creating sub-folders.

• Disable replies if you choose to use DENREI to share news rather than conversing.

How much does DENREI cost?

someone opening up their wallet and starting to pull out a five dollar bill

Absolutely nothing. DENREI, as well as its new mobile app, is completely free to use and download.

Benefits of using DENREI

a group of people in an office space talking, with two of them holding tablets

• Reliable message delivery: DENREI messages will always deliver to your members unlike traditional email, where content can get flagged as spam or leave things undelivered.

• Exclusivity: only DENREI members can send and receive messages from other DENREI members.

• Community: grow your personal and/or professional network by connecting with other members.

• Connection: discover new online communities to find other members whose interests align with your own.

So, download the free DENREI app today! Only available in the U.S. on iOS.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#announcement #app #apple #blog #business #community #denrei #email #ios #mobile #mobileapp #online #onlinecommunity #pspinc #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 111 “10% Off All YourHost Plans”

Apr

14

YourHost is PSPINC’s hosting service that uses award-winning ShopSite tools to create easy and reliable e-commerce sites. This month, we’re running a promotion for customers to get 10% off on all our ShopSite plans.

Our YourHost page on the website now shows the discounted prices for each of our three plans and it will stay that way until the promotion ends at the end of the month. To get this deal, choose choose one of our three plans (Starter, Manager, or Pro) on the YourHost site. Then, enter the promo code, “SHOPSPRING10”, at checkout.

This promo code will only work until the end of this month, so get this deal while you can. For additional help on getting everything set up, we have an amazing support team who is always ready for your call.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #businesstips #businesstools #customerservice #customersupport #ecommerce #hosting #newsletter #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #smallbusiness #tech #technology #web #webdevelopment #webhosting #websitebuilder #webtools #yourhost

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 110 “Online Communities”

Apr

7

Before the internet, people made connections, both personal and professional, by meeting them in person. Now, everyone’s online. It’s hard not to be. Having an online profile on a social networking site can say a lot about you. On platforms like LinkedIn, it shows people how you want to present yourself to your work peers and/or prospective employers. But more than that, it’s a space where users can meet and find like-minded people. It’s why PSPINC’s created multiple, all of which are free to use. And now we have so many that we’ve created a unique portal page to showcase all of them.

Some are more dedicated to our Japanese audience like Japanese Online, where users can learn Japanese as well as the culture. There’s also San Diego Town and Los Angeles Town, each devoted to the Japanese residents and visitors of those cities. But we’re very excited about our newer up-and-coming communities. Loud Nerds is a place specifically created for tech professionals to showcase their work and network with others. Currently, we’re developing an app for DENREI our email-based platform, where users can create exclusive online communities of their own. All our online communities are unique in their own ways and we’re proud of the communities we’ve built on each one.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #community #denrei #japaneseonline #losangelestown #loudnerds #newsletter #onlinecommunities #onlinecommunity #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #sandiegotown #tech #technology #webdeveloper #webdevelopment #website

PSPINC What’s New Newsletter Vol. 109 “Internet Explorer is Coming to an End”

Mar

31

Last year, Microsoft announced they were favoring Microsoft Edge by retiring Internet Explorer after 25 years. The first version, known as Internet Explorer 1.0 was introduced in 1995 alongside Windows 95. However, it didn’t gain much traction because many users preferred using their competitors’ browsers, namely Netscape, Mosaic, Lynx, and/or Opera. In fact, it didn’t become widely popular until Microsoft’s third iteration of Internet Explorer, which came out almost a year later in 1996. While Netscape was a worthy competitor, Internet Explorer ended up winning in the end for one very big reason: it was free, whereas users had to pay for Netscape.

The latest version of Internet Explorer is from 2013, which Microsoft released in 2013 and is the final version of the browser. After that, the company turned its attention to developing a new web browser, Microsoft Edge. And since then, Microsoft has been trying to get users to leave the Internet Explorer browser behind, guiding them towards Microsoft Edge instead. On June 15th, 2022, certain Microsoft operating systems will no longer support Internet Explorer 11 the latest version of Internet Explorer. Instead, Microsoft Edge will be the alternative moving forward.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #browser #business #businesstools #internetexplorer #lynx #microftedge #microsoft #mosaic #netscape #opera #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter #tech #technology #web #webbrowser #webdevelopment #windows10 #windows95

Why your Company Needs a Password Manager with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Mar

29

Over the last few years, cybersecurity has become increasingly important. With more employees working from home, it’s made organizations and their employees even more susceptible to cyber-attacks. Because of this, it’s become increasingly important for companies to protect themselves from potential hacks. According to a 2020 Data Breach Investigation Report, compromised passwords caused 81% of hacking-related breaches that year.

One easy but effective way to protect your company from cyber-attacks is to invest in a password manager, which allows a user or multiple users to store, manage, and share passwords securely using cloud-based software. The best feature a password management system has to offer is the fact that most of them use some form of multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure their safety. For users, this means confirming you are who you say you are through one or more different methods.

Types of Multi-Factor Authentications (MFAs)

man in a suit looking at his phone in one hand and a to-go coffee cup in his other hand

The three most common types of MFAs are knowledge, possession, or inherence MFAs. For knowledge-based MFAs, this includes answering a personal security question (like where your favorite vacation spot is or the name of your first pet). Or it can be an additional password. For possession-based MFAs, this includes using a security card, access badge, or something similar or entering a one-time password (OTP) sent to either your email or your phone via SMS or mobile app. Lastly, there’s inherence MFAs, which includes using something that is uniquely yours like your fingerprint, your face, or your voice.

Other types of MFAs include location-based MFAs and adaptive/risk-based authentication. Location-based MFAs look at your location (as specified) by checking a user’s IP address. If it doesn’t match what’s specified on a whitelist, it can block a user’s access to the account or require an OTP. Adaptive/risk-based authentication is similar except it only requires the use of an OTP if contextual and behavioral clues don’t match previous activity. For example, if a user is trying to access the account in a different location or a different time from the last time you logged in, they’ll send an OTP to the user’s phone in addition to providing a username and password to ensure the right person’s accessing the account.

The Importance of a Password Management System

a man and woman each on their own laptops sitting next to each other as well as another woman

The entire password management system should be a vital part of protecting an organization’s cyber security. With internet hacks becoming more commonplace, Microsoft engineers even stated in March of 2021 that 99.99% of account compromises they deal with could have been blocked by an MFA solution. Plus, password managers help increase productivity and flexibility. While it’s easy to advise employees to choose strong passwords, it’s just as easy for them to forget them. In fact, 50% of helpdesk support inquiries are about resetting passwords according to the Gartner Group. So, it’s not that surprising that a 2020 report from Ponemon Institute claimed 50% of IT professionals reuse passwords across different work accounts.

This is exactly why PSPINC created Pass Wizard. Initially, we released the service for free while it was still in its beta stage. This way, we could test its features and work on implementing payment and strengthening group sharing features for organizations. Since its official launch, Pass Wizard is available for free to store up to 30 passwords. Or users can upgrade to Pass Wizard Pro, which allows users to manage as many passwords as they’d like and share select ones within their organization, starting at just $1.67/month. Sign up for free and upgrade to our Pro account to strengthen your company’s cyber security efforts.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #cloudbasedsoftware #cyber #cyberattacks #cybersecurity #hacking #mfa #multifactorauthentication #passwizard #passwizardpro #password #passwordmanagement #passwordmanagementsystem #passwordmanager #passwords #smallbusiness #technology #web

PSPINC What's New Newsletter Vol. 107 "Digital Transformation"

Mar

17

Today I would like to talk about automating tasks with computers. Before computers were used daily, ledgers did all the accounting work. There aren’t many people who know that anymore. Therefore, accounting became the first use of computers. However, instead of accounting software, which we use today, we used a spreadsheet software called VisiCalc. And that was the first step towards computerizing the ledger.

Later, the Lotus 1-2-3, which accountants now and love, was released. With it, accounting ledgers became available on computers. Lotus 1-2-3 used macros, a language that could inspect as well as do some tasks for you. Next came Ashton-Tate’s dBase II. It used a class of software called relational databases, allowing non-programmers to write business applications. So now, it’s possible to write business applications without programming knowledge.

The work then became more efficient because what now was being automated by computers was previously done manually on paper. At the time, they called this office automation (OA). Unsurprisingly, this is how computers became popular. However, spreadsheet and database applications used at that time are also still being used today. But some of them are unable to keep up with the evolution of Windows because they’re still running on old operating systems.

Needless to say, these applications aren’t compatible with the internet or the cloud. After all, they were created before the internet. But this is starting to change as a movement works towards making these programs and systems compatible with the internet in the 21st century. This movement is called Digital Transformation (DX). Do you have any of these legacy systems at your company? They’re not only less efficient, but in some cases, they also pose a security risk. If you think you still possess a legacy system, please contact us at Pacific Software Publishing Inc.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.