Original Post:
Earlier this year the year the Maryland Legislature approved the use of Speed Camera within a mile radius of school zones and within highway work zone. The law was signed by Governor O’Malley and beginning on October 1st Speed Camera’s were allowed to be used.

Baltimore City installed a number of these camera and began catching speeders. Any who were caught during the month of October were giving warning. But that has now ended.

Baltimore City will begin issuing tickets to those caught speeding by Speed Camera.

This is also a recommended time to check the smoke detectors in you home. Take the time to replace the batteries and check for correct operation.

Is it time to get new detectors?
The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) recommends that smoke detectors be replaced after 10 years of service. Tests have shown that at 15 years it is just as likely for a smoke detector to fail as to sound an alarm. This failure chance increases each year.

Does your smoke detector include a Carbon Monoxide sensor?
Having a Carbon Monoxide detector is just as important as having a Smoke Detector. Many Smoke Detectors do not include a senor for Carbon Monoxide. And those that do sometimes aren’t the most reliable. It’s better to have one of each than a combine unit.

Do you have an escape plan?
This would be a good time to go over the plan. In the plan know two ways out of every room and have a pre-arranged meeting place outside. And if you don’t have a plan, now is a good to to make one.

Smoke detectors save lives. But many lives are lost because of defected smoke alarms. 85% of the time this is because of a dead or missing battery/power source.

You aren’t being protected if it doesn’t work.

This would also be a good time for Businesses to check that their exit signs and night lighting (inside and out) are in correct working order.

Note:
This was written for the site 6ThingsToConsider.com and are suggestions for home use but can also be use within the business environment.

The Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company Limited was incorporated on December 7, 1895. 93% of the stock was own by Bell Telephone Company of Canada. The remaining 7% was own by the 7 members of the Board of Directors.

In 1913 the company merged with Imperial Wire and Cable Company and was renamed Northern Electric Company.

By the end of the 1960s the company was working on projects to digitize telephone communications as well as selling telephone switching systems not only in Canada, but also the United States. In 1975 they shipped their first digital switch. The company now firmly entrenched in telephone communications was renamed Northern Telecom Ltd. The company concentrated their efforts on digital technology and became one of the biggest, if not the biggest, supplier of digital central office telephone switches to telephone companies throughout the world.

The end of the 20th century brought more changes to the company. Data Communications (Networks and the Internet) was changing the scope of telecommunications. With the purchase of Bay Networks in 1998 the company once again changed their name. This time to their current one, Nortel Networks.

Over the last 8 years until their bankruptcy filing on January 14, 2009 they struggled. Now their future is very much in doubt. After the final purchase by Avaya is approved, what will become of them? Only time will tell. One thing that could occur would be for the combined company (Avaya and Nortel) to be renamed again. Perhaps Northern Electric, or Northern Telecom may come again. Or maybe Avaya will adopt the name Nortel. It’s not impossible. Something similar occurred when the old Ma Bell ATT was purchased by SBC and took the name AT&T. Doesn’t Nortel sound more like a telecommunications company than Avaya?

Originally Published at 6 Things To Consider – 6ThingsToConsider.com

So I’m wondering what do others take on the road?

Having your own Domain Name is best.

Unless you have an unusual business name it’s quite possible that you may not be able to register the exact name of you business as your Domain Name. And that may also not be the right path. Web sites are developed using Key Words and having some of these in your Domain Name could help with search engine ratings.

Here are a few tips to consider when choosing a Domain Name.

Keep It Simple
Your domain name should be catchy and easy to remember. You don’t want to use hyphens and even though at one time I used the number 4 instead of ‘For’, using numbers aren’t advisable. Nor are misspellings. But do use misspellings if it’s a part of your business name.

Make It Part of Your Identity
Do you have a marketing catch phrase? You may want to consider using it as your Domain Name. But follow the above advice and keep it short and simple. It’s best to use four or less words and around fifteen letters, but less than 20.

Use the Correct Extension
For businesses in the United States the best extension to use is still .com. It will probably remain that way for a time into the future. A newer extension being used for business is .biz, but most people may still type in .com instead and be directed to someplace else.

Don’t be Afraid to Register More Than One Extension
When registering a .com domain it may be a good idea to also register the .biz and .info. At one time I would have said to register .net, but this domain name seems to be falling out of favor. But to be safe, register it as well.

Use this chart to better understand the different types of domain name extensions.

.Com – company/commercial, but it can pretty much be used for any website.
.Net – network and is habitually used for a network of sites.
.Org – organization and is meant to be for non-profit entities.
.Us, .Nu, .Co, .Uk, – Are country specific domain extensions that may require the registrant to be a national of the said country.
.Biz, .Info – These and other like them are domain extensions that have been added as there are barely any little and plain domain addresses left to apply for.

Businesses aren’t the only ones that could benefit by having a Domain Name. Do you blog? Part of a hobby group? or Organization? A Web Presence can help with communicating information about just about anything and everything.

Disclaimer:
The author of this site also owns PeninsulaDomains.com a Domain Name Registrant.

Enter the addresses after the message is composed.
Many messages are sent before they are finished. Waiting to add the addresses will keep the message in your draft bin until it’s ready to be sent.

Attach the attachments first.
We have all sent or have been sent a message with a missing attachment. Also be sure that it is attached and not embedded in the email. I’ve made a recent mistake like that and embedded a 4 meg pdf file in the email to a group of people. They couldn’t see the file and on their reply back the large file was in their reply. Needless to say this used a lot of band width and storage space.

Remove large attachments from replies.
Band width and storage space, see above.

Use spell and grammar check.
Business letters have a professional look, so should an email.

Keep personal messages out of business emails.
It’s possible that the email may need to be sent to an associate or supervisor for additional actions. They won’t want to know how the fishing trip went.

Don’t add a new subject to an ongoing thread and don’t combine threads.
When new subjects are added to an ongoing thread it can be confusing to the reader. If the reader only needed to be advised of what was going on, but the added subject needed their action, that action could be delayed. Combining threads generally just confuses everyone. Many email reader programs will continue the thread causing even more confusion.

Address correctly.
If it’s an informational message to many members it’s a good idea to use the Bcc: field to protect other people addresses. In my opinion this or sending the message to yourself is the only correct time to use Bcc:.

When sending to multiple persons with multiple assignments, or to let a supervisor or associate know the mail was sent, address the responsible person by name in the message.

Watch the Reply all.
Does everyone need to see your reply or only the sender? If it’s only the original sender it could save embarrassment.

Be sure to enter a subject.
The information that you put in your subject line can pass information to the recipient the importance of the message as well as how soon a respond may be needed. By leaving the subject line blank it may be ignored completely.

Check before hitting the send button.
Once the send button is press the email is in the stream and on its way to its recipient. It’s always a good idea to proofread the message and check that you have attached the attachments and addressed the message to the correct parties.

Originally published in part in 2008.
© 2008-2009 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

Are you getting the job done with what you use? Will the new product help you get it done quicker and easier?

The PDA, handheld computer or even a cellphone that you got a few years ago as long as they still work, may be all that’s needed.

Technology changes everyday and it rarely makes sense to replace one product with another until it either costs more to maintain than a newer one or it increases productivity.

While it’s a good idea to have a replacement plan, it doesn’t mean a gadget in perfect working order needs to be discarded.

It is used as the document format for web pages on the Internet defining page layout, fonts and graphical elements.

Interrupting a conversation to answer you cellphone.
If you are talking with a client, is the caller more important than the client? Probably not. Not only is it rude, it is insulting. I don’t think that I would want to do business with someone who isn’t giving me their full attention.

Don’t use unusual ringtones
A ringing phone at the wrong time is embarrassing, but one in a business meeting that plays your favorite rock song may be worst. Also before going into a meeting set the phone on vibrate or better turn the ringer off or even the phone. See above tip.

Hiding behind Voice mail
Many people seem to hide behind voice mail. They wait for the a question to be asked in the message and then call back with the answer. Too quick on a call back makes it obvious that you hid behind the call, and too late may have lost you business. In reality this wastes everyone’s time.

Calling back a number on CallerID when a message wasn’t left in voice mail
It could have been a incorrect dialed number or the caller needed the answer at that point in time and your return call is now unwanted. It’s even possible through another means that you may have already talked with that person that called.

Constantly checking email
More time is wasted when you stop what you are doing to check your email when you hear the notification that a new message has been received and then to find that it’s an unimportant message or worst a piece of Spam. It’s better to check them in batches than when each mail is delivered. Turn off notification and build into your schedule email time. You will be more productive.

© 2007 Revision © 2008 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

In short allowing one to move their existing number from one company to another.

The FCC since has mandated Wireless Local Number Portability starting November 24, 2003 allowing operators to charge an additional monthly Long-Term Telephone Number Portability End-Use Charge as compensation. On November 10, 2003, the FCC additionally ruled that number portability applies to landline numbers moving to mobile telephones as well.

© 2007-2009 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved