Today I was reading a few of the Tech blog's and many of them have a reference to the iPad Mini. The following is a list of the rumors of late in reference to the iPad Mini.

• Possible Launch Date: October 17th
• 7 - 7.9" screen lower resolution than the iPad 3 (no retina on this folks)
• Processor will probably be something like Apples A5. Keeping the fastest process in the iPad 3
• Lightning Adapter that was introduced with the iPhone 5
• Design will be borrowed from the iPhone 5 and no the iPad 3
• Wifi only (no 3g or LTE)
• Rumored price is to be in the range of $250 - $300

Now, all of this is just rumor at this point but hopefully we'll get to see if Apple can compete in the smaller (sub 8") tablet market where Google and Amazon have been highly successful with low priced Android based tablets (Nexus 7 and Fire).  Steve Job's was never a fan of 7" tablets and was quick to dismiss them, this will be the biggest change to Apple's product's since Job's passed away just over a year ago.  

For a longer article with more information, pictures, etc check out  this IGN article.

Let's face it, in today’s world businesses need technology to succeed and while most businesses can be pretty successful with readily available software sometimes it is necessary to have a custom application developed to give your business that edge that is needed.  By the time most businesses realize they need a custom solution they usually needed it yesterday.  Even incorporating a Rapid Application Development Methodology like we do at Columbia Business Solutions it can be hard to deliver fully functional applications on a timeline that businesses desire.

To rectify this issue we have incorporated Microsoft’s Visual Studio LightSwitch to help us build Line Of Business (LOB) Applications more rapidly than what could be built using traditional development tools.  Having your application developed using LightSwitch has many benefits which include:

• Lower  total cost of ownership (TCO)
• Faster delivery of production ready software
• Ability to quickly adapt to business changes and needs
• Built upon Microsoft’s powerful security and authentication
• Expandable and upgradable (grows with your business and your needs)

As you can see there are many benefits to having your application developed by us utilizing Visual Studio LightSwitch. Let me explain the benefits in further detail.

Total Cost of Ownership

With many LOB applications there are a lot of things that have commonalities, the shell of the user interface, validation, security, etc. It is simpler to implement with LightSwitch allowing us to focus our development time on the custom code needed to give the application the abilities that your business needs.  Less development time means less cost to you.

Faster delivery of software

This has a direct correlation with the TCO described above.  LightSwitch allows us to spend less time developing the shell of the application and allows us to get into the core of the application at a much faster rate, again less time coding means faster delivery of applications.

Adaptability

LightSwitch helps us build applications that follow industry standards and best practices using some of the greatest technologies such as Entity Framework, MS Membership, SQL Server, etc. By utilizing these tools and practices we can quickly and efficiently adapt the application to changing business needs.

Security

LightSwitch utilizes Microsoft’s powerful and secure authentication and membership libraries which allows us to build very secure applications that allows users and roles that can be stored in a common SQL Server database or utilize Active Directory.

Expandable and Upgradeable

The same reasons that allows a LightSwitch application is some of the same reasons that it can be expanded and upgraded quickly and efficiently.  The ability to add onto the application is endless and if you get to a point where you need a full fledge business application LightSwitch applications can be upgraded and fully customized just like all other custom applications.

As you can see we think very highly of Microsoft’s Visual Studio LightSwitch and we are proud to have it in our library of tools that allows us to deliver high quality and professional software to our clients.  Contact us today to see if LightSwitch is a good fit for your business need today!

When Randy Minchew needed a new website for his video studio business he chose Columbia Business Solutions to build it for him.  We recently finished the website to Randy's complete satisfaction.  The site is CSS3 compliant and navigates seamlessly through the site with a one-page design utilizing a custom JQuery plugin.  Check the site out and let us help with your next site. www.thepitchrm.com

Why mobile applications?

At the end of August there were over 82.2 million people in the U.S. who have smartphones.   That is a TEN PERCENT INCREASE from just three months before according to metrics company comScore Inc.  Why are we telling you this? Because that’s 82 million users who not only make phone calls with their phone but also take in information, browse the internet, and most importantly use applications.  The business world is competitive, perhaps now more than ever before. Businesses are looking for ways to distinguish themselves from the competition.  So how do you set yourself apart? In 2012 what will you spend your marketing budget on? The answer of course is a branded app for smart phones.  A recent study released on December 8, 2011 by Indiana University  is the first study to show the impact of branded apps on consumers.  The study finds that using a branded phone app increases the consumers general interest in the company and its products or services.  We’re not talking about creating a new game for an iPhone or Android; the study stated that applications that are informational did a much better job at increasing interest than a branded game application. A branded phone application is different than in-app advertisements, if you’re like me you either skip the ads when you can or just ignore that part of the screen.  A branded application that has information about your company and the products or services that you offer can create a huge impact on consumer awareness, it is also affordable.

Why Columbia Business Solutions?

We develop mobile applications.  We’re not iOS developers, we’re not Android developers, and we’re not Windows Phone developers; we are mobile developers. We have the ability to create applications for all three of those platforms, usually at one low price.  No need to worry about developer accounts, finding a separate developer for each platform, or whether or not you’re going to get a cohesive application across all platforms.  The same developers that develop the iOS app will be the same ones that develop the Android app, or the Windows Phone app. The next marketing frontier are mobile phones, will you take advantage of it? Smartphone ownership increases every quarter, applications for those phones also increase those quarters. Don’t be left behind, contact us today about creating a simple branded application for your business.

Source's:

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/20609.html

http://www.inman.com/news/2011/08/30/number-smartphone-users-jumps-10

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20078528-94/pew-one-third-of-u.s-adults-own-smartphones/

Being a small startup company we are allowed to be quite free with how we use our spare time.  The CEO's middle child is always coming up with ideas on new companies he wants to start-up and if there is anything we learned from the Columbia MO Startup Weekend it is to not shoot down ideas so fast.  Anyway his latest idea was to create a new social networking site similar to Facebook, very, very similar.  Last weekend we took the time to put this site up for him using an open source project called ELGG.  We were really amazed how simple it is to setup and install we literally had this site hosted on a server within a matter of hours.  So if you get a chance you should really check it out, and if you have a need for your own social networking site contact us and we'll help you set it up for a minimal fee. 

Co-Founder Chad Haney started in the software development field in 2005. Chad oversees all of the development and installation of our products.  Over the years he has developed several products such as hardware tracking application, has created a tool to manage the selling of assets and a simplified content management system.   He implemented a content management system for a Missouri non-profit association.  On the reporting side, Chad has written several reports for commercial lending client.  Currently he is working on a customer experience program for a local restaurant chain, and mobile apps for a large law firm.   Our other co-founder Deb Wahl does all our behind the scenes work.  She has been in executive management for over fifteen years; she brings expertise from the finance, marketing and day to day operations of companies.    Having worked in the title, telecommunications, non-profit and legal fields, she has seen a wide array of companies and understands what it takes to make the client happy.