Cloud Computing has really taken off recently in both business and consumer circles.  To put it simply, Cloud Computing is all about storing computer data on servers that are accessible via an internet connection rather than a local piece of hardware.  The advantage of using a cloud computing supplier for your IT needs is that your data is more safe & secure than having it stored on a hard drive.  Here are three cloud based services that we use in the office on a daily basis.

Dropbox – Store your files in the cloud with Dropbox, a free online-storage service that syncs files between any computer.  After installing the Dropbox client software on to your computer (Mac or PC), you can start treating your Dropbox storage space as just another folder or drive on your computer.  Add a file to your Dropbox folder and this file will instantly be uploaded to your online storage space, making this file accessible from any other computer with an internet connection.  The clever thing is, you don’t need to install the Dropbox client on to a computer just to access your online storage space, just login to your account on the website and download your files straight from thr browser.  There is also an iPhone app available meaning that your files are accessible even when on the move.

The two main advantages of Dropbox that stand out are:

• Access your files from any computer.  A good example of this is if you are working on a file between the office and home, it removes the need for any hardware or manual syncing.
• Backup important files.  It’s worth backing up your most valued and important documents into the cloud (a.k.a cloud computing hosting) so that if you ever experience a hard drive failure, your documents will not be lost.

Sign-up for Dropbox here and receive 2GB free storage space.

Xmarks / Google Chrome Sync – Sync your browser’s bookmarks and stored passwords between any computer.  Losing your stored browser profile can be painful, you lose all your saved bookmarks, saved login details, preferences and more.  Using Xmarks for Firefox, and Google Chrome’s built in ‘Sync’ feature, you can store all your browser’s saved data in the cloud, meaning it’s permanently backed up and synced between any computer you use.

Syncing your browser’s data is extremely useful when you use more than one computer on a regular basis, say at home and work.  Both services are highly secure, but just be careful when switching these features on if using a publicly accessible computer.

Download Xmarks and Google Chrome.

Spotify – A lot of people these days are increasingly listening to a majority their music via MP3 rather than traditional compact discs, and usually all of their music files are stored on a hard drive and MP3 player.  Spotify puts a spanner in the works by hosting a massive library of music in the cloud, allowing users to stream music tracks at any time from a selection of different devices (Mac, PC, iPhone, Android etc).  Spotify offers a huge selection of major music releases, both old and new, and is updated with new additions daily.  You’d also be surprised how much independent and obscure music is released on Spotify.

Spotify works well by assigning every single track a unique URL, meaning sharing a track is as easy as pasting a link to someone, or whenever you make a playlist – that playlist is also given a unique URL meaning you can share playlists with friends.  Basically, all Spotify users have the same music library, and that library is accessible from any computer or device that is running Spotify.

Of course a major advantage of Spotify is that you won’t find yourself filling up endless amounts of physical storage space with MP3 files, and you’ll never lose your personalised playlists because they are stored in the cloud.

On a personal note, I have to recommend Spotify for use at work/in the office, if you are lucky enough to be allowed music on while you work, you have access to a massive collection of music at your fingertips rather than having to rely on what music is stored on your work computer.

Download Spotify here.

1. ColorZilla – A collection of tools which can assist with a variety of colour related tasks.  The ColorZilla tool that we use frewquently is the ‘Eyedropper’ which allows you to take a sample of any colour that is currently visible in FireFox.  ColorZilla then allows you to copy that colour sample to your clipboard as an RBG or HEX reference.  The Eyedropper comes in highly useful when working on a website or design and you need to quickly find out what colour is currently being used on the website.
2. Measureit - Basically a ruler for your browser, Measureit allows you to quickly measure areas on screen within FireFox.  Area dimensions are given in pixels meaning it’s an invaluable tool when working on a website or design.
3. Xmarks – Store all your bookmarks and passwords in the ‘Cloud’ with Xmarks, the FireFox synchronisation tool.  Xmarks works by syncing all your FireFox bookmarks and login details with your own personalised account, so as long as you have Xmarks installed, anytime you use FireFox on any computer it will have all your details synced.  Xmarks is highly useful is you work from more than one location or computer; there is no worse feeling than working out of the office and finding you don’t have all your saved bookmarks or saved login details.
4. Server Spy – Apache?  IIS?  Zeus?  ServerSpy allows you to quickly find out what server technology and version a website is running on, very useful for looking at new client websites when suggesting web platforms, or debugging website problems.
5. FireBug – To be honest, I was going to leave FireBug out of this list since it’s been talked about so much, and if you’ve not come across it by now all I can really say is go get it!  FireBug takes the headaches out of debugging live CSS or HTML, and allows you to make changes to the website code in real-time.

Image by Foomandoonian

To change the VAT amount in Magento, follow these steps:

1. Login to the Magento backend and hover over ‘Sales’ and navigate to ‘Tax > Manage Tax Zones & Rates’
   
2. Look for your stores UK tax rate, this could be labled any anything but will likely be ‘Vat’ or ‘UK’ depending on who set this tax rate up in the first place
   
3. Look for the text field labled ‘Rate’ and change this to the new VAT rate (in this case ’20′)
4. Click ‘Save Rate’ and this will update your VAT rate in Magento

If you require any assistance in changing your online shop’s VAT rate then please get in touch, regardless whether you use Magento or any other shopping cart.

Stroud Farmers Market (SFM) beat national competition to take the award and this is another successful milestone for the market.  Stroud, Gloucestershire is well known for it’s promotion and harvest of local produce and Stroud Farmers Market is a true reflection of that.

If you have not visited SFM before then really should put it on your list since you can find all maner of lovely cheese, meats, drinks, and fresh fruit and veg.  Tangy Media wholehartedly recommends the scotch eggs from the ‘Handmade Scotch Egg Company‘.

If you are a local business in Stroud and looking for web promotion that could net you simular sucess to Stroud Farmers Market, please consider our experience in Stroud Web Design and get in touch to see how we can help.

Previously this year, there was controversy surrounding the security flaws of Microsoft Internet Explorer, which confused people with regards to what browser they should be using. Some of the biggest web companies out there are battling for a market share of who is using their browser, and are continuing to improve their browsers with every release in order to get you using them.

So we thought we’d give you a run down of what major browsers are out there, and what their specific advantages are of each:

Microsoft Internet Explorer:
Internet Explorer is the most famous browser out there since it comes with any computer with Microsoft Windows installed. Internet Explorer (IE) has had some recent bad press due to some found security flaws which were linked to Google having their systems hacked by a third party in China. Although the most widely used browser in the world, in our opinion it may not be the best.

IE is quite limited in it’s features, doesn’t allow for much customisation, and can be fairly unreliable with certain web applications such as Java and Flash. However, IE does have some nice aesthetics, and matches the corporate look & feel of many work computers. One of the advantages of using IE is that it is integrated with many Microsoft products such as Word, Outlook, and Sharepoint.

From a web designers perspective, IE is not the browser to use since it doesn’t comply with the worldwide web standard W3c, meaning it’s prone to displaying some websites incorrectly – this problem is a major burden for web designers since it requires more effort and time to make websites appear as they should in Internet Explorer.

Microsoft have recently released a BETA verison of Internet Explorer 9 which is big improvement on the current version 8 – once officially released we’ll look at doing a full review.

Use this browser if: You can’t choose or install anything else, or like the integration and familiarity of other Microsoft products.

Mozilla Firefox:
Mozilla Firefox has been a favourite with many internet users for around six years thanks to being one of the first mainstream alternatives to Microsoft Internet Explorer. Firefox currently shares between 24% – 30% of the browser market share depending on what figures you go on. Firefox is completely free to anyone, and is open source meaning that it can be contributed to by any developer.

One of Firefox’s key features is it’s ‘Add ons / Extentions’ which allow the user to extend the browsers functionality by installing a downloadable patch. The variety of extentions is far too big to list here, but the extentions generally cover more secure browsing, bookmarking tools, display & personalisation, web development, social networking etc.

Firefox is also seen as a web designer/developer’s favourite since it displays websites how they should be displayed according to the W3C guidelines, as well as having a massive range of development tools that are deemed as essential to the web design and development field.

Use this browser if: You would like browser to offer extra extendable functionality to make it do what you want it to do, as well as being secure, intuitive to use, and widely supported than Internet Explorer.

Google Chrome:
One of the newer browsers on the block, Chrome is Google’s internally developed browser that aims to deliver webpages faster and more reliable. Straight out of the box, it is clear that Google Chrome is quick! Webpages will load much quicker than many other browsers, and going back and forth to pages is very zippy.

Since it’s made by Google, Chrome is also very clever in the search department. There is no need for a seperate URL and Search box in Chrome since they both share the same intelligent field.

Google also boasts that Chrome is one of the most reliable browsers out there, for example, if one tab crashes the whole browser will carry on as normal and close the ccrashed tab for you, rather than closing the whole browser.

Use this browser if: You like to browse the web with pace and no faff, and like all your features stripped back in a clean, intuitive interface.

Apple Safari:
Safari is the default browser for the Apple OS and although praised by PC users, it is used most by Mac users. Safari packs the usual featues as browsers above, but is not extenable through plugins so what you see is what you get. As expected with all Apple software, the interface is stylish, clean, and intuitive – Safari is sometimes seen as the ‘cool’ browser thanks to it’s slick design and image. Aside from looks, Safari does have the best ‘Welcome page’ out, and is also pretty quick at loading web pages in the same vein as Google Chrome.

Use this browser if: You want to stand out from the crowd and generally have a nice, all-round experience while browsing. It’s worth noting that Safari generally runs a lot faster on Macs than PCs.

The four browsers we’ve mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg, there are many more out there so if you can experiment you might find a browser that suits you perfectly.

Let us know what browser you use in the comments below: Perhaps you use a differrent browser for different purposes? Do you use any other browsers? Are you limited to what browser you can use at work?

Please let us know in the comments below what you think of it.