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In the Spirit of Giving
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In honor of Billy Graham's 93rd birthday last week, we have decided that this year's holiday giving will go to an organization called Samaritan's Purse. Samaritan's Purse is headed by Billy's son, Franklin Graham. They are an international relief organization with tremendous reach. At this time of year they are involved in a project called Operation Christmas Child - providing shoe boxes full of gifts to children around the world. And we mean around the world! The shaded areas of the map below show areas where children receive gift boxes. 
So here's how you can help: This link will take you to the Samaritan's Purse Gift Catalog. It's not as flashy as the catalog of other organizations we've given to - that's fine with us - I'm happy to have them spend the money on areas other than developing gift catalogs. You'll see that they do much more than just Operation Christmas Child. You'll find a long list of projects that can be given to. Check out the list, then e-mail Sandy Hooper to let her know where you would like us to designate our year-end corporate giving. We'll divvy up our giving based on the areas you're passionate about. And thank you for making it possible for Data Designs Publishing to give. Without your loyal support we would not have this awesome privilege. Blessings, Sandy |
November 26 is Small Business Saturday®
Online Shoppers - Best Sales Cyber Monday
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As small business owners, we'll be shopping small on Saturday, November 26. This 2nd annual Small Business Saturday® is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. Consider shopping at your local Mom & Pop specialty stores to give our economy a shot in the arm. When we all shop small, it will be huge.
For you online shoppers, you'll find the best deals on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is the first Monday after Thanksgiving and rivals Black Friday for sales and shopping revenue.
So do your small business shopping on Saturday and your online shopping on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!
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Safari Books Online -
Solutions at your Fingertips
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 We've discovered a resource that solved a problem for us a few weeks ago. Safari Books Online provides technology, creative, digital media, business and management content in the form of online books, training videos, technical articles, "short cuts" (short topics that aren't yet in book form because they are either early or very specific), or "rough cuts" (pre-publication access to books). Yep, that's a long sentence. Think of it as your online library of technical books and you'll find the other content as an added bonus.
A few weeks ago we were looking for a way to solve a technical problem we were experiencing with one of our software programs. I went to www.safaribooksonline.com. I very quickly found a book that had the answer to my issue. That's the day we started our two week free trial! Subscriptions begin at $27.99/month. Check out their list of publishers here.
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Ways to be Safer when you Pay Online
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With Christmas not so far away (already), there are probably some online purchases in your future. PC Magazine recently included an article identifying ways to make online payments more safely. Here's what author Jeff Bertolucci recommends: - Use a temporary credit card - many of the large banks will create a temporary card for each purchase. Bank of America's service is called ShopSafe. Citibank allows cardholders to create virtual account numbers.
- Use online payment service - Check out Google Checkout or PayPal.
- Use prepaid cards - They're especially helpful for people without credit cards (think children and grandchildren). This site provides a quick comparison to various prepaid cards. (Watch out for fees!)
- Password protect your cards - Secure cards add some additional protection by requiring a password before you can complete a transaction. Mastercard has SecureCode and Visa has Verified by Visa. Not all vendors use these, but the ones on their lists may be ones you frequently use. A word of caution: Watch out for phishing scams. If you get an email about one of these accounts, check with the bank first. They usually don't email you. The usual way that you hear about this option is from a participating vendor.
Here's a link to even more Online Shopping Tips. The bottom line is that if you aren't sure it's safe, don't do it until you have checked directly with the bank. |
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Save on Upgrading to CS 5.5
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If you you are looking to upgrade your Adobe Creative Suite, now is a good time. There is currently a 20% discount if you upgrade between now and December 31, 2011. Check it out here.
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InDesign Tip:
Speed Up Your Zooming
| Want to see an area of your screen up close? Or perhaps you're already zoomed in and want to see the whole page. Either way, going up to the view menu to find the zoom percentage you want or grabbing the magnifying glass - well, I've never been satisfied with the results of that tool!
Here are some quick keyboard solutions to your zooming needs. ^ means hold down the Ctrl key while hitting the other keys identified.
| ^1 Zooms to 100%
^2 Zooms to 200% ^4 Zooms to 400%
Easy to remember, right? The zoom action will center the page wherever your cursor is.
But how about when that 200% view is just a little too much or too little? Another easy solution
^- Decreases the zoom level. (Think "minus decreases.") ^= Increases the zoom level. (The plus symbol is above the equals symbol, so think "plus increases".) |
Support Worthy
Organizations as You
Shop this Holiday Season
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ShopOnline2Give.com gives a portion of the commission from your purchases to worthy organizations. All you do is select the organization from the left menu on their home page, then start shopping at one of the more than 200 stores. In a mood to browse? Click on over to www.ShopOnline2Give.com.
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Data Designs Publishing FTP Sites
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FTP sites allow the transfer of files over the Internet that are too large to e-mail, and they travel at a higher speed. Data Designs Publishing now has the capability to create FTP sites unique to each customer. The sites can be accessed through Microsoft Explorer or an FTP client like FileZilla. While we have not been unhappy with the services of TransferBigFiles.com, we appreciate the control that having our own FTP sites offers. |
Who won that
Iced Tea Brewing Kit?
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www.SteepingTimes.com
| | Congratulations to Bill Williams from Tampa, Florida! He won that great Iced Tea Brewing Kit from Mighty Leaf Tea.
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Thanks for reading our e-newsletter. If you experience any glitches, please let us know.
If you have a tip you'd like to share, let us know that, too. If we use it in a newsletter, we'll be happy to give you full credit for it.
Sandra Hovatter
Data Designs Publishing Copyrights & Credits: ©2011, Data Designs Publishing, Norwalk, OH. |
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