Internet Basics for Small Businesses

This article is intended for small to medium sized businesses and non-profit organizations with limited or no experience with technology and the internet. If you have someone you consider to be your “tech person”, consider reviewing this document with them to get their opinions on each point. If they aren’t very familiar with each point, you may want to have a second “tech person” person involved in decision making to make sure your decisions are well planned and understood. The points below are laid out in order of …

Uber takes 33%, plus $60/mnth and doesn’t pay tolls

I recently took Uber across a San Francisco bridge, which cost the driver $4 in cash. Cash that I don’t carry. Cash that I can’t add to a tip in the Uber app. I apologized to the driver (he wasn’t upset in the slightest and fully expected to pay the bridge toll.) It surprised me that the Uber app doesn’t recognize that I went through a toll and automatically add it to my fare – especially considering that Uber charges my a ‘safe rider fee’ separately from the …

Uber’s “Safe Rides” fee is ridiculous

I’m a huge fan of Uber. But, I also know they take a huge percentage of each fare (I’ve heard from Uber drivers as much as 30%.) However, I also understand websites and technology and the costs to run such businesses, so when I see $1.65 fee on top of an $11 fare – of which Uber gets 20-30%, it makes me click on the link next to the ‘Safe Rides Fee’ line item. Here’s their reason for charging that fee: I WAS CHARGED A SAFE RIDES FEE …

Call Uber to get a battery jump

I recently left my headlights on and killed my car battery. It’s not the first time I’ve done that. That’s why I carry jumper cables in my trunk. Cables are great – when someone will give you a jump. This most recent time was the last straw though… it was 98° in Anaheim and I was on the top-deck of a parking garage at the Anaheim Convention Center. Apparently the Anaheim Convention Center isn’t as concerned with helping guests as Disneyland is… when I asked if they could …

Disneyland Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is everywhere now, that’s obvious. You can even get internet access on the plane – for a price. So that’s what’s next for the Happiest Place on Earth – Disneyland. If you’ve been to Disneyland in the past 5 years, you know it’s getting almost impossible to get a good cellular signal where there are upwards of 60,000 in the park. So, just like JetBlue, Southwest Airlines and Virgin America, Disneyland needs to spend the money, install a crazy-powerful wifi setup that covers 100% of Disneyland – …

Facebook’s wikipedia spam

Facebook is clearly a web super-power, so why do they insist on spamming Facebook with duplicate business pages that business owners can’t claim? The spam I’m talking about are the countless wikipedia pages that were imported a few years ago. wikipedia is notorious for untrustworthy content and endless edit-wars between subject matter experts and wikipedia trolls. NPR even did a story on the edit-wars. So why does Facebook force the content on users? What’s worse than being forced to view garbage content is that these pages can’t be …

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