Inventoria, a scalable stock inventory programCan make your tiny business look big and busy

A recession is the perfect time to start a new small business, or upgrade the one you have. Consumer needs are changing now more than ever, and those with the most agility--small-business owners--can step forward to identify and meet those needs.

Customers are attracted to businesses that are busy and effective, and small business owners can achieve that goal with the right tools. Starting up a business or expanding one is much more risky today than it has been, especially when credit is so hard to come by. That’s just one reason why integrating technologies with effective cost saving benefits are so important to setting up a business for continued success.

For Internet businesses, or any small retailer, here is an inventory management tool we have been working on with the help and feedback of more than 2,400 early adopters who test and tried the beta edition. These testers gave us such great feedback that we guarantee the majority of users will be able to get the program installed and working in 3 minutes, and can help make you look like a bustling storefront without needing to spend hours in log books manually calculating and tracking your stock.

The program is Inventoria, professional stock management software that enables inventory management for a single retail store or track inventory at several locations. Inventoria can generate purchase orders to be sent directly to a vendor, and alerts can be set up to let you know when it is time to reorder. One of the new features added to help save you time—and money—is the ability to scan in products by barcode. The reports generated by Inventoria allow businesses a simple way to track sales and prices—essential for future planning.

Inventoria is a Windows-based program that can also be used in conjunction with NCH’s Express Invoice to automatically adjust the volume of stock when an invoice is sent out.

We encourage you to give Inventoria a try. Visit www.nchsoftware.com/inventory and download the free 14-day trail and experience the benefits of this inventory management software for yourself.

Golden Records Brings Your Golden Oldies Into Post-Modern Era And Gives You an Escape From Family Overload During the Holidays

I’ve got a stack of old vinyl records and cassettes I keep swearing I’ll convert to usable digital audio some day when I have time. Sound familiar?

When does that “have time” time come?

Then it hit me. I’m going to a Thanksgiving reunion with extended family. Back to the house where a lot of those vinyl records and cassettes are still in storage. And one of the extended family members showing up this year is that uncle who argues politics and can be extremely annoying after 8pm.

I have time!
What a great project for long holiday weekends with relatives,even if you adore your relatives. In that case, you can walk down memory lane with them while you convert your music.

Check out Golden Records Vinyl Converter to get this job done. Golden Records is software that helps you to convert your vinyl LP records, analog audio tapes or cassettes to CD, wav or mp3 files using your computer (Mac or PC). Even better, there’s a wizard that walks you through it, so simple even that uncle of mine could do it.

Okay, so once you’ve got your music converted to usable form, check out Zulu Virtual DJ Software. The moment your family starts complaining that you’ve been holed up in the den for hours being unsocial, you can pop out and say you were converting all your great old albums to play for everyone.

And voila, you’re the D.J. You can stop any political argument, or liven up any gathering, with the right music mix.

Zulu has an easy to use interface so you can mix your favorite tracks live while applying effects on the fly, or taking requests.

Check these out and have a great Thanksgiving.

There’s an iPhone App for that – Coming soon...

It’s been over a year since the release of Apple’s App store for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the success seems endless. To date, iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded over 1.5 billion applications. But this wasn’t always the case. In fact, Apple originally said no to outside applications. Can you imagine?

Today there are over 100,000 apps in the store and we are literally getting to the point where there appears to be an app for everything.

Soon you can expect to see some NCH products available for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well. Express Dictate a digital voice recording application, is going to be the first one available and our developers are currently working on getting it ready and new testing plans as we enter the iPhone arena. So any day now iPhone users will be able to record and edit audio with nothing more than their phone using the NCH applications they've enjoyed in the past on their computers and pocket PC mobile devices.

NCH already offers a wide range of software for windows mobile and pocket pc and now with the growing iPhone market and the success of Apple’s App store, migrating some of these popular programs is a natural progression for NCH.

To try to get a sneak peak for what is on the way you might want to take a look at Pocket Dictate which was the springing board for the new iPhone Express Dictate that is on the way.

Video File Transcription Support in Express Scribe is Ready for Primetime

I am happy to say Express Scribe version 5.00 has been released. Express Scribe now has full video file support so you can load both audio or video files for transcription. And best of all it is still completely free.

Lately, I've seen requests for transcription programs with video support on twitter, in transcription forums and other places. So I’m wondering what types of videos people are transcribing. Share the ways in which you are using, or would like to use, video in transcription tasks.

With Express Scribe transcription software installed on their computer, a typist can control audio and video playback using a transcription keyboard with 'hot' keys, or a foot pedal for hands free control. This computer transcriber application has long offered typists features such as variable speed playback, multi-channel control, file management and more. The main thing is that now video now works just as seamlessly as digital audio always has.

We are keeping Scribe free in the hopes that you will also try and recommend our digital dictation software to your transcription customers. Our entire dictation Suite is designed to work seamlessly with Express Scribe, improving efficiency of the entire transcription process.

Two other great utilities that NCH offers for typists and transcriptionists that complement Express Scribe are FastFox Typing Expander and TexTally Word and Line Counter. FastFox brings new meaning to the phrase speed-typing. FastFox is a dynamic text expansion program with shortcut keys that expand to phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or even entire documents. Then when it comes to billing, TexTally can be used to count lines, words, or characters, and you can enter a formula to calculate the billing amount of typing job for you.

What's in a Name? NCH Mnemonic Acronym Contest

One of the questions I hear quite a bit is "What does NCH stand for?" The surprising answer is that it doesn't stand for anything. NCH was picked somewhat at random based on the available three letter domain names that were available in Australia when NCH Software was getting started.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons some people have a hard time remembering our name. There are a surprisingly high number of people searching for 'MCH Software' or 'NHC Software' and other misspellings on Google and other search engines.

I was working at NCH for several months before my mother realized that NCH Software was the same initials as her high school (New Canaan High School), and it wasn't until she made that connection that she could remember the name of the company that I work for.

So to help those of you who didn't go to New Canaan High School, what could NCH stand for that you could use for your own memory trick?

If you have any ideas for a good mnemonic for remembering NCH, comment with your suggestion. We'll pick the best one on December 15, 2009 and give the winner a holiday gift of a free license for the Master's edition of WavePad audio editing software.

Radio World User Report on BroadWave Audio Streaming Software

BroadWave Makes Streaming So Easy,
It Helped Keep Radio Show Alive After Station Was Sold

Radio World just published a User Review of BroadWave Streaming Audio Server in their buyers guide for Internet and Streaming Services for Radio. The Review, written by NCH Software customer Gene Mitchell, highlights how BroadWave was able to help keep the "Computer Corner" radio show alive after the station it was originally aired on was sold.

"I have to say that the BroadWave Streaming Server was the simplest software to install, the easiest to use, the easiest to modify and provided the best experience."

-Gene Mitchell, Host "Computer Corner"

Read the whole story BroadWave Makes Streaming Easy: Pennsylvania Engineer/Host Gets Creative When Station Is Sold in the October 21, 2009 issue of RadioWorld Magazine. You can also Check out Gene's Computer Corner on Fifth Dimension Radio Network.

Learn more about BroadWave Streaming Audio Software and how you can use this audio streaming software to broadcast your own internet radio station or podcasts.