Do You Think Employees Working From Home Are Productive?

What do you think about Yahoo's new position on banning working from home?

Yahoo has made headlines all week, and there has been a flurry of articles, responses and reactions to the Marissa Mayer's announcement. As CEO Mayer is implementing a policy that asks all current remote employees to come in the office or quit because of the cultural assumptions that those remote employees get less work done.

Do you agree? Do you think employees aren't as productive if they are working from home?

NCH Software actually makes a software program designed to be a bit of a compromise allowing employers to monitor hours and tasks remotely. FlexiServer employee monitoring and attendance software is meant to help give the employer peace of mind that employees are being productive. And as you can see in the reactions online, there are a lot of remote workers crying out that face-time doesn't equate with productivity.

What are your thoughts? Monitoring software may be one possible compromise, are there any others? or do you agree with Mayer that all employees need to come into the office?

Where You Download From Matters

Software download sites are a dime a dozen. As a software publisher we want our programs available on download sites to make them as easy to find as possible, but people should know that all download sites are not created equal. It has become an increasingly common trend for download sites to wrap their own extras around the products that you download. These extras could offer you other applications to try, or install toolbars to create revenue for the site.

Some software download sites have been more open about if they are including anything else with a download than others. For example CNET, one of the largest download sites, has posted information about their download.com installer which has met mixed reviews.^{(1) (2) (3)}

CNET is has been a bit more up front about what they are adding than some providers. However, as a whole this trend has caused a great deal of confusion for users. NCH offers an toolbar in our standard installers which is optional, but if a download site installs a toolbar of their own and then a user opts out of the toolbar NCH has offered there is an incorrect perception that the opt-out decision was ignored.

With Google controlling 90% of worldwide search traffic,⁽⁴⁾ they are in a position make difference and in the interest of computer users they have been updating their software principles. The changes going into effect in February are designed to address some of the problems related to toolbar, but especially with some rules only applying to advertisers it is still important for users to realize that where you get your software from matters. Going directly to the source and downloading program like WavePad audio editor and VideoPad video editor from NCH Software directly will ensure you won't get any unwanted extras from the third party download site.

Convert Old Files to Give Documents New Life

Have a large number of .doc files? Did you recently upgrade your word processor? Or get a new computer?

The good news is you don't need to manually open every document in order to re-save them to the .docx format. As Computeractive recently highlighted, with Doxillion Document Converter to help you, you can easily batch convert documents, transforming them all in one pass.

In their article on, How to convert text documents to other formats, the Computeractive staff detail how to use Doxillion for converting documents, praising the program as "a handy free tool that can convert a wide range of document formats with a couple of clicks from within Windows Explorer. [Requiring] no technical expertise." So if you have files to update, download Doxillion Document Converting Software to get the converting done quickly and easily.

WavePad's Chicago Fire Cameo

If you're a fan of the new NBC show Chicago Fire and you have sharp eyes you might have spotted WavePad on the recent Two Families episode that aired on November 21st. For those of you not familiar with the show it is an intense look at the lives of the firefighters and paramedics Chicago Firehouse 51. One of the subplots of this rather intense Thanksgiving episode includes one of the firefighters deciding to put together a podcast, and there is a scene with him doing an interview with another one of the station 51 firefighters. As they are talking if you are familiar with the WavePad interface you might recognize it in the computer sitting on the table between them. For us this was an added excitement to add to the already action packed television show.

If you haven't seen it you may very well want to start following the heroes portrayed in Chicago Fire. And if you want to create a podcast of your own you will want to have WavePad Audio Editing Software on your computer.

5 Star Burning Software for Mac

There are a lot of choices when it comes to burning software these days, which is just one of the reasons that it is wonderful to see strong reviews like this one from BurnWorld.com, calling NCH's Express Burn "a great application, working fast, featuring the most important processes a user would want." Better yet that, while these experts clearly recognize and point out that "the interface is very easy to use," this review was from a previous release, before we made modifications to the interface to make the creation of DVDs and audio or MP3 CDs even easier. Along with other additions, including better DVD authoring with several included menu templates, and the ability to burn not only data to Blu-ray discs, but to burn your high-definition Blu-ray movies too.

You can read the complete review of Express Burn, and we encourage Mac and PC users alike to try all the burning features and see how easy burning software can be.

Enthusiasm For FileFort File Backup Software

Recently, CNET reviewed FileFort Backup Software, giving it a spectacular rating, especially for a free program designed solely to back up your files, and not create full system images (which CNET is also a big advocate of). In the review, they recognized that FileFort "protects your critical data from damage or loss on a regularly scheduled basis, quickly and easily," and, unlike some competitors, "can back up data to a variety of locations, including USB drives and CD/DVDs." They went on to say:

"FileFort's user interface is commendably simple but attractive and up to date in style and layout. The program opened with a backup wizard that quickly led us through the process of setting up and running our first backup. FileFort can back up files to a variety of locations, including external drives, a networked PC, a remote server via FTP, and optical disks via Express Burn."
� CNET

You can read the complete review of FileFort Backup Software from CNET on download.com. Then be sure to download a copy for your machine to help back up and protect all of your important files.

New Music Industry Book Takes You Behind the Scenes

Go behind the scenes of the music industry with Scottish producer Rory Nicoll, author of the new book, HIT CLICK, a must have book for anyone in the music industry. HIT CLICK is packed full of exclusive interviews with industry leaders and artists, contact information and reviews, offering collective wisdom on all aspects of the music industry, from the alchemy of a hit record to the business side of music.

NCH Software is honored to have been included in the book's reviews of music software. Nicoll concludes that "NCH does exactly what it tells you it will: It provides easy to understand software solutions to many of the activities required of an audio engineer." In another excerpt from the review, Nicoll states:

"I've spent about a day and a half experimenting with various NCH audio programs and one thing that continually surprises me is just how powerful the programs are. With each application measured in MB, the entire suite can be loaded at once without causing any detriment to even the oldest hard drive. The applications run quickly. Speed is always good. The functions are simple to find and they are overall user-friendly."

To read more about all aspects of the music industry, you can find HIT CLICK: Thriving In Tomorrow's Music Industry released today and on sale now on Amazon.

FlexiServer in the Spotlight

Check out the June issue of Smart Computing, a US magazine covering smart computing and consumer electronics in plain English. One of the software programs they chose to spotlight in this issue is our very own FlexiServer Productivity and Attendance Software: a "no more time-cards" business solution that tracks employee check-in and out times, whether they are working in the office or from home.

Stop Motion Animation with Slideshow Software

I recently stumbled across another great use for PhotoStage Slideshow Software, combining sequential still photos into a stop motion video animation. That is exactly what a class of students did in the Napa Valley in a CyberMill Technology Center summer program as reported on by Howard Yune of the Napa Valley Register.

CyberMill is a Napa Valley nonprofit technology center, affiliated with the national Computers for Youth nonprofit organization. The CFY Network is committed to improving the home learning environment of low-income families by providing home computers and educational resources, helping students learn the technology skills they need to compete and thrive in the 21st Century. In this particular summer program Yune explains that

"For nearly four hours a day over five days, children at the animation camp work through all the phases of building a short video. Digital point-and-shoot cameras snap numerous photos � as many as 465 for each short � of box-size backdrops built by the children themselves, guided by scripts based on poems of their creation or choosing.

Instructors also guide students in using Photostage software to merge the stills into short movies, adding electronic titles and recording dialogue in an audio studio set inside a walk-in closet."

� Ever wanted to make a movie about a goldfish?

We were excited to learn about this project of making stop motion animated shorts with PhotoStage and applaud the programs of the CyberMill Technology Center for bringing technology to those who might not have as much exposure to this important piece of our world today, while keeping it fun at the same time.

From Vinyl to MP3 and iTunes

As we were reminded by Jesse Emspak of TechNewsDaily on Friday with her article Move Your Vinyl to CDs and iTunes, if you're looking for a way to not only digitize your vinyl records for iTunes but clean-up by removing the pops and clicks that are inherently a part of those well loved favorites, you should take a look at Golden Records Vinyl Converter for converting your albums to CDs, or MP3s for your iPod or other portable media player.

With Golden Records you can convert, restore and protect your old vinyl LP records and cassette tapes with an easy-to-use interface and simple hardware connection wizard to guide you through the process.

Keep your old favorites sounding their best using the included audio restoration tools. Remove the pops, clicks and hissing that can be common on old tapes or scratched records, normalize the volume of recordings, and use other included tools to help you clean up damaged audio.

But maybe vinyl isn�t your problem, and you have other less common audio file formats? You can convert virtually any audio file to an MP3 file with Switch MP3 Converter Software.

Software For A Deserted Island

If you were on a deserted island what would you want to have with you? One technology writer in Missouri recently asked this question and his software catalog of choice was NCH Software. As you can imagine we were tickled pink to hear it. One of the things that quickly makes us a top runner is our wide range of software products with applications for business, dictation, transcription, utilities, music and more. Also, "unlike many publishers that charge high prices for all-in-one suites that do more than you probably need, NCH Software takes a modular approach, designing smaller apps that do specific tasks, usually for a lot less money. It�s simply a smarter way to work."

To read about some of Scott May's favorite NCH programs, see his complete article, NCH Software offers fantastic, affordable apps published in the June 28, 2011 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Then make NCH Software your first stop the next time you are looking for a software utility whether you are editing audio at home, or setting up a webcam broadcast of the view on your deserted island.

Learn or Improve Your Typing Skills with Award Winning Typing Tutor Software

We are very grateful that the editors at CNET recently took the time to review NCH Software's KeyBlaze Typing Tutor Software. They wrote a very nice review and awarded our free learn to type software with a full 5 out of 5 stars, saying:

"KeyBlaze Free Typing Tutor from NCH Software can help you learn touch-typing or practice your skills. It offers basic lessons, drills, and speed tests suitable for typists ranging from absolute beginners to keyboard jockeys. It's easy to use and effective, too. KeyBlaze is great for beginners, and has more to offer to those who already know how to type. The lessons are easy to understand, getting progressively more difficult to master, and effective, with immediate feedback that helps users quickly overcome bad habits."

� CNET

You can read the complete review of KeyBlaze Typing Tutor on download.com, or download it now to start improving your typing skills right away.

Free Timesheet Tracking Software

From freelancers to lawyers, keeping track of the amount of time spent on different projects can be a necessary evil for many in the working world. So if you bill by the hour an easy-to-use program like HourGuard Timesheet Software to make this chore easier could be just what the doctor ordered. Reviewers at CNET have even called HourGuard among the best time-tracking programs available.

"We liked that HourGuard Timesheet Software lets you create base tasks and subtasks, making it easy to record what you're working on in detail. The program even has an intelligent tracking feature that stops the timer when it detects that you're no longer working, ensuring that you don't waste time making corrections after realizing that you've left the meter running."

� CNET

You can read the complete review or learn more and download your free copy of HourGuard timesheet recorder software from our website today.

Making A Music Video

Over on Review Explorer Chris McGivern posted a detailed interview with Singer-songwriter Andy Fosberry of Ironlight River about making a music video. Fosberry took a do-it-yourself attitude and made a great video without sacrificing his creativity or breaking the bank. And we were particularly thrilled that Fosberry turned to NCH Software using Switch Audio Converter, Prism Video Converter and VideoPad Video Editor to help him along the way.

"As a musician, I use a piece of software call Switch by NCH Software which converts audio formats. And it�s brilliant. To convert these video files I used their A/V equivalent which is called Prism. When it was downloading, I had the option on loads of other things and saw something called VideoPad, which was billed as editing software. I figured it would be like WavePad and, therefore, just for clips etc, but it�s a fully working, kind of mid-level piece of editing software ... Its just so beautifully usable. So much so that I had a working edit in about 8 hours. All the effects, are nicely editable in themselves. So you can really make significant changes to what you are working on."

� Andy Fosberry

If you're interested in making your own music video(s) we would encourage you to go over to Review Explorer and read How To Make A Music Video � For Free for more details on what Fosberry did for his video, and to see the results.

High Performance Document Conversion Software

It is always nice to get compliments, and we love hearing from both customers and reviewers alike about what they think about our software programs. The editors at CNET recently gave us another compliment to add to our tally in a recent review of Doxillion document converter, saying, "We've tried many of NCH's tools and always found them to be good performers." Talking more specifically about Doxillion they went on to say:

"Doxillion is very easy to use, with a big green plus sign for adding files to the main list view. Highlighting entries in this list displayed their properties in the right-hand sidebar. We browsed to an output folder in the entry field beneath the main view, and then selected an output format and encoder options. All that was left to do was press Convert. Doxillion quickly processed our batch and saved the output to our selected directory."

� CNET

You can read the complete review of Doxillion document converter from CNET on download.com. The next time you need to convert type of file, whether a document, audio, video, or image file, be prepared with our suite of converting software, and make file incompatibility a thing of the past.

Archival-quality Audio from Vinyl with Golden Records

Golden Records Vinyl to CD Converter is one of our more popular software programs, offering an easy step-by-step process for converting vinyl LP records and analog audio cassettes to CD or mp3 files. It seems the people at CNET agree, having recently given it high marks, saying, "We've tried many such tools, yet we've often gone back to [Golden Records], which also converts tapes and other analog audio sources." The reviewers went on to say:

"We transcribed several LP records ranging from audiophile quality to barely playable with Golden Records, achieving excellent, archival-quality results each time. The auto track splitter worked fine on scratchy old platters, though recording tracks in the highest possible quality and then splitting and converting them manually using a WAV editor proved the best method for better-quality discs. The sound files produced by Golden Records Vinyl to CD Converter sounded great, whatever the source."

� CNET

You can read the complete review of Golden Records Analog to CD/MP3 Converter from CNET on download.com. Or, download today to take advantage of the free 14-day trial and easy wizard based process to start digitizing your vinyl record collection.

Acclaim for VideoPad Video Editing Software

We are very grateful that the editors at CNet recently took the time to review NCH's VideoPad Video Editor. They wrote a very nice review and awarded it with 5 out of 5 stars, highlighting how easy VideoPad is in their comments, "It's a rare video editor that you can just fire up and start making movies with, but that's what we did with VideoPad." They went on to say:

"With smartphones, video sharing sites, and Webcams everywhere, there's no lack of raw video resources, just a need for a powerful, easy-to-use tool like VideoPad Video Editor Professional to put your projects together, polish them up, and present them in the format of your choice. More than just fast and competent, we also found it fun to use."

� CNet

You can read the complete review of VideoPad video editor on download.com, but the best way to really get a feel for how user-friendly and fun video editing can be, download VideoPad and try it out for yourself.

Express Scribe Transcription Using Voice Recognition

We stumbled upon a great article this week by Ryan Dube on makeuseof.com teaching readers how to use Express Scribe with voice recognition to optimize dictation.

In order to use this feature, you'll need to begin by turning speech recognition on both in Express Scribe and in your PC's control panel. To do this, begin by clicking on the Ease of Access button in your control panel and then select Speech Recognition. From there you can start the speech recognition engine and begin to familiarize your computer with your voice. Note that it can take time to train your computer to the ranges and pitches in your voice, so you may need to do this multiple times, being sure to speak clearly.

After that, open up Express Scribe and go to the Options menu and click on the Speech to Text tab. The default speech profile should show up in the drop-down menu, select this and click the Add button to begin using it.

To make a live recording, plug in your microphone and click Dock and choose the Audio Cable option. There will be a screen that appears titled Dock (Audio Cable). This shows you your microphone's audio levels � you can now begin dictating.

You can also do the same thing with a recording of your voice. Just follow the same steps, but instead of connecting your microphone you'll connect your recording device to the microphone input.

Learn more about Express Scribe Transcription Software and our other Dictation software. You can also check out Dube's full article How To Use Voice To Text Dictation With Express Scribe and we'll keep our eyes open for more new and interesting ways to our software to share with you in the future.

Good Things Do Come in Small Packages

Pocket WavePad for iPhone was released a mere month ago, but it didn't take long to generate some interest. Though this app is meant for quick recording and editing on the go, it was created in the spirit of the full desktop version--and users took notice. User and reviewer Andrew Wardell stated:

"The number of effects included in this app was staggering to me, considering the price. What really blew me away though was that they all work really very well! I could definitely compare the quality of the effects to those on the desktop version of WavePad..."

Another bonus Wardell points out is that Pocket WavePad has more features than comparable audio editing apps, and is free to boot. If you haven't downloaded Pocket WavePad for your iPhone yet, what are you waiting for?

If you need more convincing, you can Learn more about Pocket WavePad and read the rest of Wardell's Pocket WavePad iPhone User Review. Then we're sure you'll agree that the only thing left to do is go Download Pocket WavePad for iPhone from the Apple app store.