Small Business

If you own or run a small local business or a franchise such as a restaurant or shop, you probably care about your reputation. Word-of-mouth marketing it nothing new: People are social, and tend to share their experiences. But with new tools such as FourSquare, Instagram, and Facebook, people don't just share: They broadcast, and you should be listening. VenueSeen (plans start at $20/month; 14-day free trial) lets you listen to what people say about your business and look at the photos they share.

When you set up a Wi-Fi network, whether using access points (base stations) from Apple or another vendor, you're usually playing a guessing game. Where should I put a base station to get the best coverage and performance? Or multiple base stations? Apple provides some tools to help, including the somewhat hidden Wi-Fi Diagnostics program (buried in /System/Library/CoreServices/), but using them requires some expertise, as well as keeping your eye on ever-changing signal-strength numbers. NetSpot bypasses the technical in favor of the visual. This free site-survey software is a remarkable aid in laying out even a small-home network, using a Mac laptop as your survey tool.

I've been using CrashPlan's consumer offering for some time now, and have been very happy with it. So when I heard about their Pro version aimed at small-to-medium businesses (up to 200 workstations), I was naturally intrigued. Much like the consumer version, CrashPlan Pro (various pricing) works by installing a desktop client, which uploads your files onto an online server for safe-keeping in the cloud.

Cisco's AnyConnect Secure Mobility Solution is a two-box enterprise play that poses some problems for small and midsized businesses.

Microsoft's affordable bundle of Exchange, SharePoint, easy remote access, and integrated management continues to be a great platform on which to build a small business.

What did people who run small businesses do before tax software came along? Thankfully, the days of dumping boxes full of receipts on an accountant's desk are long gone. Today,.as the owner-operator of a small business, you have more options than ever for filing tax returns, including versions of popular desktop packages--H&R Block, TaxAct, and TurboTax--specifically geared toward individuals with small-business income.

One box integrates your router, shared storage, e-mail & VoIP service, providing a basic infrastructure for small business

Extensive BlackBerry Enterprise Server will be indispensable to some, but free BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express is good enough for most

Synology's supercharged DS1010+ Swiss Army NAS boasts impressive numbers in both performance and price.

Technology gifts to use at home or at work.

While the Promise/DataCore combination offers an excellent feature set at a relatively low price, how about an 8TB RAID5 iSCSI system for $2,500? Synology makes the DS509+, a storage device intended as an SMB NAS system, but it supports iSCSI as well, and costs about $870 at Amazon.com.

Invoice management is crucial for any business. But especially if you're just starting out, you might be tempted to save a few dollars on an invoicing application by submitting bills as Word docs or other text files. Don't waste your time trying to invent your own payment system. A free, server-based tool could be all you need.