Don’t get me wrong – I love Freshbooks.com.  But, I always have an internal argument whenever I sign up for a web app because I never really know where the data is!

That data, if you run an online business, is your absolute most valuable asset.

The other day, I found a free, online invoice system that I wanted to share with you.  It’s an open source web application meant to help manage and create invoices in a simple, straightforward way.

The invoice system really is nice.  As of right now, it doesn’t integrate with Paypal, so it won’t let you send one-click-and-pay invoices to your clients, but hopefully a developer will get it straightened out soon!

via siwapp – Free Online Invoice System.

About three weeks ago, I learned about a way to increase sales through a website by 13% with relatively no effort.  Now, obviously, when I heard that I was like, “Gimme a break!”  I work my ass off to write good sales copy and you can throw a button on the page and increase sales?!

So now, three weeks later, I though I’d let you in on the secret too (plus give you a link to the freeware I’m using!)

The secret is live help or online customer service.  You’ve probably seen it if you go to VerizonWireless.com to pay your cell phone bill or some of the upper end sales pages online.

By simply putting the “Live Support” button on one of my niche websites, conversions went up a staggering 24%.

Now, just so we’re all on the same page, there have been a few people that clicked it.  6 to be exact.  4 of those have been, “Oh!  There is someone on the other end of this chat window” type conversations.  But for an increase of 24% overall, I’ll take it!

Here’s the link to the live help software I’m using…  There are open source, server side apps out there like HelpCenterLive, but I find this app to be pretty solid.

LiveZilla – Freeware Live Help

If you know of any other server side live help applications out there, let me know!  All the ones I tried seemed ugly and outdated, but who knows.  Maybe I’m missing the good ones…

There’s no limit to free media players for handheld devices.  My Nokia Internet Tablet has a player that I can stream media from network locations (aka Gandolf, my media server).

You can even do it with a Windows Media Extender like the XBox 360 or the Popcorn Hour (also highly recommended).

But what about your desktop?  Well, if you want to kill productivity, install a media player that lets you stream movies!!

Yesterday, I found a player that I particularly enjoy, Moovida.  It’s compatible with all the major operating systems and is truly a beautiful application.

Moovida is much more than a simple media player… it is a cutting edge media center bringing the best of the internet to your TV screen. Automatically creating your own digital library you can browse from your sofa with a remote control. The elegant and easy to use interface automatically displays artwork and fan art throughtout and gives you access to movie synopsis and artist info.

Granted, it’s got some bugs but that’s cool.  It’s a great app anyway!

Check out Moovida, the free media player