There are undoubtedly a great deal of advantages to cloud computing, no matter your business size, however its important to remember that while the hype around the latest computing advancement can be justified, it can also be matched with a good few negative points. As with anything technological, cloud computing has its weaknesses, and here are some of the biggest.

Reliant on Network Connections: The most obvious disadvantage is that it completely relies on network connections. If the network goes down, you’re pretty much done working until it comes back up. What’s probably even more frustrating is if you’re network is running slowly, you’re work’s going to be running slowly too.

Lack of Hard Drive: While lack of a hard drive is a benefit when it comes to hardware costs, it can also be a disadvantage to you if you use programs that rely on an attached hard drive. While this is becoming less of a problem, you can still find yourself having trouble trying to get programs to connect to the hard drive on your remote server.

Connection of Peripherals: Now this is one of the biggies. While you can find nearly all peripheral devices with wireless capabilities, connecting the wireless to what is effectively the wireless, is not the easiest of tasks. You’ll probably have issues with personal devices on a smaller scale but bigger companies that have a networked system of peripherals will probably find it a bit easier. The other issue is software. Many devices will run on software designed to relate specifically to the PC which means that, while you may be able to access your cloud accounts from anywhere, you’ll only be able to print/scan etc from a PC with the software installed.

Expense: Although cloud computing can show you financial benefits in the long term, it’s not the cheapest of solutions to get set up if you’re doing it on a smaller scale. Sure, if you’re a big business who can shell out quick cash for quick benefits its all good, but there’s no cheap way around it for those of you wanting to test the water before you jump. It’s all or nothing unfortunately. Cloud expenses also seep back to the data centers who have to shell out for new software that can actually run the cloud as well as update, rewire, purchase new machines to keep up too.

Legal Ownership of Data: This can get a bit confusing as most cloud providers will have different terms and conditions regarding ownership of data. The most important thing to do if you’re moving into the cloud is to read the fine print and understand things like when you will have access to your data, what happens to your data if the provider suddenly disappears, what happens in the event data is lost, distribution rights etc. Also note if there is any rules that you could breach which could prevent you from accessing your data.

Security & Backup: Now I know we’ve mentioned this one in the advantages of cloud computing section but there’s a good reason it appears in both. Although the cloud can result in less data loss because of its frequent backup’s, the fact that its servers are interconnected means it’s an ‘all for one and one for all’ system when it comes to attacks and intrusions.

Although there is no doubt that these flaws with cloud computing will be ironed out as the phenomenon progresses, as we speak even, they’re still very prominent at the moment and should definitely be taken into account when you’re deciding if the cloud is right for you.

During the boom years, all you had to worry about was the color to paint your home. Everything else was just great as house values kept on going up, releasing ever more housing equity as collateral for your loans. Now we have a recession and a wave of foreclosures has been sweeping across the land. Friends and neighbors have suddenly disappeared and their empty homes now stand out like bad teeth along streets that have forgotten how to smile. Needless to say, all these empty homes have no buyers and the resale value of all property has been falling over the last eighteen months. To complete the picture of the perfect economic storm, unemployment has pushed up above 10% in some areas. With this number of people out of work, there’s little chance of any significant pick up in the housing market over the next months. Indeed, you may be feeling the pressure of keeping your own head above the water. Too often people are discovering that the loans they acquired in the good years have terms raising the interest rates now. At a time when money is tight, this is unwelcome news.

The answer is negotiating a loan modification. This should be easy. You call up the loan company, explain your problems, show how much you can afford, agree to extend the term of the loan, and reduce the monthly instalments. Except you suddenly discover you no longer know who owns the mortgage. All these clever banks and finance companies sliced and diced all the loans into securitized bonds. The debts were all sold on and funding out who the owners are now can a real problem. But let’s assume you are lucky. That the original lender still owns the debt or you can find someone to talk to who works for the new owner. What exactly do you want? There are two options. The first changes the interest rates applied. Many people have been caught out by variable rates that have increased. To survive, you need to replace this balloon rate with a low fixed rate. The second option is hopefully added on to the first. You need to add years to the term of the mortgage. If you repay the same amount over twenty years instead of ten, your instalments are suddenly affordable again. Yes, you will pay slightly more interest over the additional ten years. But this will be a small price to pay to save your home.

At this point you discover that the person listening is not that sympathetic and sees no reason why the owner of the mortgage should now make less profit. Telling this person about family emergencies and health issues cuts no ice. You also discover the much-publicized Home Affordable Modification Program introduced by the Obama Administration is actually not that helpful. So what does work? The answer is either you are persistent or you get a specialist to help you. But be warned. There are a small army of crooks and con artists out there pretending to be home loan modification specialists. Never employ someone to help unless you have proof they offer real services. Always remember one truth. In the end, the lender makes more money if you stay in your home and pay something. If there is a foreclosure, everyone loses.

Tattoo lettering is a very important part of any tattoo design. Luckily there are literally thousands of font styles to choose from. Whether you are getting words alone or a design along with wording, choosing the right style of lettering is very important. Here are some lettering tips and ideas to get you started.
Look at several different fonts before deciding which one you want for your tattoo. If you don’t, you may see something you like better after you’ve already gotten it done, then it will be too late. If you are getting a design plus words, arrange the design and wording in different ways and experiment with several lettering styles to see which one you like the best. Try adding some pizzaz to your lettering by making the first letter of each word a different color or each letter of the word a different color. Substitute a letter for a symbol. For example make the “o” in the word “love” a heart. If you’re just going with words, try adding a floral design or vines into the wording to make it more unique. To add some mystery to your design, spell the words backwards or make them a mirror image.

Many online tattoo galleries along with their designs, have a listing of fonts to choose from. You can also do an online search for “tattoo lettering fonts” to find several websites that have them available for free to download. There is such a wide variety of tattoo lettering available today that no matter what kind of style you have in mind, you are sure to find what you’re looking for.