It’s stereotyped as the favorite question of IT help desk people: “Have you turned it off and back on?” On the surface, it seems like a ridiculous question. How on earth could rebooting a device possibly fix anything? And yet, it does. I’ll explain, and hopefully the next time an IT person asks you this question, you’ll be less inclined to roll your eyes. Continue reading “Have You Tried Rebooting It?”
Category: Just for Fun
Just for Fun
Translating IP Addresses to Binary
In my our last post we discussed the differences between MAC and IP addresses. In this post we’ll delve deeper into IP addresses. Specifically, this post is going to focus on how to translate IP addresses into their original binary numbers. Continue reading “Translating IP Addresses to Binary”
The Business Case for Using Pokemon Go
Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm in few days since its launch. People are hitting the streets in search of Pokémon, and getting sore legs in the process. But how can local businesses take advantage of people’s obsession with this latest fad to increase sales and profitability?
Before you start developing a strategy by which you can convert sauntering mobile gaming fanatics into cold, hard cash, you need to identify whether your business is a PokeStop or near a Gym. You can do this by downloading the Ingress map. While this online map of portals isn’t explicitly related to Pokémon Go, savvy game players have found that it pretty much maps 1:1 with the PokeStops and Gyms on Pokémon Go.
If your Business is a PokeStop, throw down a lure and wait for the customers to come streaming in; a lure is a special module that will attract Pokémon. When a lure is placed, Pokémon (and, more importantly, players) suddenly descend on your location.
You buy lures with real money. For a budget of $50, you can purchase 84 lures, which will give you a Pokémon at your business for 42 hours in total; that’s just $1.19 an hour! Think of how much foot traffic you can get through your door with 42 hours of promotional activity on the world’s most popular game.
If your business is near a Gym, capitalize on your location; users converge on gyms to enter into virtual duels with other players in a bid to take control of the gym. You can capitalize on this by running giveaways that are explicitly targeted at Pokémon Go players, offering discounts to the representatives of the team that has control of the gym, or advertising your proximity to a Pokémon gym on social media.
If your business is not near a Gym or a PokeStop, you can still take your business on the road to a PokeStop and lay down the lures from there. Or you can promote the nearest Pokémon on social media.
Fad or not, Pokémon Go can make you some cash right now. Don’t miss out on an amazing opportunity to tap into this craze.