We are very fortunate to do business in a time and age where you can get business quality software for free or close to free. They are everywhere. For a long time, I’ve been saving these tools. Every time someone asks for a software they could use to do something, I whip out this list of tools. I have finally decided to compile them all into one convenient handbook. It was originally supposed to be only 100 then it grew and grew to the final 180 – there’s actually more than 180. I just didn’t count some of them.

The tools for a ton of different things. From project management and accounting to web conferencing. Get it from my site if you’d like a copy.

For me, this is great because I like the simplicity of using Google Sites to create a Wiki of our organization’s work flow, operating manuals and how-to’s. But the fact that the data is ’stuck’ on Google Sites made us re-think it because it takes a lot of my time to write these manuals and while I’ve not lost anything on Google yet, that’s the keyword – yet. Besides, what if something comes along I like better and want to switch? Data portability is crucial.

With the import/export tool, I can finally resume using Google Sites and create a backup of our documentation in HTML microformats. It is written in Java – which means you have to have Java (not to be confused with Javascript) installed. It is open source and you can download it here.

Ctrl+S – Save as for most Windows based software. No more reaching for your mouse when you want to save a document quickly and save more often too

Ctrl+T – Open a new tab in Firefox

Ctrl+F – Find! Love this. Use it most on Firefox when I have to find a word or string of text on a page. Great for finding code too.

Ctrl+Z – Undo! Who could live without undo?

Ctrl+Tab – Switching between open windows.

Alt+Tab – Cycling through tabs – great on Firefox too if you have lots of tabs open.

Ctrl+A – Select all – yeah you can do mouse-like stuff too

Alt+4 – Close window

Windows+E – Open my documents folder – love this! So often throughout a day I switch between the browser and looking up files using explorer. This makes it much faster than clicking Start >> My Documents

Windows+D – Show desktop.

F2 – Rename a file.

For a more comprehensive list, see this article on Microsoft.com. Also, keep in mind that every application has its hotkeys for example did you know Gmail also has hotkeys? Check those out here.

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

Image by James Nash

Here’s what I mean. I love school days because I get all the extra hours in the morning, but I also don’t love the paper they send home. I have two in the same school and get duplicate copies of every piece of school wide communication. I don’t even want to think about the amount of paper I’ll get when my third child starts school.

When the children go anywhere, they love brochures – what is it with kids and brochures and flyers? Where do you think those end up on? Uhuh. Mom’s desk. Then there are receipts and business cards! Oh and, there’s the art work. How can you ever turn down or throw away all those drawings and I love you notes that were written *just* for mommy (or daddy)?

In the end, I’ve given up on *going paperless* at least in the home office. But what I can do is reduce the paper that I do have control over like:

1. Signing up for e-bills and making payments online
2. Using Evernote instead of post-it notes
3. Printing all receipts into PDF format
4. Reading digital resources and digital products that are PDF format on my PDA
5. If I have to use paper which I still love by the way, I’ll use my Pulse Smartpen so the paper can be discarded and I still have a digital copy of all my notes.
6. Scanning all business cards – the Cardscan is fantastic
7. Investing in Neat Receipts

What about you?

Image by adam coster

1. BBCodeXtra – this helps me format lists, URLs and text on forums. Love it. Great for quoting and pasting links.
2. ColorZilla – if you work with websites as much as I do you’ll always find a need to match colors or find out the color code.
3. DownThemAll! – If you are in one of those 20 PLR pack membership sites or even membership sites that give you a bunch of different downloads, this is super helpful. Right click, check all the ZIPs, EXEs, PDFs you want to download and voila – it’ll go grab them. No more downloading one by one.
4. Firebug – Won’t be able to troubleshoot design issues without this.
5. FireFTP – For quick and easy uploads – it’s kinda slow in my experience if you’re uploading a whole script package. But for the odd handful of files, works great.
6. IE Tab – For viewing sites and flipping between IE and Firefox quickly.
7. ShowIP – Good for troubleshooting or when switching web hosts. It will show you which IP your site is loading from.
8. Split Browser – I call it the poor (wo)man’s dual monitor
9. User Agent Switcher – Great to check what your site looks like on a mobile device.
10. Web Developer – There’s a bunch of tools in here and I don’t use it as much now that I have Firebug but the Ruler and form tool is really useful.

Can’t say what exactly made me shift from IE to Netscape, for a time I stayed with Avant browser and later on SeaMonkey, Phoenix, Firebird and finally Firefox but that’s pretty much the progression. I also tried meddling with Opera but somehow it didn’t ’stick’ with me.

But why Firefox? If I have to give one reason it would probably be for the plugins/add-ons.

One of the things I often hear from people who do not use Firefox is they don’t understand or want a browser they have to find/install add-ons or plugins to make it ‘whole’. They want a browser in a complete package. That was my exact thinking for the longest time. I just couldn’t wrap my head around why I’d use plugins when you could get good browsers that came with everything – like Avant Browser.

Then a light bulb turned on. Today, I understand it perfectly. Because a browser is like a computer or even a car. You know when you get a new computer or buy a new (or new old) car, you begin to fill it with your own things. In your car, you may add an air freshener you like, adjust the rear and side view mirrors to your liking, adjust the seats etc. On your computer, you begin to uninstall things you don’t want, install things you use regularly, change the default settings and all that stuff.

You and I can buy the same computer, same model, on the very same day but at the end of the day I bet your computer and mine will be quite different because we work differently. That’s how it is with a browser. The plugins aren’t meant to make the browser whole – it is already whole. However it is meant to be mixed and matched to my own liking. Dropping the things I don’t need and adding the things I really do.

Anyhow, that’s a quick history of my browser preferences. What is yours?

Photo by T. Al Nakib

What email client do you use and why?

There used to be a time when I was a 100% Thunderbird gal but today I’m almost all web based. For my primary email I use Google Apps. Yes, I like the way it works – a lot but it’s not because of any love affair with Google or anything like that. My biggest reason for using it is because it’s accessible. Anywhere, on the PC, Mac or phone. That is the biggest ’selling’ point for me.

What about you? Are you an Outlook person all the way? Google Apps fan like me? Thunderbird geek? Mac Mail all the way or some other cool tool? I can’t wait to hear from you on this one.

Photo by T. Al Nakib

Let’s say your customer service address is help@something.com. You want your assistant to check in on the address and you also want to be able to check in once in a while. You use Outlook but your assistant is a Thunderbird fan. You both don’t want to switch.

You’ll set up the email address account as usual – make sure your host supports IMAP – most do. Give this email account a bigger mailbox than you’d normally set. There’s a reason for this we will discuss later.

Now, when you or your assistant sets up Outlook or Thunderbird to check the email account, choose IMAP instead of POP. Enter the username and passwords as usual, just as if you were setting up POP mail.

By doing this, both you and your assistant can keep your favorite email clients. All emails are kept on the server – not on you or your assistants computers. Which means, if she checks the mailbox today and answers some emails, tomorrow she reports in sick and you have to take over. The whole conversation between her and your customer is available for you to view. If you used POP, then you could be missing part of the conversation because the emails have been downloaded to her computer.

Another plus of using IMAP, if she had marked an email read, it will also show up in your email client as read so there’s no confusion.

Finally, IMAP allows both of you to be connected to the email account simultaneously. I think this is good way to get started outsourcing your email because you still maintain control over the account and can check in anytime. You also don’t get lost if you have to pass the torch to someone else and it’s already included in the tools you use. No extra software investment required.

The only thing is – because emails are stored online – it will take up your web space so you’ll need enough web space to store old messages but usually, these aren’t that much and is a small issue.

When asked what aspect of working at home they enjoy most, many will say the freedom. The freedom to start work at any time. The freedom to work at one’s own individual pace. The freedom to take a walk to the coffee shop and not feel bad about talking to the barista for 10 minutes. The freedom of not having a boss looking over your shoulder all day. Yes, freedom plays a big part in a telecommuter’s life. Yet, are we as free as we can be?

No, there’s no boss leering, no constant time constraints. However, we’re still confined to our offices. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing — it might keep people productive — we need not be sedentary workers all the time. Thanks to new advancements in cellular technology, we can roam freely, toting our laptops to parks, beaches, and other little nooks which don’t offer Wi-Fi access. Mobile broadband services can provide that kind of freedom.

Quick lesson in mobile broadband

Mobile broadband is Internet access typically offered through cellular carriers on their third-generation (3G) networks. Users can sign up for mobile broadband access just as they would normal cellular service. It requires a modem, which usually hooks up through your laptop’s USB port. Once you’ve signed up for the service and have set up the modem, you’re ready to access the Internet anywhere you get 3G cellular reception.

Theoretically, mobile broadband speeds can reach a level near DSL. However, in practice this hasn’t proven true. Practically peaking, mobile broadband at its best can range between 1000 and 1500 Kbps, though speeds will vary by provider and location. While these speeds are sufficient for everyday Web browsing, they are not suitable for the usage levels of an average telecommuter.

How can mobile broadband help the at-home worker?

Mobile broadband can take the freedom of a telecommuter to the next level. It can take a normally stationary work station on the road. It can allow you to enjoy of the things you love while still getting your work done. It affords you the ability to work wherever you want, whenever you want.

Imagine this scenario. Your child has a soccer game in the evening, but you have so much work to finish up that you just can’t go. It’s a shame, but these are the realities of the work at home life. If, however, you had a broadband modem, you could go to the game and continue doing your work. Sure, no one wants to have their nose in their laptops while their child runs up and down the soccer field. After all, you might miss something big. The operative word there is “might.” Had you stayed home to finish work, you would have certainly missed it.

Or take this anecdote. I live in New York. My girlfriend lives in New Jersey. Our relationship consists of constant train rides. While I’m on the train I usually read, and then finish up my work for the day when I get out there. Once I got mobile broadband, though, I could work while riding the train, so I could spend all that time with my girlfriend, rather than making her wait for me to finish working.

There are plenty of other scenarios. Visiting a relative who doesn’t have Internet access? Like to get out of the house and set up shop at a coffee house? Riding shotgun for a long car ride? There are plenty of scenarios where mobile broadband can be a boon to telecommuters.

Mobile broadband is not for everyone

This article isn’t a total shill for mobile broadband. In fact, there are many people who simply will not benefit by it. If your work habits are just fine and you get all of your work done right at your office, well, there’s no reason to fix a system that isn’t broken. You might also be the type who can put down work to go to your child’s soccer game, with the commitment to come back and burn the midnight oil to finish up.

There are two main factors that turn people away from mobile broadband plans: pricing and usage. The biggest one in most consumers’ minds, of course, is pricing. The typical mobile broadband plan costs $60 per month, and that’s on top of your at-home Internet cost. That’s a hefty addition to a monthly cellular bill. If you already have a mobile device like a BlackBerry, it might only be a nominal fee to upgrade to broadband access. Even so, that’s yet another cost, at a time when most people are looking to cut them.

Usage is an often missed factor that plays heavily into whether you should get mobile broadband or not. The four major carriers — AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile — have 5GB monthly caps. Go over and you’ll pay a hefty overage rate, or worse, have the company terminate your contract. For many, 5GB just doesn’t cut it. With downloading images and videos, uploading, and other routine Web worker activities, there’s always the risk of running over. And that can be costly.

It’s also a reason why mobile broadband can never replace your at-home connection. Perhaps when, and if, WiMax blankets markets throughout the country, there will be a viable alternative. But until then, mobile broadband is no substitute for broadband to the home.

Freedom and mobility

At this point we can conclude that mobile broadband is a luxury of the highest order. It affords telecommuters incredible freedom and mobility. However, for those looking to keep costs in check, it’s not the best solution. That’s a lot of money to lay out for a service you already essentially have in your home broadband connection.

Still, for those looking for that extra little bit, that factor that allows them a greater level of productivity, mobile broadband can definitely supply it. If you can determine how much your time is worth to you, you can figure out if the $60 monthly fee is worth it.

Pretty soon we’ll all be mobile. But for now, it can be a distinct advantage. Expensive, sure, but advantageous even more so.

Joe Pawlikowski is the editor of Wireless Internet Reviews, a site which provides new and reviews of the all forms of wireless Internet.

Sadly, much of the software we use regularly is bloated, contains many more features than you’ll ever use. Sometimes that’s to be expected. If I were a graphic designer, I’d want the top of the line tool with all the bells and whistles even if it cost me a lot of computer resources. That’s because I will use the software a lot and use many of the tools in it. I need to be well equipped to do my job.

But sometimes all you want is something simple to do a task you won’t do regularly. For those, all you want is something that won’t lock up your computer and slow it down to a crawl. In those cases, you might want to check out TinyApps.org. The site lists software that are really small and stand alone apps. Many you can even run from your USB drive. Love that.

The site lists apps that are mostly Windows based but in the blog you’ll also find some for Mac and Linux, including Mobile platforms.

That’s the kind of setup I have had for a long time. Whenever we get a new computer, we don’t buy the monitor it saves us money to just get the tower alone. Then the older one is set next to the new one and I will use that computer for stuff like initiating backups, running processes on auto pilot and also store files. It also serves as a fantastic backup unit if something ever happens to the main computer.

Both of these are hooked up to a KVM switch. It’s a little box or a bunch of cables if you get the smaller ones and lets you hookup two or more computers to the same monitor, keyboard and mouse. To view the other computer, you either flip a switch, press a button of hit a certain keyboard command, depending on the switch. You can get KVM switches for 2 computers and up. I have seen some for 16, but those come at a hefty price. Some also have audio cables that let you share your headset or speakers.

If you only need to hook up two computers, thankfully there are some more affordable ones like the Iogear MiniView which starts at $24.95. These are less bulky and are more like cables than switch boxes. They are a life saver. Something my home office will never be complete without.

One of my biggest peeves is the fact I can’t seem to clear my RSS reader of the unread posts. There’s so much coming in daily and I don’t have a huge reading list either. Every time I get in there it’s like 1000+ plus posts. Usually, I end up skimming the headlines – which is why your blog subject line is so important but that’s a post for another time. And then fully reading the ones that catch my eye. Even then, speed reading helps.

Then I stumbled on Zap Reader. Wow! I just made it through a post and had plenty of time to leave a comment. I’m debating right now if I should add the plugin to my blog to help people read my posts faster. At the moment, I use the bookmarklet. On a post that I’d like to read, I select the text then click the bookmark. Hit start and I’m reading at 500 words per minute or more. I think this is fast becoming my favorite free tool. Check out the video below to see how it works.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uw6R3TkRf4[/youtube]

This week we’re Sparking an Idea To Improve Your Workspace

As is evident from the images about my workspace, I’m not too good with physical work spaces, but I do have a good system when it comes to virtual work spaces. Maybe one of these days, the virtual will translate to the physical. Here are a few things I am a total stickler on my virtual workspace.

Automate It With Macros

Commonly typed information, URLs, Bios, HTML code, WordPress codes,  including this little paragraph you see above explaining the Spark an Idea Thursday meme is all programmed into a program called DirectAccess. I don’t have to remember the code, URLs or scramble to find that little text file where I stored my bios. They are literally at my finger tips, accessible with only a few key strokes. Friendly on my poor fingers and good for memory too which is like a sieve.

Having a File Storing System

There is a download folder which is further sub-categorized into PLR, Information, References, Scripts and Software. Then within that are more sub-folders determining the source of the download, year and month. This way, I always know where to find the important things. It takes discipline but it is very worth it.

Shortcuts!

This also ties into the file storing system. As you can imagine with the numerous sub-folders and sub-sub-folders it can be a pain to click so many times to get to a file. Which is why one of my never-be-without utilities is a small software called Filebox eXtender. It allows me to jump directly to a folder that I open and use regularly. This can also be achieved using DirectAccess above but Filebox eXtender has its place when you’re downloading something or working within a software. Sadly, Filebox eXtender is no longer being developed and I’m unsure if it works on Windows Vista but it is open source now and oh so handy.

If you’re using Acrobat Pro, there is a command to make the text clickable.

Personally, I just use OpenOffice. It’s a full Office suite, complete with spreadsheet and presentation software and it comes built in with PDF capability.

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Enjoying a Business-Free Holiday

Alright I’m rather late for this week’s meme. This holiday weekend thing is really throwing me off. Or is it because my husband took a day off today and is off tomorrow. His holidays always mess me up because I try to make it a ‘policy’ to be off when he is too but I can’t keep you hanging today can I

When it comes to vacation I’m the worse person to give any kind of advise or tip because… I haven’t been on vacation since I had my firstborn and she’s rapidly approaching 8! Yikes! Seriously Lynette? Uh… yeah. Alright, I don’t consider myself having had any real vacation time. To me, vacation is a week at Disney world, a month roaming Europe or going on a walkabout in Australia. Sure, I had a 3 day weekend at my in-laws (uhm is that even a vacation? LOL) or a day trip to the beach since we are so close to it. So what new idea can I possibly share?

I’ll admit – nothing earth shattering. However, this is what I can tell you, these little 2-3 days away always go off without a hitch. You see, I am preparing my business, myself and my family to be away for 1-2 months a year. My mini stay-cations are a training ground to help me see if my processes and plans put in works. So far, they have.

One of the most eye opening things I learned from my friend Alice Seba is, automation does not always mean software. In fact much of the automation I’ve put in place is non-technical and very human. Absolutely, a team is one good place to begin with but if your team doesn’t know what to do or relies on you to tell them what to do every day or every week then they aren’t going to help you that much. You’ll still be ‘working’ everyday, unable to take off.

Some people call it a system, I just call it a standing order. CJ helps the customers daily, Kit works on adding stuff for my members every week, Libby bills the clients every month and Patrick keeps developing the software every week. All this happens automatically. I don’t breathe over their necks, I don’t give instructions every week. Many are repetitive work and some like Patrick’s work aren’t. For those, I make sure I give as detailed instructions as possible at the beginning of the project, come to a common understanding and only drop in once in a while. All these work orders are considered to be done every week/day/month depending on the task, indefinitely. Until I say stop.

That alone made a huge difference. There are still more standing orders to be given out. I’m going to think of more. But you know the fact is, this isn’t for me or for a vacation. The goal is to build a business that doesn’t revolve around me so when it comes time for me to exit or step down, it can stand on it’s own and perhaps bring in more value.

Oh and one more thing – Exercise your will power to stop checking those emails. If you have set up things to run automatically the sky won’t fall on your head after 2 hours away from your business. Yeah, I was surprised too

Why only may? Because, a lot of the tools and methods to retrieve the content from a PDF depends on the security settings of the PDF. If you have locked down your PDF to disallow copying, many tools cannot get past that and if they did you’d still have to remember the password.

Assuming you have not locked your PDF, one of the easiest ways is to simply open the file in a PDF reader and click on Save As from the menu. This will extract a text only version of your work. If your document has a lot of fancy designs and images, you won’t be able to retrieve them using this method but if it’s mostly textual content this is probably better anyway to allow you to work from a fresh copy.

If you’d like something that resembles the final result more, you could try:

• PDFtoWord
• Koolwire
• Advanced PDF to Word Converter Free
• Zamzar

Keep in mind, you may not get an exact reproduction. In other words, don’t expect your original document. Some converters choke on the alignments and  images, overlapping them but hey, the idea is to salvage as much as you can so you can’t be too picky.

WP-Invoice – I’ve been wondering when something like this would be developed. Lately, I’ve outgrown my invoicing solution and looking elsewhere but I really don’t want to install another stand alone application on my site – too many software to keep track of. Having the invoicing solution directly on an existing website makes the whole business a lot more centralized and less technical management too. Best of all this is developed by a couple of U.S. Marine Corp Veterans whom I’ll always be partial to. Am definitely trying this one.

Event Registration – We use this at MomMasterminds to organize our MMWeetups (Meetups). Allows us to post which event is upcoming and let’s people register so we know who’s coming and what to prepare. I think it might be useful for arranging meetings too.

WordPress Advanced Ticketing System – so far, this is the only ticket system I see. It’s still quite new so I’ll reserve judgement on it.

Job Board – I’ve always told people that many plugins they use could be unnecessary because with a little bit of simple coding and thinking outside the box, you’ll be able to achieve the same thing without a plugin on WordPress. That’s the beauty of the system. Well this is not a plugin but a good tutorial that shows you how to create a job listing/board.

WP-Project – this plugin is getting old. I’ve talked to Nick the developer, at this point in time he’s not able to devote time to it. But it might be something you could check out in a sandbox to see if it suits you.

Blog Goals Monitor – very interesting indeed! Keeping a blog can be hard work and sometimes you need a little help motivating ourselves or seeing whether we are achieving our goals. This plugin helps you do just that.

Like this post? I blog a lot about WordPress at my blog too. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter for more tech hints and specials while you’re there.

We’ve both read David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. We like to find ways to be more organized and efficient. Tools for improving our productivity intrigue us.

He has a cult-like following. His raving fans love his system. The essence of the system is to “do it, delegate it or defer it.”

The gtdagenda.com is all about using the system on the computer instead of paper. There is also integration in the system to receive email notifications each morning for calendar, next actions and/or your vision wall.

There are examples of how you can integrate it with Stephen Covey’s  7 Habits of Highly Effective People or Leo Babuta’s Zen to Done system. There are also suggestions on how to use it for school, the gym or even software development.

Sherra says…

The website gives you a snapshot of your goals, projects and tasks on one screen which can be helpful. But for me personally, it’s a little too stark. I’d like to see more customization options – as in color choices, fonts and ways I could rearrange the screen to suit my personal preferences. There is a free option as well as a basic and premium plan with a 30 day money back guarantee which is always nice.

Leigh Anne says…

Because I tend to be a very visual person and really do prefer paper I like that you can also print. I also love that there is a Vision Wall where you can upload photos of your goals and dreams. Staying focused on your goals and the steps that move you towards them can be a struggle. The GTD system and gtdagenda.com help you to do this. It breaks goal setting and achieving into manageable, bite size pieces. It is so much more than a to do list. It helps you to have a more organized life and put everything thing in its place.

If you are a GTD devotee, this is worth checking out, especially if you want a web-based system that you’ll be able to log on and access from any computer. For now, we’re sticking with old-fashioned pen and paper because it still works for us.

Interns Leigh Anne Wilkes and Sherra Humphreys have been top direct sales business leaders for 18 and 16 years respectively.

This week we’re Sparking an Idea that about Email

It all starts when you have one web site and one product. Then, when you build another site or another product (or blog) with it’s own domain you think well, maybe we need to create a new address on this new domain for customer support, for you, for the mailing list for… whatever. Then you add a new domain to your empire and you create another email address or *gasp* several addresses. Uh huh. That was me 2 years ago.

You’re probably thinking, it can’t be that bad. You can after all redirect all those different addresses into one. Yes, you are correct but the issue I had was not because I had to log in to different accounts to check the emails. It was the difficulty in keeping them straight when replying to people and most of all, when people ask for an email address, I didn’t know which I should give! Should I give them the real private one? Or the one for this site or maybe that site is more appropriate for this interview. That’s not all, whenever a new email list was created, I struggled to figure out which address would be the most appropriate “From” address for the list.

I decided I had enough. So I spent a whole month consolidating, trimming and re-structuring my email addresses. While I was at it, I also set up a central contact and help center for all products/services. You can call it a help desk I suppose, although I don’t run any help desk software.

The first thing I did was decide which addresses I wanted to keep. Once they were decided, the addresses were assigned a specific purpose. For example, one is strictly private, for personal stuff, staff and clients only. No exceptions. Then another was for mailing lists. Then I have one ‘public’ address and there’s another for support for all products, services, websites.

Just doing this cut down my email confusion considerably but that wasn’t the only thing I did. I hired someone to check, manage and respond to all the other addresses but one. Now, whenever someone asks me for an email address, during an interview or setting up an email list, I use the public one. The contact for all web sites, products and services go directly to the help desk at TechBasedSupport.com. There is no confusion. No setting up new email addresses no matter how many new products or websites I create. It’s all centralized.

If you happen to be a MomMasterminds member, I have a resource in the learning center there that shows step-by-step exactly how I set it all up and give you suggestions to centralize your emails too.

I’m so, so, much happier now and can’t imagine why I hadn’t done it before. At any point in time I know exactly where customers are sent to. This makes it a lot easier when you’re updating pages and giving instructions to people how to get support. It’s all the same and you don’t confuse yourself. Doing this also freed me up to focus on important stuff rather than checking emails.

Jigsaw is at heart, a business directory. It lists key people in different positions throughout an organization. You can search for contacts by geographical area, company or industry. You can also list yourself.

I can see how it can be useful, apart from the more obvious – sales leads generation, it could be used for sourcing or maybe to pitch an idea or simply initiate contact.