Before I go any further, and having been disappointed more than once or twice by trying to enter for something like this and then discover it’s only for people in the USA or Canada, I want to say upfront that this particular giveaway is only for delivery in Australia.

So each of three fortunate Australia-based readers of this blog will be receiving one of these printers, which have the following features:

• wireless (having bought ourselves a non-wireless printer I can’t say how much I would love a wireless one, but of course I can’t enter this competition!)
• professional colour documents for a claimed up to 50% less cost per page and energy than a laser printer
• combines printing, copying, scanning and faxing
• helps you produce your own marketing materials in-house (another saving, which is always interesting for us home-based bizoids)

It doesn’t make coffee or stop you spending too much time on Twitter.

But it’s a pretty neat package.

How to Enter

Easy peasy. Post a comment here, in 25 words or fewer, sharing how you believe one of these all in one printers could help you grow your business. And yes, you may leave a link (spam-free zone of course). You might like to do a blog post, or a video or a podcast and then use your comment here (still in 25 words or fewer) to link to that.

Usual transparency, not available for relatives or business partners of this blog’s authors, Des or Suzie.

All the entries that comply with these simple rules will be put through a random sorter, to find three winners.

UPDATE: Closing date and time now extended (due to unforeseen problems with Website access)

Entries will now close Friday 31st July 2009, 11pm AEST. Drawing on Saturday August 1, will not be televised but will be filmed and uploaded: it may even be livestreamed if we can sort out the technology.

Kanga cartoon from Dennis Holmes Designs

The post Win a HP Officejet All-in-One Printer appeared first on Thinking Home Business.

I don’t do causes much on this Thinking Home Business blog. Not because I don’t care about things, but because it’s just not that kind of blog.

But every now and again something comes along which seems very pertinent to the community of people who have home based businesses or who might be thinking about experiencing the many pleasures of this way of doing business, if the conditions were right.

For me, one of those conditions is broadband access – high speed Internet. Essential. Non-negotiable.

So I was frankly shocked to discover a week or so ago that some 61 per cent – 14.3 million – of homes across rural America do not have access to high speed Internet.

Which means that the possibilities available to me, in semi-rural Australia, are not available to all those people in the USA, which gave us the Internet in the first place!

Something isn’t right about that.

Mind you, I have to admit that if it hadn’t been for my own recent experience with having our Internet access “shaped” by our former Internet service provider – i.e. slowed to a dialup crawl – I might not have been as receptive as I was when an email arrived about this issue of the digital divide in rural America.

Quite frankly, I had forgotten till then how excruciating it can be to be stuck on dialup.

And at that time I was indeed experiencing immense frustration, first of all in just getting on line and then in temrs of not being able to use sites or services I normally use without any problems. I was even going out to McDonald’s and another local coffee shop with free wi-fi, to be able to get some basic work done.

That may help to explain why I paid attention to that email. It was from Megan Tady of FreePress and was alerting me to a multimedia report, Five Days on the Digital Dirt Road and asking me to share this information with you, the readers of this blog.

In the email, Megan wrote:

To get an up-close view of life on the digital dirt road, I spent five days in North Carolina — a textile-industry hub that has been hit hard by the economic downturn — documenting the challenges facing rural communities without high-speed access.

The report incorporates video interviews with people in towns across North Carolina and highlights just how challenging it can be for people to participate fully in the life of the broader society when the best they can get is dialup.

Across rural America there are families who are being denied, practically speaking, and on a continuing basis, not just for a week as I was, such basics – in contemporary terms – as:

• the valuable access others of us have to information, instantly, globally
• opportunities to participate fully, interactively, dynamically, in the democratic process
• opportunities to nurture and build businesses, whether online or offline, or a combination of both
• crucial information about the availability of employment in locations which are near enough to drive once you have the job, which with broadband you could have found out about online without getting in your car, but seriously expensive if you have to drive there just to find out what is available
• facilities for children to learn and acquire the knowledge and skills they need to be able to compete and prosper in this 21st century

The Five Days on the Digital Dirt Road report is published at the InternetforEveryone site.

InternetforEverone is “a national initiative of public interest, civic and industry groups that are working to bring the benefits of a fast, affordable and open Internet connection to everyone in America”.

InternetforEveryone is calling on the Congress and the President “to act in the public interest by enacting a plan for the wired and wireless Internet” built on the principles of:

• Access
• Choice
• Openness
• Innovation

Although I was pretty cranky a week or so ago when I couldn’t get normal, broadband access, now all is hunky dory, with a new ISP (Internode), fast DSL service and savvy, friendly, seriously helpful tech support. And while in Australia, where I live, there are plenty of people who are currently denied, for all practical purposes, access to high-speed Internet, we fortunately have now a Federal Government which is officially committed to redressing that disadvantage with the rollout of a national broadband network intended to reach a whopping 98% of homes and businesses. And has budgeted for that.

I would like to think our American cousins, whose country invented the Internet and shared it with the rest of us, could expect no less.

I hope this blog post will encourage you to think about ways you can support those good people at InternetforEveryone in their great campaign “to bring the benefits of a fast, affordable and open Internet connection to everyone in America”. For a start, you might like to sign up for updates and/or join the conversation at InternetforEveryone’s Digital Town Hall.

The post How Can Rural Communities Be Expected to Compete, on Dialup? appeared first on Thinking Home Business.

Australians know how quickly and ferociously these fires can move, but there has not been anything like this in living memory.

Our hearts go out to all those who have suffered loss of loved ones, serious injuries, their homes and maybe their livelihoods.

We salute the brave men and women of the Victorian Country Fire Authority (CFA), career firies and volunteers alike, who have fought the fires to the utmost of their strength and, for a number of them, have had the heartbreaking experiences of finding burnt out cars and homes with men, women and children incinerated in them.

In the coming weeks there will no doubt be various opportunities arising for people and organisations to help.

Rax Lakhani has put together a list of social media links – Twitter (#bushfires), Facebook etc – and some commentary, in his post featured on Social Media Today.

Right now, I see from Twitter that many people are donating money via the Australian Red Cross. The message on the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Fund donations appeal site tells the story:

The 2009 Victorian bushfire Fund to assist individuals and communities affected by devastating bushfires in Victoria has been launched by the Premier John Brumby in partnership with Red Cross and the Federal Government. A number of corporate organisations including NAB, ANZ, CBA and Wesfarmers have also contributed to the fund.

As at 4:30pm on the 9th February, the Fund had received $6.8 million from over 38,000 people through the website and phone, with governments including the Victorian Government and Federal Government and corporates pledging additional sums. Donations are still continuing to flow in.

An independent panel made up of community leaders will oversee the appeal Fund’s operation. Criteria for assistance will include the extent of the hardship covered and the extent to which a person’s livelihood has been impacted.

For international readers wanting to get a sense of what has happened and regular updates, we recommend the ongoing bushfire coverate by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): the ABC is a government-supported body and its radio and television coverage are advertisement-free. For online coverage from the print media I would be looking to Melbourne, Victoria’s The Age newspaper – still the preeminent journal of record for Victoria (although some might say but a shadow of its former self).

This is a time of great loss for our country. We are heartened by signs that governments, business and the community are pulling together on this one, to help the helpless and comfort the injured and bereaved.

Photo courtesy iamagloworm via Flickr – CC

The post Bushfire Tragedy for Small Towns and Rural Communities appeared first on Thinking Home Business.

Rainbow Bay, Queensland, Australia, early this morning

I said “I have to get a picture for my blog!”

He smiled and posed.

“What’s the name?” I asked

“Santa”

Of course.

Between the usual demands of the festive season and the lure of the beach, I doubt that I’ll be doing a lot of blog posting over the next few days.

Wishing you a very happy Hanukkah, very happy Christmas, and very happy whatever other greetings of your preference, dear readers.

The post Santa Wears Boardies appeared first on Thinking Home Business.

Photo by Des Walsh copyright 2008: Seagulls at Rainbow Bay, Qld, Australia

The post Wordless Wednesday: Seagulls appeared first on Thinking Home Business.