We are delighted to announce the release of some nice new swanky banners for both Tradingeye & CannyBill which you can use on your site.

The banners come in a few different shapes and sizes and both come in two sets. One for businesses and one for web designers.

Do also stay tuned for our affiliate scheme which will be launching soon.

Tradingeye Banners

CannyBill Banners

Chicago, IL: June 3, 2010: SingleHop, Inc, the Chicago provider of dedicated servers and complex hosting solutions, today announced a key partnership with CannyBill, the highly regarded web billing system producer. The agreement allows for SingleHop’s Tandem server reseller customers to get 6 months of free access to Cannybill’s highly intuitive and adaptable billing system.

Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, Managing Director of CannyBill, commented, “We are delighted to have joined the SingleHop Tandem Reseller Program. It’s one of the most innovative and exciting dedicated server reseller programs out there and CannyBill will be a perfect match. The power of CannyBill is the ability for users to manage every aspect of their billing process, from invoicing clients to collecting payments. Now, with the partnership between SingleHop and CannyBill, we are able to tightly integrate our two platforms and offer Tandem Partners a way to resell SingleHop dedicated servers, all via web based order forms.”

“Tandem is a one-of-a-kind program because it offers server resellers a three-pronged approach to helping their businesses succeed. First, they get access to datacenter-grade controls over their servers and a powerful and fully white-labeled control panel for their own clients. Second, VirtualWarehouse offers them a guaranteed and detailed list of highly discounted servers that they can choose to resell. Finally, they can take advantage of exceptional marketing agreements at no cost to themselves, agreements that connect them to the best providers in the industry that can assist them in marketing, security, and even billing such as our partnership with CannyBill”, mentioned Dan Salcedo, VP of Communications at SingleHop.

Tandem was launched in February of this year and offers resellers the ability to have more control, sell more servers, and earn better margins through a comprehensive list of exclusive benefits, including fully white-labeled control panels and marketing assistance, that resellers can use as tools for marketing or higher margins.

About CannyBill

CannyBill is a web based invoicing and billing solution for businesses and web designers. Users can easily create, send and manage invoices, and accept payments online via credit card. Users can also sell their products and services, using order forms that their customers can access, and even link to live API’s such as Plesk, cPanel/WHM, Geotrust, Enom, Basecamp and many more. www.cannybill.com

About SingleHop, Inc.

SingleHop, Inc., is a full-service, managed, dedicated hosting provider that was founded on the principal of providing reliable, cost-effective, dedicated servers. The company was founded by Zak Boca and Dan Ushman in 2006 and currently hosts thousands of websites from around the world. The cornerstone of SingleHop’s managed hosting is the a la Carte Server Management Program, which is a full-array of transparent management services designed and tested to allow business customers to tailor their level of support to their needs or expertise. www.singlehop.com

###Contact Information:

Daniel Salcedo.
PR@SingleHop.com
Tel: 312 447 2581
E-Mail: PR@SingleHop.com

Digital city – bthere: Inflight Magazine Brussels Airlines

Image Getty Images, photolibrary.com

The future is digital, and Newcastle knows it. Marissa Peel takes a look at how this once forgotten city has risen from its industrial ashes

If there’s one thing Newcastle is good at, it’s transformations. Twenty-five years ago, it was unimaginable that the coal city would narrowly miss out on being crowned European Capital of Culture, or be dubbed the world’s eighth most creative metropolis. Over the last two decades Newcastle has worked hard to shake off its reputation as a gloomy, poverty-stricken place and is now thriving, attracting people from across the world to its stylish streets. One sector that has helped breathe a 21st-century form of life into the city is its buzzing digital market – which is a product of Silicon Alley.

In 1989, North East Workspace – part of the not-for-profit organisation Project North East (PNE) – revealed its vision to transform a derelict pocket of Newcastle into a vibrant hub of forward-thinking people specialising in what was then the new big thing: digital media. The company snapped up a row of abandoned 18th- and 19th-century buildings along Pink Lane and Westgate Road for a just £80,000 and set about turning the vision into reality. The plan worked, and over the following years the area attracted a new breed of digital entrepreneurs.

Offering office space for £6 to £10 per square foot, 24-hour broadband for £10 a month and an onsite centre for advice, Silicon Alley today gives 60 bright young things (employing more than 300 people) a platform to succeed. Director of North East Workspace Richard Spence says, “We’ve managed to acquire a site in a run-down area of Newcastle and make things happen, but the real measure of success is that people have moved on when they’ve out grown the place and there are now tenants all over Newcastle, employing lots of people in sustainable businesses.”

One company that’s flourished in Silicon Alley is Dpivision.com Ltd, which moved into a prime Pink Lane spot when managing director Wladimir BaranoffRossine launched his ecommerce and web design company in 2003. Since then, the business has grown tremendously, with PNE’s helping hand propelling it towards becoming a leader in the global online market. “We’re thriving here on Pink Lane,” says Baranoff-Rossine. “There’s cheap rent, free advice, plenty of businesses around to bounce ideas off – and we’re right in the heart of the city. There’s a lot of global work being carried out every day in these offices, and Newcastle is definitely expanding in the global market. It’s proved to be a great place to set up my business.”

International relations

Like many other Silicon Alley companies, Dpivision.com Ltd is now showcasing Newcastle’s new breed of business to the world. With contracts in America, Australia, Canada and France, the company has paved a way for itself in a tough international market. In 2006, it championed the city’s talent when it launched www.Tradingeye.com, one of the world’s first accessible ecommerce shopping carts. This pioneering product went on to secure a clutch of industry awards and is now used across the world, by everyone from the Ministry of Justice in Armenia and international brands Regus and Flybe to baby-product company Tommee Tippee and record label Late Night Tales.

The company’s latest venture, www.CannyBill.com, was unveiled last year and was immediately selected for the Plugg European Startup Award, where it fought off fierce competition from 126 businesses to make it to the final. The innovative online invoicing and billing solution is the start of a range of software the company has pledged to develop for businesses and web designers over the next few years.

Getting connected

Not-for-profit organisation Codeworks has also been nurturing Newcastle’s digitally creative entrepreneurs, including Dpivision.com Ltd, since 2003. Under its Codeworks Connect arm, digital companies can network, attend courses and conferences with industry speakers, seek advice and apply for funding. A pioneering programme where graduates from the city’s universities – Northumbria and Newcastle – are given work placements with local digital companies has also proved a hit, with more than 400 students taking advantage since it launched three years ago. What’s more, 85 per cent have gone on to be offered permanent jobs.

Software development is an additional area of expertise, and in a bid to get the creative juices flowing, anyone able to offer a top idea for developing an application can access funding, as well as a helping hand in turning it into reality. Since it launched three years ago, six companies have been created.

Getting people talking about Newcastle is another of Codeworks’ aims, and in 2007 founder Herb Kim launched Thinking Digital, a three-day conference that last year attracted more than 600 people from as far afield as America, South Africa, South Korea, India and China. “It was about putting on a conference that would inspire the technology ideas of our future,” says Kim. “We create an immersive environment that opens the mind to new thinking and people, which in turn stimulates ideas for attacking the challenges in our personal and professional lives.” And with this year’s conference, which takes place on 25-27 May (www.thinkingdigital.co.uk), set to be even bigger, it looks like the whole world will soon be talking about Newcastle’s exploding digital scene.

FR Ville numérique

Le futur sera numérique, et Newcastle en sait quelque chose. Marissa Peel analyse la façon dont cette ville, autrefois oubliée, renaît aujourd’hui de ses cendres industrielles.

Après deux décennies d’efforts passés à gommer sa réputation de ville glauque, Newcastle attire à nouveau aujourd’hui des habitants du monde entier dans ses rues de caractère – et le secteur qui a insufflé une nouvelle vie à la cité est sans conteste le marché des technologies numériques.

En 1989, North East Workspace – qui fait partie du Project North East (PNE) – a fait raser un bloc de bâtiments à l’abandon dans un quartier délabré de Newcastle pour y instaurer un hub vibrant, qui puisse propulser la ville dans le futur des médias numériques. Et cela a marché. En offrant des espaces de bureaux à des prix abordables et des conseils gratuits, ce ‘Silicon Alley’ offre aujourd’hui à 60 entrepreneurs du secteur – employant plus de 300 personnes – une plateforme gagnante. Dpivision.com Ltd, une compagnie d’e-commerce et de web design fondée en 2003, en est un exemple. “Nous grandissons à toute vitesse,” confie son directeur Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine. “On trouve ici des loyers modérés, des conseils professionnels gratuits et une foule d’opportunités commerciales… Newcastle se positionne définitivement comme un acteur important dans le marché global.”

L’association sans but lucratif Codeworks alimente également les entrepreneurs du numérique à Newcastle. Sous sa branche Codeworks Connect, les sociétés peuvent faire partie d’un réseau, chercher du conseil et introduire des demandes de financement. En outre, un programme d’emploi pour les diplômés des deux universités de la ville a été développé avec succès. À cela, il faut ajouter que toute personne susceptible de fournir une super idée pour une application logicielle peut obtenir un soutien financier ainsi qu’une aide à la réalisation pour mener à bien son projet. En 2007, le créateur de Codeworks, Herb Kim, a lancé Thinking Digital, une conférence qui a attiré l’année dernière plus de 600 personnes venues d’horizons aussi lointains que les Etats-Unis, l’Afrique du Sud, la Corée du Nord, l’Inde et la Chine. Et ce mois-ci, la conférence qui se déroulera du 25 au 27 mai, (thinkingdigital.co.uk) devrait être un événement encore plus prestigieux : bientôt, le monde entier pourrait bien parler de la nouvelle scène numérique de Newcastle.

NL Digitale stad

De toekomst is digitaal en dat beseft Newcastle maar al te goed. Marissa Peel bekijkt hoe deze eens vergeten stad uit zijn industriële as is verrezen.

Newcastle heeft twee decennia lang een mistroostig imago van zich afgeschud en trekt nu mensen aan van overal ter wereld die de stijlvolle straten van de Engelse stad komen ontdekken. Eén sector in het bijzonder heeft de stad nieuw leven ingeblazen: de digitale markt.

In 1989 knapte North East Workspace – als onderdeel van Project North East (PNE) – een rij verlaten gebouwen op in een verwaarloosde buurt van Newcastle. Daarmee begon de opbouw van een levendige broeihaard van het nieuwe gouden kalf: digitale media. En of het een succes werd! ‘Silicon Alley’ biedt betaalbare kantoorruimte en gratis advies aan 60 digitale ondernemers – met meer dan 300 werknemers – en is een heus platform richting digitaal succes. Een voorbeeld van een bedrijf dat het helemaal gemaakt heeft, is Dpivision.com Ltd, dat werd opgericht in 2003 en gespecialiseerd is in e-commerce en web design. “De zaken gaan erg goed,” zegt gedelegeerd bestuurder Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine. “Goedkoop huren, gratis advies, heel wat bedrijven in de buurt, … Newcastle is vast en zeker aan een opmars bezig op de globale markt”.

Ook de non-profitorganisatie Codeworks stuwt de digitale entrepreneurs van Newcastle voorwaarts. Via Codeworks Connect kunnen bedrijven netwerken, advies uitwisselen en fondsen aanvragen. En een programma waarbij afgestudeerden van de twee universiteiten die de stad rijk is aan de slag gaan in de bedrijven van Silicon Alley, is eveneens een schot in de roos. Sterker nog, iedereen die een uitstekend idee kan voorleggen over een softwareapplicatie kan er aanspraak maken op kapitaal en voldoende helpende handen om dat idee om te zetten in de praktijk.

In 2007 lanceerde de oprichter van Codeworks, Herb Kim, de conferentie Thinking Digital die vorig jaar meer dan 600 mensen naar Newcastle lokte. Er waren bezoekers uit Amerika, Zuid-Afrika, Zuid-Korea, India en China. De conferentie van deze maand belooft nog grootser te worden (25 tot 27 mei, thinkingdigital.co.uk). Het ziet er dan ook naar uit dat de hele wereld het binnenkort over de digitale zakenwereld van Newcastle zal hebben.

We are pleased to announce some great new features for CannyBill. Custom form fields for options, the ability to send out invoices x-days before the due date and two brand new payment gateways!

Custom Form Fields

Within CannyBill you could already create custom options for your packages which consisted of a radio button or check box. Well now we’ve added the possibility for you to add custom input boxes too. These can be used for any additional information you wish to capture e.g. ‘Where did you hear about us?’ to custom data collection of your choice.

Admin -> Packages -> Create new option

Send invoice out x-days before the due date

We’ve added a great little feature which enables you to specify how many days before the invoice due date do you want to send the invoice out. This is especially useful for renewable invoices giving your customers advance notice when a payment will be due.

Admin -> Settings -> Invoice settings

SecurePay Payment Gateways

We’ve added two new payment gateways to CannyBill. Please note that although they are both called SecurePay, they are two totally different companies and have nothing in common.

SecurePay – http://www.securepay.com/
SecurePay Australia – http://www.securepay.com.au/

You can set these up by going to:

Admin -> Settings -> Payment gateways

We are delighted that CannyBill has been invited to join the SingleHop Tandem reseller program (more info will be posted shortly) and very excited about their latest data canter expansion. We look forward to working with SingleHop and integrating with their revolutionary API.

(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting provider SingleHop (www.singlehop.com) announced on Wednesday it will implement a five-year, $7 million program to expand its data centers in the Chicago market, according to a report by Data Center Knowledge.

The announcement comes just 11 months after SingleHop moved into 10,000 square feet of space in a $2.5 million agreement with ServerCentral, at the data center in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, a Chicago suburb near O’Hare International Airport.

The expansion doubles the company’s worldwide network capacity, as well as its footprint at the Elk Grove facility where its second data center is located.

“Our current data center has provided our clients with exceptional service and 100 percent uptime since we opened late in May of 2009,” says Zak Boca, president and CEO of SingleHop. “To continue our aggressive 2010 expansions, we have doubled our capacity both in data center space as well as in bandwidth. The technological advancements of this location, combined with our stellar networking engineering, have proven to be a winning combination that can support and benefit current and future clients with the most advanced and stable hosting environment possible.”

SingleHop now has three locations in the Chicago area.

We are extremely proud to announce the launch of our new CannyBill.com re-design. The site was built in HTML 5 and CSS 3 by author and speaker Andy Clarke with the copy by renowned writer Relly Annett-Baker.

The entire re-design process has been very well documented on Andy’s blog with 12 articles written from the research involved to browser testing.

A full recap on the re-design process can be found below:

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1308

CannyBill redesign goes live

It seems like months ago (it was) when I handed over my design templates for the redesign of CannyBill.  Since then, the canny chaps have been working hard to implement the design and Relly Annett-Baker has been working her strange magic on their copy. Yesterday the new CannyBill site went live.

CannyBill’s previous home page

It was a pleasure to work with a team of smart people who really get it. They encouraged me to push the design as far as I needed and went with me in using HTML5 and CSS3 extensively. As client‘s go, they are also some of the bravest in allowing their design process to be open to the public.

With the site live, I thought it time to recap all of the entries that made up that open design process.

CannyBill open redesign project

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1190

While open to the public redesign projects have lately been popularised by Mark Boulton Design’s work for Drupal and by Happy Cog‘s work for Mozilla, it’s rare to find a commercial company involved in an open project.

CannyBill redesign peer research

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1193

I have to confess that when I’m designing, I often don’t take too much notice of a company’s peers or competitors.

CannyBill design process, package contents

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1202

Liked most of my projects these days, I’m designing the next iteration of CannyBill‘s front of house site in a browser rather than making static visuals of page layouts. I know I’m in danger of sounding like a broken record, but I genuinely do find the process to be faster and better at scoping ideas and demonstrating them to clients. So I thought I’d share the start of this process and the files that I use.

Designing the CannyBill home page

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1203

After two weeks on the CannyBill redesign project (one of which I spent traveling to Chicago for An Event Apart), it time for deep breaths as I talk about my design of the home page for the new CannyBill front of house site and ask for your thoughts and suggestions.

Relly Annett-Baker guests on And All That Malarkey.

Bribes, ripped trousers and writing copy for CannyBill

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1204

Write now, I’m cooking with Chef-O-Matic

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1207

A fascinating look at Relly Annett-Baker‘s process of writing copy for CannyBill and finding its voice.

Prices and plans design patterns

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1209

When is it the right thing to do not to attempt to reinvent a well established, tried and tested design pattern or convention. This question has come up while I have been designing the CannyBill prices and plans page.

A top down look at the CannyBill redesign

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1210

With the first phase of the CannyBill redesign process drawing to a close, I would like to say a huge thank-you to the CannyBill team for encouraging a public, open design process and to everyone who has commented and tweeted their helpful suggestions.

CannyBill redesign browser testing screenshots

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andallthatmalarkey/sets/72157622528064392/

A complete set of browser screenshots on Flickr.

What does browser testing mean today?

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1214

Before we send over our design files to the chaps at CannyBill, first a run through of the browsers that we have tested in the new design and some musings about what browser testing actually means today, in the face of an ever more diversified browser and device landscape.

CannyBill makes Monday morning admin easier

Relly Annett-Baker on first draft copy for CannyBill.

http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/s/1220

The redesigned CannyBill home page

Head over to CannyBill to see the final result for yourself and of course, your comments are still welcome.

The past year has been very busy for us at Dpivision with the launch of a new version of Tradingeye and also our brand new invoicing and billing solution www.cannybill.com.

We wanted to say thank you to everyone for their support and offer all our Tradingeye & Dpivision customers a 20% discount when you signup to CannyBill on the lifetime of your plan.

CannyBill is a complete invoicing, billing and web hosting automation system – it sounds complicated, but really it couldn’t be simpler. We use it on www.tradingeye.com to sell all our products and services!

http://www.cannybill.com/tour_orderforms.php

Yes you got it, when you receive an invoice from us, whether it’s from an order via our site or some customization or design work we do for you, it’s from CannyBill!

CannyBill streamlines the whole modern process ‘admin’ side of things; from tracking invoices and taking payments, managing subscription-based services to selling domain names, web hosting accounts and SSL Certificates all via web based order forms.

CannyBill will cut hours of tedious, repetitive toil from your working week – leaving you to do what you do best!

It’s taken one and a half years of planning, preparation and of course hard work, but it’s finally here. We hope you enjoy our new product, and we trust it really will streamline your working day.

Here is a break down of the paid plans below:

Basic – (10 customers) – £4.99 – 20% = £4.00 per month
Small Business (50 customers) – £12.99 – 20% = £10.40 per month
Professional (500 customers) – £19.99 – 20% = £16 per month
Small Business (2000 customers) – £29.99 – 20% = £24 per month

To upgrade simply signup to CannyBill http://www.cannybill.com/pricing.php then login to your admin account and go to the settings tab -> my account -> and half way down the page you will see the option to upgrade. When you do so, simply enter the promotion code below.

Discount code: Please email wladimir@tradingeye.com for your discount code.

As always we’re here to help so let us know if you have any questions.

The team at dpivision.com Ltd

By Chris Bowler editor @WebAppStorm on December 6th.

There are some applications that focus on thing and one thing only. Then there are others that focus on a few items, giving you the ability to manage multiple facets of your business in one tool.

CannyBill fits into the latter category. And we’re giving away three memberships today.

About CannyBill

If you’re unfamiliar with the service, CannyBill is focused on automating your invoicing and billing. With the app, you can allow customers to pay for your products online with a credit card. And you can even sell SSL Certificates and Domain registrations.

Even further, CannyBill makes it easy to set up order forms to sell your products and services to customers. Add in the robust API and integration with industry mainstays like Basecamp, Campaign Monitor and Quickbooks, and you’ve got a full featured business tool.

How to Enter

We’re going to award three contestants today. To get a copy, leave a comment on WebAppStorm and mention your business. What kind of product or service do you offer and how will this tool help you? The winners will be announced at the end of the day!

http://web.appstorm.net/general/giveaway/christmas-giveaway-day-6-cannybill/

We are pleased to announce a new FreshBooks import tool for www.cannybill.com. Simply export your customers and transactions from FreshBooks then import them into CannyBill in a few easy steps.

Login to FreshBooks -> My Account -> Import/Export

From this page download your Clients CSV and Invoices CSV.

Once the above 2 CSV’s have been downloaded and saved, login to your CannyBill admin -> Settings -> Plugin Modules -> Data Management (Import/Export)

From this page select the FreshBooks CSV from the Import Customers and Import Transaction screens and hit the import button. That’s it, you’re all done!

Web designers from across the globe flocked to Newcastle to pick up tonnes of top tips from internet boff Andy Clarke.

Internationally-renowned designer and author Andy, of Stuff and Nonsense, took a trip to toon to host a one-day workshop on advanced CSS styling last month.

And we were on hand to make sure the day was rounded off in style when CannyBill sponsored an evening socialising soiree.

A total of 27 companies, from as far afield as America, Canada and Hungary, attended the masterclass at the Copthorne Hotel to get to grips on pioneering CSS techniques, developed by Andy.

In the evening, the guests were treated to a bit of warm Geordie hospitality at the recently revamped Salsa Club, giving everyone the chance to unwind, exchange ideas and digest the day over a few beers and nachos, courtesy of us.

Check out pictures of the night at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpivision/sets/72157622613902331/