eCommerce Solutions

There are companies or business owners who do not want the expense and hasstle of putting up a website and running the shopping cart. When it comes to outsourcing commerce Acutrack, Inc. and Kagi are offering an integrated, turnkey managed ecommerce solution that enables customers who don’t have their own websites to sell and deliver content to a worldwide audience.

Acutrack and Kagi provide a complete, turnkey, on demand, production and Ecommerce solution so that customers can literally create a product, put it on a storefront for sale, and make profits. Content providers now have an easy, low risk way to increase the profit from their creative works through a joint product klnown as Effortless Commerce, which is managed jointly by the two companies. Setup requires no coding or technical expertise.

Customers are provided with the following features and benefits by Kagi:

• The option to offer products in downloadable formats - customers can purchase physical disks, digital downloads, or both.
• Theft protection for downloadable content - each buyer receives a unique download link that only works for a limited time.
• Instant availability to a global market - a Kagi online store will automatically display options in the local language and currency for visitors.
• Listing and promotion through the Kagi Marketplace - visit the Kagi Marketplace and discover a new way to shop.
• Fraud protection for payments - Kagi has an excellent track record for preventing bogus transactions.
• Automatic tax calculation, filing, and payment — no tax tables to decipher or complicated sales tax forms to fill out.
• Special pricing structure for content suppliers — save money with lower transaction fees.
• Editing, authoring and graphic design services — content and products become beautiful retail products with built-in profitability.
• Acutrack’s On Demand Production Engine — CD/DVD products are manufactured upon purchase with zero inventory, allowing companies to focus their efforts on marketing their products.
• Integration with a Kagi Online Store — sales through the Kagi store automatically initiate Acutrack's On Demand Production services for fulfillment.
• Automated order processing — everything, from the time of purchase until Acutrack ships products, happens automatically and on time.
• Multiple shipping methods and worldwide delivery — customers can sell and ship products throughout the globe.
• Email notifications to customers — automatically provides customers with shipping confirmations and tracking numbers.
• Positive Cash Flow — products are produced, shipped and billed later while sellers get funds credited to their account as soon as a purchase is made.
• Automatic payment for the production and fulfillment of products from Kagi to Acutrack — no bills.

Anyone who signs up for the combined Acutrack/Kagi offering by September 30, 2007, will not be charged for the On Demand production integration fee ($200 – $400 value) and Kagi will set up a store appearance and waive the setup fee which is worth $79 to $500.

Avoiding the Chance of Illegal and Pirated DVDs

In the greater Toronto area an organization known as the Peel Regional Police Service conducted an investigation into the sale and distribution of priated DVBD movies. On Sunday August 19, 2007, the execution of multiple search warrants was coordinated within the cities of Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga. Twenty-five arrests were made, which led to over seventy criminal charges. More than 40,000 pirated DVD movies and an assortment of printing and stamping equipment was siezed.

If you have a proprietary DVD -- a film, music, or even an exercize DVD -- there are companies like Livermore, California-based Acutrack, Inc. that can help you protect yourself. Established in 1992, Acutrack (http://www.acutrack.com/) enables customers to create, publish and deliver custom content on CDs and DVDs worldwide. The company provides fast, high-quality CD and DVD production including video editing, DVD authoring, graphic design, photo realistic and silkscreen printing, and a variety of packaging, copy protection and fulfillment services. Acutrack’s proprietary On Demand production service gives customers the ability to produce and ship custom packaged CD covers or DVDs one at a time.

In another top news item in July (Reuters) we learn that most of the production lines for pirated DVDs are smuggled into China, and once in the country are hard to find as the factories are carefully hidden. China's failure to protect intellectual property rights for everything from movies to handbags and car parts has been a major irritant in Sino-U.S. and Sino-European relations despite Beijing's pledges to crack down.

Foreign companies say they loose billions of dollars to Chinese pirates every year. Pirated DVDs of the latest Hollywood films are easily obtainable in Chinese cities, often costing little more than $1 a piece.

eCommerce is up by 20.8 % since 2006

E-Stats is the U.S. Census Bureau's Internet site devoted exclusively to "Measuring the Electronic Economy."

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the second quarter of 2007, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, was $33.6 billion, an increase of 6.4 percent (±0.8%) from the first quarter of 2007. Total retail sales for the second quarter of 2007 were estimated at $1,012.6 billion, an increase of 1.3 percent (±0.3%) from the first quarter of 2007. The second quarter 2007 e-commerce estimate increased 20.8 percent (±4.6%) from the second quarter of 2006 while total retail sales increased 3.8 percent (±0.5%) in the same period. E-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2007 accounted for 3.3 percent of total sales.

This is great news and all the more reason for Acutrack's new strategic partnership with Berkeley, California-based Kagi, a leader in e-commerce outsourcing worldwide, to succeed tremendously in future quarters. The two companies recently announced an integrated, turnkey managed eCommerce solution - Effortless Commerce - that enables those customers who don’t have their own websites to sell and deliver content to a worldwide audience.

Acutrack and Kagi provide a complete, turnkey, on demand, production and eCommerce solution so that customers can create a product, put it on a storefront for sale, and make profits.

Anyone who signs up for the combined Acutrack/Kagi offering by September 30, 2007, will get a waiver on their On Demand production integration fee ($200 – $400 value) and Kagi will set up a store appearance and waive the setup fee (a $79 – $500 value).

The only managed eCommerce solution for content providers, Effortless Commerce enables people with or without a website to sell content and includes these features:

-The option to offer products in downloadable formats — customers can purchase physical disks, digital downloads, or both.
-Theft protection for downloadable content — each buyer receives a unique download link that only works for a limited time.
-Instant availability to a global market — a Kagi online store will automatically display options in the local language and currency for visitors.
-Listing and promotion through the Kagi Marketplace—providing categories for a new way to shop.
-Fraud protection for payments — Kagi has an excellent track record for preventing bogus transactions
-Automatic tax calculation, filing, and payment — no tax tables to decipher or complicated sales tax forms.
- Special pricing structure for content suppliers — save money with lower transaction fees.
- Editing, authoring and graphic design services — content and products become beautiful retail products with built-in profitability.
-Acutrack’s On Demand Production Engine — CD/DVD products are manufactured upon purchase with zero inventory, allowing companies to focus their efforts on marketing their products.
-Integration with a Kagi Online Store — sales through the Kagi store automatically initiate Acutrack's On Demand Production services for fulfillment.
-Automated order processing — everything, from the time of purchase until Acutrack ships products, happens automatically and on time.
-Multiple shipping methods and worldwide delivery — customers can sell and ship products throughout the globe.
-Email notifications to customers — automatically provides customers with shipping confirmations and tracking numbers.
-Positive Cash Flow — products are produced, shipped and billed later while sellers get funds credited to their account as soon as a purchase is made.
-Automatic payment for the production and fulfillment of products from Kagi to Acutrack — no bills.

Comparing Blue-Ray, HD-DVD formats

The two competing formats for high definition DVDs are more alike than they are different.

Blu-ray and HD DVD both offer sharp, high-definition images and sound best when viewed on high-def TV screens. Both can also hold more data than a standard DVD, allowing for interactive features, games and other extras.

Both formats also require special players, which can play standard DVDs as well but not discs in the rival format.

LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics have dual-format players, but they don’t play all the special features. Both are priced at more than $1,000.

In terms of differences, Blu-ray can hold more data, about 50 GB, compared with about 30 GB for HD DVD.

HD DVD requires all players bearing its logo to support picture-in-picture capabilities and Internet connections that allow for downloading of trailers and other special features. Those capabilities are optional for Blu-ray players, though most players will support similar features eventually.

The biggest difference is the availability of content.

More studios, including Sony and Disney, support Blu-ray exclusively. Only Universal Pictures supports HD DVD exclusively. Warner Bros. and Paramount release films in both formats.

The Value of Podcasting Today

According to Arbitron, 27 million Americans have listened to a podcast, or online radio and TV. Early adopters in any category are going to benefit from this.

Internet radio has been around for awhile. One company, podcaster Big Media USA, Inc., provides this service. It's not music, it's information like being Time Warner on the Internet -- with stations that have channels on different topics. The value here is that Big Media has been around awhile, so their site has allot of content on it, and Google spiders their site daily. Podcasts are easy for others to listen to or watch online 24/7.

Here is one of Acutrack most recent podcasts about the company's DVD On Demand Production. It is the second episode (On Demand CD/DVD Production), and explains the answer to a common question we’ve received from several new customers and listeners: “How do I add all the electronic commerce components needed to my website so I can handle my On Demand orders?” Find the answers by listening to Acutrack's Executive Vice President Asheesh Barman and Frank Patchel, President of Kagi, Acutrack’s preferred provider of online store solutions.

One stop Fulfillment including HD DVD Authoring

It can be challenging for a marketing person to manage all the items necessary to produce a direct mailing to a customer these days. In the past you had to get different vendors to do each job separately.

Many businesses are sending out DVDs these days, as part of their press or sales kits. First there is the DVD production, DVD video editing, DVD replication, then printing DVD labels, then choosing the case, etc. And most people have sales brochures, or sales and press kits that they would also like to add to their mailings to customers. That means using a Xerox place like Kinko’s to copy, collate and stuff the press kits, which are typically designed by a graphic artist, then printed by a printer. Next, envelopes, labels, stamps or bulk mail stickers are required. And you need the space to keep all of this.

After years of doing marketing and public relations for numerous clients, I finally got wise to the fact that no matter how big or how small the mailing – a fulfillment house is critical to keeping things running smoothly.

Acutrack can do it all. Printing. Duplicating CDs or DVDs. Collating. Stuffing. The cost saving and convenience of delivering these products directly to a customer list are substantial. A premiere source for business card production services, Acutrack offers 3 inch mini disc or business card disc production for both CD and DVD. If needed, Acutrack’s creative engineering team can encode and pre-master a video presentation, can add PDF documents, templates, images and hyperlinks from a client’s website allowing for a dynamic marketing or trade show presentation.

Using Acutrack’s in-house direct mail services team, they can start the fulfillment process the second a project is complete. As experts on postal rules and regulations, presorting, and postage discounts, Acutrack assures the best possible mailing rates using USPS-certified CASS address standardization software to provide significant postal rate discounts and maximize delivery efficiency. Mailing pieces are assembled and addressed professionally; inkjet printed with bar codes and Zip+4, and then bundled according to postal requirements. Post Office paperwork is completed and samples are sent to the client. The finished product is delivered to the post office for seamless, automated mailing.

Can your PC play a DVD-Video movie?

Having a DVD-ROM or DVD-RW drive in your computer is not good enough to play a DVD movie. You also need to have the following application installed.

• Install a free media player program. VLC Media player (VLC) plays DVDs and almost all other videos out of the box. You can also use Windows Media Player, which comes installed on most PCs and is simple for beginner users, but requires extra software to play DVDs and many other video formats.
• If you are using Windows Media Player, upgrade to the latest version. Go to the help menu to find a link to the latest upgrade, currently version 11.
• Install an MPEG 2 codec. This is the file you need for Windows Media Player to know how to interpret the files on the DVD. Download a free MPEG 2 codec. While there are several versions, including Stinkycodec that are purportedly functional and free.

At Acutrack, we offer DVD replication and packaging services so if you have content, we will store it, handle the DVD duplication, and ship out to your customers as they request DVDs, ione at a time.