Archive for December, 2010



Time-Saving Business Apps for Google Chrome

December 30th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Business | No Comments »

I’m a big proponent of Google Chrome. It’s speedy. It’s efficient. And, I know it like the back of my hand.

While it still has a lot of catching up to do with Internet Explorer and Firefox, Google Chrome’s popularity is growing – and fast.

That said, I would bet big bucks that more businesses start using Chrome in 2011. Not all of the bells and whistles are there yet, but Chrome sure has a lot to offer. Take the Chrome Web Store for instance. The marketplace just opened, and it offers dozens and dozens of applications and extensions to suit your every need – and whim.

And, for the businesses, Chrome is teeming with some great, FREE business apps. Here are a few featured in PC World’s Business Center.

- Rainmaker

Rainmaker is able to automagically pull information about people in your Gmail address book from the web, Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook. This information includes mugshots, addresses, phone numbers, and Internet details.

- Springpad

The best way to describe Springpad is as a supercharged notebook and To Do list maker. Because it’s a cloud application, your data can be accessed from anywhere in the world, and the app is built around HTML5 so will work on the majority of modern browsers, phones and smartpads too.

- Simplebooklet

Simplebooklet is actually an online presentations tool. It fills a blindingly obvious gap in the market: creating presentations that can be viewed within a browser, and accessed via a simple URL that you share with others.

- World Time Planner

World Time Planner is a simple app that lets you click and drag a slider to see what the time will be in various cities over the next 24 hours. Daytime and nighttime symbols appear alongside each city to indicate at a glance when the working day starts and finishes.

Sure, Chrome’s apps pale in comparison to the other apps available on other browsers and operating systems. But it’s making strides. And, quite frankly, I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who has tried Chrome and didn’t stick with it.

Just like with a Mac, you won’t go back.

 Tags: , , , ,

‘Tis the Season for …. Entrepreneurial Spirit?

December 22nd, 2010 by Erin Posted in Business | No Comments »

The U.S. economy has been in the dumpster for the better part of the decade… and the ripple effect has had a huge impact on our business spirit.

You might say Americans have lost their entrepreneurial mojo.

A recent study by the Small Business Administration showed that U.S. has dropped to THIRD PLACE from first when it comes to fostering entrepreneurial creativity. We now rank third behind Denmark and – gulp – Canada.

So, what’s up America? Have we gotten lazy? Are we broke? Have we lost our zesty “go get ‘em” attitude?

According to those who’ve spoken out about this, the answer is yes.

Entrepreneur Magazine asked its Facebook fans to weigh in on the matter, and here’s what a few had to say about what we’re doing wrong:

“Complacency.” – Luke Thomas

“The cost of insurance, licensing, small-business taxes and hiring employees is astronomical. Most mom-and-pop businesses are on a shoestring budget.” – Dawn Boyer

“Americans are not developing new technologies to sell on the global market. We need to slow down our consuming and increase production in order to export more goods.” – Alana Weaver

“By the time young executives get out of student loan debt, they are at a point in their lives where it is hard to take the risk of entrepreneurship. There are student loan forgiveness programs for teachers. Why not for entrepreneurs?” – Timothy Ericson

“Running a business is like balancing on a log in the water: Fancy footwork will keep you up, but it takes bulldog tenacity to stay there. With so much negativity, undermining and unpatriotic chin-wag, it discourages honest, hard-working people from giving it a go.” – JC Crellin

“Bureaucracy.” – Carmen Lane

Sure, we can say there is too much red tape. We can also scream at the government to get out of the way. But the truth is, in my opinion, people don’t have the money or the courage to take a business idea and run with it. The banks are simply not lending like they used to and that’s scary to a lot of people.

The good news?

America still has a few model entrepreneurs – like Mark Zuckerberg - whose stories will inspire and, not doubt, light a fire under many people in the coming years.

Until then, we’ll have to look to Denmark for inspiration.

 Tags: , , , , ,

Zuckerberg Stands the Test of TIME

December 16th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Business | No Comments »

Zuckerberg Time MagazineNevermind the fact that we see his face everyday in the news.

… or that there was a major motion picture released about him this year.

… or that he’s just 26-years-old.

… or that everyone LOVES to hate him.

Mark Zuckerberg is Time Magazine’s Person of the Year – and guess what? He damn well deserves it.

In less than seven years, Zuckerberg has managed to bridge one out of nearly a dozen people on the planet – that’s a twelfth of humanity! – together in a single network; a social network called Facebook.

The social entity is now twice as large as the U.S. And, if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest, behind China and India.

To say that Facebook has changed the way we communicate, view Internet privacy, and do business would be an understatement.

A few years ago, most of us saw Facebook as the “go to” site for finding and connecting with friends – new and old. Today, while it still serves us in that regard, Facebook has become a business powerhouse. In fact, businesses are now re-thinking their marketing models and strategies because of Zuckerberg’s for-profit network.

Take e-commerce for instance. Thanks to Facebook, it’s called “social shopping.” People don’t shop online privately anymore. They’re talking about the products and services they buy on sites like Facebook and Twitter first. Not only that, users follow or “like” companies, brands, or products on social networks – which, in turn, spreads the word to their friends.

It’s an ingenius concept that’s made Zuckerberg a very rich man.

And let us not forget the privacy issue. Before Facebook, most of us were floating around the Internet without giving privacy a second thought. Today, thanks to Facebook, we are mindful of what can or can’t be seen by the public. We have more privacy controls. We are wary about which pictures we post – and who can see them.

It is said that the average person checks Facebook about 15 times a day. If that’s the case, then it’s fair to say that Zuckerberg is running our social lives through Facebook.

And, THAT’s why he deserves to be on the cover of Time Magazine.

 Tags: , , , , , ,

Holiday Consumer Survey: “We’ll Take iPads, Thank You”

December 9th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Technology | No Comments »

Nothing says happy holidays like greed and self indulgence.

Amid the unprecedented turn of events going on with the Wikileaks cyberwar, I thought I’d write about something people really care about: Themselves.

What do we, Americans, want for Christmas?

Not world peace.

Not food and shelter for the millions of children and families around the world living in squalor.

Not an end to the recession.

Not a cure for cancer.

We want an Apple iPad 3G. Oh, and not just any Apple iPad. We want one loaded with unlimited music and apps. And, as a recent CNET holiday consumer survey shows, we want loaded iPads over Universal Healthcare as our fantasy holiday gift.

But wait, it gets better.

When consumers were asked what holiday gift they would want for themselves if cost was not an issue, the top three answers covered everything from everyday necessities to consumer electronics and high-ticket luxury items:

- their mortgage paid for the year

- a 2011 Porsche Panamera 4S

- and the Apple iPad 3G with unlimited free music and apps.

In addition to Universal Healthcare,  the iPad also ranked higher than other gifts like maid service for a year, a lifetime membership to Netflix and the Amazon Kindle preloaded with 2,000 books!

Me?

I’d take the maid service – and then, when the service expired, I’d ask for it again next Christmas.

Cleaning toilets blows. But, then again, so does paying a mortgage.

 Tags: , , , ,

Facemail Will Be A Disaster For Businesses

December 2nd, 2010 by Erin Posted in Business | No Comments »

“Email is dead,” claimed Mark Zuckerberg as he launched the new Facemail Messaging service a few weeks ago.

Zuckerberg believes the messaging service – which is “not e-mail” – will mark the end of traditional e-mail as we know it.

Essentially, Facemail will:

- replace a subject-based list of email with a people-based list.

- unify some media.

- archive messages permanently.

Innovative for sure, but will Facemail really replace enterprise email?

Not so fast.

Facemail poses many problems for businesses – large and small.

How?

First, let’s look at the issue of replacing subject-based lists with a people-based lists.

Facebook would have us believe that the standard email setup of subject/recipients/text is antiquated. It proposes that the inbox is better organized as a list of conversations with people, not as a list of topics.

In the new Facebook Messaging, you’ll see a list of people; when you click on a person, you’ll see a list of all the messages you and that person have ever exchanged.

It’s certainly possible that this idea would be useful for a social inbox, but for business? Not so much. Most business users need to be able to follow the thread of a conversation, yet keep several conversations on different topics separate — even if the conversations are with the same people.

It also looks as though Facebook won’t provide control over the recipient list when replying to a thread. This, too, is bad for business — it’s important for users to be able to add and delete recipients and spawn side-conversations.

Second, the issue of unified media.

Facemail is email, text messaging, and instant messaging (or chat) all rolled into one. There’s talk of Skype being included as well. This isn’t exactly triumphant news. Many enterprise email systems already have unified messaging features – and guess what? They’re great for those people who communicate in a social context, but for business it’s much less important. The tools are always available for everyone to get email when they need it.

Lastly, the permanent archival of messages.

Facebook says it will preserve these messages – text, chat, messages – forever. And, THAT could be very problematic for employers and inhouse counsel which have their own retention policies in place. For instance, if a company typically deletes e-mail every 90 days, it will be unable to enforce that on e-mails created in Facemail.

Keeping data forever is just not an option for companies. The legal risk is too overwhelming.

Now, companies that already have policies in place for handling outside e-mail and chat providers will have to ask their inhouse counsel to develop new policies that categorize Facebook with the rest of those services.

E-mail is still a useful service – and contrary to what Zuckerberg believes, it’s not going away just yet.

Can you picture a leading company exec sending a top secret inner-office memo to a colleague through Facemail?

Sorry Zuckerberg, but we’re not quite there yet.

 Tags: , , , , , ,