Here are a couple of items I came across over the weekend.
Technology is tied directly to Revenue
This article asked: How important is keeping up with new technology? Consider this: Tech-savvy – and especially cloud-savvy – small and medium-size businesses increase revenues 15 percentage points faster than technology laggards, according to a new study from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Tech-savvy SMBs also create new jobs twice as fast.
No business can afford to be behind the technology curve. Modern Technology for Small Business Growth, a new guide from Inc. and Microsoft, offers a wide-ranging perspective on the benefits of maintaining up-to-date technology; how to assess current technology needs; and how to put the right hardware and software solutions in place. At the end of the day, staying on top of technology needs can help you boost your profits and productivity.
To download your free copy of Modern Technology for Small Business Growth visit inc.com/microsoft. The story was reported here:
Facebook Unveils ‘Paper’ News Reader App
This is really interesting, and for me it’s exciting as it seems to resurrect a concept from way back when CompuServe (what happened to them I wonder?) was king of the web-world and worked with a program called Journalist which created your own daily newspaper.
Now, Stephanie Mlot wrote on pcmag.com, here, that Facebook has introduced Paper—a hybrid mobile reader that combines updates from family and friends with worldwide news. The app will roll out to the iPhone on 3 February, offering those interested in news a more personal approach than rival newsreaders like Flipboard or Feedly, Facebook said. You can make Paper your own with stories and themed sections based on your interests—not what an algorithm thinks you’ll like.
The first section, of course, is the Facebook News Feed. But instead of a timeline you scroll through on the dedicated mobile app, a new design shows off photos, videos, and longer posts. From there, Paper is yours to build: Customise it with any of the dozen-plus sections—from photography and sports to food, science, and design. Each includes a mix of content from new voices and popular publications.
The upcoming application comes with the familiar Like, Comment, and Share buttons to which Facebook users have grown accustomed. But it also sports new features like high-resolution panoramic photos, viewable by tilting the phone to explore from corner to corner. It also takes video watching to a new height with full-screen, auto-play videos.
This is the first product from Facebook Creative Labs, where engineers and developers are crafting new apps to support diverse ways of storytelling. Take a tour of Paper online ahead of the 3 February launch, and check out Paper in action in Facebook’s video at the source link provided below.
Apps Every Entrepreneur Needs in 2014
Written by Katie Finnegan and Erica Bell and published on 27 January on entrepreneur.com there’s a round up the top apps that will help any entrepreneur take 2014 by storm, a selection from which is shown below.
Top apps – a selection
- TrackMaven: This app streamlines your ability to monitor data on your competition, without going through the hassle of consulting multiple sources.
- EchoSign: There’s no longer an excuse to delay the closing of a deal – this Adobe app allows you to electronically sign documents easily and securely. It also records and stores each document’s history, so you have automatic audit trails — saving you the time and trouble of backtracking in case the need arises.
- Venmo: is the perfect app for nights out with friends. Don’t waste quality time doing math on the back of a napkin. Simply link Venmo to your bank account and then easily exchange cash virtually with friends anytime, anywhere.
- Mint: An entrepreneur probably knows a thing or two about managing finances, but it’s always good to be able to easily access information about personal cash flow. Mint allows you to record expenses, create budgets and manage savings plans, all from your phone.
- Pocket: As entrepreneurs, we’re full of great ideas, so much so that they hit us when we least expect them. Enter Pocket, a phone-based bookmarking app which can save all types of content – anything from a lengthy article to a work report – to all your electronic devices.
- Unroll.me: There is nothing we hate more than a crowded email inbox. Thankfully, Unroll.me was created to fix that exact problem. Simply sign up with your email address and let Unroll.me find all of your subscriptions for you. Then easily scroll through and unsubscribe from the ones you’d rather never hear from again. You can also make sure the right emails break through all the noise.
The article is here.
What’s a Maven?
I’m reading a Malcolm Gladwell book at the moment: The Tipping Point. In it, he mentions Maven. I looked it up. In case you don’t already know, a Maven is an expert or connoisseur. Now you know.
He has written over 700 business publications (see Glossaries at http://onesmartplace.com/resources/glossaries/) and is editor of Better Business Focus (see http://onesmartplace.com/resources/better-business-focus-magazine). His Blog, on a wide range of subjects can be found at: http://onesmartplace.com/blog/
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