Archive for the 'Trends' Category

The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal is reporting this headline: Skype sold in deal valuing it at $2.75B It caught my eye because I just resubscribed to their service… it does make it easier to communicate. Ebay’s President and CEO had this to say: Skype is a strong standalone business, but it does not have [...]

This, admittedly ISN’T for purely home businesses. You’d get in trouble because you’re likely too far “off the beaten” path to be accepted under this program. More details will be coming out later, but, for now I’m going to alert my readers to this blog. You may qualify for this if you … 1. Have [...]

We’ve heard for quite some time about the “Digital Switchover”. It happened this weekend. One headline read “Millions Left Without Television”. Another headline said that the switch prompted 700,000 calls to a federal hotline on Friday and Saturday alone. I suspect this a very good time for packages like Direct TV! Here’s why – despite [...]

Joel Kotkin asks Is Your City Safe From The Tech Bust? “A decade ago, the path to a successful future seemed sure. Secure a foothold in the emerging information economy, and your city or region was destined to boom.” Today, that isn’t necessarily so. I recall a friend visiting me in another state over 12 [...]

Jenni Hunt markets a unique resource on how to make money through one of Ebay’s hottest selling items – Toys! You can read her sales page here (affiliate link): Summer Toy Guide I’ll let her describe it in her own words, but I think the logic is sound. Toys sell at the best prices during [...]

BuddyPress is going to be hot – I think. Why? It gives WordPress bloggers on the MU platform the ability to have powerful social networking tools for their own little “Micro network” for fans connecting to their blog and its niche. Because WordPress is a leading blog platform, Buddypress automatically has a large potential user [...]

How does your metro area – or the area you plan to target for your marketing measure up in terms of adversity? Knowing that could make the difference between success or failure of a venture because the sense of perceived adversity will influence buying habits and, accordingly, your projections.  Here’s a tool to consider in [...]

During a downturn in the economy like this, people are thinking about their options. Many are being encouraged to train for a vocational career as opposed to starting a business per se. Is that wise? Well, that depends on what you were doing when you were laid off. If you had a high degree of [...]

The people who sell the Blackberry are finally setting up their own applications store – it’s about time! When I wrote about The New Mailbox Money I talked about how iphone applications and Kindle could put money in your pockets. Now Blackberry will be selling applications and there will even be a Kindle like (if [...]

The WSJ recently published an article on home-grown economic-stimulus programs that cities, counties, and states are providing to help small businesses stay afloat and spur local spending during the recession. Usually local plans – aka “economic gardening” – work better than shotgun big government plans. Here are some plans the Wall Street Journal discussed… Are [...]