Without The Internet, Your Business Is Doomed

It’s pretty much impossible at this point to deny the fact that we’re living in the age of the internet. Pretty much every single person in the world has some kind of connection to the internet, and most of us carry it around in our pockets so that we have access to it twenty-four hours a day. Of course, it should come as no surprise that, because of this, modern businesses have come to rely on the internet in an incredibly significant way. Sure, you might think that your business could survive without the internet. Perhaps you’ve been able to survive until now, or maybe you think the kind of business that you’re running works without it, but that’s simply not true. The reality is that the internet is a central part of modern life which means that it’s a central part of every modern business. With that in mind, here are some ways that your business cannot survive without getting online.

Digital marketing

If you want your business to reach the biggest possible audience, then you need to embrace digital marketing. Whether it’s through social media, SEO, or any of the other hundreds of marketing methods available to you online, the internet can help you reach an audience that you might previously have only dreamed of. Not only can digital marketing reach both a wider audience and a newer generation than traditional methods, but it can also do so without costing nearly as much. Things like social media pages can reach international audiences without costing a single penny.

Innovation

The business world is always moving, now more than ever. The speed of the modern world is faster than it’s ever been before and there’s no way that you’re going to be able to keep up with those kinds of changes and developments without embracing the internet. If you don’t, you’re almost certainly going to find out about the latest innovations too late, and by that point, your competition will already have left you in the dust.

Increased efficiency

Efficiency and productivity are two of the most important parts of any business, and the internet really has done wonders for increasing those things. This is especially true for smaller startups who’s infrastructure might not be as well defined as larger companies. The internet can help you communicate more effectively with employees and customers, it can help you manage your accounts more quickly and easily, and it can make pretty much every other aspect of your business run far more smoothly than you might ever have been able to achieve. Sure, many of these things can be done offline, but the internet makes them so much more efficient that there really is no point doing things any other way.

Just because a certain working method has been fine until now doesn’t mean that it’s going to continue to work just as well into the future. You might not have embraced the internet until now, but it’s time to bit the bullet and embrace it if you don’t want your business to sink without a trace.

Offline Is Off-Trend: Why It’s All About Online

Okay, so technically the idea of everything online being the way forward isn’t anything new. But in saying that, so many of us think that we’re operating entirely online, when in reality we’re not. You may have an online business, selling services or with your own online store, but could your business be classed as entirely online? Probably not! Because we still tend to conduct a lot of our everyday process offline, out of habit above all else. From writing notes to store information and even dealing with clients, so much of it is done in real life. But here are five reasons why you should consider moving the bulk of your operations entirely online.

It’s Quicker

Point one is often enough to convince most people. Because anything that takes too much time is always one, frustrating, and two, unprofitable. So when you say that doing something is going to be so much quicker when it’s carried out online, could be enough to convert you. Take your documents, for example. So you might like having them stored in physical files, but how much time does it take you to go through them? With everything stored online, it’s available in an instant. And that, couldn’t be any more satisfying.

It’s Cheaper

If that hasn’t sold you, then this one sure will. Online operations, more often than not, can be cheaper. So you want to deal with your supplier offline, just because it’s what you’ve always done. But why do that when you’re paying over the odds. Relationships are great, but they don’t always make profit. Just take this point: Shopping Online = Cheaper. And when you’re making great savings, earning more, and generally bossing it online, offline shouldn’t even be a contender.

It’s Accessible

So maybe you’re not even in this for yourself – you’re all about the customer. And when that’s the case, you want to make sure that they’re getting the better end of the deal. But they always are when you operate online. Take the approaches Online Flipbook: 12 Benefits Over Printed Content outline. Because accessibility speaks for itself. With online documents like this, more people can receive it. And when you’re looking for reach, online blows that pretty little printed number right out of the water.

It’s Interactive

And then there’s the quite significant point of online efforts always being interactive, whereas offline can’t always keep up. Engaging with your customers online is easier, as these creative ways clearly show us. But you can’t always access your customers offline; there reach isn’t there. So when you want to wow your customers and get to know them better, it’s online all the way.

It’s Live

But the best thing about operating online? It’s in real time. And this can undoubtedly be more efficient for not only your business, but your customers too. When your online operations are live, you’ve got no waiting around, no delays, and definitely no time wasting. And when you’re trying to run a business and make money, that’s always going to be your top priority.

Don’t Fear the Future: Using Tech in Your Business

Technology is impossible to ignore if you own a business. You might as well be living in the Stone Age if you’re not taking advantage of all the things tech can do for you. Some people are unsure about where to start with using tech in their business, though. If you need a bit of help to get started, try these ideas.

Get Organized in Your Office

Keeping your office running smoothly takes a lot of work. Most businesses start off using various pieces of software to make office tasks and organization easier. The tools you use could range from accounting software to productivity tools.

Try Telecommuting and Mobile Tech

If you want to run a business these days, you don’t even need to have an office big enough for all your employees. Many businesses don’t rely on full-time employees either. With remote working and mobile technology, you can have people working for you all around the world – or just on the other side of town.

Boost Communication and Collaboration

Collaborative and communication tools are some of the best ways to use tech for your business. Getting everyone working better together produces better results for your business. Tools ranging from cloud storage to instant messaging can help you.

Use Tech in Your Customer Service

Your customers expect you to use technology to keep up with them. There are several ways that using tech to enhance your customer service experience can help you improve things for your business. For example, a chatbot can help your customers get the help they need faster.

Infographic Design By Evaluate Quality

3 Keys for Running a Cohesive Global Business Team in a Virtual Work Environment

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Virtual collaboration has become a pillar of today’s workplace, often involving workforces that extend across international borders. The number of companies that use an entirely virtual business model grew from 26 in 2014 to 125 in 2016, the latest FlexJobs annual update reveals. Organizations with multinational operations are over twice as likely as U.S.-based operations to use virtual teams, SHRM reports.

But managing a transnational workforce can be challenging. Approximately half of companies that use virtual teams find team building and managing time differences can be obstacles, SHRM’s research shows. The majority of virtual teams struggle to meet their goals and satisfy their clients due to difficulties with virtual communication and collaboration technology, Harvard Business Review says.

Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to address these issues. Here are three strategies you can implement to help make your global business team run more smoothly in a virtual workplace environment.

Use Telepresence Tools to Promote Face-to-Face Interaction

Lack of face-to-face interaction is one of the biggest challenges for managing virtual teams. Interacting with managers and coworkers exclusively on a computer or smartphone can discourage worker engagement. Employees who work only remotely have the lowest engagement rates with their jobs, a Gallup poll found.

You can compensate for lack of physical presence by using virtual office tools to make your workers feel closer to your company. Unified communications solutions that include video chat and web conferencing capability allow your workers to see each other as well as share visual aids so that everyone is looking at the same thing. Schedule regular video meetings to make face-to-face interaction part of your workplace routine.

Take Steps to Bridge Time Differences

Another major obstacle for global virtual teams is dealing with time zone differences. When your managers and workers are operating on schedules eight or 12 or more hours apart, keeping projects on time and meeting deadlines can be a hurdle.

To get your workforce on the same page chronologically, let employees know your expectations before you hire them. Establish what work hours are, and use time tracking tools to log billable hours if needed. In some cases, team members in one or both locations may need to shift schedules. If your team can’t be on the same schedule, one way to handle this is to have periodic five-minute check-ins at a time when parties on both ends of the conversation can be present.

Build Trust With Virtual Team Building Exercises

Reduced face-to-face interaction makes building trust a challenge in a virtual work environment. The lack of physical presence makes it vital to take proactive steps to promote trust between workers, managers and coworkers.

Allowing team members opportunities to socialize remotely can help build trust. Holding periodic meetings to share personal updates, creating online discussion groups and sending group emails are a few ways to do this. Encouraging team members to play each other in online games is another strategy. Another idea is having virtual coffee meetings where each team member goes to their local coffee shop before logging in for a group video conversation.

NY Startup Founder’s Baby Was Sitting In Wet Data: Internet Of Things Comes To Diapers

Back in October when All Thing’s Digital’s Kara Swisher was speaking at Chicago IdeaWeek, she said that sensors would be the big thing this year. She was absolutely right. There are sensors monitoring everything from your car, to your workout, to your dog’s workout, and now a baby’s diaper.

Last year Yaroslav Faybishenko, the founder of New York startup Pixie Scientific was in the car with his wife and their baby daughter. His wife had asked him if their daughter had a wet diaper. According to this New York Times article, that’s when Faybishenko realized his daughter was sitting in data.

Now you may be thinking, like I was, that sensors to tell if your baby had a wet or soiled diaper may be on the brink of pure laziness. Typically a parent can smell or otherwise observe that their baby’s diaper is full. No sense in getting an app for that, but Pixie Scientific’s “Smart Diapers” are much more than that.

With the Smart Diaper, a urine analysis square is put inside the diaper and when it becomes wet it’s scanned with a smartphone app. The app returns helpful data about the levels of glucose, ketones, proteins, and other things found in urine.

According to babycenter.com, urinary tract infections in babies can be very hard to detect. Sometimes a fever is the only symptom. When a baby has a fever without any other kind of symptoms it can be troubling to the parent. They’re also difficult to detect because it’s hard to get a bacteria free sample from a young baby. Smart Diaper’s technology would provide a great data source for pediatricians.

How much data?

Well there are 360 million diapers changed per day.

Smart Diapers aren’t just about UTI’s though. The sensor can tell if the baby is properly hydrated or if other harmful things are in the urine. There is a sensor with a qr code built in that is on the outside of the diaper. The parent just scans the qr code with their iPhone and all the data sent to the cloud comes back down to their phone with a complete analysis of the child’s latest urine.

Smart Diapers has taken to Indiegogo to raise $225,000, they have 59 days left as of the writing of this article. They’ve received a ton of national press including appearances on ABC News, BBC, CBS, and more.

You can support them at Indiegogo here.

This Louisville startup puts sensors in a tooth brush.

List.ly is the Slideshare for Lists

Have you ever read a “Top 10…” list and thought, “Hmm, they missed something”?

Now, with Listly, brands and content companies can make lists interactive and embeddable. Communities love it because they can share a whole list or just part of one. They can even contribute to a list by interacting with it right in blog posts. No more scrolling through comments to find out if people agree with your list.

Listly is also great for brands. As we all know, these days, content is king, and the more content a brand can produce, the more opportunities they have to reach their audience. Lists are easily the most popular content on the web, and Listly makes it easy for brands to create and use those lists.

What is your startup, what does it do?

List.ly.

We take the most effective form of content marketing, the numbered list post, and we make it collaborative, interactive, and embedable. Human beings simply love to consume information in the form of numbered lists. This explains who 30% of posts are in the familiar form of “10 ways to..” “17 tips to…” “27 things you must not …”. We simply bring life these blog posts by letting people vote and contribute directly on the list. We make it easier to share and embed these interactive lists. You can share the whole list or just an item. You can embed the whole list or just an item. We track where and when your lists are seen and we also track who and how people interact with each list.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Shyam Subramanyan & Nick Kellet

We’ve both got a background in startups and building brands. We make a great team. We complement each other.

Where are you based?

We’re based out of California in the Bay Area. I live in Canada.

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

San Fran is about a tech as it gets. I live in Kelowna in BC, which has an aspiring tech culture. Exits like Club Penguin, Vineyard Networks, and Workfire put Kelowna on the map. Plus there’s an event called Metabridge that is really working to connect Kelowna to Silicon Valley.

What problem does your startup solve?

We help brands get found and we help them foster engagement with the community.

What is the greatest challenge that you’ve overcome in the startup process?

The list hasn’t evolved since the invention of HTML. That is the opportunity we are creating. We are to lists what slideshare is to slides. You put your lists on Listly and embed them back on your blog. The model has been proven for static content like slides, videos and audio. Were just taking that model one step further as lists evolve over time and can be contributed to by many. People are always skeptical when a new type of data is created. The challenge we have overcome building the credibility needed for people to place their lists with Listly.

To this point with have lists embedded on 5000+ blogs. We have thousands of publishers who’ve signed up and used the platform.

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

Lots of iterations along the way, but three major:

V1 – Simple social embeddable lists

V2 – Scaling / cachable lists and synchronizing the experience between listly and blogs

V3 – Responsive Listly – A simpler, consistent experience across smart phones, tablets and desktops.

All these build on Listly as a publishing platform and a serious piece of internet infrastructure.

What are your next milestones?

We’re focused on small incremental steps right now and in driving our adoption metrics and our monthly active user count. Our core focus is to get more embeds. We’re also building out our API so people can build the use of Listly lists into their applications and workflows.

What’s next for your startup?

More of the same. Were focused on removing friction, driving up the number of embeds, and on building brand awareness so people are happy to jump in and vote or contribute to a list. We’ll also be putting more focus on our premium product to cater to the needs of bigger brands and publishers.

Where can people find out more, and what is your Twitter username?

@listly, @nickkellet @shyamster

Hollywood Hack A Day, Final Recap

“It’s like a party, you are afraid that no one will show up”

Rahim Sonawalla mentioned to me about his fears about putting together Hollywood Hack A Day. But boy did they show up. While Kyle was in Memphis for a Launch event this past weekend, I was on the West Coast. More specifically Hollywood California to witness Hollywood Hack Day taking place at io/LA which was nice enough to provide their location to use for the weekend. Put together by Ryan Chisholm, Rahim Sonawalla and Abe Burns, this weekends event expected around around 70 developers, graphic artist, and visionaries to show up. Battling 80 degree crystal clear skies, developers spent all weekend from 0900 on Saturday to 6pm on Sunday putting together not only presentations but working projects as well.

Startups: Dot Registry LLC Has Filed For Four New Top Level Domains

The folks at Dot Registry LLC realize that we’re running out of good .com domain names. The newer .co is taking over as a recognized worldwide domain name, in fact LeWeb founder Loic Lemur recently changed their web presence from a .net to a .co domain name, ahead of their new event in London.

Dot Registry LLC has filed for some domain names that may be real appealing to both startups and small businesses. The extensions that they filed for are .LLC, .INC,.LLP and .CORP these four domain suffixes mean that many of these new startups can register their official company name as their domain name.

“ It is our goal to create increased integrity for business representation online by developing gTLDs that represent specific business entity classifications. Through our corporate gTLD strings we will work to decrease the possibility of identity misrepresentation in a cyber setting and assist small to medium size businesses in legitimizing their services online.” Dot Registry LLC CEO Shaul Jolles said in a statement today.

DOT Registry worked closely with many Secretary of State’s offices to develop their registration
policies, which call for transparency in reporting and annual verification. Additionally, securing
support letters from these Secretary of State’s offices in order to affirm the necessity of
restrictions surrounding the strings LLC, INC, LLP and CORP. DOT Registry was informed by
the position of the National Association of Secretary of States Business Services Committee in
regards to business identity theft in a cyber setting and has taken a position similar to that
described in NASS’s White Paper in regards to the importance of accurately representing
businesses online.

In a March 20, 2012 letter to ICANN the Secretary of State of Delaware, Jeffrey W. Bullock
whom protects the integrity of Delaware’s legal entity registration system, which is home to
nearly one million legal entities and 63% of Fortune 500 companies indicated that, “it is
absolutely critical that if ICANN determines to grant such name extensions (. INC, .LLC, .CORP)
… that it does so in a restricted manner that is intended to protect consumers and the community
of interest that exists among validly registered US companies” he further indicated that “at
minimum, any approval for company ending strings be restricted in such a way that reasonably
assures that the legal entity is, in fact, an active and validly registered legal entity in the United
States, as DOT Registry LLC has proposed within its application.”

Jolles indicates that his, “ team has worked tirelessly to develop guidelines that will be both user
friendly and allow our registrars to appropriately determine if an applicant is in fact a registered
US business. Over the last six months we have created strong partnerships with the leading
corporate registration companies in order to have the most efficient and credible registration
process possible. As a corporate affiliate of the National Organization of Secretary of States
(NASS), we feel an acute sense of responsibility to uphold our company’s mission and guidelines
in order to deliver a strong product and we are excited to participate in this newest evolution of
the Internet.”

Linkage:

For more information on these top level domains visit Dot Registry here

We’re the voice of startups everywhere else, here are some great interviews from everywhere else

Yahoo Kills Livestand

Yahoo, a company with a brand new CEO, Ross Levinsohn, is shutting down it’s News stand that it started just months ago. In an application I nor many of you have ever heard about Livestand, was supposed to be Yahoos response to Flipboard which like many of Yahoo’s recent projects has failed. In an attempt to turn the company around Levinsohn is trying to streamline what the company does.

While we received great feedback on Livestand’s design and it earned a 4-star rating in the App Store, we committed ourselves to continuously measure and scrutinize what’s working and what isn’t. We have learned a lot from Livestand and are actively applying those insights toward the development of future products that are better aligned with Yahoo!’s holistic mobile strategy.

Regan Clark mentions on Yahoo’s Blog. While never making any inroads or showing any interest in Android, Yahoo is said to be wanting to push full steam ahead with Mobile, as seen with it’s recent launch of Axis.

Facebook To Buy Opera, To Gain More Of A Footprint In Mobile

In a move that makes as much sense as buying a company for $1 billion only to release an application just like it weeks later, rumor has it Facebook is looking to buy Opera. Facebook, which is now having to go before the SEC over how it handled its IPO is rumored to want to buy the Browser. Facebook which listed Mobile as a major interest in it’s IPO filing is quickly pushing full steam ahead to build it’s Mobile footprint. Which the acquisitions of Lightbox, Instagram and others Facebook looks to be pushing forward to the often rumored and mythical Facebook Phone.

With getting closer and closer to 1 billion users, having a browser will no doubt send shock waves in what is already a fierce battle between Google with Chrome and Microsoft with Internet Explorer. With the addition of a browser, rumored Application store, buying/built a Camera interface with Instagram and it’s own newly released iOS application, Lightbox for gallery. The only thing left for a full on blitz is an operating system. However after seeing what Amazon did with the Kindle, could a Forked Android version be what Facebook is soon to be looking at building or would buying RIM for it’s Blackberry OS finally push FB into building it’s own phone.

Source: Pocket-lint

Launching Tonight Yahoo’s Answer To Chrome, I Think

Yahoo, tonight is launching what they are calling a “Chrome Killer”. But there is a problem, as you can see right now you can download a plugin to use it on…guess what? Chrome.

I don’t get it either. As of now, when you go to axis.yahoo.com you are able to “Download it now”(Chrome Extension) view a video of it or see an ad for it. While having a new choice in browsers is nice, I’m still not sure why Yahoo will try something else it’ll fail at instead of fixing their problems they have now. Visually, it looks good until you realize how much quicker Chrome is to use, and return to using it.

Rogue Anonymous Member Takes Responsibility For Downing The Ship Of Pirate Bay

Two days ago we reported on how Pirate Bay, the leading site for illegal torrents was being attacked by DDoS attacks. However, at the time no one including Pirate Bay knew who the attack was coming from. Leading votes where from the MPAA, RIAA or a Government, after Anonymous claimed it wasn’t them. That’s when the thought came to me that It could be someone(team) that has defected from the collective and that’s what it turned out to be.

Apple Now Censors Jailbreak From iTunes Store

Apple, taking a page out of Twitters arsenal and censoring things it doesn’t like has added another one. The word JailBreak will no longer be found in the iTunes store. For those that don’t know, Jailbreaking: iOS jailbreaking, or simply jailbreaking, is the process of removing the limitations imposed by Apple on devices running the iOS operating system through the use of custom kernels.

So with Apple, not liking the fact that people pay hundreds of dollars, or even body parts, to own not rent/barrow the device. They are trying to get rid of any and all evidence about such products. So besides Applications being disallowed for political reasons into the iTunes store, any mention of Jailbreaking will now be as well.

Source: Cult Of Mac

[Updated] Anonymous Denies Attack Yet Pirate Bay Still Downed By DDoS Attack

Down goes the ship. That’s what’s been happening over at Pirate Bay for the last couple of day. The popular torrent site has been plagued by non-stop DDoS attacks. Known to be one of the most prolific sites for illegal torrents(Simply, a torrent is data about a target file, though it contains no information about the content of the file. The only data that the torrent holds is information about the location of different pieces of the target file. Torrents work by dividing the target file into small information chunks, found on an unlimited number of different hosts. Through this method, torrents are able to download large files quickly) As well as legal torrents. However, in recent times the site has come under legal attack in Europe by forcing ISP’s to block access to the site.

In reaction to that, Anonymous has targeted multiple sites, including UK’s Virgin Media, which Pirate Bay actually condemned them for those actions. However, Anonymous has sent out multiple comments on different social sites claiming those attacks on Pirate Bay are not their doing.