This Week in Small Business: Small Data - NYTimes.com

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A weekly roundup of small-business developments.

What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

Must-Reads

Christopher Mims says most data is not ?big,? and businesses are wasting money pretending that it is. A. Craig Burnside, Martin Eichenbaum and Sergio Rebelo question whether the housing market upswing will last, and Rick Newman offers five reasons the housing recovery remains wobbly.

The Economy: Budget Pressures Fade

Payrolls are rising but labor productivity is decreasing. Corporate profits as a percentage of gross domestic product are at their highest levels ever (and Berkshire Hathaway?s cash hits a new high). As the red ink recedes, pressure fades for a budget deal in Washington. Cicadas invade the East Coast. A new TD Bank survey shows performance on track for small businesses, and Hispanic small-business owners have a positive outlook. A study from Wells Fargo and Gallup shows optimism among small-business owners. A new study concludes that as the economy picks up, more people with high net worths move from being employees to business owners. But 78,000 people still want to leave Earth and live on Mars.

Mother?s Day

Even presidents can be embarrassed by their mothers.

Management: Procrastinate Like a Boss

John F. Demartini says the business leaders who are best at maintaining balance in a company ?will be the most loved, loving and sustainable.? Karol Krol offers suggestions for procrastinating like a boss. Joanna Warwick has the ultimate quick fix for solving any problem in your life. This is how to make the best use of small-business downtime, and here are four tips for keeping your business organized. Dennis McCafferty learned 12 management lessons from Disney U, and Matt Kemp teaches a lesson in kindness. Brad Farris is not a fan of swearing in the workplace: ?For me, it turns into a kind of verbal litter, cluttering up the communication.? Bill Clinton tried to reunite Led Zeppelin.

Start-Up: The Start-Up Gap

Martin Jones explains how to start a business when you?re fully employed. Here are four things your start-up needs to attract venture capital, and here?s what Google Drive means for start-ups. This comic strip shares some simple rules for freelancers. Start-ups in Iowa lead the country in revenue, and crowdfunding is easing the cash squeeze for Arkansas start-ups. The Securities and Exchange Commission issues a call for crowdfunding suggestions to promote small-business capital formation, while a ?Kickstarter for the black community? aims to close the African-American start-up gap. One venture capitalist advises against motivating start-up employees with a bonus. Neil Irwin explains why Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce would be a terrible stock.

Employees: Ridiculous and Annoying

Here are 17 ridiculous office rules companies actually enforce and 20 of the most annoying things about working in an office. And here are four reasons employees shouldn?t have set hours. A new book explains why you should have those crucial conversations with your people. Here are eight tips for retaining information technology talent. Crispin Jones discusses the benefits of a diverse workplace, and here are a few tips for building a strong team.

Entrepreneurs: The Least Favorite Question

This is how Australian entrepreneur James Fox has built a leading company, and Kathryn Minshew reveals every entrepreneur?s least favorite question. It appears that the shorter your first name, the bigger your paycheck. Neal Jenson says being able to sell anything is one of eight skills every entrepreneur should have. An Oxford University researcher says William Shakespeare was the first great ?writer entrepreneur.? These teenagers are getting $100,000 each to drop out of school and start businesses.

Cash Flow: Early Warning Signs

Big manufacturers continue to put pressure on smaller suppliers. Here are a few cost-reduction strategies for small businesses. The Credit Managers? Index drops, and Michael Monroe explains how to spot early warning signs of bad debt. This is how small businesses should leverage their debt in an unpredictable economy. Gerri Detweiler asks when you should consider bankruptcy.

Red Tape: Online Sales Tax

Adam Liptak says this has been the most business-friendly Supreme Court since World War II. The Senate approves an online sales tax bill, Senator Ted Cruz explains why he opposes it, and here?s who would be the winners and losers. John Berlau explains how the bill could tax your 401(k). This is a small-business wish list for tax reform, but Joy Taylor predicts that capital gains tax breaks are going away. A new rule means more government contracts for women.

Marketing: Pointless!

Here are a few tips for embracing green marketing. Jim Jacques says there has been a rebirth of phone answering services for businesses. Peter Hupalo explains how to make money from seminars and workshops. Gary Shouldis gives five reasons your advertising isn?t working. Dustin Heap says setting up call tracking is one of three ways to increase the return on your marketing spending. David Newman?s new book tells business owners how to improve their marketing: ?Don?t be an idiot on social media.? Rob Fuggetta says this is the ultimate question you should be asking customers. Jeremy Porter explains how to take a newsroom approach to content marketing. Rhonda Campbell offers examples of blog content that drives sales, and Henry Davids believes that an average Web site is like a blunt pencil: pointless!

Local Marketing: Bleeding

Michael Borland explains how Yelp makes money. Dave Conklin offers five reasons your business needs to be doing more local search engine optimization, and a new report demonstrates how heavily mobile is used for local search. A study says daily deal sites are bleeding each other dry, and Chris Brogan wonders if local businesses deserve your money. Spike Jones says you can?t create a community because ?you can?t build people.?

Social Media: Fans Beat Followers

A study shows small businesses find growing value in social media ? and that two million Facebook fans are better than a Super Bowl ad, a celebrity endorsement or Twitter followers. Here are some tips to market your business through social networks, three tips for better social media engagement and a few hints for understanding Google Analytics. An infographic explains how social sharing improves e-mail results. Here are five quick steps for using LinkedIn to recruit and three easy ways to use YouTube to promote your business. Adam Vincenzini lists his favorite social media tools of 2013. Heidi Cohen has proof that social media drives sales, but John F. Dini says the army of social media fanatics that ?go ballistic at any hint that social media isn?t the be-all, end-all and answer-from-above for every marketing need on the planet are just wrong.? This is what really happened when Facebook bought Instagram.

Around the Country: Reality TV

Small and big businesses are competing for subsidies. Small-business owners will be honored this week at a conference in Columbus, Ohio. This is how small businesses around the country have been helped by reality TV, and this is how you can turn a small business into a reality TV star. These are the best cities for college grads.

Around the World: Icebreaker

In Ireland, 80 percent of all employees spend 56 minutes of their working day on social media, and in China employees are sometimes made to crawl in public. Nearly half of all workers across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India think that bribery and corruption are acceptable ways to survive an economic downturn, according to a new report. This is what it?s like to spend two months on an Antarctic icebreaker.

Health Care: Power Grab?

Some small business owners sue to stop the Internal Revenue Service?s health care ?power grab.? Sarah Kliff wonders if the Affordable Care Act will lead to millions more part-time workers. Here are some wellness programs for small businesses. An ADP webcast this week will help small businesses understand the health care act.

Technology: Printing Guns

Microsoft has a Windows 8 do-over on the way. Here are eight Windows 8 apps for less than $25, 10 apps that will keep your business organized and 11 new iOS business apps. Coke introduces the ?world?s thinnest? vending machine. Staples becomes the first major American retailer to sell 3-D printers, and a 3-D printable gun reaches 100,000 downloads. ?Saturday Night Live? has some fun with Google Glass, and Marcus Wohlsen concludes that Google Glass fails to acknowledge that ?walking around with a camera mounted on the side of your face at all times makes you look dorky.? Microsoft Skydrive passes 250 million users. Rob Enderle explains why Apple won?t be around as long as I.B.M. This short video will help you decide between the iPad and the Surface Pro. A new survey offers five reasons small business are turning to cloud file management. Robert Lemos suggests five ways for small businesses to increase security, but Roger Grimes warns that too many administrators will spoil your security. A study says 66 percent of small-business owners use mobile technology. Ken Mueller says there are five things small businesses need to know about customers and smartphones. And AVG Technologies shares five Mother?s Day tips for mobile moms.

Tweet of the Week

@JoeMande ? What?s to stop someone from printing 3-D printers with their 3-D printer?

The Week?s Best Quote:

Anne Bezancon believes older entrepreneurs are better: ?This is why, contrary to popular belief, most entrepreneurs do not create companies in their early twenties. Almost always, they have experienced real economic relationships and power dynamics, and gained an understanding of where the opportunities were, in order to figure out what problems need fixing or how something can be done better. Age is not just a data point ? it signifies years spent watching, listening and learning, filing away facts and lessons, and developing the ability to recognize patterns and opportunities at the right time.?

This Week?s Question: Do you swear at the office?

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/this-week-in-small-business-small-data/

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Anti-teenage suicide campaigner Donal Walsh dies after brave ...

16-year-old touched the hearts of the Irish nation, urged fellow teens to respect life

By

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Monday, May 13, 2013, 8:29 AM

Updated Monday, May 13, 2013, 8:29 AM

Donal Walsh, the16-year-old cancer victim who pleaded with teenagers to resist suicidal tendencies, has died at his Kerry home.

Photo by Google Images

A 16-year-old cancer victim who pleaded with teenagers to resist suicidal tendencies has died at his Kerry home.

Donal Walsh touched the hearts of the Irish nation with his heartfelt plea to those considering suicide to think otherwise.

The talented rugby player from near Tralee was diagnosed with a tumour in his leg four years ago.
As suicide numbers rise in Ireland, he publicly criticised those who ?choose? to take their own lives as he battled the fatal disease.

Sadly, Donal died on Sunday night at his family home, surrounded by dad Fionnbar, mum Elma and sister Jema.

The Irish Times reports that he was selected for a Kerry ?local hero? award last March when he stated that he ?angered by suicide among teenagers?.

After a recent diagnosis, Donal said: ?I realised that I was fighting for my life for the third time in four years and this time I have no hope.

?Yet still I hear of young people committing suicide and I?m sorry but it makes me feel nothing but anger. I feel angry that these people choose to take their lives, to ruin their families and to leave behind a mess that no one can clean up.?

The teenager pleaded, ?Please, as a 16-year-old who has no say in his death sentence, who has no choice in the pain he is about to cause and who would take any chance at even a few more months on this planet: appreciate what you have, know that there are always other options and help is always there.?

Walsh also raised funds to improve conditions for young cancer victims at Our Lady?s Hospital in Crumlin where he received numerous bouts of chemotherapy and other treatments. He raised over $70,000 for the hospital.

The Irish Times says that he had a strong faith and did not have a sense of anger or unfairness about his condition but he did worry about the effect his death would have on his family.

He said: ?I never get scared. It?s nothing to do with the illness or dying that scares me. It does worry me to think what my family will be like afterwards.?

The report adds that Ireland?s National Office for Suicide Prevention had been working with the teenager and his family to see how his appeal to young people against suicide might be utilised further.
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Here?s Donal Walsh speaking recently on the Saturday Night Show on RTE:

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Source: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Anti-teenage-suicide-campaigner-Donal-Walsh-dies-after-brave-battle-with-cancer---VIDEO-207172401.html

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Make Your Own Invisibility Cloak With a 3D Printer

Read up on how they work;-)

In short, no, they're not like blackholes.

The principle behind them is that emmissons heading into the cloak are routed around the object and then leave, and here's the clever bit, in a direction and intensity equal to what would happen if the invisible object wasn't there.

A drawback of this is, if you were building your cloak on the observable spectrum, if your inside the cloak you can't see anything outside of it (as all the incoming light gets diverted around you)! Admittedly it's only a draw back if looking around you is important, there's good reasons not to care and cool applications e.g. building a sea platform that is invisible to incoming waves (google it, my brain hurts from remembering so much already)

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/Ol7WDcXiNvs/story01.htm

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An Emotionally Intelligent GPS System

Human emotion metrics for navigation plans and maps: Imagine choosing not just the quickest path to your destination but the one that is most likely to lift your mood. Patent no. 8,364,395 fuses advances in mapping and traffic data with those in mood detection to form an emotionally intelligent navigation system.

Route-planning devices and maps already allow users to choose a path that avoids tolls or traffic jams. And some technologies can gauge mood: microphones detect vocal stress in drivers asking for directions or screaming expletives; sensors detect a driver's pulse and sweaty palms on the steering wheel; and software mines social-media streams for users' emotions and locations.

A new device, designed by IBM researchers, could help tourists navigate unfamiliar cities, avoiding protests and road-rage incidents but taking in buzz-generating restaurants or tranquil scenery. Emoticons displayed along the routes would serve as guides.

The device factors in recent history. ?You can choose a destination where people are happiest now or where people over the last week? have been happy, says co-inventor Paul B. French, a systems architect at IBM. If an area cheered visitors up, the system would classify the route as mood-enhancing. ?The change of mood,? he says, ?is key.?

This article was originally published with the title Patent Watch.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=94942a20f560cabaccbec67cbde0b995

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No DNA links to other crimes for kidnap suspect

May 13 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $5,849,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,388,064 3. Kevin Streelman $2,572,989 4. Billy Horschel $2,567,891 5. Matt Kuchar $2,493,387 6. Phil Mickelson $2,220,280 7. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,207,683 8. D.A. Points $2,019,702 9. Steve Stricker $1,977,140 10. Graeme McDowell $1,910,654 11. Jason Day $1,802,797 12. Webb Simpson $1,759,015 13. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 14. Hunter Mahan $1,682,939 15. Charles Howell III $1,561,988 16. Russell Henley $1,546,638 17. Martin Laird $1,531,950 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-dna-other-crimes-cleveland-suspect-190011499.html

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Egypt's Mubarak talks for 1st time since detention

CAIRO (AP) ? In his first comments to the media since he was detained more than two years ago, Egypt's ousted leader Hosni Mubarak said he is dismayed at the country's state of affairs and particularly the plight of the poor.

The 85-year old Mubarak said in remarks published Sunday in Al-Watan newspaper that it is also too early to judge his elected successor, Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, because he has a heavy burden to deal with. He also warned against a much-negotiated loan from the International Monetary Fund, saying it would make life harder for the poor in Egypt, where over 40 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day.

The authenticity of the interview could not be immediately verified. Calls by The Associated Press to Mubarak's lawyer Farid ElDeeb went unanswered, but he was quoted as telling Ahram Online, the electronic version of the state-owned Al-Ahram, that the interview was a "fabrication."

Al-Watan's reporter, Mohammed el-Sheik, took photos of himself near and inside Mubarak's medical helicopter, without the ex-leader inside. El-Sheik said he conducted the interview after sneaking into a waiting area where Mubarak was held during his trial Saturday, apparently before the hearing began.

He also told the private ONTV station Sunday that he couldn't record the interview because he had to avoid Mubarak's tight security.

Mubarak has been a longtime nemesis of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which Morsi hails. In his comments to the privately owned Egyptian paper published Sunday, Mubarak appeared to be gloating, painting a picture of a nation that has unraveled following his 2011 ouster and portraying himself as a protector of the poor.

Mubarak stepped down in February 2011 in the face of a wave of popular protests whose main slogan was "Bread, Freedom and Social Justice." Protesters accused Mubarak of fostering a culture where power was centralized and police acted with impunity. They also believed Mubarak was grooming one of his sons to succeed him.

Mubarak's comments to Al-Watan also appeared to be addressing a growing segment of the population which has grown nostalgic for Mubarak's days amid continuing turmoil in the two years since his ouster. The country has been plagued by tenuous security and an enduring standoff between Morsi's Brotherhood and its Islamist allies and the largely secular opposition, which launched the 2011 revolt but failed to make political gains since.

Mubarak told the newspaper reporter he was "very, very sad" for impoverished Egyptians. He said he was also dismayed by the state of the economy, the industrial cities built during his nearly 30 years in office, and the country's lack of security.

The comments were Mubarak's first to be directly made to a reporter since his ouster, and his first public statements since his captivity. They came after a hearing in his retrial for his role in the killing over 800 protesters during the popular uprising. At the trial, Mubarak appeared in the dock on a hospital gurney, alongside his two sons. The trial was adjourned for June 8.

Mubarak was detained two years ago and put on trial on the same charges. He has since been hospitalized, sentenced to life in prison, had his sentence overturned and then granted a retrial.

The first Arab leader to be put on trial by his own people, Mubarak is also facing corruption charges in separate cases, where prosecutors are investigating his family wealth amid claims he amassed a massive fortune while in power. His two sons are also on trial on corruption charges.

In his comments, Mubarak also said he feared for the country's future and its poor should tough economic measures be imposed in order to acquire a $4.8 billion loan from the IMF. Egypt's economy took a hard hit over the last two years as foreign reserves dwindled, foreign investment sharply declined and tourists largely stayed away amid political turmoil.

Morsi's government would have to impose likely unpopular austerity measures as part of an economic reform program it is currently negotiating with the IMF. But talks have dragged on, while politics remain deeply polarized and consensus on managing the country's affairs is elusive.

Mubarak also said he is certain future generations will view his legacy fairly and that history will "exonerate" him.

Mubarak's last public comments were in April 2011, just before he was detained. At the time, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV station aired a prerecorded audiotape by Mubarak, in which he emotionally denied he used his position to amass wealth.

Also on Sunday, Egypt's highest appeal court granted a Mubarak-era steel magnate a retrial in one of a number of cases he is facing. Ahmed Ezz, who has been handed a combined 54 years of prison sentences and fined billions of dollars, will be retried on charges of money laundering in which he previously received a seven-year prison sentence and fined nearly $3 billion.

Ezz has received the heaviest penalties yet in the slew of trials against former regime officials. Many of Mubarak's government ministers have either been freed, or are still on trial.

Some have entered into talks with Morsi's cash-strapped government.

On Sunday, Mubarak's former Trade Minister Rachid Mohammed Rachid was taken off an arrest list and his assets unfrozen by the attorney general.

Rachid, who was in Dubai during the 2011 uprising and has not returned, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $200 million for approving production licenses to steel magnate Ezz without auctioning them publicly. In a separate case, Rachid was convicted of squandering public funds and sentenced in absentia to five years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $800,000.

It was not immediately clear how much Rachid paid to settle with the government.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-mubarak-talks-1st-time-since-detention-082430039.html

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Clever Party Playlist App Anthm Evolves Into Jukio After Legal Woes ...

After a legal kerfuffle with the band Rush?s management company (no, seriously), the team at Anthm saw their social playlist app get unceremoniously booted from Apple?s App Store. So what?s a down-on-their-luck team of app creators to do? Why, give the app a bunch of new features, a mild facelift, and a new name ? Jukio ? before pushing it into the wild again.

In case you missed it back when it had a different name, Jukio is an iOS app that lets guests and partygoers choose exactly what they want to hear when the host just can?t be bothered. Setup is dead-simple ? one iDevice running Jukio gets hooked up to the sound system, while guests who have the app installed can make requests from a connected streaming music service like Rdio and vote up inspired suggestions to create a party playlist.

One of the neatest things about Jukio though is that you?re not limited to making suggestions at whatever shindig you?re currently attending. As always, half the fun comes from crashing other people?s remote, unprotected party rooms and cramming the playlist with inappropriate tunes. The beauty of the system is that other users can downvote other people?s choices, which unsurprisingly happened to me just about every time I suggested they listen to William Shatner?s stirring spoken word cover of She Blinded Me With Science. Philistines.

So what?s changed over the past year? For one, Jukio finally supports a service other than Rdio ? co-founder Ben Myers told us all the way back in February 2012 that the four-person team was working to expand that list of sources, and they announced via blog post the other day that Spotify support has finally been added to the proverbial mix. Throw in the ability for Jukio to run in the background (which I?m surprised didn?t make it into the app any sooner), and access to Rdio and Spotify?s Heavy Rotation sections for easier song selection, and you?ve got yourself a pretty neat party tool.

Sadly, some things haven?t changed since Anthm first hit the App Store all those months ago. The team hasn?t yet made good on their promise to bring Jukio to other platforms for instance, but that could change shortly. There?s still no word on an Android version of the app, but Myers says that a cross-platform HTML5 version is in the works, as is a ?Listen With? feature that will let users listen in on Jukio parties across the globe instead of just trolling them from afar.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/11/jukio/

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