Curved Smartphones Trend: G Flex Ready for the U.S. |  |
- Curved Smartphones Trend: G Flex Ready for the U.S.
- MasterCard and Web.com Offer Payment Solution Take-A-Payment
- What You Can Learn from Family Businesses
- Toshiba Unveils What It Claims Are the World’s First Ultra HD Laptops
- Are You Suffering From Analysis Paralysis?
| Curved Smartphones Trend: G Flex Ready for the U.S. Posted: 16 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST
“Curved” is all the rage when it comes to smartphones these days. In fact, 2014 may be shaping up as the year of curved smartphones. First Samsung announced one available in Korea at an eye-popping price of about $1,000. Then Apple announced it would be releasing two curved phones sometime in 2014. And now LG, which announced its own curved smartphone in November, says its phone (pictured) will soon be arriving on U.S. shores. The G Flex will be available in the United States in the first quarter 2014, through AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. LG made the announcement at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, IGN reports. The phone, with a six inch curved screen will available from carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. So why does a phone need to be curved, and what are the advantages of curved smartphones over flat / straight smartphones? According to the LG press release, there are several advantages of this curved phone:
Here’s a review of the device from TechSmartt: The phone also features a 13 megapixel camera on the back and a two megapixel camera on the front. Reviewers say the battery (which is also curved, of course) will stand up to days of heavy use. The phone’s curved design supposedly allows it to be more resilient. If weight is applied flattening the phone (say by someone sitting on it or sitting down with it in his or her back pocket), no worries, reviewers say. The phone will simply bend back to its proper shape undamaged. There’s also the much discussed “self-healing” back of the device on which minor scuff marks from your keys, for example, when the phone is in your pocket, seem to disappear over time. (Just don’t take a knife to it or anything more extreme.) So, with all these pros, what kind of negatives could possibly discourage you from buying this phone for your business? Well, the cost might be one thing. Android Authority reports that, based on the phone’s current price in its native Korea, it might cost more than $900 here in the states. That might be more than $200 out of pocket even after signing a two year contract and receiving carrier subsidies. Image: LG The post Curved Smartphones Trend: G Flex Ready for the U.S. appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| MasterCard and Web.com Offer Payment Solution Take-A-Payment Posted: 16 Jan 2014 01:30 PM PST
MasterCard and Web.com have teamed up to create a solution both companies say will make it easier and faster for businesses to get paid online. The option is called Take-A-Payment and is now being offered as part of Web.com’s website design and hosting services. But it is built with MasterCard’s less than a year old Simplify Commerce development tools. In a phone interview with Small Business Trends, Debbi Lechner, Vice President of Ecommerce Product Marketing at Web.com explained:
Web.com offers a range of options from build-it-yourself Web design tools to design services, hosting, domain names etc., Lechner said. For a cost of $9.95 per month, Web.com users can add Take-a-Payment to their websites. It allows customers to pay invoices, service fees and other payments using a credit card. Website owners are then charged 2.85 percent for each payment plus a fee of 30 cents per transaction. Use Simplify Commerce on Your Own WebsiteYou don’t need to be a Web.com customer to use MasterCard’s new Simplify Commerce service. If you’re building your own website or have contracted with a developer, you can incorporate the new MasterCard solution into that project, too. Another unique feature is that Simplify Commerce lets you take payment from a variety of credit cards rather than just from MasterCard. There are other payment options like PayPal and Square that offer an opportunity to accept a variety of credit cards. But this is the first one we can recall run by a major credit card company that lets you accept payments through a competitor’s card. In another call with Small Business Trends, Debbie Barta, Simplify Commerce Product Lead at MasterCard Labs explained:
You can setup a Simplify Commerce account directly from the MasterCard site for free. However, you’ll probably need a basic understanding of programming or the skills of a developer to make it work for you. Image: Web.com The post MasterCard and Web.com Offer Payment Solution Take-A-Payment appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| What You Can Learn from Family Businesses Posted: 16 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST
For a while, the spread of corporate monopolies seemed destined to wipe out mom-and-pop shops for good. But family businesses demonstrated their resilience during the economic downturn, and now they’re stronger than ever. In fact, family-owned companies make up 90% of U.S. businesses. They are responsible for 80% of new jobs and 60% of all jobs in America. And while those statistics include large corporations such as Ford and Walmart, small family businesses have also been thriving. According to Forbes, many workers laid off during the recession have established family businesses on the Internet, marketing and selling their products through cheaply purchased websites. And prospects seem good for the coming year. Fifty two percent of family business owners (PDF) foresee that their revenues will increase in 2014. So what can your small business (or small family business) learn from these successful family-owned companies? Dedication to the BusinessA recent study by the Harvard Business Review found that most family business owners have a heightened level of commitment to their business's health and longevity. The majority of owners run their family business to secure a livelihood for their children, so this gives them a strong vested interest in the continued success of their company. This dedication also extends to those who work for family businesses. The 2013 Survey of Family Businesses (PDF) found that family employees tend to stay with the family business for an average of 20.6 years, as compared to the 4.6-year average for employees at non-family companies. Magda Walczak has been working with her family's business, W.W. Remodeling, since she was fourteen. She explains:
Looking to the FutureFamily businesses are also less likely to sacrifice their company's longevity for short-term gains. As the Handbook of Research on Family Business details, most successful family-controlled companies have a conservative fiscal policy, low debt and high liquidity ratios. Additionally, "they guard against doing anything in the short run that might compromise the future of the business." This means less money is spent on unnecessary expenses. As the aforementioned Harvard Business Review says:
In addition to forgoing lavish office spaces, family businesses are also less likely to take huge financial risks. While this can make them less successful in boom times, it means they can more easily survive economic downturns. Customer ServiceFamily businesses are also especially dedicated to customer service. ExploreB2B.com found that family businesses "are not only working to get new customers but to keep the existing ones." This means that family businesses are more likely to go the extra mile to meet customer's needs and resolve complaints. They are also more likely to provide personalized service and forge relationships with their customers. Walczak says:
Family ValuesFamily business owners work to maintain not only a thriving business from one generation to the next but also strong company values. One study found that business owners were most likely to encourage their children to "earn their own money, give to charity and volunteer." Another study (PDF) analyzed the websites of the largest family and non-family companies in search of their values. While both types of companies emphasized integrity, respect and customers, only family-owned companies associated their brand with generosity, humility, communication and service. These more community-oriented values can actually give family businesses a competitive edge. As Lucia Ceja and Josep Tapies explain in a recent Business Spectator article:
Investing in Workplace DiversityAccording to the American Family Business Survey, 25% of CEOs in family businesses are women, and the majority of family businesses have women in top management positions. In comparison, only 3% of non-family Fortune 500 companies are currently led by women. There has also been a shift in the role of women within family businesses. Whereas traditionally, the mother acted as a mediator between the father and children, now she is more likely to hold an active position within the actual business. This gives family businesses a leg-up over less diversified, non-family companies. A recent study by the U.S. Chamber's Center for Women in Business found that the Fortune 1000 companies that have committed to diversifying their top positions consistently outperformed their peers. Whether your small business is family or non-family owned, you can easily apply these strategies. If you dedicate yourself to your work, favor the long-term over short-term, prioritize customer service, instill family values and diversify your top positions – your company will be better prepared to face an uncertain economic future. Family Business Photo via Shutterstock The post What You Can Learn from Family Businesses appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Toshiba Unveils What It Claims Are the World’s First Ultra HD Laptops Posted: 16 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST
The same ultra high definition image display that will soon be in new TVs is coming to laptops, too. Toshiba has announced two new ultra high definition laptops. One will be most useful to businesses with high end video editing, graphics or other design work. The Tecra W50 and Satellite P50t will have Ultra HD 4K resolution. (That’s more than 4,000 pixels or about four times the resolution of normal high definition TV.) Both high-end laptops will have a 15.6-inch display with 3840×2160 resolution. In a prepared statement introducing the laptops, Toshiba vice president of marketing and engineering Carl Pinto said:
Toshiba says the Tecra W50 is equipped to run intensive image and graphics programs like AutoCAD and SolidWorks. It has 2GB of dedicated video memory to handle the workload. Here’s a peek at the device from “tech legend:” Toshiba says the Satellite P50t is designed to be a more portable device and features touchscreen interfacing. Though the company considers it more of an entertainment computer, it’s easy to see how this device could be used for mobile business too — depending on the price tag. And that’s the issue. No cost has been linked to either of these Toshiba laptops in the official company announcement. (They’re expected to be available in mid-2014.) But considering the relatively new 4K video technology and Ultra HD displays, we can assume they will be expensive. Image: Tech Legend Video Still The post Toshiba Unveils What It Claims Are the World’s First Ultra HD Laptops appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Are You Suffering From Analysis Paralysis? Posted: 16 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST
Business owners love plans the way drowning men love lifeboats. We're convinced, and I must admit not without reason, that a good plan will save us from a sea of uncertainty, ensuring we will someday, somehow, make it to the shores of profitability and prosperity. Every business magazine on the planet has regular articles emphasizing the importance of planning. Our teachers and mentors stress how critical business plans are. There's a non-stop conversation going on, telling entrepreneurs that they've got to plan, plan, plan. But there's one topic that never comes up. What happens when your plan gets in the way? A disproportionate focus on creating plans can mean that actually implementing those plans, and improving your business, gets delayed. 2 Ways Your Plan Might Be Slowing You DownThe First ScenarioYou've got a plan – a great, big plan. In fact, your plan is so big, so comprehensive, so detailed that it becomes overwhelming to work with. Faced with the totality of everything you have to do and the deluge of detail that describes how you're going to do it, your personal overload button gets tripped, and you wind up doing nothing at all. The Second ScenarioYou also have a plan – in fact, you've got lots of plans, and you're always making new ones. Every day, every hour, you have an idea, an inspiration, an innovation that will totally transform the way you do business. None of these plans have been written down, leaving you without any clearly identified action steps. As a result, you wind up doing nothing at all. Cutting the Problem Down To SizeYou can have too much of a good thing. Plans that are too big and complex are a problem. So is having a large volume of incomplete plans. The temptation can be to throw out all of your existing plans, and start again from scratch, but that will only slow you down further. Understand that there are reasons that we become stalled in the planning phase. The fear of making a mistake is huge; also common is a lack of resources or assistance to implement the plan. I would suggest to you that failing to improve your business is a huge mistake – and point out that it's only by becoming more profitable that your business will gain the resources and help you need to make even more improvements. At some point, you have to stop planning and take action. This means you've got to cut your plans down to size. Analysis Paralysis Cure: Outcome-Driven OutlinesChoose One of Your ObjectivesAt this point, it doesn't even matter which one. The goal is to get you out of the paralysis analysis mode and back where you're supposed to be – actively engaged in improving your business. Identify One Task That Will Move Your Company Closer to That ObjectiveFor example, let's say your objective is to become well-known to your local marketplace. One task that could help you achieve this task is to appear in local media, either in print, on television or online. Consider How You're Going to Achieve the ObjectiveIt's important to stay on task at this point. Don't worry about everything else you want to accomplish with your business, you can come back to those ideas later. This isn't the point, for example, to consider changing your business' signage or revamping your website. Outline, In Simple StepsHow are you going to accomplish the objective you've chosen? Notice that I've said outline, not plan. This is not the time for an in-depth, detailed plan. You don't always need the minutia. For example, an outline for appearing on local media could look like this:
Implement Your PlanThe objective-driven outline is short and simple. Work your way through the steps. Taking action is the first step in creating a profound psychological change within yourself. It's the equivalent of getting up off the couch and taking that first tentative jog around the block. You may not see immediate results, but you're creating the groundwork for change. Repeat the ProcessRegularly creating and implementing objective-driven outlines is a smart, strategic way to handle an overwhelming detailed plan. If you're on the other end of the spectrum, and create too many incomplete plans, you'll find that the use of objective-driven outlines will introduce an element of discipline and rigor into your operation. Plans have a critical role in every business owner's life. But if your plans are slowing you down too much, set them to the side temporarily and concentrate on some objective-driven outlines instead. Taking action leads to accomplishments that will influence your future planning – for the better. Overwhelmed Photo via Shutterstock The post Are You Suffering From Analysis Paralysis? appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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