Small Business Technology News – Highlights from around the globe
At Computer Troubleshooters, we’ve once again braved the information-overload of the internet to find current trends, important alerts or general hints and tips from other sources. Here’s the best technology information of the month, relevant to small businesses.
Enjoy the articles in bite-sized pieces and click on the Read More links to see the full stories.
Note: Although we take reasonable care in selecting the websites to be linked, these external sites are not under the control of Computer Troubleshooters. As such, we do not endorse, approve, represent, or certify those external sites, nor do we guarantee the accuracy, completeness or quality of the information contained on them.
_________________________________________________________________________________
10 gadgets we want to steal before leaving CES
Wired’s Gadget Lab shares the best gear at the Consumer Electronics Show
CES is a four-day assault of non-stop sensory overload. Mile-long taxi lines. Ear-splitting Gaga and Beyonce pumping from every booth. Legions of disheveled businessmen thrusting marketing collateral and contagion at anyone naive enough to take the bait.
In other words, it can be a dehumanizing grind. But it’s also our favorite place for window shopping. We descend on demo booths to mentally earmark the gear we’ll be calling in for testing the moment we’re home.
Would we really steal this stuff directly from the show floor? Well, that’s a moral conundrum each of us must resolve. We don’t think even Erik Malinowski, so full of sports-guy brawn, could muscle away the LG fridge you see above. And we’re still trying to figure out how to get the Tesla Model S out of Nvidia’s booth. Nonetheless, “Don’t ask, don’t tell” has been our mantra for CES 2012, so here are some of the things vendors may want to make sure they’ve still got before packing up.
_________________________________________________________________________________
5 ways to boost productivity with new tech tools
Entrepreneur highlights CES devices that help you to work smarter.
The exhibit halls are crowded and bustling at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, and you can bet the long days and frantic energy have attendees thinking about working smarter — not longer. Thankfully, some of the technology showcased here hits on that nerve, from cutting down on the devices in your shoulder bag to keeping your body running at optimum efficiency.
Here’s a look at devices we found here that can amp up your output in five ways.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Facebook Timeline: Will it benefit your business?
Social networking site hints that its Timeline feature may soon be available for brands.
Here are some things to consider about Facebook Timeline and the value it could add to your business’ social networking presence.
By now you’ve seen Facebook’s Timeline format. Maybe your own personal Facebook page is in the Timeline format. But what will Timeline mean for brands?
Currently, the Facebook Timeline format–which replaces profile pages and is basically a chronological scrapbook of your life–is available only for personal pages. Facebook has hinted that Timeline will be available for brands at some point in the future, but the company has not announced anything explicitly.
_________________________________________________________________________________
4 questions SMBs should ask outsourcing vendors
Small and midsize businesses that plan to outsource their IT operations need to ask these four questions before signing the dotted line.
You wouldn’t hire a new employee without asking them a few questions first. The same should hold true for small businesses that outsource most or all of their IT functions to a third party.
In fact, handling managed service providers (MSPs) and other outside IT firms as an extension of your internal staff–rather than “just a vendor”–is an approach that can produce better long-term results from the relationship. That approach starts with a thorough interview.
