This week’s big news is Google’s proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility. There’s been a barrage of news and analysis surrounding this announcement, so we here at SmallBizGoMobile are going to distill it all down, and try to separate the facts from the hype, and the PR buzz from the players’ “real” motivations. Read More
Category: Small Biz Go Mobile
14 Million Americans Using QR Codes Every Month: What Does it Mean for Your Business?
While QR (“Quick Response”) Codes have long been popular in Japan and Europe, the findings of a new study suggest that these matrix barcodes may finally be catching on in the US. The study, conducted by comScore, tracked the QR code usage of over 14,000 Americans, and found that 6.2% of their sample scanned a QR code during the month of June; extrapolated to the total number of mobile phone users in the United States, this means that roughly 14 million Americans are scanning QR Codes every month. Read More
Mobile Mondays: Work Better in a Noise-Free Environment
Welcome to Small Biz Go Mobile’s newest feature, Mobile Mondays. Every Monday we’ll be bringing you the latest tips, tricks and gadgets to help you better do business while on-the-go. If you’re anything like us, you’re just as likely to be working from home as you are at the airport or the coffee shop. But none of these places are ideal work environments, are they? Maybe you’re dealing with screaming kids, people talking loudly on their phones, or even just the background noise. When you’re trying to get important work done on-the-go, you need to create a productive atmosphere and reduce distractions. That’s why this week we’re taking a look at a small investment that could make a big impact on your mobile office life: noise canceling headphones. Read More
ToutApp for iPhone: Send Repetitive Emails on the go
The web version of ToutApp makes it simple to create templates for emails you find yourself constantly sending. Once your templates are setup, sending your contact information, a follow up email from an event, a press release, or an business pitch via email is as simple as editing names and specific details. To complement the web service, The ToutApp for iPhone lets you access and edit the addressees and send an email via your smartphone. You’re still heavily dependent on the web version to create and edit the templates, but once you get those set up exactly the way you want, sending an email via the mobile consist of inserting the name and email address and boom! You’re good to go. Read More
The Lutron Control App Helps Your Business Take Control of the Power Bill
Last month, the power bill in my 750-square foot New York City apartment climbed to $315. This is definitely enough money to impact my family budget. And it made me think about my office, where we have roughly 10 times as much space to heat/cool and 30-50 times as many electronic devices (including a used drink fridge for our beer and soda). That’s a one heck of a power drain. Savvy electricity conservation isn’t just good for the environment- it’s good for your businesses’ bottom line. Read More
Card Scanner Pro – Fast and Accurate Business Card Scanning
Business cards are a necessary evil. I hate asking for them at events because I really don’t want to be tasked with the responsibility of doing something with them later, but I feel like a dork if I don’t ask for a card from somebody who just asked for my card. So in my quest to completely get rid of business cards, I have found the Card Scanner Pro app for iPhone that provides quick and easy business card scanning to save directly to your phone’s address book. Read More
Wednesday Tech Tips from SmallBizTechnology.com
We are pleased to work with Ramon Ray, CEO and editor of SmallBizTechnology.com, journalist, and technology evangelist, to bring you new Small Biz tips every Wednesday morning. Each week they’ll be sharing videos and articles featuring hot topics, products and trends in small business. Read More
Boomerang Gmail Plugin Goes Mobile – Schedule Outgoing Email on the Go
The cool Boomerang Gmail desktop plug-in lets Firefox/Chrome users schedule when their outgoing messages are actually sent. Additionally, you can write reminders or follow up messages to yourself via email and make sure they arrive right when you’re ready to read them (instead of getting lost in all the junk mail your receive first thing in the morning). Think of Boomerang as a Tweet scheduler…just for email. To use the service, you had to install it to your desktop browser. Now Boomerang offers a mobile option that lets you schedule your emails at anytime from anywhere. Read More
How HP Plans to Take On Apple and Microsoft By Gambling on WebOS
Last Friday, I wrote about HP’s massive discounts on its Touchpad tablet, and speculated about how these promotions might be the opening volley in a tablet price war. The article sparked some discussion around the SmallBizGoMobile newsroom, with my editor arguing that the Touchpad can’t measure up to the iPad, and therefore deserves a correspondingly lower price. It would seem that a number of consumers agree with my editor, as John Paczkowski over at AllthingsD points out that Woot sold only 612 Touchpads during its one-day promotion, while the deal-of-the-day site sold 2,288 Motorola Xooms just a few weeks ago (to be fair, though, most Wooters are pretty savvy shoppers, and since Staples was offering the Touchpad for only $300—$80 less than Woot—it’s likely that most consumers chose the Staples deal).
My enthusiasm for HP’s aggressive Touchpad promotions was rooted not in some partisan love for the Touchpad itself (full disclosure: I haven’t even touched a Touchpad yet); rather, I’m excited to see that HP is taking proactive steps to increase WebOS’s marketshare, as the company is singularly capable of breaking the iOS/Android duopoly in the smartphone and tablet markets, and that would be a good thing for everyone (except, perhaps, Apple and Google). Read More
BlinQ: Control your TV with your iOS Device
At a recent tech expo, a newer contender in the world of universal remote apps for iOS devices caught my eye. Although not an original idea, this particular implementation has a relatively low cost considering its rich feature set. This type of app represents the direction I believe that TV is going: businesses should be prepared to engage customers in new ways using ancillary content like ads, interactive games, and social content.
Ryz Media’s BlinQ TV has the newest twist on this idea. BlinQ’s big “get” is that, instead of routing commands over Wi-Fi, BlinQ gives you an IR blaster that plugs into the device’s headphone jack. The small blaster can control a TV, cable box, and most other devices with no intermediary hardware. Best yet, it’s very affordable at ten bucks.
BlinQ offers a guide that allows you to forget channel numbers and just concentrate on content. It does this by focusing on the popularity of shows among BlinQ users–the popular stuff is at the top, and there are pop-ups that alert you to trending shows. You can recommend what you’re watching to your friends via Facebook and Twitter. This product is a great look into the developing relationship between the TV and mobile devices; as soon as we don’t have to find a little gizmo to plug into our phones to get this functionality, absolutely everyone will use their phone as their remote. So, start thinking about what kinds of games and social features you might want to integrate into your company’s TV advertising campaigns, because it’s going to be the norm in the very near future.