Monday, October 22, 2012

Android Features That Blow iPhone Out of the Water



Posted by Dylan Love | October 21, 2012
URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/224707


While iPhone fans brag about their beloved devices, Android fans will grin knowingly and take comfort because there are several solid reasons to stick with -- or switch to -- their Google-powered phones.

Here's a look at the nine biggest features that make Android devices more favorable than Apple's iphone:

1. Expandable storage
If your iPhone is filled with files, you're out of luck. Not the case with Android, which welcomes and supports SD cards for added storage capability.

2. Killer maps
The iPhone 5 saw Apple pull the plug on Google Maps and sub in its own mapping app. And it's embarrassingly bad. Apple CEO Tim Cook even wrote a statement apologizing for it.

Google Maps is still alive, kicking and as accurate as we remember it on Android phones.

Related: We Just Found Our New Favorite Weather App

3. No 'walled garden'
In the Android ecosystem, there are fewer restrictions on apps. Apple will only allow apps into its App Store after it reviews and approves them, which can take weeks. Google will let anyone who agrees to follow their policies publish an app, often within hours.

4. Ability to Choose your default apps for Web browsing, email and more
Apple forces you to use its email app and Safari Web browser by default. Android is so open that it will let you pick any alternative browser or email client to be your default. If you want to get especially customized, you can even change keyboards.

5. Support for multiple app stores
Yet another extension of Android's open attitude: You are free to not only run any app you wish, but that app can come from any Android-based app store you want. Amazon operates one, for example.

6. Multiple hardware choices
Not everyone wants to have the same exact phone. Because Android runs on multiple devices, you can have your choice of processor speed, screen size, and price.

Related: 10 Android Apps You Didn't Know Existed, But Make Your Phone Much Better

7. Standard cables and dock connections
There's no goofy Lightning connector in the Android world. Your phone connects to and syncs with your computer via a few different types of readily available, standard USB cables.

8. Better widgets
An Android lock screen displays more useful information than an iPhone's and does so in a more aesthetically pleasing way. Graphic weather updates, album art for music, and notifications for missed calls and the like show up neatly.

9. Better integration with Google services
It only makes sense that a Google-based mobile operating system should integrate gracefully with Google's Web services. If you're a Google Calendar user or Google Drive warrior, you only need to log into your Google account once and everything syncs up in a snap. If you've tried using Apple's iCloud, you know it doesn't match up to Google's web prowess.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Google says Maps not waiting in wings for iPhone 5

(Reuters) - Google Inc has made no move to provide Google Maps for the iPhone 5 after Apple Inc dropped the application in favor of a home-grown but controversial alternative, Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said.


Apple launched its own mapping service earlier this month when it began providing the highly anticipated update to its mobile software platform iOS 6 and started selling the iPhone 5.

But users have complained that Apple's new map service, based on Dutch navigation equipment and digital map maker TomTom NV's data, contains glaring geographical errors and lacks features that made Google Maps so popular.

"We think it would have been better if they had kept ours. But what do I know?" Schmidt told a small group of reporters in Tokyo. "What were we going to do, force them not to change their mind? It's their call."
Schmidt said Google and Apple were in constant communication "at all kinds of levels." But he said any decision on whether Google Maps would be accepted as an application in the Apple App Store would have to be made by Apple.

"We have not done anything yet," he said.
Google and Apple were close partners with the original iPhone in 2007 and its inclusion of YouTube and Google Maps. But the ties between the two have been strained by the rise of Google's Android mobile operating system, now the world's leading platform for smartphones.

Schmidt said he hoped Google would remain Apple's search partner on the iPhone but said that question was up to Apple.

"I'm not doing any predictions. We want them to be our partner. We welcome that. I'm not going to speculate at all what they're going to do. They can answer that question as they see fit," he said.
Google provides Android free of charge and allows developers to add applications on an open basis, betting that by cultivating a bigger pool of users - now at over 500 million globally - it can make more money by providing search functions and selling advertising.

"Apple is the exception, and the Android system is the common model, which is why our market share is so much higher," Schmidt said, adding that success was often ignored by the media, which he said was "obsessed with Apple's marketing events and Apple's branding."
"That's great for Apple but the numbers are on our side," he said.

At one point, Schmidt, who was in Japan to announce the launch of Google's Nexus tablet here, used the device to show off a new function of Google Maps.

The feature allows users to shift their view of an area by moving the device in the air without touching the screen, similar to the effect of looking around.

"Take that Apple," he said, adding quickly, "That was a joke by the way."


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Using Social Media to Test Your Idea

Using Social Media to Test Your Idea Before You Try to Sell It
By MELINDA F. EMERSON
ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Generating revenue along with the buzz.

Offerings from Creme Delicious.
When starting a business, new entrepreneurs often spend time naming the business and developing a logo and printing business cards and perfecting the look and feel of their packaging before they know whether they have a viable product or service. There’s now a better way — social media has become the ultimate tool for market research. Stephanie Clifford wrote an article for The Times this week about how big corporations are replacing focus groups with social media, but it works for small businesses, too.

Thanks to social media — especially Twitter — small businesses now have the ability to determine what their customers want and what they are willing to pay. I put out a quick social media call for small businesses on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ who have used social media for market research and within minutes found companies willing to share their experiences.

Phillip McCrae of GladRuth Services, in Newtown, Pa., sells direct video advertising tools for sales, marketing and education organizations. He used Twitter to pull together a dozen or so QR Code users to test out his ideas for adding video to QR Code campaigns. “The data was revealing as to the user variations and pricing structures small-business owners would be willing to pay for video capabilities in a QR Code,” Mr. McCrae said. He used a conference call line from Free Conference Call to convene the Twitter users. And each participant received a small gift.

Michael Sinsheimer of Flash Purchase in Charlotte, N.C., is about to introduce a business that offers deals on consumer products such as electronics, clothing and jewelry. He has used surveys — created onSurveyMonkey — on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to get feedback from consumers on which product categories they would be interested in. So far, about 80 people have completed his surveys. “We developed our entire company from this data,” he said. “The first deals on our Web site, which will launch later this month, are based on the feedback we received in the surveys on the products people wanted to buy.”

Sandy Patangay is founder of Creme Delicious, a dessert boutique in New York City. The bakery specializes in hand-decorated cakes and cookies and publishes pictures weekly to its Facebook page to get feedback on its latest designs. “I depend on my Facebook fans and Twitter followers to tell me what they think about my products,” said Ms. Patangay, “and then we make those designs available for order through our Web site or Facebook.”

One crucial piece of advice: Don’t just ask your customers if they like your product or service. Make sure you find out how much they are willing to pay.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

7 Things You're Doing Wrong on LinkedIn



Most professionals use the social networking site in some capacity-but one expert says they're making a lot of mistakes.

Today, LinkedIn is the No. 1 social media platform for professionals. Estimates of professional participation in LinkedIn are as high as 83%.

But when I talked to one of my friends--social media expert Alexandra Gibson from OttoPilot Media--she told me that she sees too many professionals making a lot of mistakes. Here are the seven she sees most often.

1. You only use it if you need a job. I can usually tell when my friends are on the job prowl because all of a sudden, a barely existent LinkedIn profile is revived. The truth is that you'll be much better served by keeping your profile and connections current, rather than just reaching out to people when you need something.

2. You have an incomplete profile. A bare-bones profile does not do you (or your company) any favors. Add all important companies and a description of the results you achieved in the past. Don't forget to optimize your profile for search--creating a keyword rich profile will help people find you and your company.

3. You don't belong to the right groups. There are more groups out there than there are seconds in a day, so it can be difficult to decide which are most important. If you join no other groups, join your alumni groups (college, prep school, grad school, fraternity or sorority). Industry groups--both for your own company and your major customer market segments--are a clear next step.

4. You're not sharing valuable content. When you publish a great blog post or your company creates a valuable white paper, share it on your LinkedIn feed. Also, share content in your feed from other sources besides your own. Post in your groups to judiciously share articles and links if you feel that it would be of interest to that audience. This will help show you as a thought leader--and, if the content is on your site, can generate quality leads directly from LinkedIn.

5. You're not building out your connections. Again, don't wait till you need something: You should be constantly adding and accepting connections from people you know professionally or personally. I do not recommend trying to connect with people that you don't actually know: You want this to be your real professional network, so if someone says, "Hey, I see you know Jim Smith," you can say that you actually worked with him at a project at a previous company and not that you were just padding your connections number.

6. You're not utilizing LinkedIn Answers. The underutilized LinkedIn Answers section is another valuable place to show your expertise and provide value. People ask questions and, if you know anything about the topic, you can answer in a forum. Add links to important content that backs up your answer, especially if it's content from your site that fits with the question. One of the best things about LinkedIn Answers is its staying power--unlike other social media sites (think Twitter), the section gets visited by people with similar questions over time, so it can generate leads even a year later. 

7. You haven't brought your team/staff along. Sure, it might be a bit much to require your CFO to join Facebook--but since LinkedIn is a professional network that focuses on individual, professional connections, it you should emphasize its importance to your entire team. Think of the power you could tap into if, the next time you go to pitch a company, you check LinkedIn and see that Mary Ellen in accounting is already connected to the chief marketing officer.

10 Questions That Create Success

Want help focusing on what really matters? Ask yourself these on a daily basis.


Think that success means making lots of money?  Think again.

Pictures of dead presidents have never made anybody happy. And how can you be successful if you're not happy? And buying things with that all money isn't much better. A new car, for instance, might tickle your fancy for a day or two–but pride of ownership is temporary.

Real success comes from the quality of your relationships and the emotions that you experience each day. That's where these 10 questions come in.

Ask them at the end of each day and I absolutely guarantee that you'll become more successful. Here they are:

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?

4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?

5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?

6. Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?

7. Have I accomplished something worthwhile?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

9. Have I collected some wonderful memories?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

Here's the thing.  The questions you ask yourself on a daily basis determine your focus, and your focus determines your results.

These questions force you to focus on what's really important. Take heed of them and rest of your life—especially your work—will quickly fall into place.

True Secret to Success



True Secret to Success (It's Not What You Think)

If you're not exercising this emotional muscle, you're probably setting yourself up for failure. I'm utterly convinced that the key to lifelong success is the regular exercise of a single emotional muscle: gratitude.

People who approach life with a sense of gratitude are constantly aware of what's wonderful in their life. Because they enjoy the fruits of their successes, they seek out more success. And when things don't go as planned, people who are grateful can put failure into perspective.

By contrast, people who lack gratitude are never truly happy. If they succeed at a task, they don't enjoy it. For them, a string of successes is like trying to fill a bucket with a huge leak in the bottom. And failure invariably makes them bitter, angry, and discouraged.

Therefore, if you want to be successful, you need to feel more gratitude. Fortunately, gratitude, like most emotions, is like a muscle: The more you use it, the stronger and more resilient it becomes.

Practice Nightly
The best time to exercise gratitude is just before bed. Take out your tablet (electronic or otherwise) and record the events of the day that created positive emotions, either in you or in those around you. 

Did you help somebody solve a problem? Write it down. Did you connect with a colleague or friend? Write it down. Did you make somebody smile? Write it down.
What you're doing is "programming your brain" to view your day more positively. You're throwing mental focus on what worked well, and shrugging off what didn't. As a result, you'll sleep better, and you'll wake up more refreshed.

Reprogramming Your Brain
More important, you're also programming your brain to notice even more reasons to feel gratitude. You'll quickly discover that even a "bad day" is full of moments that are worthy of gratitude. Success becomes sweeter; failure, less sour. The more regularly you practice this exercise, the stronger its effects. Over time, your "gratitude muscle" will become so strong that you'll attract more success into your life, not to mention greater numbers of successful (i.e., grateful) people. You'll also find yourself thanking people more often. That's good for you and for them, too.

This method works. If you don't believe me, try it for at least a week. You'll be amazed at what a huge difference it makes.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Refer-n-Win Referral Program


Check out our new program....

Join Omni Media Group's new program and Win !
http://omni-mediagroup.com/refer-n-win/

Friday, June 1, 2012

More information about the Mobile Industry - Video

If you're interested in the future of mobile and how it will affect your business take the time to watch this video. Mobile is here and  now  !


Friday, May 18, 2012

Mobile Website Development - Miami Florida


Hi,
know you're busy so I'll try to make this short. If you haven't heard yet, mobile is here and now !
If your business doesn't go mobile now, you'll be left behind. The world of mobile accessibility is not just a trend, it's the future market.


We use our cell phones for everything, our calendars, our libraries, our cameras, our computers, the list goes on. 

Our mobile phone has everything on it that we need throughout the entire day.

In fact, 91% of everyone in the U.S. has their mobile device within their reach 24/7. It's not enough to have a website.
 
You need to have a full online presence that includes a mobile website in order to stay afloat.
As with any advertisement platform, you have 5 seconds to engage your clients attention on the mobile web. If you fail to satisfy their needs, you can kiss their business goodbye.

Searches performed on a mobile device already account for more than 50% of all local searches, and by 2014 mobile web will completely overtake desktop internet.Mobile Sites are a reduced version of your desktop version, they are created to provide specific information to your clients old and new.



With a mobile site you can provide information about your company and products. A tap to call button makes it extremely easy to call your business. With the interactive map on your mobile site, your clients will find your business location using the GPS feature of their phone. The GPS will bring them right to your door. If they find your site useful they can also share your info on facebook and twitter by the simple tap of a button, email is also just a tap away, and if you have a youtube video presentation they'll view it right on your mobile site!


HERE ARE SOME FACTS:
1- 70% of all mobile searches result in action within 1 hour !
2- When searching on a mobile device, Google Places now ranks mobile websites ahead of non-mobile ones.
3- 50% of mobile searches are location based.
4- In the last year, mobile web searches have increased 400%

Take just a moment to pull up your current website on your mobile phone !
Is it hard to resize and adjust your website to fit the screen in order for your clients to read or find what they're looking for ?
If you were your client, would you consider staying on your site or going back to it at some time in the future?

Here are a couple of mobile website examples, look at these on your mobile phone:

Lift Stations R Us
http://omg1.myw2m.com

Remember, a mobile site will cost you less than your desktop version and with the amount of revenue you'll gain, it'll pay for itself in just few months.
We're currently offering you a mobile website for your business at just $558 which includes FREE hosting for the first year (a $170/yr value).

Oh, and by the way once we're finished creating your site you'll be able to login and make changes to the content and photos with no knowledge of web programming whatsoever, simply login and use the text editor to make the changes, It's that simple !

NOTE: Your mobile website is created with the content of your existing site no there's no need to break away from your busy schedule to provide us with information for the mobile site.

To order your mobile website give us a call today at (305) 909-2083 or visit our new site Go Mobile Miami www.gomobilemiami.com to place your order online.

Act Now, Go Mobile Today and...
Start Cashing In On The Mobile Market !

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

You’ll never believe how LinkedIn built its new iPad app



Guess how much of LinkedIn’s new iPad app is actually mobile web and not native.

Go ahead — guess. We’ve had a lot of fun asking people to guess this over the past couple days. They’ll start with 40 percent and edge up to 70 percent, but no one comes close to the real figure: 95 percent.

Yes, only one screen in the entire LinkedIn iPad app is actually native. The rest is good ol’ HTML5-based mobile web technology, running in the browser and leaning heavily on Node.js.

We were shocked to hear this 95-percent figure from Kiran Prasad, who heads up LinkedIn’s mobile development team. Shocked, but not appalled — after all, Prasad was the engineering heft behind the company’s recent slew of gorgeous mobile apps, which were also heavily reliant on the mobile web.

But the new iPad app had struck us as so surprisingly sexy during our initial review that we had to know more about how Prasad and his team of four (yep, just four devs built this app) packed so much punch into a web app for a tablet.

Especially as Silicon Valley tech companies pick sides in the web-versus-native war, it’s fascinating to see the presumably conservative LinkedIn lean toward the more progressive side of mobile technology. But this is a stance this team has taken for a while now, and LinkedIn is currently one of the mobile web’s biggest supporters and strongest case studies.
LinkedIn and the mobile web

“Last year, we had just launched three different phone apps. We were starting to invest more in HTML5,” Prasad told VentureBeat yesterday.

“We had a 60/40 split where about 60 percent of any app was in HTML5.”

LinkedIn’s big news at that time was how it had employed Node.js in its at-scale mobile apps — what seemed to many to be a pretty big gamble for the company. But the other part of the story was how Prasad and his team combined native and mobile web functionality in iPhone and Android apps, creating hybrids that bridged the divide in the native-versus-web mobile debate.

Now, Prasad said the company relies on mobile web technologies more than ever. “Because we made that full investment, being able to get the mobile web on a tablet was really doable,” he said.

Of course, being able to have greater developer efficiency was a draw, but Prasad said that would never have come at the expense of creating a beautiful, responsive app that would be a pleasure to use.

“We always focus on user experience and app speed as a number one priority,” he told us. “If the performance wasn’t there, we wouldn’t have gone with the web.

“But with the iPad having the faster processor and being a more powerful mobile device, we felt like the web-based version could give us the performance we needed.”

In the end, Prasad continued, it came down to the little things: Did onscreen buttons depress and pop back up quickly when tapped with a fingertip? Was scrolling snappy? Did crossfades occur smoothly and without any lag?

“We did users studies in-house, and I don’t think people noticed a big difference. Nobody said, ‘Oh that’s native,’ or ‘Oh, that’s web,’” said Prasad. “As long as we can make the experience fast enough, nobody can tell the difference. It still feels right.”

And a lot of that performance, Prasad said, came from removing unnecessary design wankery (our verbiage, not his) — the rounded corners, the omnipresent gradients. By making things simple, clean, modern, flat, and even print magazine-like, the LinkedIn app only got faster and better on the performance side, as well.

“Our focus on trying to get a simpler design is actually helping us make things faster. It’s a good feedback loop,” said Prasad.

More>>>

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Nokia Teams Up With Carl Zeiss, Reveals 41-Megapixel Camera Phone




Finnish telecommunications company Nokia has teamed up with German lens-maker Carl Zeiss to make high-end camera phones.

According to Reuters, the new top-of-the-range model by the two companies would be launched later this month.

Nokia told Reuters that the first model would use its new “PureView camera technology”.

It will feature a Carl Zeiss sensor with 41 megapixels—which is more advanced than cameras used by professional photographers.

However, the first Nokia-Carl Zeiss camera phone would use Nokia’s old Symbian operating system—which the company will soon phase out

For future models, Nokia would release Windows Phones systems with the advanced camera technology

“We’re going to carry on developing PureView for our future smartphones,” Jo Harlow, Nokia’s Head of Smart Devices, told Reuters.

The two companies would be running the deal for several years—which Nokia hopes would help it compete more effectively against other smartphones, such as Apple’s iPhone.

[via Reuters]

Skype Left Privacy Vulnerability Unfixed For More Than A Year

Skype has left a privacy vulnerability unfixed for more than a year.

According to Wired, researchers from Polytechnic Institute of New York University had discovered the problem in Skype that allows people to track the geographical location Skype users and identify the users’ IP addresses.

The team of researchers discovered the vulnerability in 2010 and notified the company. In 2011, they published the information.

They were also able to track 10,000 Skype users for two weeks after discovering the vulnerability.

However, according to former researcher Steven Le Blond, the vulnerability remains unfixed.

Keith Ross, one of the researches, believes that Skype failed to rectify the problem as it may be too “deeply embedded in the code” and would require “heavy restructuring” of the program to be resolved.

When questioned on the researchers’ discovery, Skype’s director of product security Adrian Asher said Skype would be investigating the researchers’ reports.

He also added that it is an issue faced by all peer-to-peer software companies.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Global Mobile Media Revenues To Touch $150 Billion In 2012

Posted April 20, 2012

2011 was the first year that global consumer spending on media content, apps and services for mobile phones broke through the $100 billion barrier. According to the latest Global Mobile Media Forecast from Strategy Analytics, consumers are expected to increase this spend on mobile media by a further 13.4 percent from $121.8 billion in 2011 to $138.2 billion in 2012.

In contrast, advertiser spend on mobile media is expected to almost double (85.4 percent) from $6.3 billion to $11.6 billion, resulting in the total mobile media economy reaching $149.8 billion in revenue in 2012 - a 17.0 percent increase on 2011 (see Chart 1).

Chart 1

While the lion's share of consumer spend (60.2 percent) is on data plans and web browsing - making mobile operators the key beneficiaries to the tune of $82.8 billion in 2012, up 9.5 percent on 2011 - a key driver of growth is the apps market on smartphones, such as the iPhone and Android devices. Over 23 billion apps were downloaded globally in 2011, increasing by 38 percent to over 32 billion in 2012. Apps are now the second largest category for revenues - for both consumer and advertiser spend - and are becoming the key distribution mechanism for media on mobile phones.

Apps are expected to account for 18.9 percent of global consumer spend in 2012 - $26.1 billion, up 30.7 percent on 2011 - but the strength of the apps ecosystem is also demonstrated by advertiser spend. For example, across the USA and major Western European markets as a whole, revenue from display ads on the mobile web ($934.5 million) has been overtaken by in-app advertising ($1.7 billion).

David MacQueen, Strategy Analytics' Director of Wireless Media Strategies, explains, "Advertisers chase eyeballs so the fact that brands spend more on in-app advertising than the mobile web is a clear sign that apps are what consumers are glued to for an increasing range of activities. In the eyes of many advertisers, web browsing on the smartphone is playing second fiddle to the app economy."

Despite remaining relatively flat in terms of spend, Music remains one of the top mobile media categories globally - accounting for $16.0 billion or 11.6 percent of 2012 consumer spend. However, the way consumers' access and pay for music is changing. Ringtones are declining fast, but streaming music services such as Spotify, Pandora and Deezer - paid for by subscription or through advertising - are gaining good traction in Western Europe and the USA.

As with apps, growth of mobile video usage is increasing dramatically; 108 billion videos were watched on mobile phones in 2011, almost trebling to 280 billion in 2012. However, unlike apps, this isn't translating into symbiotic revenue levels. Despite a 23.8 percent revenue growth, Video is likely to account for a mere 2.4 percent ($3.6 billion) of total mobile media revenues in 2012 (see Chart 2).

MacQueen explains, "Low revenues are down to many major mobile video services being free to the end user, either funded by advertising (such as YouTube) or "bundled" without additional cost by pay TV providers, such as Sky Go around Europe or AT&T U-verse in the USA. Despite the huge audience of 271 million users, ad revenues from mobile video are tiny - a meager $223m globally in 2011. While ad revenues will more than triple to $726 million in 2012, it is still clearly challenging for advertisers looking to reach consumers through video ads on smartphones."

Revenue related to Social Networking content, apps and services is expected to increase by 16.1 percent to $17.6 billion - accounting for 11.8 percent of all mobile media revenues.

Chart 2

The US Mobile Media Economy
The US mobile media economy is expected to outperform the global growth figure, increasing by 22.1 percent to nearly $38 billion in 2012. US consumer spending is also expected to outperform the global rate (15.5 percent vs. 13.4 percent) rising to approximately $33.7 billion. Advertiser spend on mobile media is projected to more than double in 2012, increasing 128.9 percent to just under $4.2 billion.

US consumers are expected to spend $6.7 billion on mobile apps in 2012, a 24.6 percent increase over 2011, and accounting for 20 percent of all US consumers mobile spend.  In direct correlation to this, US advertising revenue on mobile apps is projected to reach $1.2 billion in 2012, a 118 percent increase over 2011. Again, the strength of the apps ecosystem in the US is evidenced by the fact that in-app advertising revenue is more than double the revenue from mobile Web display advertising in 2012, which is only projected to reach $556 million.

124.9 million Americans are expected to access social networks via their handset in 2012, yet the amount of revenue this will generate for social networks is only expected to reach $412.7 million or $3.48 per mobile user during the year.

provided by FierceMobileContent

“You can make a living, or You can design a life.”

 3 Tips for success

“You can make a living, or You can design a life.”


The words of Jim Rohn resonated with me and echoed in my mind…
His quote rang so true to me at a time in my life where I was working at a job where I felt like Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer on the Island of Misfit Toys.

I was in a job where I felt I was not able to contribute in a way I wanted and I was working to build someone else’s dream.   I was making a living but felt like I did not belong where I was and I was ready to get off the island and design my life.
As luck would have it I got a chance to do just that when I was laid off of my job.  The lay off set into motion my plan to design my life.
To me designing my life meant that I had leverage, I had time freedom, I had financial freedom, I no longer had to spend time sitting in traffic, I got to spend time with my son and I could do something that contributed to the lives of others. With that list in mind a natural fit was internet and network marketing.
You might be in the same place I was and you want to design your life.  You may even feel like you want to create the freedoms that internet and network marketing affords.   I have learned a whole lot of lessons on this journey and while there is a big learning curve working online is so worth it.  I think that learning curve can be cut down drastically if you can learn a few valuable lessons early.  I want to share with you some insights and things I have learned that have really helped me.
Here is a list of 3 things  I have found the most important in building a business online.
Focus I will be honest this one is not always easy but if you can master getting focused I am truly convinced you can create the life you want.  It is hard to design a life and create an online business when you don’t have focus on what you want and where you want to end up.
Like Lewis Caroll said, “If you don’t know where you are going any road will get you there”.Focus is so important because without it the many distractions you will encounter can easily derail you and get you off track.  If you don’t have focus it is far too easy to spend your time doing things that aren’t important and saying yes to things you shouldn’t say yes to.
Learning the 80/20 principle If you learn this early I think this can be a game changer for your business.  This principle basically says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your activity and 80% of your results will come from 20% of your team and so on.  The powerful thing about this is when you know the 20% that produces results you can spend more time focusing on those things.
Create quality connections I have found creating quality connections is so important in business.
In the age of automation for practically everything it is so tempting to try and put your business on autopilot.
In social media the lure of creating a large following seems appealing but having a lot of followers don’t matter if you are not engaging with your followers.
Followers mean nothing if no one is paying attention to you.
I think it is more important to have quality connections because people want to do business they know, like and trust.
Creating quality connections gives you leverage and pretty much anything can be accomplished when you have a team working together, when you are the lone wolf it is not so easy.  It is true that building quality connections takes time but if you are planning to be in business for the long haul it is absolutely worth it.
Although each internet marketer’s situation and circumstance is unique, one common factor remains:  To achieve a life that you designed rather than working to fulfill someone else’s dream.  Incorporating the techniques mentioned above, you will able to focus and gain the confidence you need to run a successful Internet-based business.
 ”Here is to your success and I’ll being seeing you soon.


Angela Paige

8 Core Beliefs of Extraordinary Bosses
by By Geoffrey James |  Apr 23, 2012

The best managers have a fundamentally different understanding of workplace, company, and team dynamics. See what they get right.


A few years back, I interviewed some of the most successful CEOs in the world in order to discover their management secrets. I learned that the "best of the best" tend to share the following eight core beliefs.

1. Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield.

Average bosses see business as a conflict between companies, departments and groups. They build huge armies of "troops" to order about, demonize competitors as "enemies," and treat customers as "territory" to be conquered.
Extraordinary bosses see business as a symbiosis where the most diverse firm is most likely to survive and thrive. They naturally create teams that adapt easily to new markets and can quickly form partnerships with other companies, customers ... and even competitors.

2. A company is a community, not a machine.

Average bosses consider their company to be a machine with employees as cogs. They create rigid structures with rigid rules and then try to maintain control by "pulling levers" and "steering the ship."
Extraordinary bosses see their company as a collection of individual hopes and dreams, all connected to a higher purpose. They inspire employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers and therefore to the community–and company–at large.

3. Management is service, not control.

Average bosses want employees to do exactly what they're told. They're hyper-aware of anything that smacks of insubordination and create environments where individual initiative is squelched by the "wait and see what the boss says" mentality.
Extraordinary bosses set a general direction and then commit themselves to obtaining the resources that their employees need to get the job done. They push decision making downward, allowing teams form their own rules and intervening only in emergencies.

4. My employees are my peers, not my children.

Average bosses see employees as inferior, immature beings who simply can't be trusted if not overseen by a patriarchal management. Employees take their cues from this attitude, expend energy on looking busy and covering their behinds.
Extraordinary bosses treat every employee as if he or she were the most important person in the firm. Excellence is expected everywhere, from the loading dock to the boardroom. As a result, employees at all levels take charge of their own destinies.

5. Motivation comes from vision, not from fear.

Average bosses see fear--of getting fired, of ridicule, of loss of privilege--as a crucial way to motivate people.  As a result, employees and managers alike become paralyzed and unable to make risky decisions.
Extraordinary bosses inspire people to see a better future and how they'll be a part of it.  As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the organization's goals, truly enjoy what they're doing and (of course) know they'll share in the rewards.

6. Change equals growth, not pain.

Average bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape. They subconsciously torpedo change ... until it's too late.
Extraordinary bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don't value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible if employees and organization embrace new ideas and new ways of doing business.

7. Technology offers empowerment, not automation.

Average bosses adhere to the old IT-centric view that technology is primarily a way to strengthen management control and increase predictability. They install centralized computer systems that dehumanize and antagonize employees.
Extraordinary bosses see technology as a way to free human beings to be creative and to build better relationships. They adapt their back-office systems to the tools, like smartphones and tablets, that people actually want to use.

8. Work should be fun, not mere toil.

Average bosses buy into the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. They fully expect employees to resent having to work, and therefore tend to subconsciously define themselves as oppressors and their employees as victims. Everyone then behaves accordingly.
Extraordinary bosses see work as something that should be inherently enjoyable–and believe therefore that the most important job of manager is, as far as possible, to put people in jobs that can and will make them truly happy.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Learn About Facebook Pages

This interactive course will help you use Facebook Pages to tell your story, express your identity, and connect with your audience.

To launch the course, make sure any pop-up blockers are disabled. When you click the button, the course will open in a new window.


http://www.learnfacebookpages.com/ui.html

Monday, April 16, 2012

Red Cross Disaster Relief

This spring, dozens of tornadoes have ripped through communities across the South and Midwestern states, leveling towns and leaving hundreds of people with nothing left. And they aren’t the only ones. Early season wildfires in the Western U.S. forced hundreds of evacuations, while severe flooding and loss across Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia and Hawaii.


We've provided a link to the Red Cross for anyone who would like to make a donation to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Food Truck related Domains for Sale - Miami, Florida

We have several domains now available For Sale, among these domains are several food truck related domains. They can be seen on our main page. We're accepting offers on any of these domains. If you need additional information you can contact us at (305) 909-2083.
View these domains now !

Friday, April 13, 2012

I Just Texted to Say I Love You

Social Media Revolution

Considering QR Codes? Be Mobile Friendly

Promoting your website with a QR Code is a popular and effective way to drive traffic from mobile users. However, linking the code to a website that isn't mobile friendly will leave a bad impression. Put yourself in the shoes of a mobile user. They want a professional looking solution in a mobile friendly experience. If you provide that, your promotion will be successful. If not, you're better off not using them.

Call us today at (305) 909-2083 to get your QR Code created !


Registering Multiple Domains — Should You?

We added this article so as to give you a little information on registering multiple domains and the benefits in doing so, personally we think it's a great idea. Below is an article we found about Godaddy and their take on the registering of multiple domains.
........................................................................
When you try to register a domain name with Go Daddy, you’ll soon find out that they’re going out of their way to convince you to register not just one, but several domains while you’re at it. It makes sense that Go Daddy would love to sell you as many products as possible — it is, after all, a for-profit operation. But if you take the time to read their pitch, you’ll see that they list a number of very good reasons why you should at least consider their proposition. Go Daddy is even helpful enough to suggest a number of additional domains for you to consider throwing in before you check out.
Go Daddy’s “buy-lots-of-domains” sales pitch boils down to this: Registering and using multiple domain names is great for building your business, protecting your brand name, and creating a dynamic online identity. That sounds pretty compelling, so let’s take a closer look at what they’re suggesting.

Here’s the complete list of the advantages of registering multiple domains, courtesy of GoDaddy.com:
When you register multiple domain names, you can:
Keep your competition from registering a similar domain name drawing customers to them instead of you.    Promote the different products and services you offer. Drive more traffic to your Web site. Enjoy more opportunities to market to — and be listed in — search engines. Create distinct advertising strategies reaching different target markets. Provide customers more ways to find you when searching the Internet.    Capture common misspellings of your domain name, instead of sending visitors to an error page. Protect your brand and online identity.
This is plenty of reasons to go all out and register a whole bunch of new domains.

Whether or not multiple domains will help you and you business in the way Go Daddy is suggesting of course largely depends on which ones you register, and what you do with them. Certainly, you can, as Go Daddy suggests, register any number of common misspellings of your company’s name. And you should. Similarly, you should definitely consider registering all of the most common extensions for your domain. This will indeed protect your brand and help you reel in Web users who are looking for your business, but fail to get the name right.

It also makes sense to use a multiple-domain strategy to create and roll out individual advertising and marketing strategies aimed at different targets.

As for the claim that registering multiple domains can help boost your search engine rankings, it entirely comes down to how you plan on using those domains in your search engine strategies. But as long as you’re not using them for blatant black-hat SEO purposes, it certainly won’t hurt.

In conclusion: Go Daddy certainly makes some good points when they ask you to consider registering multiple domains. And if you pick those additional domains carefully, it’s not a bad idea at all.

We have provided a link below to Godaddy and as we mentioned before we highly recommend that you consider the idea of registering multiple domains. By the way, we do like giving credit where credit is due and so we'd like to mention that if you're tired of bad customer service, you'll love the customer service experience that Godaddy consistently provides to you as a client but don't just take our word for it try them out we assure you, you will not regret it !
www.godaddy.com

Psychology And Advertising - Choosing the Right Colors for Your Web Site


Old vs. Young People

People of different ages have different reactions to colors. People past a certain age will find web sites with more sober and restrained (and therefore relaxing to the eye) colors more attractive. Youngsters, on the other hand, will appreciate more vivid and brighter colors. Make the distinction between mature and young audience by using the appropriate colors for each category.
This might be regarded as an ordinary factor, judging by the fact that with time people require visual correction. I found a comprehensive graphic on Age-Related Changes in Vision taken from a presentation by Robert W. Bailey, a PhD in computer psychology according to which the age comprised between 30 and 50 is the most probable for the apparition of visual impairments.

Men vs. Women

People also have preferences according to their gender. Thus, men tend to prefer blue and orange to red and yellow, while women prefer red to blue and yellow to orange. Also, remember that it has been proven that women are able to perceive considerably more colors than men; in other words, while men may find peach, teal or peacock as mere notions, women associate these things with colors.
Also, free yourself from prejudices: if you are addressing to women, do not automatically employ pink. While some women may enjoy pink, others may not. I have recently encountered a very interesting study which revealed that blue is the favorite color of 57% of men and of 35% of women, so pay attention.

Nations and Colors

If your website addresses an audience larger than your country of origin or it is meant to attract prospects from a specific country, invest some time in researching the specific meanings of colors. For example, while white is a symbol of purity in Western cultures, it stands for bad luck and unhappiness in China, Japan, and India. While very appreciated in Japan, pink is frowned upon in India and East-European countries, where it is regarded as a 'non-manly' colors.
Purple is associated in certain Arabic cultures with prostitution (the same as red in the European and North-American cultures), and globally, it is generally associated with mysticism and beliefs that are not in keeping with the precepts of Islamism, Judaism and Christianity. Green, if used for the web site of a financial institution from the USA, will support the implication that the institution deals with the 'almighty green dollar', but it may bear no such significance in a country where bills (paper money) are multiple-colored.
This can lead to a complete change of meanings, significances will be changed and negative implications will be at the very least diminished, if not eliminated altogether (e.g. red becomes more powerful when combined with white). It is up to you to obtain creative colors that will be internationally accepted, but you have to do your homework quite well.





Common Colors and Their Most Common Meanings

  • Red: energy, passion, excitement, power; also implies aggression, danger.
  • Blue: coolness, spirituality, freedom, patience, loyalty, peace, trustworthiness; can also imply sadness, depression.
  • Yellow: light, optimism, happiness, brightness, joy.
  • Green: life, naturalness, restfulness, health, wealth, prosperity; in certain contexts, can imply decay, toxicity.
  • Orange: friendliness, warmth, approachability, energy, playfulness, courage.
  • Violet: wisdom, sophistication, celebration.
  • White: purity, cleanliness, youth, freshness, peace.
  • Black: power, elegance, secrecy, mystery.
  • Gray: security, maturity, reliability.
  • Pink: romance a feminine color.
  • Brown: comfort, strength, stability, credibility.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Google+ Gets An Update

Google has rolled out a new design for its social network Google+.

The biggest change is the new Navigation Ribbon. Instead of static icons, applications are now on a dynamic ribbon on the left of the page for expanded navigation capabilities.

“You can drag apps up or down to create the order you want; you can hover over certain apps to reveal a set of quick actions; you can show or hide apps by moving them in and out of ‘More’,” the internet search giant wrote on its blog.

Other new features include: a dedicated place for ‘Hangouts’, an ‘Explore’ page for trending stories, and the capability for larger photos and videos to be uploaded to the site.

The internet search giant hopes that its users will find the “more functional and flexible version of Google+… easier to use and nicer to look at, but most importantly, it accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google”.

Should Facebook be warned?



Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Mobile Buzz

Have you taken a look at your website on a smart phone? Websites made for laptops and desktops simply don’t work on mobile phones like the iPhone, iPad, Android phones, and other similar smart phones and tablets.
Mobile users are looking for information like directions, contact, services, and discounts. A custom mobile website is extremely easy to navigate using a small screen, and delivers only the information your customers want.

Why Does Mobile Matter ?

Mobile users are using their phones to search the web for restaurants, shopping, and local businesses… and most are ready to buy!
  • There's a growing group of mobile-only users
  • Up to 80% of mobile users prefer mobile sites to apps
  • One in seven internet searches are now mobile
  • 9 out of 10 searchers take action as a result of a mobile search
  • People searching for local businesses take action within 24 hrs
  • Once they find you, mobile users either call, drop in, purchase in-store or online, recommend you, or write a review.

Give us a call today we offer you a great price on your mobile website and your 1st year of mobile web hosting is totally FREE (It's a $178.00 Value) Give us a call today to get started at (305)909-2083 or visit our mobile website sales site "Go Mobile Miami"


Join the Mobile Movement
Start getting your share of the business you've been missing !

Smartphones overtake PCs in shipments for first time ( CZDNet.com ) 6 February, 2012 )

NEWS
Smartphones have outstripped PCs in shipments for the first time, according to a report from Canalys.

Approximately 488 million smartphones shipped worldwide in 2011, compared with 415 million client PCs, the analyst firm said in the report, released on Friday. The year saw a higher demand for netbooks, compared with desktops or notebooks, and a greater interest in tablets, according to Canalys. All of this created more competition for client PCs, it said.
"In the space of a few years, smart phones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition," Canalys's principal analyst Chris Jones said in the report. "The greater availability of smart phones at lower price points has helped tremendously, but there has been a driving trend of increasing consumer appetite for internet browsing, content consumption and engaging with apps and services on mobile devices."
However, Canalys warned that the surge for smartphones will slow down considerably this year as "vendors exercise greater cost control and discipline, and put more focus on profitability."

The numbers don't lie: Mobile devices overtaking PCs !


CNN Money

Here it comes: Mobile will soon outsell PCs.
Tim Bray last week attempted to conceptualize the market change that is happening in computing in a post called the Great Game.  In a nutshell, what we are seeing in smartphones is bigger than anything that has come before it.  Much bigger than the PC.  And it is coming so fast that we don't realize what's happening.
The Numbers Are Really Big · Insane, I mean. The billion-plus phones sold per year. The number of active subscriptions, which is greater than half of the human population. The number of new Android devices that check in with Google every day. The line-ups outside Apple stores for every new iOS device. The hundreds of thousands of apps. The ridiculous number of new ones that flow into Android Market every day. Everywhere I look, I see something astounding.
Based on their respective numbers, the companies below represent the biggest OS vendors in both the smartphone and desktop space on earth. What's interesting is that, with the explosion of iOS devices and Android over the past year and the relative stagnation of the desktop market, mobile OS shipments are approaching that of desktop OSes.  In fact, smartphones may be surpassing desktop OS shipments right now.  I'm going to attempt to prove that below.
If you add up the desktop OSes (Windows, Mac and a few Linux) and mobile OSes (Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, Linux, Palm and more) you get around 900,000 units a day for desktop vs. 800,000+ for smartphone OSes.
Numbers compiled from sources at bottom
Something to consider however: Windows 7 (the biggie) includes Microsoft (MSFT) OS updates as well as new unit shipments, which the others don't. That skews the number a little.
However, we have another measure, IDC's PC shipments for the quarter at just over 81 million for the most recent quarter.  That's about 887,000 per day. Using the same type of data, IDC estimates that there were 64 million smartphones shipped globally in the same quarter, or 713,000 per day.
Here's the thing:  Smartphones are currently exploding in an unprecedented way, thanks largely to Google's (GOOG) Android OS. Earlier this quarter, Android devices were selling at half the speed they are currently. That doesn't mean other platforms are slowing down either.  With the exception of Windows Mobile, every other major platform is growing phenomenally:
Canalys numbers: Even without Android, the Smartphone market grew almost 50% year over year
Canalys also charts smartphones by OS and gets similar total numbers for the second quarter of 2010 (62.5 million units) as IDC.  But for Android, Calalys tally  just over 10 million devices.  We know from Google CEO Eric Schmidt's recent remarks that the company is now activating 200,000 units a day or over 18 million a quarter for the third quarter  Apple (AAPL) too, has set astronomical expectations for its iPhone, projecting that it will sell over 11 million for the quarter. And Apple is usually very conservative on its estimates. Even if everyone else in the smartphone world remains flat, that's an additional 10 million devices in the current quarter. And that is being conservative.
Speaking of Apple, IDC's numbers don't count iPads and iPod touch devices as either smartphones or PCs.  While the gadgets often can replace the functionality of a netbook, iPads/iPods have a smartphone's DNA (ARM Processors/mobile OS).  Counting them as such adds close to 10 million additional devices to the 'smartphone' tally in the quarter.
Apple is expected to launch some new iPods this quarter and Samsung, Dell (DELL) and an army of low-cost device manufacturers are making small Android devices that aren't meant to function like a phone.  The flood of these devices will start during this quarter.
If you add those up, that puts an additional 20+ million 'smartphones', or should I say 'mobile devices", to the tallies from IDC and it means that we are reaching that tipping point right now:

Smartphones, or Mobile devices, will soon become the dominant computing platform for humanity and supplant the PC which has reigned since Apple ignited the Personal Computer revolution in the late 1970's.  Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said as much at the AllThingsD conference earlier this year.  He compared PCs to trucks that not everyone would need in the future.  Tablets and smartphones would be in everyones hands.  But, I don't even think Jobs saw it coming this quickly.
Just a few years after the launch of the iPhone, it is Game Over for PCs.


Google’s augmented reality eyewear is coming to disrupt your face and your business model. If you don’t even have to pull your phone out to take a photo, get directions, or message with friends, why would you need to buy the latest iPhone or spend so much time on Facebook?
It could be a year before Google eyewear reaches stores, but that’s why these and other tech companies need to strategize now. If they wait to see if the device is a hit, the world could be seeing through Google-tinted glasses by the time they adapt. Apple and Facebook’s bet might be to team up…

If you haven’t heard, Google today announced it is beginning public tests of augmented reality glasses with the codename Project Glass. A mouthwatering mock-up video of what the device might eventually be capable of shows someone using voice commands to send messages, take photos, share to Google+, see the locations of friends, view maps, get directions, set calendar reminders, and more.
Cramming all the functionality into a sleek set of glasses is going to take time and effort, but the Google(x) skunklabs is on it. There’s a dozen ways the product could flop, most obviously if the glasses are awkward and unstylish, but also if they’re too heavy, expensive, fragile, or the world is just not quite ready. Let’s forget those for a second. Say Google figures it out and the retail version of Project Glass (which may end up being called Google Eye) becomes wildly popular. How will this disrupt Apple and Facebook, and what should they do to defend themselves?
Here’s what I see as their best courses of action:

Apple Should Compete

Project Glass takes a ton of the things you use your iPhone and iPod for and puts them into your glasses. The glasses will likely run a version of Android and since they’re voice controlled, they could turn into Google’s competitor to Siri. People might buy Google glasses rather than snapping up the latest Apple device.

Apple Should Compete

Project Glass takes a ton of the things you use your iPhone and iPod for and puts them into your glasses. The glasses will likely run a version of Android and since they’re voice controlled, they could turn into Google’s competitor to Siri. People might buy Google glasses rather than snapping up the latest Apple device.
But Apple is the world’s greatest hardware company. Hopefully somewhere deep inside its headquarters there are some scientists figuring out how to turn an iPhone into glasses, not just a wristwatch.
Apple should seek to capitalize on Google’s lack of hardware experience, and spend some of its cash reserves to lock up critical component manufacturers. Even if Project Glass ends up an ugly mess, Apple could still make eyeglass computing beautiful. This technology sure seems like the future, so Apple needs to be ready to pounce. But the problem remains that it has no social network or other key services to power its own version…”

Facebook Should Team Up With Apple

Facebook is no hardware company and isn’t big enough to become one. Not having its own mobile OS or device is hurting Facebook, and eyeglass computing could turn into round 2. The video already showed Google+ as the preferred sharing method. Unlike an Android phone where you could just open the Facebook app, Project Glass won’t necessarily allow third-party apps, at least at first, and could make them harder to access than Google+ which will be baked in.
Though Facebook and Apple have been on strained terms so far, and Facebook hasn’t even gotten directly integrated into iOS like Twitter, the two companies could bond over the common threat of Project Glass. Apple needs somewhere to share the content you’d create with its glasses, or why create it in the first place? Facebook needs to make sure Apple lets it get deeply embedded, with or without Twitter alongside it. (Though, Facebook, should probably start with today’s iOS).
Postscript: If Apple or Facebook consider eyeglass computing as marketable to mainstream in the next few years, today should give them a jolt. It’s early though, so they’ll only need to be scared if they don’t plan.
But here’s the kicker…
Despite its lack of hardware experience, Google is the best positioned company to make, or at least provide the software for eyeglass computers. It has Android, Google+, Maps, Gmail, Gcal, Latitude, and more. Glass might go belly up, but if not it could breathe life into some of these sluggish services. That’s why it’s ridiculous when people call Project Glass a diversion or waste of resources. Seems to me like Google’s vision is 20/20.


Facebook Buys Instagram For $1 Billion, Turns Budding Rival Into Its Standalone Photo App


Facebook has just finished a deal to acquire mobile photo sharing app Instagram for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock. Instagram will remain an independently branded standalone app that’s separate from Facebook, but the services will increase their ties to each other. The transaction should go through this quarter pending some standard closing procedures
Last year, documents for a standalone Facebook mobile photo sharing app were attained by TechCrunch. Now it seems Facebook would rather buy Instagram which comes with a built-in community of photographers and photo lovers, while simultaneously squashing a threat to its dominance in photo sharing.
At 27 million registered users on iOS alone, Instagram was increasingly positioning itself as a social network in its own right — not just a photo-sharing app. And it was clear that some users were doing more of the daily sharing actvities on Instagram rather than Facebook’s all-in-one mobile apps, which had to be cluttered with nearly every feature of the desktop site.
With the Instagram for Android launch last week, Instagram was going to get to 50 million registered users in a heartbeat after racking up more than 1 million in the first 24 hours. And with that kind of momentum, Facebook felt like it had to move — fast. After all, photo sharing and tagging are arguably what *made* Facebook.
Whatever you think of the price given the fact that Instagram had no revenues, the reality is it was going to be worth whatever Mark Zuckerberg felt like paying for it. Both Google and Facebook had approached Instagram several times over the past 18 months, but the talks clearly didn’t result in a deal. So Facebook was going to have to offer a huge premium over the last valuation for Systrom and the board to take any deal seriously.