Daily deal sites like Groupon can be a small business owner’s greatest tools for generating sales. However, daily deal websites can also cause more harm than good if the business owner doesn’t do his/her homework upfront. Most daily deal business models take about 50% of all coupon sales leaving the business owner with only 25% of the original price amount for the product or service. That’s because most deals sold there offer 50% off the original price. As you can see, it can be quite costly for any entrepreneur to utilize a deal distribution service. Read more »

Starting an online business in this economy is incredibly risky as many internet startups fail shortly after launching. Despite the odds, the advantages to starting an internet business, and therefore securing self employment and financial independence, are worth the incurred risk for many aspiring entrepreneurs. The key to success isn’t simple; it involves an incredible amount of hard work, creating an excellent team, developing a solid business plan, setting realistic goals, finding a business model that works, and utilizing the correct tools and startup resources to keep your entrepreneurial dream afloat. Read more »

Facebook Gift Shop allows you to purchase both virtual gifts and physical gifts for any of your Facebook friends this Christmas. Facebook gifts are priced by Facebook credits, which can be purchased for 10 cents each. For physical gifts, the recipient’s address can be requested directly from them, or you can provide the address yourself. The great thing about going through a social networking platform like Facebook to give gifts is the ability for you to send a gift to a friend without having to know their exact shipping address. Read more »

Remember Twitter before November, 2008? Don’t worry, neither do most people. A year ago the microblogging juggernaut started to skyrocket in popularity as celebrities began flooding it with their own personal tweets. Once they began promoting it throughout various television interviews (e.g. Larry King Live with Ashton Kutcher and Sean Combs) and infomercial-like talk show specials (e.g. Oprah) it became a nationwide tech phenomenon that everyone and their mom just had to try out. Read more »

In case you hadn’t noticed the Twitter homepage now tells you how many new tweets you have. On your @mentions page, the same alert appears at the top of the page. For most browser users, the Twitter tab will also display the number of new updates you have, depending on which page (home page or @mentions page) you currently have open. The tab indicator is similar to what we’ve seen for years with various email services, yet it highlights the necessity to continuously stand out from other tabs you may have open in your browser. Read more »

Vidly is bringing HD videos to Twitter, reaching for quality features in order to attract the right type of clients. The Twitter video client is reportedly hoping for brand participation with the introduction of HD video capabilities with its service. Similar to the manner in which you share photos through third party clients on Twitter, Vidly offers the same type of service for video. With a number of video-Twitter services emerging in the past few months, Vidly may be looking to stand out from the crowd in order to become a leader in this particular space. Read more »

PayPal recently has announced its new API for Facebook developers, enabling them to more officially create payment options to work directly within Facebook applications. Many Facebook apps with virtual currency payment options already supported PayPal, but without dedicated support tools from PayPal the potential for glitches or incompatibility were higher.

The decision by PayPal to add support for Facebook through its API is also a nod to the Facebook platform itself, indicating that the power for Facebook to become an influential marketplace for virtual goods is all but a matter of expectation. So where is this all going? Read more »

Product placement in Twitter. It’s nothing new, but it is becoming more widespread and could become problematic if not kept in check. Recently Amazon announced a new feature for Amazon affiliates to easily share products on Twitter. This move could generate a massive amount of revenue for Amazon but it could also cause a lot of problems for Twitter users too (i.e. more Twitter spam if it’s abused). You can currently see the responses about Amazon’s new Share on Twitter feature by searching for the hashtag ‘#AMZNSOT’. While searching the tweets it seems like there’s mixed feelings about the overall move by Amazon. Read more »

According to T-Mobile, many of their U.S. mobile customers are experiencing problems making calls and receiving text messages. This all started at about 5:30 PM EST and they are reported to be working diligently to repair the issues in a timely manner:

We’re making good progress restoring voice and messaging service to affected customers. At this time, approximately 5 percent of T-Mobile customers are experiencing service disruptions.

“Built Ford Tough” is one of the company’s most recognizable mantras, but the past few years have brought new meaning to the word “tough”. Economic hardships have particularly plagued American car companies, encouraging innovation on a level not witnessed for decades.

The result is a technologically advanced system called Ford SYNC which aspires to make Ford vehicles more appealing to the tech savvy demographic. Even if they aren’t the most tech savvy, enough of the general population is plugged in far enough to appreciate some additional access to their favorite services directly from their phone. Read more »