Today Google launched +1, a personalized social search feature, (similar to the Facebook “Like”) in the face of a Google Buzz FTC privacy invasion ruling.

We all remember Google Buzz. The failed social networking service that generated more buzz for publicizing Googler’s information than it did for generating positive buzz. Well Google has agreed to settle with the FTC on claims that it used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy policies with Google Buzz. More specifically users of Google were upset that they were involuntarily sharing information like email addresses, geo-locations and more on Google Buzz. From the ruling, Google is required to revise its privacy policy to prevent future misrepresentations, and implement a comprehensive privacy policy that is subject to independent privacy audits for the next 20 years. The ruling also requires Google to ask consent before sharing information with third parties.

Google responded in a blog post today with, “we don’t always get everything right. The launc

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Long gone are the days of those 400lb cash registers with hundreds of confusing buttons. If you are a restaurant owner in the market for a restaurant POS system, look no further! POS systems, also known as “point of sale systems,” are computerized programs that help your food service business record transactions. You may be thinking, “well I already have a cash register to do that, so why would I need a POS system?” I’ll put it this way, people who worked on typewriters asked the same thing about computers 30 years ago. The answer is simple, POS systems can do everything. They record transactions, print checks, send command orders to your kitchen, process credit cards, and much more.

Benefits

POS solutions give you the ability to monitor and control almost every function of your restaurant business, in-house or remotely. You are able to access better data on your business faster, and that may free up other areas of business like inventory control and marketing. For examp

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Employing a comprehensive web marketing strategy is vital to any company.  Effectively executing a plan that uses the proper marketing tactics is paramount to a company’s online success. In order to attract new potential new customers, convert these prospects into sales, and maximize the customer’s potential (i.e. in a

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Lead User Research is a new way businesses are driving innovation, by identifying new trends before they happen. Lead User Research (LUR) is different, traditional market research collects information from the core target markets, where Lead User Research seeks out the early, early adopters. Once the company finds these individuals, they will then work with the lead users to solve a problem within an industry.

Lead users are no different than most people; in fact we are all lead users in some niche industry. These individuals are unique because they experience the same needs as your core target market but they experience them substantially before the general public.

How Can You Use LUR?

Lead User Research doesn’t assist incremental innovation; it is a facilitator for cutting edge, drastic innovation. LUR is great for mature businesses looking to regain competitive advantages within an industry, according to Creating Breakthroughs at 3M, by Eric Von Hippel, “to counter this trend, management set a bold objective: 30% of sales would come from products that had not existed four years earlier. For

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Looking to add some positive growth to your credit report? A healthy rental pattern could be give your credit score a boost, at least through one bureau. Experian, one of the credit reporting bureaus that supplies information about consumer credit that helps determine people’s credit scores, has started including information about rental payments for some Americans, according to recent post on WalletPop.com.

Here’s what you need to know about how this move could affect you now and down the line, and how your credit could be affected.

Renting Reports Helpful to Credit Beginners

The move to report rental payment information was apparently triggered by Experian’s recent acquisition of RentBureau, a company that collects information about rental payment history.

• Only positive information reported (for now): In the first months of reporting rental information, it seems that Experian will only be including positive credit information. That

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Are you an online advertising newbie? Well, the good news is, you have a lot of options with where, what and how you advertise in 2011. The bad news is, with so many options, online marketing can get a bit complicated. Don’t get discouraged because understanding the newest trends with digital advertising will put you ahead of the game, eMarketer projects a, “10.5% increase in US online ad spending next year, followed by double-digit growth every year through 2014 when spending will reach $40.5 billion.” Whether you are looking to optimize your search engine ad campaign or for new advertising channels, you should understand the basics of digital advertising in 2011.

Video Advertising Perhaps one of the most promising digital advertising mediums is video. According to eMarketer, “in 2011, 68.2% of US internet users, or 158.1 million people, will be watching video online at least once a month. By 2015

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