Small Business
Second Life, Haven for Entrepreneurs
“Second Life was just unfundable,” says the man who dreamed up this virtual world. Funny how things change when you give people the ability to fly. Now everyone, including businesses of all sizes, wants a piece. Second Life is a place where anyone can have just that. It is a richly detailed virtual world where [...]
Cheap Long-Distance Service — Without All the Hassle
A weekly look at the latest products and services designed to help you run a better business. If you’d like to save money on your office phone bill by switching to Skype, but worry that using the low-cost long-distance service may become a distraction for your employees, or will make your network vulnerable to security [...]
Three ways to use Skype in your small business
1. Customer Support — Got a small business online? Want to offer some customer support without spending a fortune on telephony costs? Skype’s graphical click-to-call SkypeMe buttons are ideal for this. Create your SkypeMe button (free account needed) and embed the code in your website, weblog, template, email, or wherever you want it to appear. [...]
What Really Sets GoDaddy Apart
A lot is made about the tacky GoDaddy ads that cause a stir during the Super Bowl each year. GoDaddy founder, Bob Parsons, has indeed landed on a way to get attention. Heed this warning Web2.0ers, when you scale, if you don’t invest in people who can fix a client’s problem, the end is near. [...]
Socks Made Of Corn
Clothing made from corn could be saving hundreds of North Carolina textile jobs from heading overseas. Four North Carolina factories now produce socks and scarves from a corn-based fabric. The product is especially popular in Japan. The machines humming at Catawba Valley Community College may be spinning the next hot seller in socks. This is [...]
Like eBay But With Loans
Bringing small borrowers and small lenders together is the idea behind the online social lending venture called Prosper.com. Prosper, based in San Francisco, offers unsecured loans of up to $25,000 at a fixed rate for three years. Anyone with money can lend on Prosper, in increments as small as $50. The system works a little [...]
Monks to Sell Bread, Cake on Web
An upstate New York order of monks who don’t watch TV or listen to the radio will soon be going high-tech to offer their baked goods for sale on the Internet. Thousands of loaves of bread are baked at the Abbey of the Genesee in the hamlet of Piffard, south of Rochester, each week. The [...]
