businesses

There is something about a business card. That small piece of cardstock is the foundation of millions of networking success stories every year, making it a vital tool for anyone who frequently goes to networking events, business lunches, or conferences. Yet, increasingly contact lists and communication tools are online only, so the traditional business card holder isn't an option to organize all that useful information. This is why apps like WorldCard Link are becoming increasingly popular, providing a quick and easy way to digitize business cards and share contact information.

WorldCard Link is an ingenious blend of technology both … Read more

Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos led an investment group that pumped $5 million in news Web site Business Insider.

In a press release, the news site's co-founder, Henry Blodget, said that Bezos Expeditions, the executive's investment company, led the new round of financing that also included existing Business Insider investors Institutional Venture Partners and RRE Ventures.

"On a personal note, I will add that we are totally stoked about this," Blodget wrote.

In a note to staff, Blodget noted that the proceeds will be used to invest in editorial, technology, sales and marketing, subscriptions, and events. … Read more

AVG AntiVirus Business Edition 2013 continues the slimmer, flatter redesign from 2012, and brings the same interface improvements from its younger, smaller Free and Pro Antivirus counterparts.

The AVG installer will walk you through a few screens and present the option to install or omit additional products like Identity Protection, Email Scanner, and Surf-Shield. However, it also includes additional tools more appropriate for corporate IT environments, like Remote Admin. The AVG Toolbar is also offered, though, as opt-in as opposed to the opt-out setups found in the free counterparts. AVG does include Do Not Track, which some users may find … Read more

Yelp has a new tool in place for business owners to gauge the value of its service.

The company yesterday announced a new tool, called "Revenue Estimate," that helps business owners determine the amount of revenue they're generating from their Yelp listings. The free tool multiplies the number of customer leads from Yelp each month by the company's average revenue per customer lead.

Yelp's Revenue Estimate follows a study released last week by the Boston Consulting Group, which found that local businesses with a free Yelp account saw revenue rise an average of $8,000 … Read more

No matter what technology we develop, business cards are still a standard in networking circles. They are the first thing you see when you meet someone. But increasingly our lives are managed by the electronic devices we carry, and business cards get lost so easily. So an app like ScanBizCards Lite is perfect to quickly take a photo, scan the contents of the business card and store it for later on your iPad or iPhone.

To start, the app asks if you'd like to register to share your scans with a universal account between devices and your desktop. This … Read more

Pinterest has launched a new Web analytics tool for site owners who want to see how well their pages are performing on the social network.

The tool, dubbed Pinterest Web Analytics, is available to companies with a verified Web site on the social network. The analytics provide detailed information on how many people have pinned something from their site, seen pins from their pages, or visited their site from the social network. The analytics also show repinned items, most clocked, and most recent pins.

Getting verified on Pinterest isn't a long process. Site owners who have a Pinterest profile … Read more

Sprint now offers small-business customers a way to pool their mobile data usage and trim costs.

Introduced on Friday and available only until June 13, the new plans are geared for businesses with up to 30 mobile devices. The plans cover smartphones, tablets, mobile hot spots, and USB dongles and require the standard two-year contract.

The smartphone plan allocates 20GB of shared data across 10 devices, 40GB across 20 devices, or 60GB across 30 devices. The more data and devices, the higher the cost -- ranging from $139.99 through $349.99 per month. The first device must be a … Read more

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman may have stated the obvious when she said today that HP is transferring its attention to tablets.

"We're shifting resources from PCs to tablets," she said during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.

"The market moved very fast to tablets and smartphones, and we've got to now manage that transition."

She continued. "And it's not that HP didn't try to manage that transition -- they did with the acquisition of Palm. But as you know under the previous [management] that took a little detour to … Read more

Square today unveiled its "Business in a Box" package, a bundle including all the components needed for a small business to start taking payments on the company's Square Register platform.

With Square Register, almost any business can accept payments wirelessly from customers' mobile devices. The system lets businesses use an iPad instead of a cash register, and gives them an accompanying set of analytics tools, while customers download the app, sign up, register a credit card, and then pay automatically at any of the hundreds of thousands of merchants running Square Register.

The new bundle includes two … Read more