Technology
- Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:45:42 +0000: Nokia Lumia 800 to launch in U.S. on February 14th as part of $900 bundle
Microsoft may be planning to launch a special bundle that includes the Nokia Lumia 800 and several accessories for $899. Citing unnamed industry sources, The Verge said the deal will kick off on February 14th and will include a Bluetooth headset, a Purity HD stereo headset and Nokia’s Play 360 wireless speaker. Microsoft will reportedly not be offering the Lumia 800 as a stand-alone product. $899 seems a bit steep to us, even considering that consumers will be getting an unlocked device and a bundle of solid accessories. After all, AT&T will be launching the sub-$100 Lumia 900 with 4G LTE support and a bigger screen just one month later. Read - Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:30:27 +0000: Acer sues former CEO for violating non-compete agreement
Acer has filed a lawsuit against its former chief executive officer Gianfranco Lanci for allegedly violating a non-compete agreement. Lanci left Acer last March after the company hit a rough patch and was recently named head of Lenovo’s operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. “We believe Mr. Lanci has clearly breached the terms of the non-compete agreement he entered into willingly . . . we believe we have a very robust case,” Acer said in a statement given to the Financial Times. The Financial Times notes that Acer has fallen from the second to the fourth largest computer maker in the world while Lenovo has seen recent success and has risen to the No.2 spot. Read - Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:15:45 +0000: Siri accounts for nearly 25% of Wolfram Alpha queries
Nearly 25% of queries fielded by the Wolfram Alpha answer-engine come from Apple’s voice-powered assistant Siri, according to the New York Times. Wolfram Alpha is an online service that gives fact-based answers to queries directly from its database rather than by searching through web pages that might contain the answer. The service was launched in 2009 by British scientist Stephen Wolfram. Apple partnered with the answer-engine for the company’s voice assistant that launched with the iPhone 4S and since then, the Wolfram Alpha staff has grown to 200 employees. A new enhanced version of the service called called Wolfram Alpha Pro is set to launch on Wednesday. Dr. Wolfram called the version “the next step of what can be done with - Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:00:55 +0000: ComScore: Amazon growth doubled the rest of the e-commerce market in Q4
Amazon announced the company’s fourth quarter results last week, which fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. The company reported $17.4 billion in revenue, with net sales up 35% from $12.95 billion in the same quarter of 2010. Despite falling short of analyst estimates of $18.26 billion, Amazon’s growth was more than twice the overall market’s growth according to data from comScore. At $49.6 million, U.S. retail spending was only up 14% in the fourth quarter of 2011. “The growth rate represented the ninth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates,” said the company’s press release. “For the entire 2011 year, U.S. retail e-commerce spending reached a record $161.5 billion, marking a 13-percent increase from 2010.” Read - Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:45:40 +0000: LG ‘Miracle’ Windows Phone details leak ahead of announcement
LG is preparing to unveil a mid-range Windows Phone code-named “Miracle” at this year’s Mobile World Congress trade show, according to PocketNow. The Mango-powered handset will feature a 4-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 8GB of storage, a 5-megapixel rear camera capable of shooting 720p video and a VGA front-facing camera. Perhaps the most interesting detail is the smartphone’s purported NFC capabilities, although it is unclear how this feature will be implemented in a handset running Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango,” which doesn’t currently support NFC. The Miracle will reportedly be released sometime this spring. Read
- Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:00:00 +0000: Why Every Minute Counts When It Comes to Social Media Complaints
From Courtney Rubin:
Leaving complaints or concerns unanswered on your Facebook page doesn't just anger the aggrieved customer–it turns off dozens of others visitors, new research has found. A whopping 88 percent of customers said that if confronted...
- Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:00:00 +0000: Using Groupon for Customer Acquisition
From Stephanie Miles:
Everyone's heard a horror story about a Groupon deal gone awry, but there's a reason why daily deals have become so ubiquitous among small-business owners in the last three years. When done right, a targeted Groupon offer can pump up customer...
- Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000: 10 Apps That Make Me More Productive
From John Jantsch:
We’re becoming an app happy world. Apps that run on our laptops, apps for mobile, apps for iPads and tablets—even better are the apps that sync across all of our chosen devices, keeping us on track in an increasingly online...
- Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000: Entrepreneurial Innovators Series: Peter Relan, YouWeb
From American Express OPEN:
In partnership with Entrepreneur magazine, OPEN Forum takes you inside the minds and companies of some of today’s most innovative business owners. Learn how YouWeb founder Peter Relan went from working for start-ups to creating one of his own.
- Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000: Road Warrior
From Presented by AT&T:
In this episode, Mario shares tips and advice to help a struggling salesperson increase productivity between appointments and be more effective while on the road.
