June 2011 Blog Posts (19)

From mobile to social media, marketing teams are constantly in search of the next hot tactic to help engage customers with their brands. In doing so, they may overlook more traditional avenues for communication. 

Read on to find out how one online marketing team leveraged the venerable Web browser, a technology invented in 1991, and promoted a new, branded version of the tool to engage their most active customers.

Read the full …

As a librarian in the Science, Business and News division at Columbus Metropolitan Library, I’m accustomed to answering customers’ questions related to a business they currently own or are considering starting.

Here’s a recent question I received:

Q: I am revising the marketing plan for my restaurant. I need to know marketing trends, consumer expenditures, demographic and psychographic information. Can you help me find free sources for this…

VMUG is an independent user group for VMware and it's partner technologies.  They are offering paid memberships with some incredible benefits if you are working towards your certification or just wanting to increase your knowledge of the VMware ecosystem.

Membership costs $170 for one year (price is only good until 6/30); but it seems like there a lot of benefits:

• 1 Year free subscription All Access eLearning courses ($750 USD Value)
• 20% Discount on…

No, this isn't a typo, a late April fool's joke, or an episode of Punk'd!    Read all about how Ford proposes using their Sync connectivity to manage vital data.  Makes sense, doesn't it?  Oil pressure - blood pressure?  Fuel mixture - blood glucose?  All signals that can be measured, displayed, and stored.   Pretty cool!

 …

Celebrate the OSU EcoCAR!

See the vehicle and trophies, and meet the team.

June 20, 2011, 5:30-6:00pm

OSU Center for Automotive Research

930 Kinnear Road

Columbus, Ohio 43212

The Ohio State EcoCAR team has placed 2nd in the final competition for EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, a three-year collegiate advanced vehicle technology engineering competition established by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors.  Now the team and vehicle are back…

Despite the latest jobs report that shows employers added fewer jobs in May than expected, a majority of small businesses (57 percent) say they plan to hire this year, according to a new survey from Central Ohio-based Manta, the world's largest online community for promoting and connecting small business.

Manta's SMB Nation Survey queried 1,016 small business owners--the majority of whom (892) have less than 10 employees --about the unique challenges they face regarding hiring and…

Monday, the State of Ohio welcomed 10 teams of talented young entrepreneurs to Columbus who are participating in the first session of Ohio’s New Entrepreneurs (ONE) Fund!  The program is a unique collaboration between the Ohio Third Frontier and 10x at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. 10x is the first accelerator under the ONE Fund program, which is the newest initiative of the Ohio Third Frontier. It is designed to retain and attract the best and brightest technology…

It’s likely that you’ve taken some important first steps to encourage users to share your content among their networks by adding Facebook, Twitter, andLinkedIn, buttons and even a social plugin such as a…

As we begin to crawl out of the recession, we are able to look back on the ways in which businesses either thrived or died during that time. Without question, the biggest mistake I saw businesses make was “saving themselves into bankruptcy.” They didn’t invest in the right tools. Their employees then had to work on things that a robot should do. That means employees were pulled away from high-value work, clients were unhappy and things fell apart. I can think of half a dozen companies in…

In preparation for Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2011, Startup Open has announced its search for the 50 most promising new startups from around the world.  The competition, now in its second year, is open to entrepreneurs who have experienced a “startup moment” (defined as any action relating to launching a new business such as incorporating a company, completing a first sale or securing outside financing, etc.) within the last year. 

Startup Open applicants will be judged on…

Last night WBNS 10TV aired a news segment focusing on the opportunities available for women in science and technology.  Check out the video clip of the story featuring Dr. Lora Thrun and the women technologists at NexTech Materials. 

And join TechColumbus Thursday morning for the…

Earlier this week Microsoft launched a revamped version of its Streetside View, elevating the battle between the Redmond, Washington based company and Google. According to Microsoft, “These changes represent a significant enhancement for desktop browsers, enabling you to quickly pan up and down…

Based on internal data gathered by the IT staffing firm, Modis, Columbus ranks as the third of seven best cities within the US to find an IT job right now.

While each of the seven cities on the list (which was led by Houston) demonstrated unique characteristics, there were several common characteristics shared by all.  These included an overall increased confidence in the economy, and companies that are beginning to invest in new projects to stay…

Speed to market is critical in the mobile app space and one local mobile application development company has moved that into reality with a joint venture model.

Mowbol LLC, Dublin, Ohio, is in a joint venture with Digital 1 Audio to design and deliver the Aria Karaoke application for both the Apple and Android platforms. This innovative partnership gives both parties a stake in the financial success of the mobile application.

“We know that Digital 1 is well-established in the…