US Small Business News Round-up – 23/02/2008

Here is this week’s news round-up for home business, micro business, sole-traders, freelancers, self-employed and any one who is interested in small business news from the United States:

• The Future of Customer Service – Mobile technology is changing the way consumers search for answers.
• The New Rules Of Moneymaking – America’s daily routine: climb out of bed, climb into the car, and – with any luck – climb up the corporate ladder. But in today’s diverse dog eat dog workplace, how do you make sure you get to the top? Susan Spencer reports.
• The Telltale Signs of Recession – Here are four indicators with good track records at predicting downturns. Watch them to see where the economy is likely to go next.
• Taking a Green Initiative – These 3 entrepreneurs are taking advantage of green marketing tactics the right way.
• Be a Millionaire Franchisee – How to build your franchise into a big business.
• It’s on to Plan B as a Hot Trend Cools Off – With growth in the meal assembly industry slowing, shop owners are trying to find new ways to bring ready-to-cook meals to the masses.
• Making the Breakup Much Easier – Tangles in business partnerships can be avoided with a buy-sell agreement: a business prenup or a postnup, depending on when owners draft it.
• Google Experiments with Health Records – Google Inc. will begin storing the medical records of a few thousand people as it tests a long-awaited health service that’s likely to raise more concerns about the volume of sensitive information entrusted to the Internet search leader.
• General Liability Insurance can be Essential for Many Businesses – In today’s litigious society, even small mishaps can result in large lawsuits. That’s why general liability insurance, along with property and workers’ compensation insurance, is essential for most companies. Liability insurance protects the assets of a…
• Rebate Fact and Fiction – The recent economic stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed by the president promises checks in the mail to millions of taxpayers. But the question of how much you get — and when — will no doubt result in some confusion.
• Group Says US Economy to Slow Further – The slowdown in the U.S. economy, coupled with a steady drip of bleak economic data, is starting to echo the conditions that presaged the country’s most recent recession. Data released Thursday by the business group the Conference Board showed its…
• An easy way to steal critical information / Encrypted data is vulnerable to cold blast of air – A group led by a Princeton University computer security researcher has developed a simple method to steal encrypted information stored on computer hard disks. The technique, which could undermine security software protecting critical data on computers, is as…
• Microsoft opening key parts of its software – Microsoft will open key parts of its software to developers, partners and customers, the company said Thursday, vowing to make its products work better with other software, openly document how the popular software works and lower the cost of patents.

As always this list is not exhaustive, but I hope it will give you a little overview. — ST.

Hat – tips to:
Michelle Stingletary;Hemscott;

Leave a Reply

I would love to hear from you, please let me know what your take on my blog post is. In order to stop spam on my blog and increase conversations, I had to implement some simple rules:

1. Please enter your real name, not your company, product or service's name.
2. If you enter your URL, your name will become a link to the URL.
3. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person

We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment.