Adobe to revoke certificate following fraudulent use

Adobe is revoking a code signing certificate after it determined it was used by cybercriminals to fraudulently validate two malicious applications running on Windows.

Our investigation to date has shown no evidence that any other sensitive information-including Adobe source code or customer, financial or employee data-was compromised.

Brad Arkin, senior director of security for Adobe products and services

Code signing certificates are used to ensure the validity of software.  A fraudulent certificate enables an attacker to spoof the validity of an application enabling it to evade antivirus and other security software.

Adobe said the utilities â€"Pwdump, which extracts password hashes from Windows and myGeeksmail, a malicious ISAPI filter that can be used to move in a network-came from a single source. Investigators traced the utilities to a compromised build server with access to the Adobe code signing infrastructure. 

"Sophisticated threat actors use malicious utilities like the signed samples during highly targeted attacks for privilege escalation and lateral movement within an environment following an initial machine compromise," wrote Brad Arkin, senior director of security for Adobe products and services in a blog post.  "As a result, we believe the vast majority of users are not at risk."

Adobe plans to revoke the impacted certificate on Oct. 4 for all software code signed after July 10. 

Arkin said forensics investigators believe the certificate was not used to sign widespread malware and was limited to the two malicious utilities.

"Our investigation to date has shown no evidence that any other sensitive information-including Adobe source code or customer, financial or employee data-was compromised," wrote Arkin.

The revocation of the certificate affects the Windows platform as well as Adobe Muse, Adobe Story AIR applications and Acrobat.com desktop service on Mac operating systems. Consumers will receive automated updates, but IT admins managing Adobe products on the Windows platform will need to install product updates, Adobe said.

Arkin said users should not notice any disturbances in Adobe products while the certificate is revoked.  Security teams for organizations operating Adobe products must download and deploy the updates themselves. IT security teams can assess their risk at the Adobe support page.

Andrew Storms, director of security operations at San Francisco-based vulnerability management vendor nCircle, said the list of applications affected by the certificate revocation update is lengthy. 

"There are a slew of desktop products that all need to be updated," Storms said. "This is a code signing certificate that would be used heavily and an IT admin will have to figure out how to test and deploy the update for everybody."

Affected products include ColdFusion, Flash Media Server and Adobe Application Manager, among others. According to the security bulletin, Adobe is working with VeriSign to revoke the certificate.

"Adobe takes security very seriously, and we are committed to determining how the signatures misusing the Adobe code signing certificate were created given the stringent security measures in place to protect our certificate store and our infrastructure in general," Arkin wrote.

News Director Robert Westervelt contributed to this report. 

Logoworks Reopens Under New Ownership

Less than a year after HP shut down Logoworks, its online logo design service, the site is back up and running, albeit this time under new ownership.  Growth equity firm Oldslip is the new owner, with Daniel Wolfson serving as President of the new Logoworks.

According to Wolfson, the purchase of Logoworks from HP included the technology, trademark, and domain name, though he is unable to comment on the purchase price.

Of the purchase decision, Wolfson says he was simply “in the right place at the right time.” A contact who used to work for Logoworks under HP connected Wolfson to HP, and a deal was struck.

Bringing the Team Back Together

Wolfson recognizes that Logoworks‘ design community and internal team were its competitive advantages over other design services like 99designs. That's why he's going to great lengths to bring previous Logoworks employees back:

“Logoworks had a phenomenal culture, and we're trying to put that back together.”

So far, the new iteration of the design company has just a handful of employees (many of whom previously worked for Logoworks) and a dozen or so external designers, but Wolfson plans to grow it back to its former glory, bit by bit.

What's Changed?

Wolfson recognizes how important Logoworks' small business customers are, and aims to continue to provide professional design services to this market, with a few key changes.

Wolfson says services will remain the same in terms of packages and pricing. For example, the introductory package includes four logo choices from two designers, with two revisions for $299. The company might experiment with smaller packages at lower prices down the road, says Wolfson, in an effort to “give a higher quality product that is tailored for the customer.”

He aims to improve customer service, which, according to online reviews, had room for improvement under HP's leadership, and provide faster turnaround.

Wolfson plans to nurture his design community, who he calls the “crown jewel of Logoworks.” Rather than any designer being able to sign up and offer customers logo options (like 99designs), designers are vetted and selected by Logoworks, and are more involved in customer interaction.

What About Former Logoworks Customers?

Many former Logoworks customers have asked whether their previous files are still available. Unfortunately, the files were not made accessible through the acquisition, but Wolfson says they have a special offer for previous customers looking to recreate previous files.

If you are a former Logoworks employee and are interested in rejoining the new team, please contact Logoworks at Contact@logoworks.com for more information.

Tibbr Partners With Box, Adds Features in Latest Update

Tibbr 4, the latest group collaboration offering from Tibco, was announced this week and offers some new features for business users including a partnership with Box, integration with other third party apps, and a service that measures influence within a workplace setting.

Tibbr is an enterprise social network that is mainly subject-based. It gives employees tools to organize data into categories and share with people or groups, then easily find it later if needed. It is available in both on-premise and cloud versions to fit businesses of different types and sizes.

Tibbr 4 brings an entirely new design that includes social profiles for users, timelines for specific subjects or projects, sharing widgets, company insights, and mobile compatibility. The update also includes a new social graph API, which integrates some third party apps into the user experience. This is where the partnership with Box comes in, but other apps like behavior platform Badgeville and sharing platform Wayin are also available.

And as for the new feature that give employees Klout-like influence insights, the service measures each user's activity in the context of their work and produces a score along with charts and infographics illustrating their activity. While the score may seem a little obsolete for this type of service, the insights into actual use and activity might prove helpful to some.

These changes come just after Salesforce revealed the latest version of its Chatter social networking feature, as well as a new sharing service that offers many of the same features as Dropbox and Box.

Of course Tibbr and Salesforce are just two in a long line of services aimed at providing collaboration and enterprise networking tools for businesses. But Tibbr's integration with Box and other third party tools that are already used by many businesses certainly makes it a more attractive offering.

Windows 8 \'very exciting\' - Gates

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has called the new Windows 8 operating system scheduled for release next month "a very exciting new product" and "a very big deal" for the world's largest software maker.

Gates said that he was already using Windows 8 "and I'm very pleased with it."

Windows 8 is Microsoft's biggest overhaul of Windows in more than a decade and the company's attempt to stay relevant and exciting in a world where mobile gadgets have started to overshadow personal computers.

"Hardware partners are doing great things to take advantage of the features," Gates added. "It'll be a big deal."

Microsoft Corp. will release Windows 8 on Oct. 26 along with a new version of Internet Explorer.

Gates responded to a question about Windows 8 during an AP interview about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's key role in a new global campaign to eradicate polio.

Windows 8 will replace Windows 7 on practically all personal computers sold to consumers.

It features major changes in the way consumers interact with their machines, and versions of it will also run on tablet computers and smartphones.

Although Microsoft has grown into much more than a maker of computer operating systems providing computer services to corporations and Xbox gaming machines to game enthusiasts Windows still accounts for a significant chunk of the company's annual revenue.

In 2011, Microsoft's "Windows & Windows Live" division generated 27 per cent, or $US19 billion, of the company's $69.9 billion in annual revenue.

QuickBooks Online Goes Global

Accounting software for small businesses has traditionally been focused on all things local â€" local tax laws, local taxes, local accounting standards, and more. That's why it can be difficult for many small businesses to go global or cross over borders, especially without taking the time to grow first.

However, small businesses received some good news this week when Intuit announced its new version of QuickBooks Online that is now available to businesses around the globe.

This change means that small multinational businesses or businesses operating outside the U.S. can use the software to create localized invoices, pay bills, and track expenses based on standards from wherever the business is located. Users can personalize currency and formatting according to their country's standards. The program can also help businesses process taxes, sales, and more.

This could mean big things for small businesses around the globe. Previously, features of QuickBooks and similar programs weren't available to businesses headquartered outside the U.S. or a select few other countries. The new global version eliminates many of the borders and hoops that these small businesses had to jump through in order to become multinational or operate in other countries.

The program, which has already been used by businesses in over 130 countries since its beta launch in July, is also customized for local impact. This means that not only can users customize settings like languages, but they can also input specific cultural information so that they can get the most out of the program and make it meet the specific needs of their business's home base.

The program maintains all the QuickBooks Online features that thousands of businesses already use, such as centralized forms, expense and income tracking, reporting tools, cloud usability, and more.

There are three different versions of the software available, including QuickBooks Simple Start, QuickBooks Essentials, and QuickBooks Plus. Costs start at $15 per month, and vary based on which features are needed.

Some activist DDoS attacks growing in sophistication, expert says

The majority of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against corporate and government websites can be easily filtered out by appliances and software, but one expert says a growing number of attacks are from technically savvy individuals and often trip up mitigation systems.

It's cheap and easy to launch an attack but the common person may not know how to go about it.

Jeff Lyon, CEO, Black Lotus

A wide variety of attacks that are driven by activists use relatively unsophisticated tools. They can cause an initial disruption, but business and government websites can recover fairly quickly, said Jeff Lyon, CEO of Los Angeles-based Black Lotus Communications, a DDoS mitigation firm. A growing threat are DDoS attacks driven by extortionists and technically savvy hackers, which are complicated enough to make it difficult to defend against, Lyon said.

"Those attacks tend to be extremely complex because the attackers know that the basic tools so prevalent in the wild aren't as effective because security providers can easily defend against them," Lyon told SearchSecurity.com in a recent interview.

DDoS mitigation has been gaining interest from enterprise IT teams of late. The financial industry has been especially hard hit by DDoS over the last two weeks. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America both suffered intermittent website problems. U.S. Bank and PNC reported problems with their customer websites Wednesday. The attacks are believed to be originating from a group known as Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters, a hacktivist group that has been announcing its campaigns on the Pastebin website.

Lyon said some of the DDoS campaigns are layer 7 HTTP attacks that look like real users. Systems that use behavioral analysis and signatures often have to be manually tuned to filter out the right traffic and rule out false positives, he said.

"In order to defend against that specific type of attack you have to have a method in place to determine which traffic is robots and which traffic is humans and be able to implement a filtering rule" Lyon said. "That's where the real challenge is right now."

In this interview, Lyon talks about the transition from extortion-driven DDoS attacks in 2003 to more hacktivist-style attacks, which began in about 2007. Today, hacktivists primarily use social networking to gain enough followers and collaboratively take out websites while a determined individual can rent a botnet or create their own DDoS tool to carry out a targeted attack, Lyon said.

Give us a brief history of DDoS and tell us about Black Lotus:

Jeff Lyon: Black Lotus is a managed availability security firm. We started our company up in 1999. Back then was when the first USCERT advisories came out saying there's this new phenomenon called a DDoS [distributed denial-of-service] attack. About four years after that, attacks really started occurring against the enterprise. Back in 1999 attacks were really against criminal enterprises or against ecommerce or larger start-up companies. Around 2003 is when attacks really started impacting online casinos, poker rooms and that's when extortion became a major target of a DDoS attack. As the years went on, namely about 2007 is when the hacktivism trend began to occur. It stopped being just an extortion tool. It started being used if you didn't like someone or you wanted to tell someone to do something, you could go ahead and use a DDoS attack. Consequently 2007 is where DDoS mitigation became a really big business.

Why do you think was there was an evolution from financially motivated DDoS attacks (extortion) to politically motivated or statement-driven attacks?

Lyon: Mainly it's because anonymity is much more prevalent. If you are making a statement against a company or an organization you can use a medium like Twitter or any other type of social media to generate opinions and get people to attack a target. What has happened with Anonymous is that everyone can get together and launch a low orbit ion cannon (LOIC) type of attack. Everyone stays relatively anonymous. It's more of a collective that's making the attack. This is very difficult for law enforcement to wrap their hands around and actually prosecute individuals even though they are undertaking those initiatives. With extortion, they are able to use more traditional tools to investigate the crime because there is a money trail.  It may be difficult to figure out who launched the attack but when there is extortion involved you are able to say this is where the money went after someone made a ransom payment.

Are some hacktivist-driven DDoS attacks making it more difficult for Black Lotus and other DDoS mitigation firms?

Lyon: What we find is that the more common Anonymous type of attacks-the ones you see in the media-are actually relatively easy to defend against. These types of attacks take advantage of the collective and other people making a statement. When you see someone on Twitter announcing a target to attack, what they are doing is trying to take advantage of that company's inability to defend itself against the attack, but it's really not that complex to defend against.  

It seems like a lot of DDoS attacks use fairly unsophisticated methods, flooding websites with malicious traffic that can be easily filtered out, is that the case?

Lyon: The attacks will run the gamut with different technologies in use. The ones we hear so much about, especially the ones that are launched by relatively unsophisticated folks wanting to take part in a protest, are pretty unsophisticated attacks. In order for them to occur the organizers of these attacks have to distribute tools to their followers. Once that tool is distributed then security experts and analysts can take it apart and figure out what needs to be done to defend against that particular type of attack and build those signatures used in mitigation appliances and other security products.

The ones that are extremely difficult are actually not in the realm of hacktivism. They could be extortion attacks. They could be attacks against competitors or they could be hacktivism, but not the mass-media hacktivism we're all so familiar with. Those attacks tend to be extremely complex because the attackers know that the basic tools so prevalent in the wild aren't as effective because security providers can easily defend against them. The attacker must build a tool or use a tool that is lesser known and much more difficult to raise a defense. The one that comes to mind are these layer 7 HTTP attacks that look like real users. No matter what your signature looks like there are attacks coming in that match your legitimate traffic. They look exactly the same. In order to defend against that specific type of attack you have to have a method in place to determine which traffic is robots and which traffic is humans and be able to implement a filtering rule. That's where the real challenge is right now.  

So there are some hacktivist DDoS attacks that can be sophisticated?

Lyon: These will be the hacktivists that are themselves computer hackers. They are very well educated in the use of computers and computer networks. For example you might have a website with a religious or political view that is unpopular with a specific person or specific hacker and that hacker takes a personal interest in taking down that website. That particular type of attack still qualifies as hacktivism. It's still an activist style attack, but not the common type person launching an attack.

How difficult is it for a single person to carry out a fairly sophisticated DDoS attack?

Lyon: If you're not skilled in specifically designing a tool or already active in that realm of trading tools and coding for malicious purposes, your other option is to go to websites or underground forums and essentially buy access to the tools. You can go on a hacker forum and explain you want to attack a website. Someone might come forward and say they control a botnet that has 100,000 systems in it and I'll let you rent that for $10 an hour. It's cheap and easy to launch an attack but the common person may not know how to go about it. Your common person who doesn't know anything about hacking probably won't find these forums and successfully launch an attack.

Ways To Build Trust With Prospects

Lead generation is not about how many numbers you dial or how many decision makers you talk to â€" ultimately it is a matter of building trust. Every time your sales team talks to a prospect, they have a chance to build trust so that the prospect will want to hear more from them.

At a time when prospects are feeling overwhelmed with too much to do, too little time, and too many bad cold calls, your sales team can stand out from the competition by learning how to build trust.

By avoiding the pitfalls of a canned sales pitch and giving prospects a reason to listen, you can build stronger sales relationships that lead to better conversions and bigger profits.

Here are a few ways that your small business can build trust with sales prospects:

Do Your Homework

Too many sales reps pick up the phone and start making sales calls without really knowing anything about the person they're calling. Don't go into a sales call flying blind.

Before your sales reps pick up the phone, they need to know who they are calling and why. The easiest way to build trust is to show the prospect that they're not just another name on a calling list. Show them that you know something about their company, you know the industry, and you have a specific reason for why you thought they would like to hear from you today.

Ask Questions

Instead of making the classic mistake of launching into a canned sales script that will quickly cause the prospect's eyes to glaze over, your sales reps need to ask questions to provoke a thoughtful response.

For example, instead of jumping the gun by telling the prospect, “We can help you improve productivity by 15% and reduce your costs by 20%,” lead into the value proposition by asking the prospect open ended questions such as, “What is the biggest challenge facing your business (related to our solution)?” Or, “How would you feel if your team could achieve a significant productivity boost at a lower cost?”

Listen for Unstated Needs

Sales people often make the mistake of steering the conversation in one direction, and then when the prospect says “no” or “not interested,” the sales rep has nowhere else to go and has to end the call.

Instead of getting shut down, talented sales reps know how to “read between the lines” of a conversation to find hidden opportunities. Prospects will rarely tell you flat out, “This is what we need, and this is what we're willing to pay.” Instead, your sales team needs to uncover the prospect's needs by delving deeper into the conversation and really listening to what the prospect has to say.

Offer Something Valuable

Every time you or your sales reps talk to a customer or prospective customer, that conversation is an opportunity to show the prospect that you genuinely care about their challenges and that you want to be seen as a trusted industry peer and colleague.

Instead of just breezing through a sales script and asking for a sale, the most credible sales reps know how to offer the prospect something of value without tying it to the expectation of a sale. Could you offer your prospects some valuable business intelligence or thoughts on industry trends? Offer to share a white paper or presentation with them? Share a success story from a similar company in their industry?

All of these little acts of generosity are building blocks for a more trusting relationship and possibly an eventual sale.

Take Your Time

One of the most common mistakes in B2B sales is when overeager sales reps ask for the sale too soon. Or they get discouraged by “not interested” responses and let long-term sales leads languish without any follow-up. B2B sales leads need to be nurtured and managed over a long period of time, sometimes months or years, depending on your sales cycle.

One of the best ways to build trust is to show your prospects that you are in it for the long haul and are willing to develop a sold working relationship with them over time â€" you're not just swooping in for a quick sale. If you show prospects that you are committed to their success and you're willing to keep talking with them for the long-term, they'll be more likely to trust you and eventually buy from you.

Some of the most valuable business relationships require nurturing, time, an investment of resources, and that most important ingredient of all, trust. The reason B2B sales leads are so valuable and elusive is because they are worth much more than simple transactional one-off sales â€" each B2B sales relationship has the potential to deliver significant profits to your company.

For this reason, it's worth investing some time and attention to build trust with your prospects.

Building Trust Photo via Shutterstock

Tech Thursday (9/27): HP Introduces Four New Business Computers; BlackBerry Upgrades You Should Know About; New QuickBooks Online Features; Epson Mobile Printing Solutions

HP Introduces Four New Business Computers

 

BlackBerry Upgrades You Should Know About

 

New QuickBooks Online Features

 

Epson Mobile Printing Solutions

 

 

HP Introduces Four New Business Computers

 

HP Introduces A New Desktop and Three New Notebook Computers To It's Portfolio

 

PALO ALTO, Calif.,  -HP has added four new business desktop and notebook PCs powered by the latest AMD processors to its industry-leading computing portfolio.

AMD's new A-series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) deliver a significant leap in PC graphics performance, offer exceptional manageability and provide an affordable total cost of ownership.

The new desktop and notebook PCs equipped with AMD APUs are:

• HP Compaq Pro 6305 Desktop PC, offering enterprise-grade security and manageability with affordable life cycle planning and a business-class warranty in either microtower or small-form-factor chassis options.

The HP Compaq Pro 6305 Desktop PC provides outstanding performance and value to maximize productivity for businesses and governments of all sizes with long, predictable life cycles of up to 15 months. The improved x86 architecture enables speedy and efficient computing, such as smoother internet browsing and accelerated file conversion rates. Powered by AMD's latest APU A10, A8, A6 and A4 processors, the HP Compaq Pro 6305 delivers up to 21 percent better performance than previous generations, including significant graphics improvement for intensive business applications.

The HP Compaq Pro 6305 desktop PC also helps keep businesses protected at every level with HP Client Security, including HP BIOS Protection with enhanced defense against virus attacks and other threats, and offers out-of-band manageability, embedded trusted platform module (TPM), HP ProtectTools, self-encrypting hard drives and more.

• HP ProBook 4445s, 4446s and 4545s Notebook PCs, ideal for small and medium businesses that need a sleek, yet durable, notebook with advanced multimedia support, easy-to-use security and 14- or 15.6-inch diagonal display sizes. The HP ProBook 4445s, 4446s and 4545s Notebook PCs are equipped with all-new 2012 AMD A-Series accelerated processors and VISION Pro Technology to provide the right performance to tackle intensive work assignments.

Pricing and availability

The HP Compaq Pro 6305 Desktop PC starts at $539 and is expected to be available worldwide on Oct. 8 with Windows 7. Windows 8 configurations will be available at a later date. The HP ProBook 4445s, 4446s and 4545s Notebook PCs start at $499. The HP ProBook 4545s is currently available worldwide. The HP ProBook 4445s and 4446s will be available only in the Asia-Pacific and Japan regions.

 

BlackBerry Upgrades You Should Know About

 

BlackBerry Releases Upgrades for it's Devices including Service Pack 1 for Both iOS Devices and BlackBerry PlayBook Tablets

 

BlackBerry recently released upgrades for many of it's devices including iOS based devices, the BlackBerry Playbook tablet and it's Enterprise Server Version 5 and Enterprise Server Express Version 5.  Here is information on the updates:

• BlackBerry Mobile Fusion Service Pack 1 provides additional features for both iOS-based devices and BlackBerry® PlayBookâ„¢ tablets. Organizations managing iOS devices will see enhancements in the configuration of Wi-Fi®, VPN and ActiveSync service across devices, and the ability to manage the distribution of apps. The update also prepares organizations for managing BlackBerry PlayBook tablets with an upcoming update of the PlayBook OS. Once released as a free software update for PlayBook tablets, organizations with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion Service Pack 1 will benefit from features including Over The Air enrollment and configuration of devices, full device encryption and certificate-based authentication with Microsoft® Exchange. With the release of Service Pack 1, RIM is expanding the availability of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion to an additional 37 countries for a total of 81 countries.

• RIM also announced that Service Pack 4 for BlackBerry Enterprise Server Version 5 and BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Version 5 are available for Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino. This same service pack will be available for BlackBerry Enterprise Server Version 5 for Novell GroupWise in November. Upgrading to the latest BlackBerry Enterprise Server software is an important step towards being prepared for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 when it launches with BlackBerry 10.

GEMA, the Global Enterprise Mobility Alliance, and Research In Motion (RIM) have also announced an agreement to jointly deliver global managed mobility solutions for multinational customers. Leveraging BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion, RIM's Mobile Device Management solution, and supported by the global managed mobility services from GEMA members, customers will have a globally consistent approach to service delivery and technical expertise, offering them the best possible experience from their mobile deployments comprising a myriad of devices, including BlackBerry®, iOS®, and Android™.

 

QuickBooks Online Suite Bolsters Productivity for Small Businesses

 

Updates Deliver Personalized and Complete Financial Management to More Than 360,000 Subscribers

 

 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. â€" Small business owners no longer have to be the jack of all trades. They can be the jack of their own trade. New additions to QuickBooks Online and its suite of connected applications deliver a complete financial management solution to any small business. Instead of making due with a patchwork of many separate back-office solutions, small business owners can personalize an all-in-one financial management experience that runs the back office so they can be more productive and focus on running their businesses.

For more than 360,000 paying small business subscribers, the online financial management program from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), makers of the best-selling QuickBooks software, does more than accounting. As an open system, it adds value through seamless integration with Intuit apps and third-party apps, and mobile access to data.

The latest updates to the QuickBooks Online suite make it more powerful, more flexible and easier to use than ever:

• Unlock data to save time on critical tasks. The new Downloaded Transactions feature borrows the ease of use in Mint.com to help small businesses save significant time banking in QuickBooks Online. Eliminating manual entry and minimizing errors, Downloaded Transactions automatically imports and smartly categorizes new transactions from a user's bank or credit card accounts. After users categorize a transaction once, QuickBooks Online learns and applies the rule. Users always control what transactions save to their books and have the latest transactions at their fingertips without having to log into bank or credit card accounts.
• Small businesses can get paid faster with Money Bar, another new feature. It centralizes income forms, including estimates, invoices and sales receipts, summarizes totals for due or past due transaction items, and then guides the user to take immediate action. A patent-pending status bar shows progress as the user banks income, tracking a transaction's status from estimate to paid.
• Complete more key tasks on the go. Feature additions to QuickBooks Mobile, such as the ability to record payments, provide total access to invoices and customer balances in QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Mobile is a free companion app and is the most comprehensive of its kind. It is available on Apple and Android mobile devices.
• Customize QuickBooks Online with third-party applications. New add-ons fully integrate with QuickBooks Online data to create tailored solutions that serve the distinct needs of every small business, including project management and inventory management. Businesses can try and buy apps at the Intuit App Center, including premier solutions, such as Bill.com, Mavenlink, Salesforce for QuickBooks and SOS Inventory.

Learn more and sign up for QuickBooks Online at http://www.quickbooks.com/.

 

Epson Mobile Printing Solutions

 

New EPSON Connect Enhancements Make Mobile Printing From Computers, Tablets and Smartphones Easier, More Robust

 

LONG BEACH, Calif.â€" Epson America, Inc. has announced an upgrade to its suite of free EPSON Connectâ„¢mobile printing solutions, making it easier and more powerful for users to print documents, emails, photos, and web pages from anywhere in the world using an EPSON Connect enabled printer and an iPad®, iPhone®, tablet, smartphone, computer, or laptop.

The convenient and robust mobile printing features of EPSON Connect include:

• EPSON Email Print â€" Remotely send documents and photos directly to an EPSON® printer's unique email address to easily print from any email-enabled device.
• EPSON iPrint™ Mobile App â€" Print web pages, Microsoft® Office® documents, photos, and PDFs from anywhere; also scan and save files from a nearby EPSON printer before sending it as an email or uploading it to a cloud service such as Box, Dropboxâ„¢, Evernote®, or Google®Docsâ„¢. Available for free download from the Apple AppStore™ or Google Playâ„¢.
• EPSON Remote Print â€" Print remotely from a computer or laptop to an EPSON email-enabled printer anywhere in the world using any Windows® application â€" not just Microsoft Office â€" to streamline productivity without worrying about formatting or customizing fonts.

EPSON Connect incorporates an optional level of security to ensure users have the ability to reduce unwanted prints and eliminate spam. By enabling an “Approved Sender's List,” users can specify the email addresses or domains that are allowed to print unattended to the printer's email address.

In addition, new EPSON printers incorporate Apple AirPrint™ and Google Cloud Print™, providing the widest array of mobile printing solutions Epson has ever offered:

• Apple AirPrint â€" Print emails, photos, web pages, and documents from an iPad®, iPhone® or iPod touch®; no software, drivers or cables to connect.
• Google Cloud Print â€" Print from a smartphone or tablet with a Gmail™ or Google Docs account and other supported apps; also print from Chromebooks™ and the Google Chrome™ browser.

The free EPSON Connect mobile printing solutions and upgrades are currently available. For more information, visit www.epson.com/connect.

Getting Your Small Business Started On Yelp

Yelp is one of the top ways for local businesses to get noticed and found by consumers, especially on mobile devices.  It is an easy and affordable way to market your company and it is not just for restaurants. If you run a company that uses or could leverage its local presence, Yelp is worth testing out. Brick and mortar businesses often are the most logical companies using Yelp.

My business does not have a “local” presence in the way that matters to mobile consumers (or any consumers since I serve business owners directly), so I tested Yelp with my TechBizTalk brand knowing it would not be found.

As you can see in the screenshot above, my business was not found. Right below that, you see a blue link “Add Your Business to Yelp” and that's where you should start. Go directly to the small business page of Yelp.

Yelp knows they have to make it super easy and super fast to attract a business owner who is wearing many hats. The business page immediately lets you know the value proposition. On that page, you'll see:

Turn Yelp visitors into paying customers. Create a Deal in minutes. When Yelp users buy your Deal, you get paid.

You have a voice, so join the conversation regarding a business; reply to reviews either publicly or privately.

What's word-of-mouth doing for you? Stats and charts measure the performance of a business page on Yelp.

Then a button to “Create a free account now.”

After you locate your business, you'll hit that simple and fast process I alluded to, as you can see in this screenshot, there isn't much to do and you can be up and running in minutes. Unlike some other review services, that add lots of layers and steps, Yelp wants you to verify and get active in the community.

That's it. You hit the Add button and your listing is live.

Here's an important note: Yelp will review your listing to make sure you're not a spammer or someone who doesn't really own or manage the company.

So, if you're serious about putting up a new listing, fill in all the blanks including your Web address and phone number because the listing goes up right away. You cannot change it until they finish the verification process. It isn't instant, that's all I can say at this point.  So you don't want to play around with incomplete information.

Having an account gives you a lot more control and opportunity to engage. Once you have your listing complete, you can add special offers, upload photos, and interact with your customers. You also get access to the statistics on who visits your Yelp profile, which can be huge to creating smarter offers and coupons.

Creating offers, via Yelp advertising, has mostly pros in my view, but some people have complained that Yelp blackmails small business owners into paying for advertising.

Let me explain:  if you have a free listing on the service, competitor ads may show up on the same page next to or below your profile.

Before you freak out, many, many services do exactly this and no one blinks an eye. Look at Google, Facebook, and now Twitter, just to name a few. Your organic listing in Google very likely shows competitive pay-per-click ads at the top of the page.

The positive with Yelp is if you are an advertiser, they give you the option (and who wouldn't take it) to block competitor ads when your profile comes up. You don't get that option with the others I mentioned. Far from it. So, I see it as a huge opportunity, not blackmail.

Business is competitive. Yelp is not doing anything wrong. They are helping the retailer and other service-oriented business.

If you have been around as a retailer or local business for a while, then it is very probable you are already on Yelp and have reviews. All the more reason to claim and verify your listing.

As Lisa Barone points out in several posts, Yelp can be a small business owner's best friend, “Two Reasons To Check Back In With Yelp” and “Yelp Data Shows Power of Mobile Marketing.”  You can also learn more about their advertising program.

How are you using Yelp?

Mobile Device Management Is The Cure To BYOD Dizziness

Your enterprise is like a functioning human body. Like any human being, corporations get introduced to some things they're just not ready for. The body can react adversely to a new medication. Doctors prescribe other medications to counter the side effects. You can do the same for your enterprise when lifting the curtain on Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) â€" a phenomenon that occurs when an employee brings his or her own device to and from work.

The medication that gets rid of side effects of BYOD is called mobile device management (MDM), and it's a proper way to comply to regulations that require utmost security in the corporate environment. Mobile device management opens the doors for you to be able to provision and deprovision material from within your IT infrastructure as you see fit and guard the information from apps that employees could have installed that do not comply with regulations you must adhere to. Non-compliant applications will be blocked from interacting with sensitive company data.

If devices get in the wrong hands after they leave your establishment, you can easily remove all the data within them that pertains to your company remotely, providing you with a very rock-solid contingency plan. Here are two services that offer mobile device management:

• Zenprise MobileManager - Zenprise pretty much does it all. It allows you to lock in all the sensitive data on your employees' tablets while keeping their own data intact. Non-compliant apps are kept at bay and you get your work cut out for you. Tracking is also easy through their software, allowing you to see where the devices are remotely. Once you determine that a device isn't where it should be, or an employee reports that the device has been stolen or lost, you can remotely remove all your company's data from that device.
• FiberLink MaaS360 â€" This set of software offers a very similar product that Zenprise gives you, but comes at a lower price point. MaaS360 prides itself with the inclusion of support for several different mobile operating systems, including the big three: iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. It also has support for other operating systems like BlackBerry and Symbian. With this wide range of support, it doesn't matter what your employees bring to work. You'll be able to control what goes in and out of their mobile devices.

Choosing which MDM provider to go with is easy. Both of the services listed here provide you with free trial access to their online applications and allow you to learn the ropes in each of their solutions so that you can make up your mind on which one takes home your trophe. Just make sure you choose one and don't allow employees to walk around with your sensitive data unprotected on their devices!

From Behind The Scenes: SMBInfluencer Media Partner Interviews

Now that the 2012 Small Business Influencer Awards have drawn to a close, we'd like to highlight a few of the media partners who supported the event.

The awards ran from May 1, 2012 through August 5, 2012 and give much-deserved recognition to businesses, organizations, apps and people who have made an influencial impact with their contributions to the small business market.

The Small Business Influencer Awards media partners are all small businesses like you.  They offer products and services that help small businesses succeed.  Below, is a series of short interviews that I conducted with several of the media partners.

Let's get to know these small businesses and hear from the voices behind the scenes.

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Manhattan Chamber of Commerce

This membership organization is comprised of 10,000 members and subscribers representing more than 100,000 companies in Manhattan. The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce's members are part of one of the largest constituencies in the country, representing approximately 1.6 million US employees and approximately 4.5 million employees globally.  Vice President and Director of Communications, Laura Bucko, shares a bit more about both the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and her own passion for small business:

Small Business Trends:  How does Manhattan Chamber of Commerce help small businesses?

Laura Bucko:  We advocate on behalf of the business community, educate our member businesses about current trends and provide networking opportunities to find clients, partners and grow our members' base of contacts.

Small Business Trends:  What was the last business book you read? What did you like about it?

Laura Bucko:  Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I liked how it showed how outside random circumstances can influence our success and how, with a few small changes, we can create more opportunities for success for all.

Small Business Trends:  What's your favorite quote that you apply to your business?

Laura Bucko:  I was going to go with, “never ever ever give up” from Winston Churchill, but then found another lesser known quote by him: ”The pessimist sees the problems in every opportunity. Whereas the optimist sees the opportunity in every problem.”

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BizLaunch

Canadian-based BizLaunch provides small business owners with free educational webinars, seminars, content and templates. BizLaunch has worked with Fortune 500 companies to improve their brand presence with over 100,000 entrepreneurs by providing high quality webinars, seminars, marketing content and training.  Bizlaunch Founder, Andrew Patricio, has started seven businesses, authored two books, and is an internationally recognized small business expert who has delivered over 100 key note speeches all over the world:

Small Business Trends:  Can you tell us something completely surprising about your company?

Andrew Patricio:  We have trained business owners in 18 countries.

Small Business Trends:  What was the last business book you read? What did you like about it?

Andrew Patricio:  The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. The book teaches how to develop good habits for you and your employees.

Small Business Trends:  What's your favorite social media channel and why?

Andrew Patricio:  LinkedIn. I like that it's focused on business. It's useful to connect with buyers, and I enjoy the groups.

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Your Virtual Assistant

Michelle Mangen applies her knowledge of accounting, social media, and payroll to help small business owners be more productive through her firm, Your Virtual Assistant. Mangen is based in Florida, but services clients all over the country.  She specializes in WordPress services, QuickBooks, social media management, administration services, and Excel spreadsheet creation. She strives to help business owners get more hours in the day by delegating tasks she can assist with:

Small Business Trends: What's your top tip for small business owners today?

Michelle Mangen: My top tip would be that we have to stay current in our industry in order to remain knowledgeable and competitive. Maybe this means taking some classes, reading certain material, etc. Building relationships is also important as well, especially if you are a solo-preneur.

Small Business Trends: If you were stuck on a desert island with Internet, what would be the single app or website you couldn't live without?

Michelle Mangen: For me that would be Basecamp. Since most of the tasks I receive from clients are through email it's important for me to have some system that makes it easy to record items that need follow up. Basecamp allows me to assign tasks out to other team members and the threaded conversations makes it easy to keep everything together (and tidy).

Small Business Trends: What role does social media play in marketing your business?

Michelle Mangen: Both very little and a lot. Twitter has always been my favorite social network and the one I spend the most time on. I don't really “market” my business per se but have gotten the majority of my client base as a direct result of a relationship that developed on Twitter. I've never been the self-promotion type (it makes me uncomfortable) which is why I really don't do any marketing. I've also been incredibly blessed with “word of mouth” referrals.

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MyVenturePad

MyVenturePad, a crowdsourced content community owned by Social Media Today, focuses on topics relating to venture funding and growth. The site offers blog posts, webinars, and podcasts on subjects like raising capital, startups, and technology.  Robin Carey, CEO of MyVenturePad, shares her insight for small business:

Small Business Trends: What's your top tip for small business owners today?

Robin Carey: Be prepared to change your model at any time.

Small Business Trends: What's one thing you never skimp on in your business?

Robin Carey: Customer attention.

Small Business Trends: If you could have one small biz superhero power, what would it be?

Robin Carey: A great night's sleep.

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Hawkeye Management

Hawkeye Management provides lines of credit to small businesses of $50,000 to $100,000 or more. The company prides itself on its track record: to date, 70% of the business owners who apply for unsecured business credit through Hawkeye have been approved. With an industry average of only 10%, Hawkeye stands out in its ability to connect business owners with the right lenders.  Tom Gazaway, President and CEO of Hawkeye Management, shares his insights:

Small Business Trends: What's one thing you never skimp on in your business?

Tom Gazaway: Our brand. Don't have a crappy logo, don't put out bad content, don't have bad business cards or a bad website.  Do it right or don't do it.  There are a lot of things we may be ready for, but we won't do it if we can't do it well.  That doesn't mean you won't make mistakes, but shoot for perfection and settle for excellence.

Small Business Trends: What role does social media play in marketing your business?

Tom Gazaway: It's integral.  We use tools like Hubspot, TweetDeck and Vocus to make our social media efforts more effective, efficient and measurable but you're not a pioneer if you get on Twitter.  You're a dinosaur if you're not there.

Small Business Trends: If you could have one small biz superhero power, what would it be?

Tom Gazaway: I'm rarely and probably never the most talented, most gifted, or smartest guy in any audience but I have an unquenchable thirst to be better, grow our brand, and shake up the market.  So passion can make up for a lot of things.

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Research Access

For those with a passion for research, Research Access is the blog to read. It's the effort of Survey Analytics, which offers an enterprise grade research platform for collecting feedback to enable businesses, governments and consumers to participate and learn from each other. This blog, however, focuses on helping business people who are tasked with marketing research and includes videos, podcasts, and how-to posts on surveys, data tools, and analysis.  Dana Stanley, VP of Marketing for Survey Analytics, answers our questions:
Small Business Trends: What's your top tip for small business owners today?

Dana Stanley: You may think market research is out of your budget, but technology has made it easier than ever to affordably get market feedback before making major business decisions. It can be inexpensive to do online surveys and get feedback on your products and services prior to investing your money and time in launching them. A small investment in research can pay off big.

Small Business Trends: If you were stuck on a desert island with internet, what would be the single app or website you couldn't live without?

Dana Stanley: Market researchers love information, so I'm going to have to go with Wikipedia. Not only does it have a shocking level of detail, it's also updated seemingly to the minute on current events.

Small Business Trends: If you could have one small biz superhero power, what would it be?

Dana Stanley: As market researchers we're obsessed with understanding the way customers think. So my small biz superhero power would be having the ability to read minds.

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This article is part of a series highlighting key players in the Small Business Influencer Awards.

How ioSafe is Bringing Private Clouds Down to Earth

With the world's data usage pushing 80 exabytes per month by 2015 (one exabyte is equal to one billion gigabytes), no doubt a significant percentage of that is located somewhere in your personal files. Whether it is business-related or personal, people and businesses are using more images, video, and large documents than ever before. One of the latest necessities of life is an external hard drive of some kind to back up important data â€" whether that be your businesses' contracts or your spouse's mega-playlist of music.

That external hard drive, though, is as strong as the computer you saved it off of. In other words, a fire or a flood will wipe it out fast. You've no doubt heard of online file-saving options like ADrive or any number of other solutions, many of which are free. Some people don't like the idea of their personal data just ‘floating' in the nether world of the Internet, whether or not it is on secure servers.

So what is one to do? In January of next year, ioSafe is planning on rolling out a personal ‘black box' of sorts, which they're calling the ‘N2.' The N2 is going to be a self-contained, fire- and water-proof, network-connected, multiple-hard-drive device that will store up to eight terabytes of data.  The company offers plenty of other products for data storage, but the N2's network capability means it can be accessed remotely without needing a physical hook-up.

Since ioSafe is a small company, they're seeking financing for this project through IndieGoGo, which is sort of like Kickstarter in that people pledge money to a project and when it hits its goal, it comes to life. The company is looking for $150,000 to hit its goal to help them develop the N2, and as of this writing with 26 days remaining, they've managed to raise $14,600 thus far.

Check out the site to see a video about the N2; skip to about 1:58 to see the actual product itself. The protective capabilities of the N2 are great when you compare it to a ‘normal' data storage device. For example, the N2's fireproof capability is rated at 1,550 degrees for 30 minutes. An average home or office fire can go anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 degrees depending on a lot of things â€" the location of the device, the flammability of materials nearby, and other factors. However, how much peace of mind this brings you might be arguable, but something is definitely better than nothing.

Brucon: Major flaws in eID web applications revealed

Major flaws exist in web applications that are used for national electronic identity smartcards.

Presenting at the Brucon conference in Ghent, Taddong founder and senior security analyst Raul Siles said that an investigation into web applications that deal with electronic identity (eID) smartcards found major security failings.

Siles said that as these smartcards contain biometric (fingerprint) data, an authentication certificate and a signature certificate, they are built securely with the PKCS#15 standard and he was not aware if anyone had hacked into it.

There are 26 countries deploying the card across the world, with 25 million citizens using it in Siles' native Spain. He said that these are used in different places to get access to WiFi and VPNs and we are getting to the point where instead of using a credit card, we will use eID for e-government services where it is merged with the SIM on a mobile phone.

Siles said: “Merchants are provided with readers to make use of the cards, but in reality where are you using the eID? In web applications for e-government services and for 99 per cent of procedures from central government. This is the most secure authentication method â€" if you are using two-factor authentication (2FA) of the eID it will be much more secure and everyone is promoting that.

“In 2011 e-accessibility increased in Europe for e-government services, so we started looking at this for Spain and we were the top e-access for services perspective. So we need to meet the security of services too to improve the state of eID within web applications.”

Siles said his research of web applications that use eID looked at the use of HTTPS, how they use data and how they manage session data and cookies to keep track of user activities.

He said: “HTTPS is pretty similar, it sends a request, says hello and requests [a] certificate and it is done and if it accepts, it does the certificate and communicates in a secure way sending data back and forth.

According to Siles, when it comes to data most people focus on SQL, XSS and the OWASP top ten, but third in that is authentication and session management. He believes people need to focus, and this is critical, as attackers are doing just that in creating malware such as 'Oddjob ' that attacked banks and web applications.

"Before you authenticate, do session management and access control, then do not forget to close the session,” he said.

Siles said that most web applications are developed in Java, and everyone assumes that the web application is secure. His research of 15 'very relevant' web applications during the period of May to December 2011 found that 70 per cent were using HTTPS and 46 per cent were using SSL version two, and that 100 per cent were using SSL version three, so developers need to keep pace with what is going on in the security industry.

“With secure HTTPS renegotiation, users do not know how to do it so they leave their browsers with trousers down,” he said.

Elsewhere, his research found that 50 per cent of TCP/80 portals were open and 43 per cent redirected. 

He said: “We found that some applications do renegotiation, some have data in databases but with others you need to register first, it is a twisted purpose as you register and can modify it, but only 25 per cent of applications require registration, but 67 per cent are vulnerable to the renegotiation process.”

Other research found that 75 per cent of the sites use cookies, while 36 per cent use a low entropy ID, however 64 per cent of the web applications were vulnerable to session fixation, despite this being announced in 2002. “You need to change that and fix it,” he said.

Finally, Siles said that there was a real problem with closing sessions, as only nine per cent implemented an absolute time out. “Why is this required? What if an attacker hijacks a session with your user eID? They will be you forever, you need an absolute time out to re-authenticate, but with 18 per cent it remained open,” he said.

Siles said: “We need to develop new web applications with new functionalities, as we found holes on what is collected. They need to do something but it is not clear on what they need to do yet apart from fix the flaws."

Brucon: The rise and fall of desktop gadgets

The use of desktop gadgets has fallen due to vulnerabilities and the ability to attack them.

Speaking at the Brucon conference in Ghent, security researcher Mickey Shkatov said that discussions had taken place on gadgets since 2007 and "nothing has been done until now".

Previously called the Sidebar on Vista, Shkatov said that there was no flexibility to move it until Windows 7 but there were no improvements in security, and now its use is in decline and it is being removed from Windows 8 altogether.

He said that typically there are 50-60 gadgets on a page such as calendars, RSS readers and the piano gadget, and their use was in decline, but there was a rise in iOS apps and he had seen one Silverlight-based gadget.

In terms of development, Shkatov said that he "took his hat off to Microsoft", as if you read its documentation it covers everything on what to do and what not to do, yet he claimed that no one follows it.

He said: “Gadgets are very similar to HTML, if they are installed you can use it and run it and you will not know anything about it. If you manually decompress them they will be installed and since Microsoft retired the gallery, there are corporations who have their own gadget store interface with internal gadgets.”

Looking at attacking with gadgets and attacking the gadgets, he said that the former was the easy part as you can add malicious code and send it to a victim who is none the wiser. “It is not perceived to be dangerous as it is only JavaScript and anti-virus will not look at it,” he said.

“Also you can open URLs as gadgets share the same cache as the user ID. You can also create files with whatever you want as the default location of writing file is the user's desktop. You don't have to be a genius to weaponise gadgets.”

In attacking gadgets, Shkatov said that a Google search for gadgets will return a lot of malicious links with executable files, especially as many sites claim to be gadget sites. “We have poor security practises and easy targets, a lot pull down JavaScript files to update themselves. You can intercept with a proxy and do whatever you want,” he said.

In terms of what to do about it, especially if anti-virus will not pick up on malicious code embedded in a gadget, Shkatov said that three CVEs were released in 2007 and a fix-it will remove the gadget altogether, but more work needed to be done by developers to write applications properly and force them to use SSL.

He pointed to advisory 2719662 from mid-July this year that disables the Windows Sidebar and gadgets on supported editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. This was done because of a remote code execution vulnerability in gadgets.

Shkatov said that he had reported his findings to Microsoft and he said they 'relaxed' the gadgets, but he did not expect them to drop the feature altogether. “Clicking on the fix-it will remove it, I suggest you do so,” he said. 

Certificate manager for networks and devices launched by Bell ID

Bell ID has announced the launch of a certificate manager to control digital certificates in networks, or on smartphones, smartcards or USB tokens.

According to the company, the web-based platform reduces operational costs by delegating control to end-users via a self-service portal and by automating many bulk certificate management tasks. The system automatically checks the expiry dates and certified data of employee certificates and issues email notifications when action is required, thereby ensuring the certificate validity.

The product supports the management of any type of certificate from different certificate authorities and integrates with existing IT systems.

David Orme, CEO of Bell ID, said: “Managing identity credentials has always been at the core of our business activities. We are pleased to now expand our solution to the management of certificates as well.

“There has already been significant interest from both current and new customers; proving there is a real need for a cost-effective, secure and efficient certificate management solution.”

Businesses report data losses and downtime from Microsoft Exchange Server and Office SharePoint Server

Around half of organisations suffered a data loss from Microsoft's Exchange Server and Office SharePoint Server in the past year.

According to research by Kroll Ontrack of 326 people, 42 per cent reported that they have experienced at least one Exchange or SharePoint data loss in the past year, while 25 per cent reported multiple data losses. The degree of severity of data loss varied, with 20 per cent categorising their loss as a level one, defined as a severe disruption, such as a down system.

Over half (59 per cent) also reported that it took at least half of a business day to recover from that loss, while 14 per cent lost multiple days and five per cent claimed they never recovered from the loss. Sixty per cent of respondents said the financial impact of their data loss was £30,000 or greater and three per cent experienced a loss of more than £615,000.

Robert Winter, chief engineer at Kroll Ontrack, said: “Email and Exchange is involved at every level of business life. Losing that information is debilitating, putting a great deal of recovery and restoration requests and thus burden on IT.

“Based on the results of this survey, it is clear that data loss events on these business critical applications remain an ongoing challenge for IT. A single data loss and recovery event can escalate very quickly and become extremely expensive to an organisation. However, there are tools that can granularly restore items, messages, attachments and even notes and contacts, eliminating the need for a backup recovery server.”

RIM Introduces the BlackBerry 10 Beta

One of the companies that led the way in mobile business technology, Research in Motion, Ltd., introduced its BlackBerry Beta 10 to press and developers earlier this week. While the industry is waiting with baited breath to see how business users will respond, here's another look at how mobile is transforming business everywhere.

Mobile Milestones

A good beginning. Expected to be available to consumers and business users in January or sometime later in 2013, the BlackBerry 10 has already partially won over critics. In a video overview, tech writer Dieter Bohn admits being impressed with the device, but says it remains to be seen whether the new BlackBerry catches on. The Verge

The PC paradigm. Despite the importance of the mobile market that yet another device represents, startup businesses and online entrepreneurs continue to focus upon desktop or laptop-based products and services first. Blogger M.G. Siegler insists it's time to make mobile more than just an afterthought. Massive Greatness

Data Directions

The results are in. If you haven't yet thought about the importance of mobile technology to your business, this post from blogger Scott Dudley should give you plenty of food for thought. Drawing from data supplied by Google, Dudley shares insights pointing out the latest mobile trends and where they are leading. Mobile Marketing Answer Man

Another perspective. This post and infographic look at the ongoing mobile trend by examining the proliferation of mobile devices and their uses by consumers. The increase in the number of these devices and their popularity will lead to more opportunities for mobile marketing. Fusion Alliance

Tech Transitions

I'll take mine to go. Of course, mobile devices and the apps they use are helpful to businesses for much more than marketing. They can also be helpful for productivity by giving you access to your files, staff, social media, transactional data, and expense information while on the road and away from the office. Merchantos

Conference call convenience. And, hey look! You can even gather the troops without actually…er…gathering the troops. Take a look at technology that makes conference calls affordable and mobile from your smartphone. Keep in touch with your staff while on the run and out of the office. Smallbiz Technology

Get moving on the Web. Of course, the most important question for businesses to answer is whether their Websites are mobile-ready so customers on mobile devices can access them easily. Fortunately, getting your business site primed for this portable pump is easier than you may think. Search Engine Journal