Google's Nest opens doors to third-party apps

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Nest, the Google Inc-owned maker of smart thermostats and other home automation products, will allow other companies to create apps that communicate with its devices.

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Tech moguls raise cash to fight Washington's 'big money problem'

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A group of influential Internet moguls aim to fix what they refer to as the "big money problem" in Washington politics by, well, raising cash.

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Apple suppliers to start making larger iPhones next month -Bloomberg

(Reuters) - Apple Inc's suppliers will begin producing larger versions of the iPhone in China next month, Bloomberg reported citing sources.

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Amazon close to resolving pricing dispute with Warner Bros: WSJ

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has resumed preorders of movie discs from Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros Studio as the companies are close to resolving a pricing dispute, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.

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3TechGuys Show – LIVE 8pm EST Mondays – Amazon Phone, Cloud Security and LinkedIn is OUT!

Watch 3TechGuys here or below. Live 8pm EST every Monday with Brent Leary, Gene Marks and Ramon Ray.

Syndicated to Fox Business each week.

The 23 June 2014 segment we cover Amazon.com Phone, Online scurity and LinkedOut – LinkedIn’s walling off access to its treasure of contacts!

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What If Your Business Had Trees as Clients?

As strange as it sounds, that’s how entrepreneur Micum Davis feels about his business Cornerstone Tree Care.

“I speak for the trees,” is Davis’s motto.

Not very easy words to live up to when part of your business may even involve cutting them down from time to time.

But Davis says he has built his company on the idea of trying to maintain a balance. It’s a balance of what’s best for the clients who hire him to trim, prune or sometimes remove trees and what’s best for the trees themselves.

That includes sometimes making the hard choice of telling a client paying for “wholesale removal” that some of those trees should stay.

Davis recently told his story to the Green Alliance, a local organization promoting savings at sustainable businesses in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

In addition to his restraint when it comes to tree removal, Davis has other ways of looking after trees and the greater ecosystem in which they live:

He also does his climbing with a system of ropes and doesn’t use spikes to climb trees which would damage their bark and make them susceptible to disease.

But that’s not all. Davis also uses chain lubricants that are biodegradable instead of petroleum-based. He uses a Prius to drive to all jobs to cut down on emissions and uses biodiesel for all his diesel-powered tools.

Cornerstone’s office is a mobile trailer illuminated only by natural light through the windows, using no electricity. The company recycles all its waste wood into lumber, firewood and mulch.

The company also recycles almost 100 percent of the company’s other waste. This is done through extensive sorting of bottles, paper and other waste.

So it’s easy to see that, while Davis has paying human clients too, in a way he does work for the trees. His extensive sustainability efforts in his business are an attempt to preserve the environment for everyone.

Video Still: Seacoast Media Group

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Microsoft Puts Brakes on Bing Ads Express

Bing is apparently putting the breaks on its Bing Ads Express service launched in October of 2013.

Microsoft, which owns Bing, had apparently hoped the service would appeal to small local businesses especially.

But apparently, there haven’t been enough takers. So if you’re participating in the beta or had thought about it, it looks like Microsoft plans to shut the whole thing down as of July 30.

Here’s what we know.

Back in October 2013, Bing unveiled the program claiming it would help businesses launch an ad campaign in minutes.

At the time, Ginny Sandhu, group product marketing manager for mobile and local advertizing at Microsoft, claimed the new service would let you set up your campaign in three steps:

• “Claim your business” by adding the address, the kind of product or service you provide, store hours and images.
• Write a quick ad about your business.
• Choose where the ad should show and the maximum budget for the campaign.

This was and is a much shorter process than the steps generally involved in setting up a typical pay-per-click campaign, as Sandhu explained on the official Bing Ads blog at the time:

“We take that information and do all the heavy lifting for you. From creating Ad Groups, Keywords and Bids, to managing your advertising campaign on a daily basis. Not to worry – you always stay in control; you tell us how much you want to spend in a month and we will make sure you never spend a penny more.”

Another key feature was apparently the way Microsoft was encouraging a tie-in with local businesses and their Facebook pages, as Ginny Marvin of Search Engine Land reported.

Many small local businesses use Facebook as their de facto Web presence. The new service offered an easy way to create geo-targeted ads on Bing, Yahoo and other partner Web services quickly.

But more recently, Sandhu said:

“Since launch, we've learned a lot about the challenges faced by businesses when promoting their business online. For many of our Bing Ads Express customers, offering simplified, automated options removes a granular level of control, sometimes needed in reaching their marketing goals. As such, we will be making some important changes in July.”

So it seems local advertisers Microsoft was hoping to attract would rather use the old way to set up ad campaigns giving them more control, as Sandhu said. Or the simplified process was still not enough to attract local businesses to pay-per-click ad programs on Bing and Yahoo.

Either way, Bing says after July 30, 2014 participants in Bing Ads Express will no longer be able to access their accounts. You can still set up campaigns for Bing, Yahoo and partner sites through Bing Ads, however, and contact the Bing Ads Support Team if you need help making the transition.

Images: Bing

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What Is The Best Country in the World for Women Entrepreneurs?

If you expected us to say anything other than the U.S., well, you’d be wrong.

A recent study shows women entrepreneurs in the U.S. have the best chance of success. Other countries seen as favorable for women entrepreneurs include Australia in the number 2 position, Sweden at number 3, France and Germany tied for the fourth and fifth positions and Chile taking up sixth place.

The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute, a non-profit research group focused on economic development, creates an annual index measuring potential for economic development worldwide based on a variety of factors.

In a brief explanation of its annual index, the institute explains on its website:

“The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index was created to provide a more complete understanding of economic development by capturing the contextual nature of business formation, expansion, and growth. It is based on analysis of comprehensive data sets from more than 120 countries that marshal information about the "3A's" of development: entrepreneurial attitudes, aspirations, and activity.”

This is only the second year the index has included a gender ranking, a part of the report specifically commissioned by Dell.

In an official announcement releasing the findings, Karen Quintos, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer said:

"At Dell, we are committed to empowering people everywhere with technology solutions to fulfill their ambitions and reach their full potential. The Gender-GEDI Index provides key insights designed to help countries advance female entrepreneurship and ultimately bolster the global economy. We believe awareness of the current landscape for women entrepreneurship is the first step toward change."

The gender portion of the study, which looked at a total of 30 countries around the world, took into account such factors as access to capital, education, women’s rights, and other aspects connected to women’s social and economic empowerment.

However, in the summary, Dell pointed out that even those countries that scored well still had considerable room for improvement.

A hard copy or Kindle version of the full report is now available on Amazon. In conjunction, Dell is offering a free download of the e-book Forget the Glass Ceiling: Build Your Business Without One, a case study of 10 female entrepreneurs who maximized opportunities and overcame challenges to find entrepreneurial success.

Image: GEDI

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