High Price Doesn't Always Accompany High Quality

Here's an example of someone who made a false start with e-marketing, reported in "Help With Your Business, Often Free, on the Web" in The New York Times. Jennifer Gordon, a Chicago based handbag designed attempted to promote her products through an e-mailed newsletter. However, she found that incorrect e-mail lists and outdated addresses led to undeliverable e-mail. Additionally, once a newsletter was sent out, she had not means of knowing if the document was ever opened.

Google Apps for Your Domain is a free group of web-based services. Small business owners can access tools to manage their website, as well as tool such as e-mail and instant messaging.

Numerous sites can also assist you with blogging. According to Ramon Ray, the publisher of smallbiztechnology.com, suggests that small business owners create blogs to increase Web rankings. Tools on blogger.com (owned by Google) and wordpress.com provide free assistance. Also, Typepad.com provides advanced blog features for $5/month. Another useful web tool allows numerous individuals to share and edit a document, kept on a company's server (Thinkoffice.org and zoho.com.)

Build a stronger business by using powerful tools readily available on the web.

Time is Relative

A (theoretical) timetable of events around the world, gelaned from a variety of news sources:

• Every 2 seconds someone in America requires a blood donation. (American Red Cross)
• Every 6 seconds someone dies from tobacco use. (World Health Organization)
• Every 6 seconds an Australian buys an item of clothing on eBay. (The Age)
  
• Every 6 seconds someone is killed or injured on a road somewhere in the world. (Make Roads Safe)
  
• Every 15 seconds the Large Synoptic Survey telescope in Chile photographs a section of the night sky. A complete panorama of the firmament is completed every three days. (The Guardian)
  
• Every 25 seconds someone in the United States is burned or scalded in the home. (Health News Digest)
  
• Every 26 seconds a student drops out of an American public high school. (America's Promise Alliance)
  
• Every 30 seconds someone in the world commits suicide. (W.H.O.)
  
• Every 30 seconds a child with birth defects is born in China. (China Daily)
  
• Every 30 seconds someone in the world loses a limb as a consequence of diabetes. (U.S. News & World Report)
  
• Every 35 seconds a child in the United States is reported neglected or abused. (KansasCity.com)
  
• Every 45 seconds a plane takes off or lands at Heathrow Airport, London. (The Economist)
  
• Every minute 1,000 people around the world sign up fr a cellphone. (TheStar.com)
  
• Every minute 253 children are born into the world. (U.S.Census Bureau)
  
• Every 4-8 minutes violent, profane, or sexual content appears during prime time "family hour" television programming. (Parents Television Council)
• Every 8 minutes a woman in a developing country dies of complications from an unsafe abortion. (W.H.O.)
• Every 15 minutes someone in Scotland has a heart attack. (British Heart Foundation)
• Every 38 minutes Louisiana loses a football-field-sized portion of it s wetlands. (Science Daily)
• Every hour & 44 minutes there is a case of "dowry death" in India. (The Guardian)
• Every 2 hours someone in New Zealand fractures a hip. (Osteoporosis New Zealand)
• Every 10 hours a driver with a suspended license crashes in Maine. (The Morning Sentinel)
• Every Day more than 1.6 million blog posts appear online. (Technorati)
• Everyday 6,800 are infected with H.I.V. (United Nations)
• Every fortnight a language falls out of use. (The New York Times)
• Every month 300 specialist nurses leave South Africa. (W.H.O.)
• Every month the American government adds around 20,000 names to its terrorist watch lists. (A.C.L.U.)
• Every month about 130 million rides are taken on the New York City subway. (M.T.A.)
• Every year the average American eats nearly 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish. (The New York Times)
  

Making Food Faster by Adopting High Tech Tools

In "Making Fast Food Even Faster" (The New York Times), Fitzgerald examines the technical advances in the Fast Food industry. HyperActive Technologies, which uses artificial intelligence to predict customer flow, landed their first corporate customer, Zaxby's Franchising, a chain of 400 restaurants in Athens, Ga. in January 2007. It took four years to have a restaurant chain by their product. This is just one example that exemplifies the Fast Food industry's minimal adoption of new technologies.

However, restaurant technology companies are becoming more popular as "'it's the last $100 billion industry that still makes all its products by hand,'" according to r. Coulter, co-founder and chief scientist at HyperActive. Other companies are looking for new areas to access in the food service industry, such as "speed of service" and outside call centers to manage orders. New offerings, such as a wireless tabletop hub to improve table turnover provided by ESP Systems, are being assessed by restaurants.

Additionally, increased interest in new technologies does not always translate into implementation of them. The food industry is primarily focused on food quality and restaurant image. Roger C. Matthews Jr., head of the restaurant group at the investment banking unit of the Goldman Sachs Group, sats that this market is risk-averse as no restuarant can afford a computer failure at peak time. Additionally, other low-tech and low-cost alternatives are available, according to Ron Paul, president of Technomic, a food and restaurant industry consultant. More specifically, Neal E. Sessions III, director of information technology at Zaxby's says that "'the restaurant technology environment generally lags other industries by three to five years.'"

One way to build a stronger business is to take technologies you know and apply them to new industries.