Ever find yourself struggling to figure out what time it is in another part of the world?  Perhaps you have friends, family or colleagues who are somewhere besides your home state.  Despite the fact that figuring out time zone changes only involved simple arithmetic, it seems to get the best of us.  But don't worry, even all those super smart people at Google seem to have the same issue, because Google recently unveiled a feature for Gmail that will tell you which contacts should be awake or asleep based on the time-zone they send the email.

I have to admit that up till now, I failed to see the benefit of Twitter for many small businesses.  Twitter is very powerful for spreading news and information incredibly quickly, but could it really increase a businesses bottom line?  The New York Times has an article that helps answer many of those questions about Twitter. 
For businesses, one of the most valuable things about Twitter is how is connects a business with the consumer.  People seem to tweet about the products they use.  When you get a large enough group of people tweeting about a particular product it can give valuable feedback to the product's maker.  Take for example Dell, which noticed many people complaining on Twitter that the apostrophe and return keys were too close together on the Mini 9 laptop.  In the next version of the laptop, the Mini 10, Dell had fixed the issue. 
While there might be a lot of Twitter data to be mined for products used across the US, what about the local businesses, that probably aren't able to gather useful data from peoples tweets?  The article gave an interesting example of a spa that twitters when there are last minute openings and gives discounts to people who book them.  This has allowed to spa to increase it's booked time. 
Perhaps I'm slower that most people, but I think I'm finally able to see how twitter really can help small businesses.  Again, like with all technology you can't just start using it and expect things to happen.  The value in Twitter is in the people who follow your message.  Once you get a good audience then you can expect things to happen.

In response to the wave of advertisements that try to depict Windows and Macs, as people the Linux foundation sponsored their own wave of videos called, "We're Linux."  In true open source fashion, videos could be created by anyone.  The Linux foundation just announced the finalists. You can also view all the of video submissions.  Some videos are really creative, some are funny and some are just strange.  I really would recommend taking a few minutes to view the finalists though--they can really make you proud to be part of Linux.

I like free stuff.  The free business model is really shaking up traditional marketing and business plans.  I like companies that give stuff away for free.  I think there is a lot of power in giving something away for free, but charging for ‘premium’ editions.  Recently SolidWorks and Autodesk, both makers of powerful design and drafting software, threw their hats in to the free business model in what SolidWorks is calling the “engineering stimulus package.” Both companies are giving away free versions of their flagship products to people who have been laid off or find themselves out of work.   Read more about Autodesk’s offer here.

Craigslist is one of the best examples of a company that uses technology well.  I believe that a good use of technology is one that allows you to accomplish more than you could without that technology.  To use a military term, technology should be a `force multiplier.`  Unfortunately many companies use technology in a way that makes things more complicated.  Simplicity should always be sought.  Craigslist is a very simple website, that’s probably why it is so popular.  Websites shouldn’t be too complicated or showy, because then they become difficult to use.  A recent report showed that 97 out of the 100 most frequently visited online classified sites were Craigslist sites for various regions.  In fact Craigslist has one of the most trafficked sites in the US.  Now how many people does it take to achieve such success?  Answer: 28 people working from an old victorian home.  Now that is what I call a brilliant use of technology as a force multiplier.

In my long lasting crusade to help small business reduce our dependence on Microsoft and find affordable software, I recently ran across an interested website called Zoho.  Zoho offers an impressive suite of applications for individuals and business users.  From word processes to CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to database development Zoho seems to cover the needs of almost any small business.  The New York Times recently reviewed Zoho’s word processing features and concluded they beat Google Apps and even present a valid challenge to Microsoft.  And of course one of my favorite features is that many of the applications are free.

The New Yorks Times is reporting how the next revolution on PC making might be the Netbook category.  These laptops two main features are that they are light and cheap.  Asus made the netbook category popular with their Eee PC, which can be purchased for as little as $250.  Soon more PC manufacturers started trying to create their own version of the netbook.  In order to provide netbooks for as cheap as possible many of them run on the Linux operating system.  Another benefit of using Linux is that it will run on a variety of computer types.  While the desktop market remains one of the lowest penetration areas for Linux the netbook market might be the inroad Linux needs to gain more recognition.  Read the whole NYTimes article here.

Windows, yes I like them, the kind that provide a view of the outside world and let sunshine into my room.  In fact I have two great windows adjacent to my desk.  But I’m proud of my windowless office, not the glass kind, but the software kind.  I think it would be a lot harder to get rid of my glass windows than it was to get rid of my windows software.  I’ve been windowless for about three years and I’ve found it to be very pleasurable.  And I guess I’m not the only one.  InfoWorld is reporting that more and more computer geeks are getting Mac envy.  And it shouldn’t be too surprising with reports of computer worms that could affect more than 1 million Windows users, who wouldn’t give Mac and second look.

The New York Times is reporting that after a small decline spam has returned to about 94% of all emails.  This just further shows the necessity of having a great spam filter for corporate email.  Of all the choices the spam filter that comes with Google Applications is one of the best I’ve seen, and best of all it’s free for businesses!  Read the New York Times article here.  Click here to learn about Google Applications for your business.

faberNovel, a French company that also released a report called “All About Google,” has recently posted a new report entitled “Why could Google die…”  It provides an interesting look at the various threats to Google and their likelihood of occuring.  I have to admit that while I’m a fan of many of Google’s products, I sometimes wonder if they are getting too spread out and risk loosing focus on their core products.  If Google looses focus this would increase the risk of one of the major threats to Google actually occurring.  I’d would check out the presentation because it’s very interesting.