COOL NO-COST BUSINESS APPS FOR ENTREPRENEURS

7 Free Apps That Will Make Life Better

These free (or next to free) apps promise to make your life easier.

Who doesn’t like the word free? I know I sure do. The great thing about being an entrepreneur these days is the huge variety of free or low-cost online business tools out there to help keep everything organized and your company running smoothly. It seems like every day I hear or read about a shiny new app or service promising to save me time and money. It’s hard to resist saying, “Sign me up!” … Especially if it’s free.

Here are seven free (or next to free) business tools that I can’t live without:

Animoto – We’ve all heard how video can increase engagement with customers and attract more eyeballs than just text and pictures alone. But getting a video produced can be pretty expensive. About a year ago, I needed to create a quick video for an employee get-together. I hopped onto Animoto, uploaded a bunch of employee photos, selected a music track from my library and voila! Everyone loved it, and I didn’t need any fancy video editing software. Cost: Tiered pricing, beginning at free

UserVoice – With UserVoice, small businesses can quickly set up a feedback forum and/or helpdesk where customers can submit (and you can track) customer support tickets. This is especially useful if you aren’t at a point in your business where you can have a customer support team or call center. You want your customers to air their concerns in a place you have complete access and control over, versus a third-party forum, as much as you can. Cost: Tiered pricing, beginning at free

Roost – Full disclosure: My company, VerticalResponse, recently acquired Roost … largely because it has a strong reputation for being a super easy social media marketing tool for small businesses. With Roost, you can view and schedule your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn posts in advance. It also provides suggested content, like news articles and quotes, based on your industry and interests – so you don’t have to waste time searching. Cost: Free

Evernote – I admit, until January of this year I was one of those people who still jotted down notes and ideas on paper. One of my resolutions for 2012 was to organize all my thoughts via Evernote, and now I’m addicted. I have it open all the time on my computer, and the iPhone mobile app is a breeze to use whenever I’m on the road and see or think of something I want to follow up on later. Side benefit: I can clip recipes from the Web and have the ingredients list on my iPhone when I’m at the store. Cost: Free for basic version

Join.me – Virtual meeting providers like WebEx and GoToMeeting certainly offer lots of bells and whistles (with price points that show it), but there are others out there that offer similar features – for the cool price of free. With Join.me, viewers just have to type in your code onto the Join.me home page for instant access to your screen, no app for them to download required. Cost: Free for basic version

Instagram and Postagram – Think Instagram is just for hipsters? Think again. The ability for someone to follow, comment or share photos in your Instagram gallery is another way for people to engage with your content – especially if Instagram’s artsy aesthetic reflects your brand. And with Postagram, you can send those cool photos in postcard form – a blend of old-school and new, and another great opportunity to get in front of customers in a pleasantly surprising way. Cost: Free for Instagram, 99 cents per Postagram postcard

Instagram and Postagram – Think Instagram is just for hipsters? Think again. The ability for someone to follow, comment or share photos in your Instagram gallery is another way for people to engage with your content – especially if Instagram’s artsy aesthetic reflects your brand. And with Postagram, you can send those cool photos in postcard form – a blend of old-school and new, and another great opportunity to get in front of customers in a pleasantly surprising way. Cost: Free for Instagram, 99 cents per Postagram postcard

Granted, there are countless tools that I’ve tried out and for various reasons, and they just keep comin’. Just like a good pair of jeans, you might need to do some shopping around to find the ones that truly are a great fit for you.

What business tools are in your everyday arsenal, and how have they improved your life?

Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse, a leading provider of self-service e-mail and event marketing, online surveys, social media, and direct mail solutions. The company was ranked No. 1,771 on the 2011 Inc. 5000 list. She blogs for the VerticalResponse Marketing Blog for Small Business. @janinepopick

 

Sai bless me...Baba Mujhe Apne Gale Se Lagaale.Shirdi Bhajan Singer Luck...

ஆண்டவா நீ எதற்கு...?

ஒரு தீவிர பக்தனுக்கு அவன் வேண்டுகோளின்படி இறைவன் கருணை புரிந்து காட்சி அளித்தான்…..  இருவருக்கும் கீழ்கண்டவாறு உரையாடல் நடந்தது ............. பக்தன்:     பிறப்பின் வருவது யாதென கேட்டான்  இறைவன் : பிறந்து பாரேன இறைவன் பணித்தான் ப   :  படிப்பெனச் சொல்வது யாதென கேட்டான்  இ   :  படித்துப் பாரேன இறைவன் பணித்தான் அறிவெனச் சொல்வது யாதென கேட்டான்  அறிந்து பாரேன இறைவன் பணித்தான் அன்பெனப் படுவது என்ன என்று கேட்டான்  பிறருக்கு அளித்துப் பாரேன இறைவன்  பணித்தான் பாசம் என்பது யாதென கேட்டான்  பகிர்ந்து பாரேன இறைவன் பணித்தான் மனைவியின் சுகம் என்பது யாதென கேட்டான்   மணந்து பாரேன இறைவன் பணித்தான் பிள்ளைபேறு என்பது யாதென  கேட்டான்  பெற்றுப்   பாரேன இறைவன் பணித்தான் முதுமை என்பது யாதென  கேட்டான்  முதிர்ந்து பாரேன இறைவன் பணித்தான் வறுமை என்பது என்னவென்று கேட்டான்  வாடிப்பாரென இறைவன் பணித்தான் இறப்பின் பின்பு என்னவென்று கேட்டான்   இறந்து பாரேன இறைவன் பணித்தான்  கேட்டவன் கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சமாக கடுப்பாகி ......இதெல்லாம் சரிதான் ... எல்லாவற்றையும்  நான் அனுபவித்தேதான் அறிவது என் வாழ்கை என்றால்  ஆண்டவனே நீ எதற்கு என்று கேட்டான்…  ஆண்டவன் சற்றே அருகில் வந்து ... அனுபவம் என்பதே நான்தான் என்றான் ...............  ~ கண்ணதாசன் கவிதையிலிருந்து அனுபவித்தது ~ - வெங்கடரமணி-

Young galaxy cluster found

SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Share on print A team of astronomers has discovered the most distant example of a galaxy cluster lying in the middle of one of the most well-studied regions in the sky. Galaxy clusters are the ‘urban centres' of the universe and may contain thousands of galaxies. This cluster is located 10.5 billion light-years away from our own Milky Way galaxy and is made up of a dense concentration of 30 galaxies that is the seed for a much bigger ‘city'. "Our galaxy cluster is observed when the Universe was only three billion years old," said Swinburne University of Technology astrophysicist Dr Lee Spitler, lead author of the study known as the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (Z-FOURGE). "This means it is still young and should continue to grow into an extremely dense structure containing many more galaxies." The discovery of this system at such an early stage of the Universe will help astronomers understand how galaxies are influenced by their environment. We see the end result of this process in nearby galaxy clusters, but it is critical to study distant clusters to develop a broad timeline of how galaxies were transformed in densely packed regions.? "This finding is much like discovering an ancient city that existed earlier than any other known city," said team member Professor Kim-Vy Tran of Texas A&M University. "In the same way that it's important for humans to search for the oldest known cities to understand civilisations today, it's important to search for the cosmological equivalent of the most ancient cities to understand why galaxies like our Milky Way look the way they do." Dr Spitler said the discovery was remarkable because the cluster is located in the middle of one of the most well-studied regions of the sky. Near the star constellation Leo, this region has been carefully examined for thousands of hours using all major observing facilities on the ground and in space, including nearly one month of observing time from the Hubble Space Telescope. Despite the significant investment of telescope time, Dr Spitler said a critical piece of information was still missing - accurate distances for faint galaxies over a large section of the sky. "A fundamental problem in observational astronomy is to classify the points of light we see in the night sky. You need to determine if the point of light you are looking at is a star in our Milky Way, a nearby galaxy or one very far away." Addressing this problem is the focus of a new survey, led by Dr Ivo Labbé at Leiden Observatories in the Netherlands. Swinburne's Professor Karl Glazebrook is leading the Australian team. Observations are being conducted with the new FourStar camera on the Magellan 6.5-metre telescope in Chile. With five specially designed infra-red camera filters, the team members collect images that are sensitive to narrow sections of the near-infrared wavelength spectrum. With this powerful approach, they are able to measure distances to thousands of distant galaxies at a time. From the first six months of the survey, the team obtained accurate distances for faint galaxies over a region roughly one-fifth the size of the moon as seen from Earth. Though the area is relatively small, they found roughly a thousand galaxies more than 10.5 billion light-years away. "These new filters are a novel approach, it's a bit like being able to do a CAT scan of the sky to rapidly make a 3D picture of the early Universe," said Professor Glazebrook. "We can see the galaxies arranged in filaments and dense clusters very easily." The team is pursuing more observations using other telescopes to characterise the galaxy cluster. In February, Swinburne team members travelled to Hawaii to use the Keck Telescope, accessed through a partnership between Swinburne and California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, USA. The findings will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Injectable contraceptives up cancer risk

THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

A study has revealed that injectable contraceptives that are widely used around the world influence the risk of developing several types of cancer. The study team was led by Ms Margaret Urban at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) in Johannesburg and Professor Emily Banks of The Australian National University. Professor Banks said the study builds on previous research that found that women using oral contraception have a temporarily increased risk of breast cancer and cervical cancer and a decreased risk of ovarian cancer and cancer of the lining of the womb. “Our study confirms previous findings that the use of oral hormonal contraceptives is associated with an increased risk of breast and cervical cancer,” said Professor Banks. “We have also shown for the first time that injectable hormonal contraception use independently increases the risk of developing these cancers to a similar extent as oral contraceptives, and that these risks wear off over time.” The researchers found that South African women who had recently used one or both of these contraception methods were about 1.7 times more likely to develop breast cancer and 1.4 times more likely to develop cervical cancer  than women who had never used hormonal contraception. However, this increased risk disappeared within a few years after women stopped taking the contraception. The study also supports previous findings that extended use of hormonal contraception is associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer and cancer of the lining of the womb. “Over 60 million women are using injectable contraceptives world wide. These findings fill an important gap in knowledge, which will inform women’s contraception choices,” said Ms Urban. “The temporary increase in the risk of breast and cervical cancer and the long term protection against ovarian and endometrial cancers need to be considered alongside the highly effective contraception that these medications provide,” said Ms Urban. The study, involving more than 3,500 black women, was run as part of the Johannesburg Cancer Case Control Study at Johannesburg public hospitals and was chiefly funded by the NHLS and the South African Medical Research Council. Among black South African women, injectable contraceptives are used more commonly than the oral contraceptive pill. Oral contraceptive pills contain man-made versions of the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone, while injectable contraceptives usually only contain progesterone. The paper is published today in PLoS Medicine. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

New way to beat depression

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

TDCS is a non-invasive form of brain simulation that passes a weak depolarising electrical current into the front of the brain through electrodes on the scalp. Image: mphillips007/iStockphoto Stimulating the brain with a weak electrical current is a safe and effective treatment for depression and could have other surprise benefits for the body and mind, a major Australian study of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has found. Medical researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the Black Dog Institute have carried out the largest and most definitive study of tDCS and found up to half of depressed participants experienced substantial improvements after receiving the treatment. A non-invasive form of brain stimulation, tDCS passes a weak depolarising electrical current into the front of the brain through electrodes on the scalp. Patients remain awake and alert during the procedure. “We are excited about these results. This is the largest randomised controlled trial of transcranial direct current stimulation ever undertaken and, while the results need to be replicated, they confirm previous reports of significant antidepressant effects,” said trial leader, Professor Colleen Loo, from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry. The trial saw 64 depressed participants who had not benefited from at least two other depression treatments receive active or sham tDCS for 20 minutes every day for up to six weeks. “Most of the people who went into this trial had tried at least two other antidepressant treatments and got nowhere. So the results are far more significant than they might initially appear — we weren’t dealing with people who were easy to treat,” Professor Loo said. Significantly, results after six weeks were better than at three weeks, suggesting the treatment is best applied over an extended period. Participants who improved during the trial were offered follow up weekly ‘booster’ treatments, with about 85 percent showing no relapse after three months. “These results demonstrate that multiple tDCS sessions are safe and not associated with any adverse cognitive outcomes over time,” Professor Loo said, adding tDCS is simple and cost effective to deliver, requiring a short visit to a clinic. The study also turned up additional unexpected physical and mental benefits, including improved attention and information processing. “One participant with a long-standing reading problem said his reading had improved after the trial and others commented that they were able to think more clearly. “Another participant with chronic neck pain reported that the pain had disappeared during the trial. We think that is because tDCS actually changes the brain’s perception of pain. We believe these cognitive benefits are another positive aspect of the treatment worthy of investigation,” Professor Loo said. The researchers are now looking at an additional trial to include people with bipolar disorder, with early results from overseas suggesting tDCS is just as effective in this group. Anyone wishing to take part in future trials should contact the Black Dog Institute 02 9382 3720, email TMSandDCS@unsw.edu.au or visit the website: www.blackdoginstitute.org . The study is published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Other research team members included Drs Angelo Alonzo, Donel Martin, Veronica Galvez, Mr Michael Player and Professors Philip Mitchell and Perminder Sachdev. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

TERE DARSHAN KO TARSE NAINA (HINDI SAI BHAJAN) - SAI LOVER RANA GILL

FIVE WAYS TO BRING OUT YOUR INNER ENTREPRENEUR

5 Easy Ways to Feel More Confident

You won’t convince investors, customers or employees that you can change the world unless you convince yourself first. How on earth do you do that?

You must believe in yourself as an entrepreneur before anyone else will take you seriously. But what if it doesn’t come naturally? Can you train yourself to believe in your ultimate success?

The answer is yes. The successful among us are often iconoclasts. Playwright George Bernard Shaw put it best a century ago: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

So how do you become constructively “unreasonable?”

Last time, we wrote about six key ways to convince stakeholders that you’re the real deal. Based on our study of hundreds of successful entrepreneurs, here are five key ways to train yourself to believe in your ultimate success.

1. Develop relationships with other entrepreneurs. Having peers and mentors matters. So ask yourself: “Who’s really got my back?” Surround yourself with smart, enthusiastic people– and build a support system of others who strive to be exceptional. Meanwhile, why not work for proven entrepreneurs? What better way to learn how they think?

2. Manage fear proactively. Neuroscience tells us that our brains still run an operating system from back in the caveman days, and fear is a big part of it.  The most effective way to overcome trepidation is to expose yourself gradually to the object of your dread, which can make it all seem less potent. Fear never goes away completely, but you can learn to channel fear it as a motivation instead of an excuse for inaction.

3. Celebrate the positive. Much of life’s experience depends on your attitude. So, here’s an exercise: Sit down and write out a dozen instances when you’ve been successful in life in any context. Did you get an A in the hardest class in college?  Did you convince the girl or boy of your dreams to date or even marry you?  Write it out– and develop a reservoir of confidence.

4. Listen to customers. The customer is your compass. Listen actively to the market to learn about what customers want today-- but also what they’re likely to want by the time you can deliver solutions. You'll always have more valid reasons to believe in your ultimate success if you can consistently say you've developed your venture to meet specific customer needs.

5. Seek and find external validation. Many successful people talk about simple, fateful moments when others validated their ambitions. A century ago, Henry Ford cited brief words of encouragement from Thomas Edison that bolstered his confidence. To be effective, validation has to come from someone you view as admirable and credible, and it should come after you've taken steps toward your goal.  You want to believe that the person validating your efforts knows what he’s talking about---but also that you do, too.

Jon Burgstone was co-founder of SupplierMarket, acquired by Ariba for $1.1B. He now teaches at Berkeley, where he helped launch the Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. He is co-author of Breakthrough Entrepreneurship. @jburgstone

Bill Murphy, Jr.: writes about entrepreneurship and national security. He reported from Iraq for The Washington Post and was the primary assistant to Bob Woodward on two books. With Jon Burgstone, he co-wrote Breakthrough Entrepreneurship.

 

~ ~Sarees For Girls~

JOB VACANCY FOR SRM TECH CONSULTANTS (SAP) as received

A major Oil & Gas company in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia requires SRM Tech. Consultant .

Applicant should have a Bachelor�s degree preferably in Engineering or a Post Graduate with more than 4 years of relevant experience.  Applicant should be SAP certified with the following skills.

�         Expertise in ABAP & Oops concepts (BADIs Implementations,BAPI and other areas)

�         SRM7 workflows (process control)

�         Code de-bugging skills

�         Webdynpro concepts (SRM7)

�         Sap certification: Must

�         SRM ROS

�         B2B Development

�         B2B Workflow

�         Integration between SRM, B2B and R/3

 

If you meet the above requirement please submit your CV with the subject �SRM TC� to searchresume2000@gmail.com not later than 14^thMarch 2012.  Location of work : Al Khafji, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Sawfish use Wi-Fi to find prey

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Sawfish feed on catfish, mullet and freshwater prawns.  One strike from their saw can split a fish in half. Image: ShaunWilkinson/iStockphoto Research carried out by The University of Western Australia in an international collaboration for an aquarium fish collector based in Cairns has uncovered that, contrary to previous assumptions, a sawfish's saw can actually sense electric fields to locate and attack prey.  The discovery smashes the myth that sawfish are purely bottom feeders that use their saw to rake the sandy bottom.  It provides evidence that the fish, which develop in freshwater river systems, also feed closer to the surface. The discovery, led by UWA School of Animal Biology researcher Barbara Wueringer and published in the journal Current Biology, could help save the sawfish from extinction by providing vital information for captive breeding programs and strategies to save them from falling victim to commercial fishing nets.  Sawfish share a common ancestry with shovelnose rays and it's believed they evolved their saw-like rostrum with teeth on the outside to extend their niche in the underwater world. Once common in tropical and subtropical regions, freshwater sawfish spend their young life in river systems until they reach adulthood - about age 10 and at least three metres long - when they move into the ocean. Sawfish feed on catfish, mullet and freshwater prawns.  One strike from their saw can split a fish in half. Four species, which are protected in Australia, are found in the northern half of the country. "Despite their worldwide decline, there is an indication the population in Australia is still in good condition," Ms Wueringer said. "Officially they have never been targeted and so they are caught only as by-catch.  Unfortunately, their saws are often taken for trophies by both commercial and recreational fishers and their fins are popular in the shark fin trade." "The more we know about them the better we can protect them.  The first step might be to develop by-catch diversion strategies.  And for captive sawfish, we can make sure they get the right stimuli to survive and reproduce," Ms Wueringer said. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

ENGINEERS JOBS

Career Opportunities in Textile

No	Post	Job Task	Academic Requirements	Client Industry Sector	Salary Rs.  PM & Location
1	Effluent Treatment Plant Manager	Proven background of industrial Effluent Treatment Plant, capable to manage risk. Managing the complete Operations of ETP independently while maintaining BOC,COC levels according to NEQs level.	B.E (Chemical) from reputed Engineering University recognized by HEC. 8 years of experience	Home Textile Manufacturer	90,000/= Karachi- Industrial Area
2	Manager Electric & Electronics	Proven background of industrial electronics maintenance & troubleshooting, capable to manage risk.	B.E (Electronics / Industrial Electronics / Electrical) from reputed Engg University recognized by HEC. 8 years of experience	Home Textile Manufacturer	80,000 Karachi - Industrial Area
3	Deputy HR Manager - Female	To look after all HR related functions	Candidate at least 4 years of experience in Large Engg.  Sector. MBA- HR,  English fluent	Electronic Engineering  Sector	60,000/= Karachi – EPZ
4	Management Trainee Sales- Female	To look after brand /Sales management	Fresh MBA in Sales  & branding, English fluent	Training Consultancy	12,000/= Karachi – Clifton

Forward Job to your  fellows, Excellent remuneration will be provide to right person, Send complete CV at:  seekersinternational@yahoo.com with Position subject before 7^th March 2012.

SEEKERS INTERNATIONAL

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