Author: knjohn

Cellphone radiation is still safer than viral science stories | Mashable

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You are almost definitely slowly killing yourself.

Eating poorly, smoking, riding motorcycles, watching The Bachelor — they’re all statistically proven to shorten the average life span (except maybe that last one).

As for using your cellphone? Not so much. The World Health Organization has said that cellphone radiation is “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” putting it in the same category as drinking coffee. In other words, we have no proof of an established causal link, but we can’t rule it out either.

That kind delineation is quickly trampled when it comes to new studies, one of which came out Friday, resulting in the usual freak out.

Read More

Commuter Smart Jacket From Levi’s Introduced |Small Biz Trends

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The barrier between us and the digital connectivity we need to work, play and live has been reduced by another factor with the announcement of the Levi’s Commuter Smart Jacket. So if you see someone walking down the street talking to themselves and swiping and tapping their clothes, no need for alarm, they could be wearing this Commuter smart jacket.

The new Levi’s Commuter smart jacket is fashioned in collaboration with Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) research along with Project Jacquard, which was created to embed technology in the clothes we wear.

Read More

The Importance of Manual Link Building: Why It Can’t Be Automated | HigherVisibility

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There are certain goals that always seem to stay on the priority lists of brands and businesses. Drive traffic? Definitely. Grow the brand? A must. Develop relationships with consumers and other businesses? Absolutely. All of these factors are crucial to any given brand’s success and long-term achievement, and finding ways to address all of these goals is a necessity.

One of the most fundamental and widely performed strategies used to work on such goals is link building. A practice known to fuel site traffic, link building tends to be used by brands and businesses to leave a trail of bread crumbs across the internet leading back to their own page. While that’s not necessarily a bad way of looking at the SEO practice, it does take away from the emphasis that should be placed on the importance of manual link building with quality in mind.

Read More

The Importance of Logistic Efficiency for Startups | Cool Business Ideas

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Starting up a business is difficult, and there are enormous challenges that any new entrepreneur faces. There’s competition from other businesses, learning how to manage growth, finding and vetting the right talent, and keeping up with ever changing markets. To be successful, one must also avoid common traps like failing to define a focus, not having enough funding, getting outmaneuvered by rivals, falling victim to internal company politics, being overly dependent on one specialization, not managing expectations, and an inability to bounce back from setbacks. It’s important to capitalize on any and every available advantage you have for your company to stay ahead.

We’ve previously talked about how reinvesting profits can be a good idea. Did you know that improving logistical efficiency is another great practice that can put your start-up in a more advantageous position? If you didn’t already know, marketing logistics, which concerns the movements of vital information and products, is a key to customer satisfaction that has implications across all facets of a business. How can it improve yours?

Read More

3 Ways Emerging Entrepreneurs Run Financially Sound Businesses | Entrepreneur

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Securing funding is a major feat for any brand and requires a great deal of planning and expertise. However, the real value comes from turning that initial support into long-term growth — transforming a spark into a sustainable fire. Without financial stability, eCommerce brands lack the foundation to tackle key business endeavors like evolving product lines, expanding geographic storefronts or making new investments into shipping and packaging that enhance the customer experience.

This is particularly true for emerging businesses transitioning from angel or first-round funding sources into companies with verified equity. These brands are no longer simply selling an idea but must be able to back their entire business model with a concrete financial plan.

Read More

Techies Are Trying to Turn the NBA Into the World’s Biggest Sports League | WIRED

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

IN 2014, THE Los Angeles Clippers were just getting used to being a good basketball team. After more than three decades of irrelevance—and only four winning seasons—they’d finally found that magic mix of talent and cohesion and had become a division-winning powerhouse practically overnight. But then they hit another roadblock: TMZ published a recording of the team’s owner, Donald Sterling, making racist comments.

The scandal spread. Rumors began to swirl that the league would force Sterling to sell the team. Basketball in LA has long been associated with celebrity, and the names of A-list prospective buyers flew: Billy Crystal, Oprah Winfrey. Even boxer Floyd Mayweather reportedly expressed interest.

Read More

How Airports Can Get Rid of TSA Screeners | Bloomberg

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Tens of thousands of travelers standing in interminable security lines this holiday weekend will, at least momentarily, entertain fantasies of revenge against the Transportation Security Administration. Airports could actually do something about the hated agency, and a few are weighing a radical option: firing TSA screeners and hiring private replacements.

The frustration over queue times—which have topped two and three hours at airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte and Denver—has prompted new attention by airport executives to the TSA’s little-known Screening Partnership Program, in which the federal agency solicits bids for a contractor to handle airport screening. The contractors must follow the same security protocols as federal officers, with similar wages and benefits.

Read More

Do You Know the 3 Rs of Financial Reporting? | All Business

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

I’m going to let you in on a secret: The best businesses—those that really boost the wealth and happiness of the business owner—are not built on intuition or luck.

As much as we would like to think that great entrepreneurs have some kind of special gift, the best among us simply know how to create and use meaningful financial reporting, and use it to make decisions that improve our businesses. With a good eye on the numbers and some careful analysis, any business owner can see what is going right and what is going wrong.

But running a business “by the numbers” means that your financial reports needs be built on the 3 R’s: Reliability, Readability, and Regularity:

Read More

Few US Adults Engage in All 5 Key Health Habits | Live Science

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Just 6 percent of adults in the U.S. have adopted all five key health habits that are linked with better health or longer life, according to a new report.

But adults in some states are far healthier than others: The states with the highest percentages of people who engage in all five habits are Utah (with 11.3 percent), Hawaii (9.2 percent) and Oregon (9 percent), according to the report published today (May 26) in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.

The five health habits the researchers looked at were: maintaining a healthy body weight (with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9), getting at least 7 hours of sleep, exercising (150 minutes of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes of intense exercise weekly), drinking alcohol in moderation or not at all, and not smoking. For the report, the researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at the data from nearly 400,000 U.S. adults ages 21 and older who participated in a national survey.

Read More