Text Message Laws Businesses Must Know | business.com

August 4, 2022August 2, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There are a number of text message marketing laws that your business should be following when trying to reach its target audience.

Text message marketing, also known as SMS marketing, is becoming a poular marketing channel. This rapid rise has many businesses scrambling to incorporate text message marketing into their marketing strategies. Before you get started, however, it is critical to understand the laws surrounding this marketing method. Even though you may not intend to break the law, some aspects of compliance may be easy to miss, and even a tiny oversight could cost your business millions of dollars and damage consumers’ trust in your company.

Apple and Amazon sales up despite rising prices | BBC News

August 2, 2022August 1, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon and Apple posted better than expected sales, reassuring investors that the tech giants will be able to weather slowdowns in global economies.

Amazon forecast in a trading update that higher fees for its Prime membership would boost its bottom line, while Apple said demand for its all important iPhone remained strong.

Both firms said they were making progress controlling running costs, despite prices rising at rapid rates.

The updates sent shares soaring.

The quarterly updates from Apple and Amazon are closely watched as indicators of how customers are reacting to the economic climate.

The FTC is suing to stop Meta from acquiring Within, a VR fitness company | Mashable

July 28, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In an era full of giant tech companies devouring smaller tech companies, the Federal Trade Commission is actually trying to stop one such acquisition.

The FTC filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to block Meta from acquiring the VR developer Within, per The Verge. Within is perhaps best known for developing Supernatural VR, a popular VR fitness app. The federal agency’s primary charge is that, in purchasing Within, Meta would be monopolizing VR fitness, given that it already owns another one of the most popular VR workout games in Beat Saber.

“Letting Meta acquire Supernatural would combine the makers of two of the most significant VR fitness apps, thereby eliminating beneficial rivalry between Meta’s Beat Saber app and Within’s Supernatural app,” the FTC’s complaint said.

How to take advantage of rising interest rates | CNN

July 28, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

With the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike on Wednesday — its fourth since March — consumers again face the question of where to park their savings for the best return and how to minimize their borrowing costs.

In its bid to beat back high inflation, the US central bank hiked its overnight lending rate another 75 basis points to a range of 2.25% to 2.50%. And more rate hikes are anticipated later this year.

“With inflation running north of 9%, we’re not at the finish line and there will be more interest rate increases to come in the months ahead,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

Here are a few ways to situate your money so that you can benefit from rising rates, and protect yourself from their downside.

Harvard: distracted driving a big problem for office workers | Fast Company

July 26, 2022July 25, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Ninety-five percent of Americans call distracted driving “extremely dangerous,” and federal campaigns to stop activities like texting behind the wheel (“U text. U drive. U pay.”) have been carried out by federal agencies as varied as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Yet, according to a new survey by Harvard Business School researchers, 87% of the commuters they interviewed still admitted to “multitasking” on their way to and from work.

Deadline to Apply for EIDL Loans Due to Texas Drought Nears | Small Business Trends

July 25, 2022July 25, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Deadline to Apply for EIDL Loans Due to Texas Drought Nears

Director Tanya N. Garfield of the SBA’s Disaster Field Operations Center-West Texas reminded small non-farm businesses of the August deadline dates to apply for an SBA federal disaster loan for economic injury. The low-interest loans were offered to offset economic losses from reduced revenues caused by drought.

Texas EIDL Deadlines Draw Near

The deadline for primary counties Fisher, Jones and Scurry is August 15, and is the same deadline for neighboring counties Borden, Callahan, Garza, Haskell, Kent, Mitchell, Nolan, Shackelford, Stonewall and Taylor.

The deadline for primary counties Camp, Franklin, Hopkins, Knox, Titus, Upshur and Wood is August 22, and is the same deadline for neighboring counties Baylor, Delta, Foard, Gregg, Harrison, Haskell, Hunt, King, Marion, Morris, Rains, Red River, Smith, Stonewall, Throckmorton and Van Zandt.

The interest rate for the loans is as low as 2.83% for businesses and 1.875% for private non-profit organizations. The terms are up to 30 years, with the actual loan amounts and terms to be set by the SBA who base them on each applicant’s financial condition.

Union suspends Heathrow refueling staff strike | BBC News

July 21, 2022July 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A strike by refuelling staff which could have disrupted several airlines at Heathrow Airport later this week has been called off.

A total of 50 workers from Aviation Fuel Services (AFS) were due to stage a three-day walkout from Thursday to Sunday in a row over pay.

However, the Unite union said on Wednesday that a fresh pay offer was now on the table after talks.

It will now ballot members on the new offer.

The union said talks at reconciliation service Acas on Wednesday had led to the new offer from AFS.

India’s central bank wants to ban cryptocurrencies, government says | TechCrunch

July 20, 2022July 18, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

India’s central bank wants to ban cryptocurrencies, the government told the parliament on Monday, raising more uncertainty about the future of the nascent virtual digital asset in the world’s second largest internet market.

Nirmala Sitharaman, the minister of finance in India, said Monday that the Reserve Bank of India has expressed concerns about the “destabilising effect of cryptocurrencies on the monetary and fiscal stability of a country” and has recommended “for framing of legislation on this sector,” she said.

“RBI is of the view that cryptocurrencies should be prohibited,” she added.

Tinder’s parent company expands background checks to more dating apps | Mashable

July 15, 2022July 13, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Tinder’s parent company has expanded its background check feature to two more of its dating apps. Now, daters on Match Group’s namesake app and Stir, created for single parents, can run background checks on potential matches. The feature was unrolled earlier this year on Tinder, allowing users to screen dates through an integrated service. The checks are conducted by non-profit platform Garbo, which aims to prevent harm in the digital age by offering public information on a person’s violent or harmful behavior.

Netflix with ads is coming, but it’s ‘early days’ | CNN

July 15, 2022July 13, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You’ll soon be able to sign up for a cheaper version of Netflix with ads — though that option is still in its “early days.”

Netflix will partner with Microsoft on this new ad-supported subscription plan, the two companies announced Wednesday.

The partnership follows the surprising announcement in April that Netflix (NFLX) would be open to adding a lower-priced ad-supported tier to its service — something its CEO Reed Hastings resisted for years. But the company is going through one of the roughest periods in its 25-year history, after losing subscribers in the first quarter for the first time in more than a decade.