Category: Tools and Information

Polaroid Now | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

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In an age where instant photography means whipping out a smartphone and immediately sharing the digital image with friends online, a boxy camera that produces self-developing prints seems like a huge backward step. But that’s exactly what instant film cameras provide, and a revamped Polaroid has announced a new model called the Now.

The Polaroid Corporation was founded by Edwin Land in 1937, a company that originally sold polarized sunglasses. But Land went on to develop a “magic camera” that produced instant prints, which was described in a 1973 issue of Popular Science as “perhaps the most fiendishly clever invention in the history of photography.”

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Oil prices may be at all-time lows, but it’s still worth buying an electric car | Mashable

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For the first time in 34 years, the price of a barrel of oil has dropped to historic lows — below $0 somehow, confusingly — but that shouldn’t erode efforts to go electric, especially for any future car purchases.

Sure, because of coronavirus social-distancing measures in most cities and states, roads are largely empty, cars are parked, most flights are canceled, and the buses and trains that are still running barely have passengers. Even auto insurance companies are recognizing how little we’re moving and offering discounts.

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5 Major Reasons Entrepreneurs Fail by Year 2 | Business News Daily

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New businesses often fail when entrepreneurs don’t have the resources or knowledge to properly execute their ideas.

No one likes to fail, but if you do, use the valuable experience you gained to lead your next endeavor to success.

Entrepreneurs tend to fail right before peaking in the business cycle. The peak usually comes after a pitfall, which is where many entrepreneurs lose momentum.

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Don’t Do What You Love, Instead Do This | Life Hack

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Everywhere you look, you will find people who are not happy about their work. They wish to get more out of life or are undecided about what to do next in life.

It is during these times where you hear a particular piece of advice. You may have given it to someone else or you may have heard it yourself:

Do what you love.

This phrase comes in many forms:

Follow your passion.

With hard work and determination, you can live the dream.

Find your calling.

The optimism behind these phrases is well-intentioned, however, it is the worst kind of advice to give to anyone. Instead, I present in this article some possible alternatives to this.

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This game lets you help NASA map the world’s coral reefs | Fast Company

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If you’re looking for something more interesting to do in quarantine than restream a show on Netflix, consider helping scientists map the world’s coral reefs. In a new video game from NASA called NeMO-Net, you can virtually dive in waters around the world, classifying corals in 3D images from satellites to help train a NASA supercomputer to map the rest of the world’s coral at a scale that’s never been done before.

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From Hard-Shell To Chef-Driven: A New Book Traces America’s Taco Journey | Forbes

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Do you remember your first taco? Perhaps tacos are part of your background, Or, they might have been something your mother whipped up, using a recipe on the box of hard shell tacos.

Maybe it was at Taco Bell, or even something that you discovered on a bar menu.

However you were introduced to tacos, you’ll learn an enormous and entertaining amount about them in the new book, American Tacos: A History And Guide, by Jose R. Ralat.

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How Cloud Communications Can Transform Your Relationship with Customers | AllBusiness.com

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The way that consumers and companies communicate with each other has undergone a drastic change in recent years. For instance, last year former pro football player Steve Gleason tweeted Southwest Airlines that some of the airline’s employees were unwilling to accommodate customers like him who need to fly with power wheelchairs and specialty equipment. Southwest responded quickly and apologetically to Steve, and other Twitter users took note.

As technologies like smartphones and social media platforms like Twitter have become a part of people’s daily lives, consumers have come to expect businesses of all sizes to be open to communicating with them via these modern channels. Clear and effective communication is key to maintaining any kind of relationship, personal or professional. So catering to your customers’ preferences in terms of which methods they want to use to connect with you is paramount to your organization’s overall success.

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Five Great Video Recruiting Examples for Getting Top Employees | Small Business Trends

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Are you missing out on one of the easiest, most effective ways to get top employees? Employers are using video recruiting to attract top candidates.

Video recruiting introduces your company, and its open position or positions, in a manner more friendly, informative and engaging than any word-filled advertisement. If you’re thinking that making a video is too expensive, think again. Recruiting videos can run the gamut from simple, cellphone created clips to glitzy, professional films.

With unemployment rates at historic lows, the pool of talented candidates is small, and 75% of employers reported problems finding employees during 2019.  Although nearly 90 percent of potential employees reported using social media to search for a job, only 60 percent of employers used social media to search for candidates. That’s an increase from 40 percent in 2018.

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Creating an Ideal Customer Profile | Management Consulting Connection

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Companies sell products to a broad variety of industries and customer segments, and it’s often hard to know where to focus the sales, marketing and product development efforts. Who should you listen to and who should you be chasing?

Within your target market, there will be customers that are “ideal” you. They buy quickly, renew and expand their contracts, and advocate for the product. In order to fully benefit from these fans, the sales team needs to understand who they are and be comfortable selling to them. And in order for this to work, there should be enough of them to make the effort worthwhile.

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8 Tips for Developing Remote Work Policies | business.com

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So you want to create a remote work policy for your business? Congratulations, and welcome to the club of business owners who have sought greater flexibility as entrepreneurs.

Some of us are telecommuting converts who recognized the business benefits of working remotely year-round, while others are business owners adapting to sudden economic and cultural changes like recessions and public health crises. In either scenario, transitioning brick-and-mortar business operations to remote practices that can be effectively performed from virtual environments can be intimidating – but it is a business goal that is very much within reach.

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