New York SBDC Research Network

I hope that most of you have seen the new “Ask a Question” feature on the revised website (if you missed it, click here . ) There are a couple things I want to clarify, just in case you happen to be the happy recipient of a question from the outside world. This feature generates several emails after the question is submitted. After the questioner chooses their county (and we’re coming up with a way to allow counties served by multiple centers to have an additional choice of center), they receive a confirmation email, I receive a copy of the question (as the webmaster), and the center receives the question. All of these emails come from an imaginary email address, Ask@nyssbdc.org. The email to the questioner specifies not to reply to this address, as it is imaginary and no one reads these messages. This bit of information is also important to the lucky advisor answering the question. Don’t reply to Ask@nyssbdc.org, reply to the questioner, whose email is listed within the body of the me

Happy 2007 ! The link will alert you to some interesting things coming up this year, not including New York State's raise in the minimum wage to $7.15 per hour. On a very practical level, the change in Daylight Saving Time will affect the most people: Beginning in 2007, DST will start on the second Sunday in March (March 11, 2007), and change back to standard time on the first Sunday in November (November 4, 2007). Under Section 110 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy is required to study the impact of the DST extension no later than nine months after the change takes effect. Congress has retained the right to revert to the DST schedule set in 1986 if it cannot be shown that there are significant energy savings from an extension of DST or if the extension may prove to be unpopular with the American public. One potential issue is that some northern regions on the western edge of time zones will for the first time since the 1974-75 "almost year round

It's the New Year - time to take personal inventory, and to reassess the status quo. Personally, I'd like to drink less coffee in the coming year, but that afternoon cup from Dunkin Donuts really hits the spot. What can you live with? This article showcases results from a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. It tries to measure how Americans view everyday consumer items (PCs, microwave ovens, etc.) - as a luxury, or a necessity? This survey has been conducted at random intervals since the early 1970s. It's fascinating to view the trends that some of these items have taken, and how they'll be perceived the next time around. (Only 3% of those surveyed feel that an iPod is a necessity - what will that figure be in 2010?) Oscar Wilde once wrote, "We live in an age when unecessary things are our only necessities." That "age" was the 1890s. I wonder what he'd say about the 2000s? Happy New Year, everyone!

Hooray! As I imagine most of you have received Brian's email, you now know that www.nyssbdc.org has a new look and some organizational changes. Many thanks to all who contributed suggestions and materials for this revision. It's definitely still a work in progress (Yes- no one likes the request for counseling form. Folks will have to sit down to decide what information we need to collect here and what we should do with it before any major edits occur.) The center sites have a new look, but the same information. We will make every attempt to tackle a major revision of those pages in the near future, so start thinking about what you'd like to see on your center's pages. I hope, however, that some of the organizational changes will better allow the central site to change and grow. And I hope that our clients' happy faces on many of the pages will encourage others to give us a call. Comments, questions and suggestions (as always) are greatly appreciated. Happy New Year

IE 7 is here - got in our office last week -with all sorts of new features such as: Phishing Filter Proactively warns and helps protect you against potential or known fraudulent sites and blocks the site if appropriate. The opt-in filter is updated several times per hour using the latest security information from Microsoft and several industry partners. This means, starting early next year, the address bar in Internet Explorer 7 will turn green when surfing to a legitimate Web site--but only in some cases, not all. "But the new system adopted for IE 7 has been causing friction, too. Initially, only corporations will be able to get the [green color] online trust indicator--a rule that shuts out smaller businesses. While the CA Browser Forum is still working on final guidelines that would include all legitimate Web sites, those could take a while to complete." Microsoft's Phishing Filter turns address bars yellow if on suspicious sites and red on confirmed phishing sites.

Well, not that it has helped me this time, but I’m sure these sites will come in handy one day when I am in my next plumbing crisis. Today, I leave it to the professionals. If you are ever so unfortunate as to be in a wet situation, perhaps these sites might help: www.Theplumber.com "theplumber.com web site, has been called one of the "best web sites" by the #1 on-line multimedia encyclopedia - Encarta" "Even Encyclopedia Britannica has linked to us in the past as one of "The Web's Best Sites" "World Book On-Line Encyclopedia specially selected theplumber.com by their Editors as well theplumber.com was rated a Hot Site by USA Today" Plumbing at DoItYourself.com http://www.doityourself.com/scat/plumbing Plumbing on Wikipedia.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbing www.plbg.com The Plumbing Education and Information Sharing Site www.Toiletology101.com Basics of Indoor Plumbing & Toilet Repairs ~~Murphy's Law~~ "If someth

When we get a question about starting a specialty food business we frequently turn to Stephen Hall’s From Kitchen to Market for some practical advice. There is now an accompanying website for the book, complete with a free discussion forum and a Food Entrepreneur eZine, available at http://www.specialtyfoodresource.com/ . The eZine has a variety of short, helpful articles and the issues are archived. The forum includes topics like “Pricing your product,” “Getting distributors” and “Understanding the industry” and Mr. Hall seems to be a frequent contributor. Looks like a great way for our clients to ask questions of other entrepreneurs and an expert in the field.