New York SBDC Research Network

Shelfari Like most things that are working well online - you can always find more than one version of it - social networking - take your pick - there are so many out there. Well, we are now using LibraryThing to share our catalog with you all but naturally there are other similar tools out there. I have always liked the idea of having a way to keep track of everything I've read. For people like my own mother who doesn't remember she has read something until she's halfway through it for a second time, it is pretty useful and timesaving. I was invited to join Shelfari which another personal library tool where you can list what books you've read, have but haven't yet read, and a wish list. It links to Amazon.com so you can double check titles and write a commentary on each. It's not as big as LibraryThing but it's prettier and I a little more user-friendly. You can discuss, find like-souls and maybe figure out what to read next.

Sometimes helpful resources come from unexpected places. Take this report on " wireless substitution ," ie households that rely on cell phones rather than landlines, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics ( NCHS ) . You might ask, "Why does the CDC care about who has cell phones and no landline?" The answer doesn't seem to be because they are tracking brain cancer from cell phones (Phew...) It turns out that when the agency conducts the National Health Interview Survey, they ask for a phone number for follow-up purposes. And they ask if this number is a landline , and if anyone in the household has a cell phone. These questions yield some interesting answers, showing the rise of the wireless-only household, particularly in young adults renting with a non-related roommate.

The Economic Census forms will be sent out in December 2007 and are due back on February 12, 2008. Virtually all large and medium-sized businesses are surveyed. A large sampling of small businesses, covering all industries, will receive a form. This tally is done once every five years. The forms ask for basic information like business location, employment, payroll, and sales by type of product or service. Businesses that receive a form are required by law (Title 13, U.S. Code) to respond. The individual information is confidential, and Census will suppress any information that would identify a particular business, e.g., the sales information for the only jewelry store in town will not be published. Businesses, communities, and governments use Economic Census data for planning and market development. Statistics are published for more than a thousand industries as well as for states, counties, cities and metropolitan areas at business.census.gov. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bern

Over the weekend, I had to bring a lawnmower AND a DVD player to be repaired. In both cases, I fear that the cost will be dangerously close to simply buying a new one. Not a very environmentally-friendly deal. Which is why I liked this article from the Nov. 8th New York Times so much. It reveals a number of websites where you can go and get ready advice on repairing an iPod (CrunchGear.com), a Mac (macfixit.com), home theatres (avsforum.com), gaming systems (fixya.com), copiers, PDAs . . . and all the other toys of life. In many cases, you'll get a variety of options, specific instructions, and the means to save a bunch of money vis a vis replacement parts. As an extension of the Third Place post I wrote a while ago, it's clear that these online repair forums are a replacement for local repair shops (which the article laments as a near-extinct species). Here at the library, we frequently visit online forums to get answers to questions relating to the software we use.

Roll your own search engine Create search engines using the sources you trust. Works the way the personalized pages on Google or Yahoo! work but this time with the purpose of searching those sites. They also have a toolbar so that you can limit to your favorite sources wherever you happen to be. So if you want to the New York Times, Answers.com and Amazon.com in a drop down or radio button, there it is. They have a popular set of sources but you can also design your own - list all the sites you like and then label the group - what they call a " searchroll " You can also look at others' searchrolls. So if you like Rosario Dawson , then you can have a look at her Latino Issues roll which lists about a dozen sites of interest. Steve Rubel , marketing strategist, has created the Interactive Marketing roll which includes many really good marketing sites.

Have you heard about Radiohead’s new album? The band has made “In Rainbows” available for online download with users allowed to pay as much or as little as they’d like for the music. There’s been much discussion of how the average person has paid (“ more than half pay nothing ” or “ the band isn’t telling, so we don’t know ”, but the bottom line is that without a record label taking a hefty share of sales, the band is likely to do very well. Here’s another alternative to the major record labels - SellaBand . The company offers this description of its model: “Artists and fans have one goal. Make music and money together. Artists upload their music and profile. Fans find artists they like and believe in. $10 (plus transaction costs) buys them a piece of the action. $50,000 gets the artist in the studio. Fans get an exclusive CD send to their homes. Artists make their dream come true. From now on bands and believers are in business together. You are the record company!” More on how it wo

Intuit has now made their "Simple Start" version of QuickBooks (formerly $99) free, recommended for very small or one-person businesses. Entrepreneurs can also enter Intuit’s contest to win $50,000 ($40,000 cash and $10,000 in products and services). Get contest details and download a free copy of Simple Start here . These activities are tied into Intuit's "Just Start" campaign, including a series of exciting live events featuring Rhonda Abrams, small business advice columnist and expert, as the "expert-in-residence." She'll be available one-on-one to answer questions about business. People who meet Rhonda will receive one of her books (free and personally autographed), get free Simple Start software, and enter Intuit’s "Just Start" contest for a chance to win $50,000 for their business. New York – Thurs & Friday, November 8-9, 11 am – 2 pm Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall Boston – Tues & Weds, November 13-14,