New York SBDC Research Network

Here are two of our latest additions to the collection with a summary of their contents: Kid-Focused Businesses (Entrepreneur Magazine's Step-By-Step Startup Guides) Party Planning Gift and Bath Products Educational Toys and Games Plus Size Clothing Cooking Classes Ward's Motor Vehicle Facts & Figures 2008 Documenting the Performance and Impact of the U.S. Auto Industry Sections include: Production/Factory Sales Retail Sales (cars, trucks, top selling, Canada, Mexico and Leasing) Registrations (Cras and trucks and vehicles retired from use) Automotive Trade (US Exports and world trade data) Materials (consumption by material type) Ownership (Population per vehicle, drivers, thefts) Transportation Expenditures (inlcudes fuel and licensing taxes) Travel Trends Automotive Businesses (Facilities, capacity, profits) Environment/Regulations (fuel consumption, prices, taxes) Traffic Fatalities (By state, characteristics, countries)

Looking to make and/or sell your own designs? Here are a few resources you might want to know about. Etsy.com , “your place to buy and sell all things handmade,” has been in the news quite a bit lately. It’s an online marketplace, where artisans can set up their own shop, post an item for 20 cents, and pay a 3.5% commission when it sells. Just about everything you can think to make (and some things you’d never think of) are for sale here, and you can search in some creative ways (like by color.) Ponoko , “is the world’s first platform for anyone to share, buy and sell product plans to make individualized goods.” Ponoko works in several ways. Designers can create and upload product designs, choose materials, and Ponoko will manufacture and deliver the final product. Or you can design it, and then display it in the Ponoko showroom, and someone else can buy it from you. Ready to take the plunge to buy only handmade gifts? Check out the Buy Handmade Pledge . You can sign up and say

On a website, I saw a reference to the price of gas as 1.279. Initially, I didn't get it. Then I realized I was on a Canadian website and it was a reference to Canadian dollars per liter. So what is that in US dollars per gallon? And how do I figure it out without having to do two calculations, one for liter to gallon and another for the currency. Google, of course. To use my example, type: 1.279 CAD per litre in USD per gallon and click "Google Search". When I did it at noon on August 11, the result was "1.27900 (Canadian dollars per litre) = 4.58349234 U.S. dollars per US gallon". By the way, it doesn't matter if you spell it "litre" or "liter". What you will need is the three-letter code for currency, which you can find several places, including here , one of the sites noted on this website . More about Google's unit conversions here . Tip of the cap to Arthur @ AmeriNZ , who mentioned this on his podcast.

This Saturday is the 139th annual Travers Stakes at the Saratoga Racetrack. It's a big deal in these parts. I won't be partaking, though, in the wagering. Vacation has left me a bit short, and, honestly, I'm not much of a handicapper. However, in honor of the big race, check out the Center for Gaming Research . It's a website designed & operated by (where else?) the University of Nevada - Las Vegas. The site is geared towards three distinct groups of people: * The academics, for whom a users guide is tailored for researchers of all ages (including us!). * The media/industry guide helps those in the media and casino industry find the information they need. * The "just curious" section, which is broad information aimed at those just getting started. The information available is not just for the state of Nevada, so it's relevant to a blog being written in New York.

A new website has been created by the Empire Center to allow New Yorkers to see how state funds are spent. According to the website, " See Through NY is a web portal -- and more. It's designed to become the hub of a statewide network through which taxpayers can share, analyze and compare data from counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts and public authorities throughout New York." The website offers access to state payrolls, contracts, expenditures, and more. Although lauded by freedom of information individuals and organizations, the site is troublesome to state workers who do not enjoy having their personal salary and contract information open to the world. For more information, click here for an article from The Times Union and here for a blog post from Roger Green.

It was only a matter of time before consumers would have the option of shopping via their cell phones. The more you do on your cell phone, the more you expect to do. This story is about Ralph Lauren and how they are making it possible to make purchases from their phone-friendly store via mobile. Polo Ralph Lauren to launch shopping by cell phone http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=polo-ralph-lauren-to-laun Scientific American By Martinne Geller

Occasionally we'll get a request for psychographics . We have The Lifestyle Market Analyst demographics, which can tell you a lot about popular activities and interests of a metro area, or how those lifestyles overlap ( i.e. , how many people interested in fashion clothing also care about fine foods?). We also have MOSAIC lifestyle descriptions for determining lifestyle groups by geography from the Demographics Now database. But for those of you that want more, here's a couple of freebies (thanks to the J.J. Hill blog for pointing them out) Newspaper Association of America's Consumer Segmentation Snapshots While there's a focus on newspaper readership, this site offers profiles of different consumer buying groups for finance, technology, buying styles, food/cooking, health, vacation/travel and automotive purchases. From Claritas (a Nielsen company) - You Are Where You Live Enter the zip code you are interested in and the "segmentation system defines every neigh