New York SBDC Research Network

Most people share their birthday with at least a few celebrities, but our Alexis is special. She shares her birthday with the Internet. Sept. 2, 1969 was "the day that the infant Internet took its first breath of life" when computer scientists at UCLA set up a network connection between two computers. Read more about that day here . While the scientists may have guessed at lots of the business uses of this technology, they never imagined all the social implications. This anniversary is a nice time to reflect on the role of the internet in our lives, and to ponder what's still to come...

I'm sure that the story told by the author of this article from Inc. magazine is one that our clients have been telling for years. It seeks for the entrepreneur that hard-to-maintain balance between private life & business life, between family and company. I'm not precisely sure what to tell people who find themselves struggling with that, but the article seems to assert that optimism in a better future is a trait that any business owner has to possess before starting a business. For those who do . . . good luck!

Occasionally, we've gotten questions about "technology" or "high tech". While we can get reports, there is no one business code that encompasses such a broad category. The AeA, formerly the American Electronics Association, "uses 45 SIC codes to define the high-technology industry." The organization recognizes that " these 45 SIC codes do not comprehensively cover the entire high-tech industry as the structure of the SIC system is limited. In an effort to produce solid statistics, AeA's definition consists of SIC codes that fall into three broad categories -- high-tech manufacturing, communications services, and software and computer-related services. It does not include broad categories if the high-tech portion does not represent a clear majority. Also, AeA's definition does not include many 'related' industries, such as biotechnology, engineering services, and research and testing services." Likewise, "the 49 NAICS cod

State fact sheets provide information on population, employment, income, farm characteristics, farm financial indicators, and top commodities, exports, and counties for each state in the United States.

With the unemployment rate around 10% and five job applicants for every one job, there are many Americans who are finding themselves unemployed with little or no opportunity for employment in the near future. When this happens, why not create a new job (or jobs) by starting a new business. An article in the New York Times titled On to Plan B: Starting a Business recently said "CALL them accidental entrepreneurs, unintended entrepreneurs or forced entrepreneurs. A year and a half into the Great Recession, with the jobless rate hovering near double digits, corporate refugees...are trying to fend for themselves." For more information, read the articles below or contact your local NYS SBDC office here . How to Become an Entrepreneur During a Recession Becoming an Entrepreneur Can Provide Hope During the Recession Breaking the Recession Illusion to Become an Empowered Entrepreneur

Since May 6th, we at the Research Network have been damn lucky to be borrowing Amy Peker to help us out with the research. She started out in early 2009 as student help. We brought her back for a summertime gig because, well, we needed the help. Some of you (well, 57, to be exact) have been on the receiving end of her work, which I consider to be professional grade. Today, sadly, we have to bid her goodbye, and good luck. She's a librarian now . . . all grown up, and no longer an intern. Amy learns quickly, and has a laser-like focus. She was getting the hang of learning the art of reading between the lines of research requests (something that she'll never really stop learning), and then pick among the resources at our disposal to best answer what was asked. We'll miss her unique sitting posture, her love of Wheat Thins & all manner of snack crackers, and her adventures in dog training. We've never had a rugby player/librarian before - such a person is good t

Remember the intern at Morgan Stanley who shocked his bosses when he reported that he and his peers weren't all that into Twitter ? According to a recent New York Times article, he seems to be correct about teens and Twitter. " Who’s Driving Twitter’s Popularity? Not Teens " examines the demographics of Twitter users, and argues that technological tools can succeed, even without the trendsetting prowess of the teen crowd. It's a good lesson - not every online tool needs to be marketed to the under-18 crowd, after all they are notoriously fickle, and some applications are just better suited to adults.