LinkedIn to Better Business

by Harris Cohen, The PromoGuru

Small business can now make the most out of their LinkedIn pages!

“Company Skills” has been around for a bit, but is one of the more straight-forward marketing approaches on LinkedIn. Businesses can showcase company info, announcements, and products photos, as well as post endorsements, similar to the personal recommendations made between connections. It’s like a graphics-rich resume for your business.

Included in the new features is “TextIn”, which gives users the ability to search and receive profile results through text messaging. You provide your mobile number to LinkedIn, authorize the app, and then via text you can search for a connection on LinkedIn. The results come back as another text message.

iPhone Users Flocking to T-Mobile?

by Harris Cohen, The PromoGuru

In a recent interview with 9to5Mac.com, a T-Mobile rep let slip that they are now supporting one million iPhone users.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait, I didn’t know T-Mobile carried iPhones,” you’re right; they don’t. But Apple recently began selling unlocked versions of the iPhone. An “unlocked” version means that you can use the phone with other carriers; though they have to use the same type of network (sim-card based GSM). Before the release it wasn’t impossible to get your iPhone unlocked, though most people would probably want to tackle the process.

Checking In to Save When Checking Out

by Harris Cohen, The PromoGuru

Foursquare, which debuted in 2009, quickly popularized the idea of “checking in” by way of an app that would tell your friends and followers if you were at a certain store, restaurant, or theater.

 The idea has since been adapted by both Facebook (with their “Places” feature) and Google (with “Latitude”). But now Foursquare is bringing in a partner to introduce a whole new level of “checking in.”

Life Beyond the Known Domains

by Harris Cohen, The PromoGuru

The global agency that assigns Internet addresses, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (or ICANN), loosened its guidelines earlier this week and will now allow domain suffixes to be named after just about anything.

Maybe this news is not quite as science fiction-y as our article title would suggest, but it certainly opens website owners to new possibilities. It’s possibly the biggest change to the Internet system since its start in 1984.

HP's Exclusive, Tablet-Only Magazine

by Harris Cohen, The PromoGuru

HP intends to change the way you shop for apps. With the release of their tablet, the TouchPad, they will also introduce an exclusive magazine called Pivot, available and updated only via the tablet’s wi-fi.

The magazine will be devoted to showcasing a wide array of apps, and the developers behind them. Customers will be able to explore the content based on their interests and lifestyles.

Shoot Now, Focus Later

by Harris Cohen, The PromoGuru

Thought you had the perfect shot on your vacation, but then it ended up a blurry mess? With an advanced new camera coming out later this year, you won’t have to worry. Just fix it later!

Silicon Valley start-up Lytro is set to introduce a point-and-shoot style camera which will feature technology that lets a picture’s focus be adjusted after it is taken. Once you have transferred the file to your computer, you will be able to bring any out-of-focus object in the picture into sharp relief.

Unlimited No More

by Harris Cohen, The PromoGuru

Look out, Verizon users! Before the summer ends, excessively streaming Netflix and Pandora on your smartphone is going to start costing you.

Perhaps as earlier as next month, Verizon plans to stop offering an unlimited data plan for smartphones, currently priced at $30 per month. The new tiers will put Verizon subscribers more on level with AT&T users (who lost their chance at an unlimited plan last year). Thirty dollars will now get you 2GBs per month; $50 will cover 5GBs, and $80 will get 10GBs. Similar plans already exist for tablets in the Verizon network. There will not be separate plans for 3G and 4G devices.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit: A Sign for a Time

by Harris Cohen, The PromoGuru

Over the next couple weeks we’d like to spotlight a handful of entrepreneurs who have stayed afloat in the toughest of markets: fads. How do you introduce a product and then stay relevant in a world that runs from the next big thing to another in seemingly no time at all? Maybe you move on to something new, or maybe you roll with the punches and have a good sense of your niche in the market.

In “The Entrepreneurial Spirit,” we’ll look at inventors and marketers who rolled out “Next Big Things” but also landed on their feet when the dust settled on the fad.

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In 1984, Michael Lerner was childless himself, but a drive down one of Boston’s busiest expressways with his 18-month-old nephew in the back seat had him scared out of his wits over the safety of the boy. He told Wall Street Journal, as traffic rushed around him, “for the first time, I felt like a parent feels when they have a kid in the car."