Business Feeds

With small business startup news mostly negative as far as bank lending is concerned, the majority of female small business owners have taken to financing their businesses with credit cards and their personal savings, according to a recent survey by PNC Financial Services Group.

The survey found that 59 percent of female small business owners used a business credit card and 44 percent used personal or family savings to fund their businesses.

Of the 1,300 female small business owners surveyed, 11 percent said their businesses were surpassing expectations. About half said their businesses were meeting expectations, and 51 percent said they expect their sales to increase.

“Our womens survey findings reinforce that the U.S.

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EVANSVILLE — Dual drive-through lanes are turning heads at the newly remodeled McDonald’s Hamburgers at 2960 Covert Ave.

The lanes, aimed at speeding on-the-go service, are located in the area where orders are placed.

A part of McDonald’s latest prototype, the lanes then narrow to one lane at the approach to the pay and food-serving windows.

The re-design is described by McDonald’s corporate officials as a part of its effort to “contemporize the chain.”

The modernization is being carried out across the nation, said McDonald’s spokeswoman Jessica Turner by phone from Nashville, Tenn. Soon the movement will hit Princeton, Ind., where the McDonald’s at 2001 W. Broadway St. w

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The world is getting smaller thanks to modern technology; but unfortunately, aches and pains are growing as a result. The excessive use of mobile devices and incorrect posture while using smart phones and other gadgets or while sitting in front of a computer can lead to neck, back, wrist and even thumb pain, in addition to other musculoskeletal issues. The problem is becoming so widespread that earlier this year a spokesperson for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said that musculoskeletal injuries remain one of the biggest workplace health and safety problems in American industry.

“People will be delighted to learn that they can enjoy technology without experiencing pain,” says Dr. Rick McMichael, president of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA). “Our

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The launch of Microsofts cloud-based Office 365 service is not exclusively news for small businesses, but small businesses were clearly the target audience for the services official unveiling on June 28.

While Microsoft was careful to stipulate Office 365 will meet the needs of any size enterprise, the companys press release also repeatedly touted the particular benefits of the service for small businesses. Elia Wallen, owner of the 35-employee temporary housing provider Travelers Haven, was quoted as saying the cloud service, which combines Microsofts Office, SharePoint, Exchange and Lync programs, will save his company $100,000 annually. According to Microsoft, Office 365 will cost between $2 and $27 per user per month, depending on the service plan.

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The funny thing about “time management”, is the multitude of books, articles and seminars on the subject, all suggesting “easy” or “guaranteed” techniques and tips. Set goals, prioritize your tasks, eliminate nonessential “todo’s” and find that magical system that will give you more time for your family. While many of these articles, books, podcasts etc., usually vary in catchy vocabulary and clichés, successful time management boils down to one’s determination and discipline.

Spending your time reading about how to manage your time, the techniques to use and steps to follow seem to waste rather than save time. Also, not every system is onesizefits all. Different authors or speakers have different perspectives that my not tie into your individual situation. Besides, at the core

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New Google tools have been launched to help small businesses more effectively reach customers on their mobile devices.

Last week, Google made small business technology news with its Mobile Sites feature, which the company described as an easy way to create websites tailored to mobile devices like smartphones. By enabling the tool, users who build their pages using Google Sites can automatically have their web page features, such as width and sidebars, adjust when loaded on an Apple or Android mobile device. Since launching Mobile Sites, Google has added templates for landing pages, eCommerce and other website components, making it easy for businesses to set up mobile-friendly web pages.

A June 29 post on the Google Mobile Ads Blog cited a company survey that found 61 percent of users were unlikely to use their phone to access a site they did not find mobile-friendly.

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Business demand for rapid time-to-market and lower operational costs is driving IT organizations to quickly adopt new approaches such as composite application architectures and cloud services. As the quest for quickly delivering high-quality business services continues, IT management – from automation and security to governance and service assurance – becomes the most critical factor for success.

CA Technologies acquisition of ITKO will add a new and critical dimension to modern IT management and extend it to encompass the entire service delivery lifecycle. In

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Maintaining our security online is of the utmost importance these days. With a recent wave of cyber attacks that have targeted larger networks (and succeeded), people are reevaluating their online habits and the information they release.

In an effort to beef up your online security, these are a few simple tips.

File sharing between networks makes it easy for users to pass along information instantaneously. However, without a secure network connection, file sharing can open your system up to hackers, spammers and viruses. Therefore, when accessing the Internet through a public wifi connection, file sharing should never be on.

Consult your operating system’s manual for the necessary steps to disable this function. <

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EVANSVILLE — Tri-Staters who had visited Banana Republic stores in other U.S. cities and abroad, and had long wished a store in the popular chain would locate here, will soon see that wish come true.

Bruce Goodman, owner of Evansville’s Pavilion, confirmed Tuesday that the giant retailer of men’s and women’s clothes, accessories and gifts will open in the shopping center off Burkhardt Road and East Lloyd Expressway before Thanksgiving.

By phone from his Jenkintown, Pa., office, Goodman said Goodman Properties officials and the Banana Republic had been negotiating the past six months about bringing the new store to the city.

A division of Gap Inc., Banana Republic is based in San Francisco, Calif. It began in 1978 as mainly a retailer of safari and travel-themed clothing. T

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