Tag: Technology

Point, Click, Order!

QR codes have been with us since the early 2000s. In the beginning, they appeared on products and signs often in the grocery store and phones required an Ap to read them. Enter the global pandemic and QR codes found a re-birth in the restaurant business. Needing to supply menus to patrons and trying to reduce contact, the QR code was the perfect way to solve this problem. Now that you simply point your phone’s camera at the code, click the link, and peruse the menu, restaurant owners and clients both feel they are here to stay. “Touchpoint reduction is now the key in many industries for health reasons. I imagine that something else will come along to further QR technology in the future, but for now its usage is increasing, including in the restaurant industry,” Nyheim says. “You know when you last wiped down your own phone.”

Restaurants and Diners Agree: QR Codes Are Here to Stay

Who’s preparing your tax return?

 

H&R Block Loses Lawsuit Trying to Stop Intuit TV Ads100_100

A federal court has denied H&R Block’s effort to stop Intuit from continuing to air a pair of TV commercials for TurboTax that comically suggested tax prep franchise employees worked as plumbers and clothing store clerks outside of tax season.

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/HR-Block-Loses-Lawsuit-Trying-Stop-Intuit-TV-Ads-65495-1.html

Moolala: Ooo La La?

Moolala is the most recent opportunity that I have been offered that operates like Grupon or LivingSocial Deals.  Businesses offer reduced rates on services or goods;  I am offered the opportunity to purchase them.  Grupon offers me $10 if I refer friends.  From Grupon’s website:

We’re giving $10 in Groupon Bucks for every friend you refer when they make their first purchase. It’s our way of saying “thanks” for spreading the word and increasing our collective buying power! Groupon Bucks can be used toward any Groupon purchase, and they never expire.

LivingSocial offers my deal for free if I share my purchase and at least three people buy it:

Share for a Free Deal
After you buy the deal, you’ll get a unique link to share. If three people buy the deal using your link, then your deal is free.

Here’s Moolala’s pitch:

There’s more – we want to help you make money, too!
We will give you 2% back on each deal you buy. And for each friend you refer to Moolala, you will earn 2% of every deal they buy. And that’s not all: we’ll pay you 2% for each friend they refer, and again for your friends’ friends’ friends and your friends’ friends’ friends’ friends. It’s a 2% five-level reward system. That adds up to lots of rewards for you and your friends.
Use your rewards to buy the Moolala deals you love or even redeem them for cash. It’s up to you.
So start inviting friends and earning rewards now.

There’s more – we want to help you make money, too! We will give you 2% back on each deal you buy. And for each friend you refer to Moolala, you will earn 2% of every deal they buy. And that’s not all: we’ll pay you 2% for each friend they refer, and again for your friends’ friends’ friends and your friends’ friends’ friends’ friends. It’s a 2% five-level reward system. That adds up to lots of rewards for you and your friends.

Use your rewards to buy the Moolala deals you love or even redeem them for cash. It’s up to you.
So start inviting friends and earning rewards now.

Whenever I see “we’ll pay you based on your friends’ friends” ,  I immediately think,  “pyramid selling and chain letters.”  It appears Moolala is an Austin based business that was formed in 2010.  Here’s the LinkedIn reference. I joined Moolala to help  my missionary, traveler friend receive his 2% should I make a purchase.

My least favorite is the LivingSocial offer.  I’m not sure I know three people that would make the same purchases as I would make.  My choice is between the immediate $10 of Grupon or a potentional stream of 2% commissions of Moolala.  The Grupon offer seems more bird in the hand to me, so I would choose Grupon.  Except, what if all of my friends have already signed up?  Then I think that there’s “no soup for me.”

It will be interesting to see which company is most rewarded by the market place.

So, Who’s Counting?

Researchers have tracked Tweets to see which part of the country is happy or if our mood changes during the week.  Here is evidence that retailers will use sales information to change the way merchandise in their stores is organized.  I think this is how Wal-Mart “realized” consumers were having stay-cations.

At the height of the recession in 2008, Wal-Mart Stores realized that consumers were “cocooning” — vacationing in their yards, eating more dinners at home, organizing family game nights. So it responded by grouping items in its stores that would turn any den into an at-home movie theater or transform a backyard into a slice of the Catskills. Wal-Mart wasn’t just selling barbecues and board games. It was selling experiences.

But Will It Make You Happy? By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

To friend or not to friend, that is the question

Therapists and many other independent professionals need to keep a clear line between their professional relationship with clients, not stepping over the line into being friends.

Many therapists are asking how to draw the line on dual relationships when they are also active on social media, and a client sends them a friend request.

For a great resource on how to respond when clients send a “friend request” on Facebook, MySpace, LInkedIn, Twitter, or other social networking sites go to   http://www.zurinstitute.com/facebook_clinicalupdate.html.

Thanks to Pat Wicklund of Leading Your Organization of One for the notice.

Three Steps to Protect Data from Rogue Employees

Robert Grapes, Chief Technologist of Cloakware, Vienna, Va., posted these tips at Business Week’s, Today’s Tip:

1. Know who has access to privileged information. Assess who has access to what data so you can understand and manage access as appropriate.

2. Apply appropriate policies to protect sensitive information. Create an actionable plan and put it into place, applying privileged passwords and access management controls throughout each level of information.

3. Update security and access credentials regularly to monitor and maintain control. Implement a regimented program to automatically update access management and passwords so you can ensure that the right people have the right amount of control over critical information.

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