101 Best Facebook Applications

Facebook applications are the best thing since MySpace widgets sliced bread, as any fule kno. What’s more, they’re mushrooming by the day, as companies and individual developers alike catch on to the potential of having their content splashed over (potentially) millions of Facebook profiles.

But which are the ones worth adding? I’ve put together a big list of 101 of the best, most useful, most interesting and silliest Facebook apps below. And no, I haven’t just worked my way down the ‘Most Popular’ list on the site – I’ve investigated every one to see what it does, and whether it’s worth putting on your profile.

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Pakistan amongst top 20 outsourcing destinations

BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek

“Pakistan has become the 20th most attractive outsourcing destination, according to consulting management firm A.T. Kearney. Even as concerns increase about Pakistan’s stability and the growing displaced populationdue to ongoing military operations with the Taliban, the country made a significant jump on A.T. Kearney’s 2009 Global Services Location Index released May 18. Pakistan went from #30 in 2007 to #20 in 2009.”

This is a snippet from the Businessweek article by Rachael King published on June 4 2009. The A.T. Kearney index ranks the top 50 countries worldwide for locating outsourcing activities including IT services and support, contact centers and back-office support. Countries are measured on 43 different attributes related to financial attractiveness, people and skills availability and business environment.

The 2009 A.T. Kearny ranking has surprised some people because of the current instability in certain parts of Pakistan. However, those who are working with Pakistani Outsourcing companies do not find it surprising at all. Despite the instability, Pakistani outsourcers (whether it be outsourcing companies or freelancers who work in the Rentacoder space), have shown over the years that, despite power breakdowns and political problems, they  have not let this impact their ability to deliver quality services on time and on budget.

Many of you will remember that even subsequent to the Marriott blast in Islamabad, when the Evacuee Trust STP was very badly damaged, IT organizations did not suffer any downtime because they had Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans in place. Large organisations like LMKR and Ovex Technoligies, and smaller compaies like Ephlux, Jin Technologies and Cogilent Solutions were all up-and-running within hours of the disaster over the weekend. Many of their customers in the US and elsewhere did not even realize what had happened. I remember one CEO telling me that his US client had remarked “How do you do it? We are still not 100%  operational after Hurricane Katrina … and look at you guys”.

Expertise of Pakistani IT companies has also continued to improve as they work with clientele in various markets and consistently meet customer expectations. I am proud to be a part of this industry and I have faith that the innovation that we have seen over the past years is only the tip of the iceberg.

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Six Biggest Presentation Mistakes

Each time you engage in a conversation, dialogue or speech with the intention of convincing another person to do, think or act upon anything, you are making a presentation. You don’t have to be in front of large crowds to be giving a presentation or using visual aids such as PowerPoint to be giving a presentation. Presentations are given everyday and are one of the most powerful communication tools exist and has the ability to propel your business, career and sales to ultimate levels. Master presenters get their status by mastering the art of delivery from setting up their content, structuring the flow, controlling non verbal and verbal actions and delivering a powerful message that is engaging and memorable. They master techniques to ultimately reel their audience in and leave them wanting more so why do 99% of the presentations fail?

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Want Your Business to Grow? The Answer is ‘Research’

Surfing the web for top-notch research and advice to help your business grow? Save some time with these information-rich websites.

Top 10 Must Click Websites

BizStats.com
Free statistics and financial ratios for businesses by industry; find out what the average firm in your industry spends and earns.

Business.gov
The central source for federal, state and local government information for businesses; learn about employment laws, where to apply for government grants and loans, and more.

BusinessFinance.com
This lender-matching service offers a range of useful information on various ways to finance a business.

Entrepreneurship.org
The Kauffman Foundation runs this site, which features hundreds of how-to articles for entrepreneurs, and data for policymakers.

Nielsen
Snapshots of consumer trends in different markets, from groceries to movies, by one of the oldest and biggest market-research firms

Ladies Who Launch
Blogs, success stories, how-tos and more, all targeting women entrepreneurs

Access eCommerce Guide
Even internet-illiterate entrepreneurs can learn almost everything they need to start an e-commerce business here.

Small Business Advancement National Center
The nation’s entrepreneurship researchers contribute to this trove of scholarly articles on small-business issues.

Small Business School
View online videos and read transcripts of presentations on financing, hiring, exits and more.

Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s comprehensive and authoritative rundown of statistics on America’s economy and society

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How to Get Your Employees to Use CRM Software

crm1

A guaranteed way to increase your company’s sales is to have a system in place to manage your sales activities. Having a custom relationship management (CRM) system that is easy and gets used by the sales team is a great step towards that goal.

Businesses are constantly facing the challenge of convincing sales teams to adopt CRM as the daily vitamin for their sales routine. The sales force is likely already aware that CRM is a valuable and effective tool that can optimize the sales process and help strengthen customer relationships. The challenge is getting employees to accept new applications and processes in spite of feeling uncomfortable with the prospect of having to change their habits and conform to an unfamiliar system.

This, in essence, is the user adoption conundrum–employees consistently cling to old routines and habits out of comfort, despite the risk that they may fall behind their competitors. Here are six proven tips to help employees overcome the user adoption challenge.

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How to Sell Software?

I love a bake sale. Fresh bakery and hot coffee are wonderful treats on a Sunday morning. But I am a little jealous of the baked-goods seller. They’ve got everything going for them. Their customers know just what they want and approach them directly. The off-the-shelf product needs no modifications. Competitors steer clear (and often agree to produce only non-competitive offerings). The asking price is considered reasonable. And customers happily tell their friends about the great product they got.

That’s not the sales world of my experience and I’ll wager it’s not yours either. None of the “bake sale” conditions hold true when selling enterprise software. Customers don’t know what they want, so they don’t come looking for you. Your product never quite fits, so they ask to modify it. They find your service rates too high and invite competitors to bid against you. Discounts are expected, while referrals are rarely given in return.

Maybe it would be better to bake cookies, right? Take heart! The answer could be simpler than you think. You might just be selling the wrong way for the right customer.

Even with all the variation and unknowns of the sales environment there are only four approaches to selling software (or anything else):

  1. Sell commodity products at the lowest price.
  2. Promote product features that the client finds advantageous.
  3. Devise operational solutions that solve a client’s specific business problem.
  4. Advance strategic enablers that fundamentally change the way the client does business.

Four_sales_approaches_big As a sales professional, it’s your job to match the right method with the right customer. Your choice will depend on the complexity of what you sell, what resources you have at your disposal, and how the customer wants to buy. The key characteristics of each approach are outlined in the figure at left (click to enlarge).

It’s not always clear when to use a particular approach. To help you choose we will explain each one, provide example value propositions, and touch on the pros and cons of each approach.

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TaskJuggler, A Modern And Powerful Open Source Project Management Tool

TaskJuggler is a modern and powerful, Open Source project management tool. Its new approach to project planing and tracking is more flexible and superior to the commonly used Gantt chart editing tools. It has already been successfully used in many projects and scales easily to projects with hundreds of resources and thousands of tasks. TaskJuggler is Open Source software licensed under the GNU GPL version 2.

TaskJuggler

TaskJuggler provides an optimizing scheduler that computes your project time lines and resource assignments based on the project outline and the constraints that you have provided. The built-in resource balancer and consistency checker offload you from having to worry about irrelevant details and ring the alarm if the project gets out of hand. The flexible “as many details as necessary”-approach allows you to still plan your project as you go, making it also ideal for new management strategies such as Extreme Programming and Agile Project Management.

Features and Highlights

  • Manages tasks, resources and costs in one package
  • Automatic resource leveling, tasks conflict resolutions, and task filtering
  • Comprehensive and flexible views and reports so you can find the information you need when you need it
  • Built-in templates to get you started (you can also save your own schedules as templates for future use)
  • Project tracking and status reporting
  • Graphical User Interface to conveniently edit your projects, view and generate Gantt charts and reports
  • Unlimited number of scenarios (baselines) of the same project for what-if analysis
  • CSV data export for exchange with Office Suites
  • Risk analysis
  • Project breakdown and management team support
  • Flexible working hours and vacation handling
  • Support for shift working
  • Multiple time zone support
  • Tasks may have initial costs, finishing costs
  • Resources may have running costs
  • Support for profit/loss analysis
  • HTML and XML report generation
  • Powerful project description syntax with macro support
  • Support for central resource allocation database
  • Generation of iCal files for data exchange with standard productivity tools

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Why women are soo dumb and greedy?

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower & the doorbell rings. After a few seconds of arguing over who should go and answer the doorbell, the wife gives up, quickly wraps herself up in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbour. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $ 800 just to drop that towel that you have on”. After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. Bob has a close look at her for a few seconds, hands over $800 and quietly leaves. Confused, but excited about her good fortune, the woman wraps back up in the towel and goes upstairs. When she gets back to the bathroom, her husband asks from the shower “Who was that?” “It was Bob the next door neighbour,” she replies “Great,” the husband says, “did he say anything about the $! 800 he owes me?”

Karachi Port – PORT GRAND

Port Grand

Designed by: Newwork
Status: Under construction
Client: Karachi Port Trust (KPT)
Contractors: Grand Leisure Corporation
Infrastructure Type: Food Street/Social Space/Market
Construction Date: 2006
Completion Date: August 2008
Location: Below Jinnah Bridge & Karachi Port, Karachi

An innovative entertainment facility conceived by Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Port Grand is now in the final phases of its construction and all set to open for the public soon.

To get there from anywhere in the city, Port Grand is a straight shot west out of Mai Kolachi, adjacent to the PNSC Building as the road curves into the facility on the right.

The world class attraction designed and developed by leading US Architects, NEWWORK of New Jersey stretches along the 1000 ft. Karachi’s ancient 19th century native jetty bridge that heads in land into the 10 acres of contrasting but unending experience of a lifetime.

Port Grand Retail and Entertainment Complex spreads over an area of 250,000 sq. ft. The one kilometer bridge has been transformed into a food street housing numerous eateries totaling 40,000 sq. ft of climate-controlled and space for 16 local kiosks for exotic Pakistani foods and a variety of beverage.

The Port Grand will maintain International Standard of Food Hygiene & Specs and the place and will be fully protected by High Tech security solution. Port Grand also features a trading post for retail and fast food including international franchises; a floating restaurant, children play area and a Cineplex with different cafes.

Pix:


Oracle to Buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 Billion

April 20 (Bloomberg) — Oracle Corp. agreed to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.4 billion, or $9.50 a share in cash.

“We expect this acquisition to be accretive to Oracle’s earnings by at least 15 cents on a non-GAAP basis in the first full year after closing,” said Oracle President Safra Catz.

“We estimate that the acquired business will contribute over $1.5 billion to Oracle’s non-GAAP operating profit in the first year, increasing to over $2 billion in the second year,” Catz said.

“This would make the Sun acquisition more profitable in per share contribution in the first year than we had planned for the acquisitions of BEA, PeopleSoft and Siebel combined.

Oracle said the boards of both companies unanimously approved the transaction, which is anticipated to close this summer, subject to Sun stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

There will be a conference call today to discuss the transaction at 5:30 a.m. Pacific time. Investors can listen to the conference call by dialing (719) 234-7870, passcode 923645.

The information was distributed by PRNewswire release.

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