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Good Social Customer Conversations: Start by Listening July 30, 2012 Social media sites are all about having conversations, and that's true for businesses as well as individuals. The trick for businesses is knowing how and when to engage in these conversations -- and how to keep up with them. Like any conversation, listening is important, and it's one way that businesses can begin to engage their customers.

Setting Up Your Dream Shop Online July 27, 2012 Shana and Len Bentivegna started their online store, Organic Pet Boutique, as a result of pet food scares and their concern for the safety of their two Shih Tzus, Milo and Ceasar. "After discovering organic and natural pet food was the only safe alternative, we decided to go online to purchase their food," said Len Bentivegna. "We ultimately discovered there was not a one-stop shop.

Pinning for Business: Pinterest as a CRM Tool July 26, 2012 WORX, a power tool company, has a unique Pinterest board: one devoted entirely to tools that aid in zombie defense. The WORX JawSaw, for instance, has a pin that tells consumers to "accessorize before they rise, and protect yourself now!" The board's sense of humor makes it especially effective on the social pinning site.

Learning the Social CRM Data-Management Ropes July 23, 2012 Every time people post an update, "like" a page, or otherwise engage with social media, their movements are tracked, followed and recorded. For businesses, this data is a gold mine of information about consumer thinking, preferences and opinions. "Businesses should view social media as a treasure trove of data and insights," said Wilson Raj, global customer intelligence director with SAS.

Synchronizing Social Traffic Signals July 18, 2012 It's not enough to have just a website, or just social media profiles. Businesses need to have both -- and the traffic needs to flow seamlessly between them. Numerica Credit Union was looking for a way to offer customers a useful tool on its Facebook page while driving traffic from Facebook to its site.

Tweeting CRM July 16, 2012 Most businesses recognize the need to be on Twitter to post about their latest products, services and recommendations. In addition to such marketing uses, however, it can also be used to manage customer relations. "To remain competitive, businesses have to figure out how to acquire, serve and retain customers through social channels," said Justyn Howard, president and CEO of Sprout Social.

The Secret Life of Sequoia July 10, 2012 IBM's Sequoia supercomputer headed the latest Top500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers. The twice-yearly roster was released at the 2012 International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany, in June. Delivered to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2011, Sequoia is scheduled for operational deployment this year.

Tools for Crafting Social CRM Connections July 09, 2012 Adaptu serves people in all stages of life, from young people just getting married and buying a home, to more mature investors planning for their children's educations or their own retirements. "Tracking our more public users allows us to create content, crowdsource ideas, and offer solutions that we wouldn't normally get the chance to talk about," said Jenna Forstrom, Adaptu's community manager.

Cheap, Easy DIY Website Design June 29, 2012 All businesses can't afford pricey website designers, which is why Shanti Sosienski was inspired to start DIY Websites Now, a company that teaches people how to build their own. "Basically, we are a collective of designers, programmers and project managers who saw the need to service those potential clients who couldn't afford a $2,000 site," said Sosienski.

The Do-Not-Track Balancing Act June 27, 2012 When Microsoft announced recently that Internet Explorer 10 will have its Do Not Track feature turned on by default, it seemed those concerned about online privacy would hail the move as a step in the right direction. Consumer advocates and other groups had been agitating for such a feature for some time.

Video Marketing: Selling With Sight, Sound and Motion June 22, 2012 Video engages customers, tells stories and creates brand loyalty like no other medium. As a young entrepreneur, Andrew Angus owned an alternative fuel business. As part of his marketing efforts, he made a brief video explaining the process of making fuel from agricultural residues. The experience made him aware of the usefulness of video in explaining and selling product.

You Just Have to Be There: Trends in Event Marketing June 15, 2012 Mike Heaston knows the power of a good cycling event. Get the people out there, biking through the Colorado mountains, and they'll become loyal and steadfast customers. "We're putting on events that people love," said Heaston, owner of EventMarketing Group. "We're creative, and these are our product."

Short and Sweet: Text Marketing June 09, 2012 Text messages are intimate, to-the-point, and readable, and they bring marketing messages straight to where people spend much of their time -- their phones. Texting, it turns out, is more than just a series of LOLs or smiley faces between friends. Increasingly, it's also a savvy and effective marketing tool.

Encryption on the Go, Part 2 June 06, 2012 The growing consumerization of IT is turning into a security nightmare for many IT departments, but it's perhaps hitting the healthcare industry worst. "BYOD is an emerging issue in healthcare, as staff bring their latest and greatest devices and ask to use them in their work," said Christina Thielst, vice president at Tower Strategies.

What Does Microsoft Have to Do to Earn FOSSers' Respect? June 05, 2012 Microsoft may not have fully endeared itself into the FOSS rank and file with its recent attempt to hold hands with the open source community. Feelings are not unanimous regarding the commercial software giant's decision in April to front a company-owned subsidiary called "Microsoft Open Technologies."

U.S. Gov Teams With Private Sector to Bust Up Botnets June 04, 2012 Botnets represent a major security threat to e-commerce. The effectiveness of this malicious software has gone far beyond the realm of simple annoyance and inconvenience to a major global, technical and economic challenge. The botnet security issue has become so difficult that federal agencies and the private sector have initiated a special effort to deal with the problem.

Seamless, Smart, Successful Social Marketing June 01, 2012 Engaging the customer has always been fundamental to doing good business. It's just that now that engagement often starts in digital, social media realms. The trick is to figure out how to make one's content as interesting as all the other content that shows up in the newsfeed, and this is where social media marketing companies come in.

Encryption on the Go, Part 1 May 30, 2012 The growth of the bring-your-own-device trend, in which employees use their personal devices in the workplace, is proving to be a huge headache for IT. Often underfunded, understaffed and overworked, IT now has to cope with a plethora of different devices running different operating systems -- or different versions of an operating system.

Phantom 'Planet X' May Lurk at Solar System's Edge May 25, 2012 A giant but unseen planet may lurk on the outer edge of our solar system, making its presence known only by disrupting the orbits of nearby celestial objects, according to Rodney Gomes, an astronomer at the National Observatory of Brazil. Astronomers have long observed that a group of small, icy bodies in the so-called "scattered disc" region beyond the orbit of Neptune follow strange orbits around the sun.

Rx for Medical Students: Take One Tablet May 23, 2012 The educational e-book market has grown fiercer in the last few years, raising the question of where the end game will leave educational institutions in their attempts to reduce student churn, increase productivity and radically reduce costs. As the battling e-textbook giants try to cut exclusive deals and limit competitors' supplies of e-content, educators are wondering if their choices of learning material will be choked as a result.