The initial pains of building another network, from scratch, AND having to engage were definitely enough to keep me at bay- at least for a few hours.  I finally gave in and started the initial set up, which took about 15 minutes. As the weekend went by, I couldn’t help but check in on my growing circles, attempt to invite more of my friends (which I haven’t been successful with since that first hour) and after many tries, got my Instagram feed to publish. What’s the most interesting thing about Google + for me? Simply all the buzz around this shiny, new toy. I can’t wait to see how it plays out.

The world is definitely buzzing with Google+. Chris Brogan’s recent article provides an in depth look at how powerful, or weak this new toy really is, or has the potential to be.  What are your musings so far? We’d love to hear from you!

So how can Startup America really benefit your business? Here are 3 ways to put the program to work for you:

1) Expanded Access to Capital: Access to capital is vital to fueling sustainable economic growth. With no new cost to taxpayers, the Small Business Administration (SBA) rolled out a $2 billion initiative to match to private sector investment over the next five years. SBA-guaranteed bonds will match private capital to serve as a catalyst to help startups and high growth firms. Through a $1 billion Early Stage Innovation Fund and a second $1 billion fund for businesses in underserved communities. The Startup America Partnership has already has garnered major commitments from several of the nation’s largest tech companies, including a $200 million pledge by Intel, $150 million from IBM to fund programs that promote entrepreneurs and new business opportunities and a plan by Facebook to host “Startup Days,” a series of 12-15 events.

2) Mentorship to Accelerate Growth: Connecting mentors and entrepreneurs is a key part of the Startup America effort. The SBA’s new Entrepreneurial Mentor Corps (EMC) encourages successful business owners to mentor and support startups to help them become the next generation of great companies. The program aims to support more than 1,000 startup and early stage firms across the country. A clean energy pilot is underway using accelerators to identify and match mentors with 100 clean energy startups to grow their revenue, create jobs and avoid pitfalls that frequently challenge startups. The Department of Veterans Affairs recently established two of the first integrated business accelerators focused solely on veterans. By expanding collaborations, education and mentorships, these initiatives will empower more people not just to get a job, but create jobs.

4) Opportunity to Engage: Do you have ideas on what processes and regulations need to change and improve to build a more supportive environment for entrepreneurship and innovation? Startup America is seeking feedback from across the country to foster a more nurturing environment for entrepreneurship and innovation. Think about what your business needs, and contribute on http://reducingbarriers.ideascale.com/ Follow conversations happening on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #startupamerica.

The key fnding is that Netflix is now the undisputed king of the Internet in North America constituting 29.7% of peak downstream traffic – up from 21% last fall.

In addition, real-time entertainment applications consume 49.2% of peak aggregate traffic, up from 29.5% in 2009 – a 60% increase. Sandvine forecasts that the Real-Time Entertainment category will represent 55-60% of peak aggregate traffic by the end of 2011.

Other findings from around the world:

• In Latin America, Social Networking (overwhelmingly Facebook) is a bigger source of traffic than YouTube, representing almost 14% of network traffic . Real-Time Entertainment represents 27.5% of peak aggregate traffic, still the largest contributor of traffic in that region.

• In Europe, Real-Time Entertainment continues a steady climb, rising to 33.2% of peak aggregate traffic, up from 31.9% last fall. BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing protocol, is the largest single component of both upstream (59.7%) and downstream (21.6%) Internet traffic during peak periods. In the UK, BBC’s iPlayer is 6.6% of peak downstream traffic, reflecting the demand for localized content in many markets.

• Overall, individual subscribers in Europe consume twice the amount of data as North Americans.

Check out the full report at – http://www.sandvine.com/news/global_broadband_trends.asp

On May 17th, Sandvine (market leader in network policy control solutions) will release a spring Internet report based on the research/analysis of over 220 fixed and wireless service providers spanning 85 countries. Some of findings are indeed eyebrow raising, including how real-time entertainment traffic has grown and differences on how the Internet is used from region to region.

This report is a follow up to a last year’s fall report that blew the lid off of Netflix’s growing influence, citing that in the U.S., Netflix now represents more than 20 percent of downstream traffic during peak times and is heaviest between 8-10 p.m. These results were not only surprising, but opened the doors to industry-wide conversations on how exactly video streaming and other types of real-time applications are impacting broadband services.

Stay tuned – I will post the results next Tuesday.

All jokes aside, smart phones have drastically changed anything and everything digital. They have made us more accessible, efficient and ultimately, more mobile in almost every social and personal endeavor. Here is my list of must have mobile apps:

1. Yelp – Yelp is my food and entertainment bible. If I’m ever in a new town or just can’t decide where to eat or what to do, Yelp is my best friend. Yelp’s and its users’ ratings have yet to do me wrong.
2. GasBuddy – Gas. Prices. Won’t. Stop. Climbing. Use this application to find the cheapest gas near you – where ever you are!
3. USA Today – All news outlets now have their own mobile app. I particularly like USA Today’s because of its easy-to-read-on-your-tiny-phone-screen format and sharing capabilities straight from the app itself.
4. Google Voice – You don’t need a smart phone for this app, but the Google Voice App makes managing voicemails a thousand times easier. My favorite feature – it transcribes your voicemails into text messages so you don’t have that annoying cassette symbol in the corner of your phone.
5. Foursquare/Facebook Places – Initially, I was annoyed when people would check in where ever they went. But I admit it, I’ve become one of those people. Restaurants and shops offer some pretty nifty giveaways and deals for people who check in – try it out. It’s also kind of satisfying to oust someone as Mayor..
6. Shazam – Don’t you hate it when you hear a song on the radio that you like and you want to know what song it is, but the radio hosts never says the name? Download Shazam, turn it on, hold it up to the speakers and Shazam will tell you the song name and artist in less than a minute.
7. Pandora – If you haven’t heard of Pandora yet, you’re missing out. They created the “Music Genome Project” that creates playlists for you based on a song or artist. Create as many playlists as you like and take this limitless music player on the go!
8. Drop Box – Drop Box is great not only on your computer, but now you can access your account mobile! I’ve ran into many instances where I needed to access personal as well as business files on the road. Drop box is THE cloud solution for file sharing and their mobile app is excellent for on the go business.
9. Evernote – Evernote enables you to “Remember Everything.” It allows you to take notes and jot down ideas, experiences, store pictures, anything. It connects your account through all the mobile devices in your life so you’ll never forget a thing – theoretically.

The media has jumped on this revelation focusing attention on threats to privacy and other security concerns citing that the collected data sits on servers in an un-encrypted state making it an easy target for hackers. In addition, an unencrypted file called “consolidated.db” sits on the device itself, so if your iPhone or iPad is stolen, information on your whereabouts will be available to anyone.

Speculation on why Apple and Google are collecting this data range from better quality-of-experience by speeding up location-based applications to advertising opportunities. If however the only reason was to solely improve location-based applications, why would this information need to remain on the device after it is transmitted?

The real reason probably sits much closer to ties around advertising. Just imagine the power this data would have on decisions such as where to place a billboard if a company like Ford knows the percentage of the population who have Googled “Ford Cars” down a particular stretch of highway over the last six months.

What are your thoughts on the practice of companies collecting personal information without consent?

Called Teleporter, this device attaches to the back of a TV camera and uses the combined bandwidth of several cellular data cards to beam video back to the newsroom or even directly to a website. Why is this revolutionary? Teleporter technology replaces the need for those bulky news trucks you see rolling down the road with huge satellite dishes attached on top. These trucks cost TV stations about $1,500 per day in satellite fees alone so using readily available cellular broadband connections is a much more economical route.

Check out more at Engadget: http://tinyurl.com/3srr5ox

The big story this year that dominated the conference was AT&T’s $38 billion of T-Mobile. For many years now I have always been a huge proponent of T-Mobile. Coverage and customer service has always been good, and my service plan worked seamlessly overseas (even China).

In December, AT&T ran into a bit of a PR nightmare when Consumer Reports ranked the carrier as the worst in the U.S. So what will the acquisition mean for AT&T down the road? After speaking with several industry experts and analysts, the mood seems optimistic at least in one major category – coverage. By acquiring T-Mobile, AT&T will acquire the rival’s infrastructure including additional cell towers. So expect better coverage – and faster coverage as plans for a nationwide LTE deployment (4G) kicks into high gear.

However, as with most acquisitions there will be a flip side. Some things current T-Mobile customers can expect in the coming months include: higher prices, fewer phone choices, alternative billing cycles and the end to unlimited data plans.

No matter what your perception is of the acquisition, one thing we can all agree on is that these changes will be driven by a massive PR and marketing campaign highlighting the positives as AT&T once again becomes a “Super Carrier”.

Do you have an iPhone? What has been your experience with AT&T and are you looking forward to the merger? Please share.

Challenge: Zenzi was tasked to create awareness and recognition for Ignify’s e-commerce platform in the small to medium enterprise space. Zenzi formulated a strategy to differentiate and leverage Ignify’s unique features such as heuristic trending and advanced security precautions that are common in the large enterprise space – but not affordable to the smaller enterprises.

Solution: Zenzi called on its trusted relationships with technology and business media and analysts to establish Ignify as a thought leader in e-commerce solutions for the SME market and creatively pitched story ideas to editors and analysts. We positioned Ignify as an excellent business model for feature stories and company profiles as well as an expert source to comment on the validity of current trends. By developing case studies that showed the value and benefits of Ignify’s solutions, Zenzi was able to penetrate an incredibly crowed media space and garner accolades for Ignify from analysts and top-tier media alike.

Results: Sandeep Walia, President of Ignify is now considered an authority in e-commerce order placement and security and fraud prevention, appearing in top national business publications such as Forbes and BusinessWeek. They have had frequent appearances in top-tier trade publications including CRN, Computerworld, eWeek, Internet Retailer, RIS News, E-Commerce Times and others. As a result of a well-rounded PR campaign, Ignify has been able to leverage media recognition creating a name in the industry for e-commerce while expanding into areas such as ERP, Business Intelligence and CRM. The media attention has helped foster attention from Microsoft. Today, Ignify is a Microsoft Gold Partner and has expanded into the large enterprise market, serving customers including Black & Decker, Microsoft, Aerosoles and Giant Bikes among others.

According to Walia, “Zenzi has been a strong element of Ignify’s success story. The amount of positive coverage we have received in two years has been more than what we expected. We couldn’t have made the ranking of the 178th fastest growing business in America without their help.”