The GoodGuide Beauty App Helps You Make Informed Choices

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It seems like every day, there’s one (or dozens) of new apps that are introduced into the marketplace. However, if there’s one that we feel you should consider downloading as soon as you possibly can, it would have to be the GoodGuide Beauty App. Are you not familiar with it? Well, we’d be more than happy to share what makes it a definite must-have for your personal iPhone or Android.

First, let’s provide you with a bit of information about the GoodGuide mobile app, in general. If you go to the website GoodGuide.com, you’ll see that it’s the kind of app that is basically a “one stop shop” when it comes to providing you with all of the information that you need about finding ecofriendly products that are safe, healthy and ethical.

And while there may be a few apps that will boast of being able to produce similar results, a part of what makes the GoodGuide app stand out is that it doesn’t just find these kinds of “green products” in the areas of food, beauty and household care products; it also gives the performance rating of over 120,000 of these items as well. It even has a barcode scanning feature that you can use while you’re walking through one of your favorite stores so that you can get all of the product information and its consumer ratings too.

So obviously, this is a good app to have, but if you’re someone who has a love for beauty products, then there are a couple of reasons while you’ll like it all the more. Indeed, if there is one industry that often has items that are loaded with chemicals and toxins, it would be the beauty industry. And yet, there is more and more research supporting the fact that the more natural a beauty cream, cosmetic or hair product is, the better it is, long term, for our overall health and well-being.

That’s what makes the GoodGuide Beauty app so ideal. As it relates to skin care, hair care, perfume and cologne, men’s grooming products, baby care items, soap and even deodorant and feminine hygiene products, the GoodGuide Beauty app will provide you with a comprehensive listing of well over 86,500 items on the beauty market along with the ratings that they have.

Plus, the really awesome thing is that not only does it provide ratings on the impact that these products can have on your health, but also the environment and society as a whole. As an added bonus, you can also search by term or category and if there happens to be specific issues that matter to you (for instance, you want to purchase products by manufacturers that solely market themselves as being ecofriendly companies), the GoodGuide Beauty app can help you to do that as well.

So, the next time that you’re in the marketing for a new body wash, fragrance or even if you go on a website like Epilator Central and you want a few more details on a product there, if you have the GoodGuide Beauty app, you can find all of the information that you need, before your purchase, to insure that you will be buying an item that will be good for you, your wallet and the earth—all in one.

Internet Sales Tax Bill Passes Senate

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The internet has become an absolute powerhouse for retail sales across almost every major international market. Thanks to vastly successful promotions such as Cyber Monday and the deep price discounts companies can offer without the need to maintain a retail sales outlet or a full staff of employees, millions of people now do a significant amount of their shopping online. And those numbers continue to rise every year. It will be interesting to see how this success sustains itself, now that the Marketplace Fairness Act has passed through the Senate. Known more simply as the internet sales tax, this act saw its way through Senate on Monday by a vote that saw legislators crossing the aisle, supporting the bill with a final tally of 69-27. This was basically the expected outcome, so now policymakers and industry experts will watch and wait as the act heads into the hands of the House of Representatives.

Prior to this bill, consumers that use an online sales service that has no physical, brick and mortar location in the buyer’s state of residence don’t have to pay any sales tax whatsoever. Customers are supposed to report any of this type of purchase during their yearly tax reporting. Of course, this almost never happens, and the states have begun to push back. Without this sales tax revenue, American states are losing money to the tune of $11 billion. Aside from missing this desperately needed tax revenue, consumer-focused brands that do maintain a physical headquarters feel this loophole gives those without one an unfair advantage with customers.

The Marketplace Fairness Act addresses this very issue. Basically, states will now be able to enforce sales tax collection even if the customer doing the purchasing lives in another state. Whatever address the online sales portal uses as their permanent location will be the state on record. The only online retailers that would be exempt from this collection are the smallest of small businesses, which earn less than $1 million a year.

Entrepreneurs who manage both online and physical businesses were obviously thrilled with the Senate’s decision. Speaking through Bill Hughes, the SVP in charge of government affairs for an organization called the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the goal was always to take away the unfair advantage huge online retailers hold over the smaller, local companies. The fact that the bill was passed with bipartisan approval only underlines the necessity of progress on this issue. Mr. Hughes believes the debate that will follow in the House will be constructive and fair, just like the bill itself.

However, big business isn’t about to go down without a fight. Ebay is working hard to push the house to amend the bill. Their goal is to raise the business exemption for online sellers from $1 million to $10 million a year, or to add in a maximum employee count of fifty people. Ebay’s senior director in charge of global public policy, Mr. Brian Bieron spun the Senate’s decision in a much different light. He termed the debate as ‘contentious’, and feels the specifics of the policy will keep small online retailers from growth, and effective competition with larger companies. Overall, Mr. Bieron may be correct. While consumers love using their Overstock promo codes, would a company like that exist if it didn’t enjoy these tax exemptions? Republicans in the Senate who didn’t vote for the bill feel it too strongly supports big business, which means its fate in a House controlled by the Republican majority is uncertain at best.

The Educational iLearn App Teaches Kids About Healthy Eating and Nutrition

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Children are notoriously picky eaters. Unless the meal you put on their plate is deep fried, lathered in ketchup or apple sauce, or dipped in sugar or chocolate you’ll often have to force them to even give it a try. It’s strange how this happens, but frequently it’s just simpler to give them what they want than to deal with the tears and the tantrums. Parenthood is often a war, and sometimes you have to give up the small battles in order to win out. This isn’t ideal, of course, and parents everywhere struggle to uncover ways to get their kids to eat healthier foods. Luckily, technology is coming through with a fun way to get your children excited about making healthy choices. If you have an Apple mobile device of any sort, check out the educational iLearn app that teaches kids about healthy eating and nutrition.

This is the latest iLearn offering from Tribal Nova, a company well known for award-winning, popular family-focused apps. Their specialization is the iOS operating system, so you’ll need an iPod, iPhone or iPad to take advantage. But if you do, and if you have young children in the house you’d like to be eating better, check out i Learn with Bo: Nutrition and Healthy Eating! The ‘Bo’ app joins their other great titles, such as the ‘Boing’ app, which teaches children about ocean life, and the ‘Poko’ app, which is all about emotions.

According to reviewers, i Learn with Bo is yet another app destined for major accolades. It’s designed for children who have yet to start kindergarden. This is the best time to get to them with nutritional guidance, before they’ve been swayed by all of the sweet and salty treats their friends bring to school in bagged lunches. The app works by playfully showing kids how to choose something that’s edible over stuff that’s inedible, and further to figure out which choice is healthy.

It all comes about through a series of lessons turned into adventurous quests. The goal of the game is to help an adorable penguin plan and pull off his birthday party. The player will stand by the empty table, with the penguin in a birthday hat ready for his special meal. A board next to the table shows all sorts of choices, and the player will choose the best ones, hopefully avoiding foods that are packed with fat and sugar. The app is incredibly colorful, with adorable characters and food choices your toddler should easily be able to recognize.

The i Learn with Bo: Nutrition and Healthy Eating! App comes as an initially free download, so you’ll be able to check it out in detail before investing further. In order to unlock every level of the game you’ll have to invest just under $3.00. But you won’t feel bad pulling that out of your child’s Maryville University college fund. After all, they’ve got a lot of growing to do, and anything that can inspire them towards a healthy, well-balanced nutritional life is a good thing. Start them young, and perhaps they’ll never fall prey to that dreaded ‘freshman fifteen’!

Trello Makes Group Projects a Snap for Students

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One of the biggest hurdles that many college students will have to face during their time on campus is the dreaded group project. You’d think this occurrence would make students happy since they won’t have to bear the sole burden of completing the work. You’d think collaboration would be a good thing. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case, due in large part to the fact that every student has their own ideas about what constitutes an acceptable level of workmanship. As it turns out, some students are perfectly happy submitting C work, while others want to exceed all expectations in order to uphold their stellar GPA. And this dichotomy can make for extreme anxiety on the part of the over-achievers, not to mention some intense confrontations between teammates. In fact, what generally ends up happening is that one or two students take over and carry the entire team to success. But for students that are looking to even the playing field a little, the Trello app can provide the organizational and collaborative tools that will make each group member accountable for their part of the project.

Here’s how it works. You’ll want to start by having every team member download the application to their favorite mobile device. The app is free, and with versions for Apple, Android, and Windows 8 devices, everyone should be able to find a gadget they can use it on, be it smartphone or tablet. Once the whole group is on board all you have to do is create a project and invite your teammates to join. The next step is to start creating tasks and assigning them, and you can not only assign individual tasks, but you can also select more than one team member to collaborate on certain aspects of the project that require multiple perspectives, just for example, or that seem too big for one person to handle alone.

The app takes the functionality a step further, though. Once tasks have been assigned, there are all kinds of customization options. For one thing, each task can be populated with a checklist to further break down the components associated with completion (such as compiling data, writing copy, creating visual aids, adding a bibliography, and so on). But you can also add a priority level, set a due date and reminders, and even add attachments like files, photos, videos, and so on at any time. This provides a great way for group members to stay on track, post updates, and follow the progress of teammates. In addition, the group can receive notification when any member makes changes, and they can post questions and comments for one another to stay in communication until the project is complete.

In other words, Trello provides one-stop-shopping for the “team leader” looking to keep everyone on the same page and ensure successful completion of the project. Coordinating a group project when you have to rely on college students is no easy feat. But whether you’ve got your sights set on an MBA or you’re going for a masters in public administration online, you’re going to have to learn to work with a group in a professional and efficient manner in order to get the job done. This handy app can help you to do so with less fuss, which is just what every college student needs.

5 IPad Apps for Children With Learning Disabilities

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Smartphones and tablets have officially revolutionized the world and have changed our lives for the better. Apple’s latest brilliant device is the iPad, which is becoming a must have tool for people in almost every major industry, including healthcare and education. One of the biggest and vastly more underrated niches is education technology, which is changing the way teachers teach and students learn. For children that have fundamental problems learning, researchers have found that using unique curriculums and applications on these devices are succeeding in marked ways never seen before. Here are 5 iPad apps for children with learning disabilities.

For children with learning disabilities, like autism and Asperger’s syndrome, an app called Crazy Face Lite is encouraging students that might having trouble speaking or are to shy, to speak up and participate in class. Crazy Face has a number of cartoonish looking monster faces that when you speak into the microphone and look through the camera becomes a mask of sorts. This allows kids with learning disabilities a chance to put a thin barrier between themselves and the classroom, which will give them much more confidence to interact with other students.
Another great app for children who might have more difficulties with learning is called ArtikPix. This free application allows kids with major speech issues to practice basic speech patterns, like the ‘Th’ sound, using a series of interactive flash cards. Kids can speak into the app and get feedback, and, best of all, it is fun to use. A great thing about this app is that it makes something that might seem daunting, a lot more fun.
One other great application for students with autism is called AutismXpress, which allows kids with this very common learning disability the ability to better communicate with teachers and parents. One of the fundamental problems with children who have autism is that they have a much harder time communicating with the people around them and this revolutionary app can really help.
There is also a popular app called Proloquo2Go, which is helping kids with severe speech difficulties and even kids that can’t speak. If you are taking George Washington University’s online mba in health care program you might want to learn about this unique and award winning application for the iPad, which is currently giving over 50,000 kids around the world the ability to express themselves, sometimes for the first time in their lives.
Lastly, Awareness! is a unique headphone application for the iPad that allows students the ability to hear what is going on around them even though they might be listening to music or watching a movie. For children with learning disabilities it can be hard to concentrate or focus on more than one thing at once. This remarkable application, which uses the iPad’s inline microphone, allows the wearer to hear teachers, doctors and parents without having to take off the headset. This app is basically changing the way people with major learning disabilities communicate and interact with the rest of the world.

5 Helpful Cloud Computing Security Tips

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For businesses, 2013 will undoubtedly be the year of cloud computing. The positive word of its benefits for companies are spreading like wildfire. Naturally, though, there are the worrywarts who seem to always stick their wrench in something good and who believe that businesses that switch over operations to the cloud are essentially handing private and privileged information to pirates on a silver platter. In fact, it is quite the opposite and, in many cases, businesses that keep their information on storage servers on-site, opposed to the cloud, are more at risk for breaches by pirates. Businesses that do switch over to the cloud are actually quite protected, because the security measures are incredibly advanced and stringent. However, it is still recommended to take common, everyday security precautions. Here are 5 helpful cloud computing security tips.

Always encrypt. There are naysayers that will tell you that even with advanced encryption hackers can still get in, but it is highly unlikely. It is a little bit like getting a high-end security system for your car that makes the possibility of a theft very low and rare. Yes, people might be able to break in, but it is not very likely and with encryption it will lower the impact of any damage that a pirate might cause if they do so happen to break through.
Next, always have a strong password containing multiple numbers and symbols. These days people underestimate the power of a good password and disregard the fact that they have a weak one. This can be a recipe for a serious security breach. Moreover, if you have a large business with multiple employees it might be smart to do two things: don’t give your password out to any other employee and make sure to change the password weekly.
It might also be wise to add a few more steps to administrative access after you enter a password to increase the security. These can be a set of private security questions and in some cases you can even get fingerprint technology to virtually erase the risk that someone within the company breaks in. While fingerprint security software might be a large and extraneous added cost, if you have lots of private client information to store in the cloud it might just be worth it.
Also, make sure that you have a proper logging system. Because the technology is so new, it makes assessing cloud management platforms and other end-user diagnostic issues hard to track. If there is some sort of logging protocol it can reduce the risk of an end-user going into the cloud and messing something up or, worse, accidently deleting files.
Lastly, always have a firewall. A firewall is the good old-fashioned way of protecting a data storage processing server from being breached by a hacker. A firewall is akin to have a steering wheel lock for your car. A thief might look in the window and decide that it’s not worth the trouble and move on. A firewall can work much the same way so that you can rest easy that the information you have on the cloud is totally secure.

5 Beginner Web Design Mistakes to Avoid

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Designing websites can be tricky, especially if you are just starting out. Moreover, the web is a complicated place with lots of different coding languages and platforms. It can be tough to know which platform or language would work best for a specific client. In addition, website designers have to keep their finger on the pulse every single day to know what the current trends are, both in aesthetics and technology, because they are both constantly evolving. If you have a predilection for solving problems and strong logical thinking skills, web design might be the perfect career for you, but it is important to know what some of the rookie mistakes are so that you can avoid them in the future and maximize your chances for success. Here are 5 beginner web design mistakes to avoid.

One of the biggest mistakes is making the site too confusing to navigate. This can be a serious problem if the website has lot of pages. Many beginner website designers try to flex their skills by adding lots of bells and whistles, but the smartest way to design a website is to focus on simplicity and ease of use. A site with different pages and inconsistent menu bars will frustrate people to no end.
Next, color is one of the most important elements in website design. Typically you want the background to be a lighter color and the text to be darker. If you have it the other way around you can make it incredibly hard to read. The color combinations can go from bad to worse depending on the contrast. For instance, one of the hardest to read is a website with a black background with yellow or white text. Not only is it hard to read, but also the reader might get a pounding headache from squinting too much.
Another huge mistake that rookie website designers make is adding music that plays automatically in the background with no stop or pause button. As the designer of the website you might have a certain taste in music, but other people might not. You might think that a certain song conveys a certain mood on the website, but only thing it will convey to other people is anger and frustration. If you absolutely have to add music, be sure to put a stop button somewhere.
Also, don’t make the pages too long. No visitor wants to go to a website only to infinitely scroll down to find the next page. If you look at the portfolio of professionals, like Advia Internet, you will see that each page has a perfect length and the ability to intuitively click to the next page with very little wait time.
Lastly, many beginner website designers use too heavy of scripts, like clunky PHP and Flash, which can slow down a site to a snail’s pace. This is especially important to take into consideration when people are trying to open the website’s first page. The last thing you want is for people to wait around for a page to load, which can result in loss of traffic and revenue.

Study Shows Social Media Usage Can Damage Your GPA

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The expansion of broadband service, mobile technology and internet usage has truly transformed the day to day lives of much of the world’s population. Working out of an office is no longer a necessity. Family, friends and associates can speak in realtime, even if they’re separated by thousands of miles. And with a smartphone or a tablet anyone can make dinner reservations, navigate their way across town and even check in on their investments between courses. It’s an incredible development, but like any technological innovation it isn’t 100% positive. Take social media for example. Small businesses can make themselves known to potential customers around the world without having to execute an advertising spend that rivals the big corporations. But internet prowlers also have easy access to innocent youth, and cyber bullying is a very real problem in our nation’s schools. Social media may help connect you to the world, but it might also disconnect you from what’s truly important. According to a new study, social media usage can even damage your college GPA.

The results of this study were recently discussed in U.S. News & World Report. The study was published online this month within the Emerging Adulthood journal. Basically, the researchers reached out to more than 480 female incoming freshman, all attending a major university in the northeastern United States. The study was fairly simple in its execution. Basically, each participant was asked to detail the time they spent involved with any sort of media. The different categories were movie or television viewing, internet surfing, music, social networks, cellphone calling or texting, reading print materials that aren’t for school and playing video games. After detailing their usage time, the freshman students were also asked about a series of life problems, including issues with completing homework on time or poor class attendance, lack of sleep and problems with drugs or alcohol. Finally, they were asked to rate their confidence in the academic space.

The researchers then took this data and compared it to the students’ GPA scores from the following semester. Their findings were pretty telling. Basically, the more time they spent engaged with media the poorer their educational performance. One interesting fact is that the activities didn’t impact their grades in equal measure. The highest correlation between media use and a reduced GPA was seen between cellphone use, movie and television watching, magazine reading and engaging in social networking. On the other hand, time spent with music or newspapers seemed to actually improve their academic standing.

It’s fairly easy to see why this would be the case. According to the study’s findings, female students spend almost twelve hours every single day engaged with these various medias. Since there are only twenty-four hours in a given day and six to eight of them are usually spent sleeping, that doesn’t leave much time for classes and homework. And if you’ve ever spent time in a classroom you probably saw the amount of attention students gave to their phones, even during the professor’s lecture. The study went on to note that the negative personal behaviors were also tied into social media use, showing that while it may help people engage with the larger world, it certainly doesn’t help them make positive choices in their own lives. It might be interesting to see if this data would hold true in schools in other areas, such as at the University of Cincinnati or UCLA. But even though the data was fairly clear, the chances of a parent or teacher using this information to get a student to change her ways is probably slim to none.

How to Utilize Social Media to Search for College Scholarships

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As social media becomes so popular that even your parents are using it (and trying to friend you), it should come as no surprise that plenty of businesses are finding ways put their social networking profiles to good use, and schools and scholarship organizations are no exception. Everyone has jumped aboard the social media bandwagon these days! So if you’re relying on your school counselors to supply you with scholarship opportunities, or you’ve done nothing more than apply for the scholarships offered directly by your college of choice, you’re definitely missing out on dozens or perhaps hundreds of chances to apply for the scholarship funds that could pay for your ongoing education. So here are just a few ways that you could use social media to your advantage when it comes to searching for scholarships.

First and foremost, you should know that there are tons of websites that can help to find targeted scholarships. If you haven’t yet discovered sites like Fastweb, Zinch, and Scholarship America, you should definitely sign up so that you can start taking advantage of the many scholarship opportunities they have to offer. Some require you to fill out a questionnaire so that they can provide you with the option to apply for scholarships that best suit your interests, your major, your family history, and so on; all you have to do is choose the ones you wish to apply for.

Others have targeted scholarship programs by which business partners provide money for students that qualify. But something that all of the sites listed above also offer is portals on both Facebook and Twitter (amongst other social media outlets), which means you can utilize them anytime and anywhere, thanks to your smartphone or tablet, to receive updates, access your account, check the status of pending scholarships, and apply for any new ones that have become available to you. It’s a faster, easier, and more efficient way to ensure that you’re doing everything you can to get the scholarship funds you need to complete your college education.

Even better, you can actually use your penchant for tweeting to help you earn money for school. For example, Scholarships.com offers a “Short and Tweet” scholarship. All you have to do is follow them on Twitter to participate and when you see that they’re doing the scholarship competition, you post a tweet that answers their question in 140 characters or less. You might be able to earn a $1,000 scholarship or prizes like a new tablet for school. But while Facebook and Twitter might be the most popular social networking platforms on the planet, that also means you’re likely to face the most competition by using them. So look for opportunities on other social media platforms, as well.

YouTube, for example, is the focus for all kinds of video-based scholarships, such as the Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway that provides over a million dollars in scholarship funds annually to students that upload videos highlighting their intended major and why they want a scholarship. The point is that there are many ways you can use social media to your advantage when it comes to locating scholarship opportunities. Whether you want to attend an Ivy League institution or you’re more interested in Marylhurst’s online MBA program, scholarship funds can help you to pay for college and attain a degree, and social media is just one more tool in your arsenal.

Social Media Marketing Startup SocialFlow Secures $10 Million

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As social media platforms continue to grow, so do the companies that support them. Take SocialFlow, for example. If you’ve never heard of them before, that’s understandable. After all, they are relatively new. Yet, in the short amount of time of their existence, they have been making quite an impression on a lot of companies that are looking for ways to effectively market themselves in social media.

What SocialFlow does is assist businesses by helping them to determine the time of day when their Facebook posts and Twitter “tweets” are proving to be the most influential in cyberspace. How it works is that SocialFlow currently has two different tools that it uses: Cadence and Crescendo.

The way that Cadence is used is that it has algorithms that work to figure out when social audiences appear to be the most receptive to the messages that a particular company sends out. Once it obtains that data, messages are set to automatically go out during those times of day and then a record is kept of how many conversions and clicks are made. What Crescendo does is then take that same information to help companies determine what kind of online ads need to be bought. For instance, it will process the data and then, based on the results, alert a particular business of what kind of Facebook advertising that it should invest in.

Although SocialFlow is only four years old (it was founded in 2009), it has already made quite an impression in the business world. There are over 70 companies including Pepsi, Burberry, Wal-Mart, Forbes and Buzzfeed that use its services and reportedly, six out of 10 of the largest media companies rely on its “Cadence Technology”.

This bit of history on the company helps us to understand why it seems to be generating so much income at a time when the marketplace is still trying to get back to a place of stability. Indeed, SocialFlow has had quite of bit of fundraising money “flowing its way”. Back in 2011, it raised $7 million in its Series A fundraising project and now it is making media headlines for securing approximately $10 million in its Series B mission; one that will help to expand SocialFlow’s product lineup while also expanding its partnerships.

Already, SocialFlow has acquired some impressive investors. Fairhaven Capital, AOL Ventures and Rand Capital Corporation are just a few of the companies that invested in Series B in hopes that SocialFlow’s social marketing endeavors will continue to soar. And while they do have some pretty stiff competition (Salesforce purchased Buddy Media last summer and Oracle acquired Vitrue as well), SocialFlow seems almost welcoming of it as they continue to grow. It hasn’t “gone on record” with the exact numbers of its valuable, but the company did share that it’s revenue is currently in the low seven figures and already in the first quarter of 2013, it has revealed itself to have a 332 percent year-over-year growth.

It’s definitely one of the more impressive social media startups that we’ve seen in quite some time.

It will be interesting to see how many ways it will, pardon the pun, socially (and corporately) flow.