gigatech2An amazing deal has popped for Amazon Prime customers looking to buy a new low cost Android phone. They are offering $50 off one of two phones: the BLU R1 HD which is normally $99.99 is going for $49.99 and the $199.99 Moto G4 at $149.99. From Amazon:

“Each phone is offered unlocked, with no commitment to a contract, giving Prime members the flexibility to switch between wireless carriers and service options to best fit their needs. The BLU R1 HD and Moto G feature Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Google Mobile Services, including Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Play”

The two phones are also quite decent. The BLU R1 HD for example has some impressive specs for a low end phone:

“Featuring a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, fast 4G LTE speed, 8MP rear-facing camera, 5MP selfie camera with LED flash, 1 GB RAM and 8 GB of internal – with microSD card support for up to 64 GB of additional storage. The BLU R1 HD is compatible with GSM carriers, including AT&T and T-Mobile”

The Moto G on the other hand is an extremely popular phone that packs excellent features at a low end price:

“The fourth-generation Moto G is the latest premium phone from Motorola and the thinnest Moto G yet. Compatible with all major CDMA and GSM carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. It boasts a 5.5” full HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset with an octa-core processor at up to 1.5 GHz, 2 GB RAM, and 4G LTE speeds. In addition, the Moto G features a 13MP camera with dual LED flash, and a 3000 mAh battery with TurboPower charging giving you up to 6 hours of power in just 15 minutes of charging. Available with 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage, plus microSD card support for up to 128 GB of additional storage.”

There is a catch to the offer. Much like the Kindle, these prices are ad supported. Buyers will have the full suite of Amazon’s Android apps installed. Ads will also appear at random times on the lockscreen and notification bar. For those willign to tolerate these ads, it is a great offer.


gigatech2For a long time, Microsoft made a killing with its licensing deals with Android manufacturers. It was to the tune of a billion dollars and the best part was that Microsoft made money from almost every Android handset that was sold. Unfortunately it looks like the proliferation of cheap Chinese phones is causing that licensing revenue to fall:

From Business Insider:

“In the release, Microsoft noted that its patent-licensing revenue was down 26% from a year ago. And it’s because of Android. […] Suh also noted that not every Android manufacturer has a licensing deal with Microsoft. He didn’t name names, but Chinese phone makers typically take a very loose approach toward licensing American intellectual property, and as those inexpensive phones take over the world, Microsoft doesn’t benefit as much.

At one point, Microsoft was reported to be booking $2 billion a year from licensing its patents and other intellectual property to Android handset makers like Samsung and HTC. Microsoft has never confirmed that number, but it’s probably a drop in the bucket compared to the overall Windows business, which booked revenue around $4.2 billion this quarter. (“Windows revenue decreased $292 million or 7%,” the release says.)

Still, the Android gravy train is slowing down for everybody.”

The fall in sales for licensed partners like HTC, LG and Sony and the increase in sales of the iPhone with chinese phones is leading to less royalties. The concern for Microsoft is that this looks like it will only get worse.


1Written by Secure Net Shop

At the center of every ecommerce website, is an internet shopping cart. Without a shopping cart ecommerce and online retail would not exist today. A place where the collection of items the user has marked to purchase are set aside. It is usually found at the top corner of the website along with either the total number of items or a visual listing. You can also click on the shopping cart icon and be taken to the dedicated shopping cart listing. Here are two important basics of a good shopping cart:

Quick view

Finding the shopping cart should be easy. A link title shopping cart is not enough. The first thing is that the shopping cart should have an icon that looks like a cart of bag so users can easily pick it out. When the mouse hovers over the icon or the word shopping cart, the quick view should appear. This can be a basic description of the items in the, like the total number of items or a nicer visual representation of what is in the cart.

Page design

This is the page that the user sees first when they click the checkout button. The dedicated page for the shopping cart loads and shows a list of items, quantities, sub total and total. There will also be tax and coupon code sections. Some improvements to this typical design would be real time cost and total changes when the quantities are changed or items removed.

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Secure Net Shop is an online shopping cart provider for ecommerce sites.


By Allied Time

Even if you run a small business, you probably have at least an employee or two below you. If you have a medium-sized business or bigger, then, by definition, you definitely do. In any case, it’s probably obvious to you that these people are the most important investment you’ve made in your company. At the same time, they’re also the most expensive. For both of these reasons, it is vital that you’re getting as big a return as possible from them.

AlliedTime2While there are a number of ways you could do this, nothing will compare to using employee time clocks. Doing so is just as effective as it is simple and, best of all, affordable. If you want to spend a bit more, you can go with a fingerprint time clock to ensure the validity of whoever signs in. However, for the most part, you’ll get plenty from using the simplest version possible.

Although some business owners worry that these clocks will cause resentment, this concern just doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. You deserve to know if your money is being spent well. Furthermore, the vast majority of employees appreciate this kind of management. It lets them know what’s expected from them and holds their coworkers accountable for their actions.

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At Allied Time, the bottom line is making more of your company’s most valuable asset. With an employee time clock, you can make sure that every dime you spend on your staff is well worth it.


Top-Mistakes-that-Startup-Businesses-MakeWhen people talk about startup businesses, you mostly hear about their successes and the large amounts of money that they are pooling together from sales. Do you know how they got there? They planned ahead and didn’t make mistakes such as catering to a small market or not having a proper business plan. If you are planning a startup business, be sure not to make these mistakes that can put a hold or even completely halt your entire plan.

Overanalyzing your Product

One of the primary goals of business is to generate revenue. Too many times entrepreneurs will lose their focus on selling their product and tinker with it too much, losing money in the process. You’ll run out of money and energy before it even hits the market.

Overfunding Advertisements

Advertising your product is a key factor in public exposure. Words tend to spread like a wildfire at times. This doesn’t mean you should spend over $1000 on an ad campaign that will net you $50 from one lead that is paying a non-committal monthly contract. Balancing your ad revenue with your capital is important so you don’t lose all of your assets. Test the market and see how you can generate revenue that exceeds the amount that you spend on marketing.

Choose a market with promise and stability. Even if you’re the smaller player in the in the field, it’s better to create that foundation where you can grow from the bottom up.

Bio: Ferhan Patel is the CCO of Payza, a global payment processing platform that experience an exponential growth in their membership base making them an easy option for small business owners.