1-Amazon launches a small business store.

This week, Amazon launched Amazon Storefronts — a new section of its site that lists only products sold by American and medium-sized businesses. The company says it is a way for shoppers to find fewer merchants easier and has selected more than one million products from about 20,000 businesses to be placed on the site, based on customer ratings. (Source: AJC) (Amazon is a customer of my company, marks group).

Why is it important for your business:

Amazon has about a million U.S. small business merchants and more than half of the items sold on the e-Commerce giant’s website are from small businesses around the world. Smart retailers today covers “click and brick” strategies, and if you are a small retailer my recommendation is to complement your in-store sales with online sales. Amazon Storefronts may be a good option, but you have to be a merchant first.

Google has announced the launch of a new tool for business customers that allows managers to see if employees are using their g Suite productivity apps. (Source: CNBC)

Why is it important for your business:

Why do this? I know why. My company sells business software and I cannot count the times users complain about perfectly good software that their company is paying for and, frankly, just isn’t being used. One way to counter this issue is to track usage and that’s exactly Google’s plan. Called ‘Work Insights,’ the new feature will track adoption at a team level and help companies’ tech administrators understand if employees are actually using the apps they’re paying for and which products might require more training. If you’re using Google apps and have this problem, then this tool may help you focus better on where the problems are.

3-the U.S. will spare some Apple products from China’s new tariffs.

This week, when the trump administration announced its newest round of tariffs on Chinese goods, it spared a category of high-tech products that includes Apple Watch headphones and AirPods, as well as adapters and chargers for several products. Some Apple products, including its MacMini, will still be affected by the tariffs. The office of the U.S. trade representative has published a list of about $200 billion of Chinese goods that will be subject to a 10% tariff. Apple said the tariffs would raise prices for consumers. (Source: Bloomberg).

Why is it important for your business:

That’s good news for consumers, but not so great for small businesses, especially if you’re a Mac fan. Apple’s desktop, portable and network products, which are used by many small businesses, will be affected by the tariffs. A little silver lining: it will take a few months for the likely price hike to all-black come into force, so buy the equipment now.

4-Microsoft backs away from Windows 10 “warning” about Chrome and Firefox.

In its latest Windows 10 preview, Microsoft has now reversed a controversial test it began using last week that warned Windows 10 users that Chrome or Firefox was about to be installed. However, the company says it may continue to test these types of requests in future updates in an attempt to convince Windows 10 users to stick with Microsoft’s built-in Edge browser. (Source: The Verge)

Why is it important for your business:

My company, The Marks Group PC, is a Microsoft partner and I say: low marks to Microsoft for this little episode. I hate it when companies diss their competitors and, as a Google Chrome user, I’m not a fan of Microsoft “warning” me about using a competitive browser. It’s better to let the tech community decide the pros and cons on our own and help our clients with the decision. If you’re a Google Chrome user like me – or you use Firefox – then go ahead and enjoy your browser on Windows 10. If you have any concerns then ask your IT firm – you’ll likely get a more objective opinion.

5-These few lines of CSS code will ruin your iPhone.

A security researcher has discovered that due to a vulnerability in the WebKit rendering engine used by the Safari browser, it only takes a few lines of CSS code to break an iPhone or iPad. He warned that any link containing the code could freeze the phone. Sabri Haddouche, the researcher who discovered the problem, says: “Anything that displays HTML on iOS is affected.” This is a task that takes up most of the device’s resources and can be used to crash it. (Source: the Next web)

Why is it important for your business:

This is not new. In the past, similar bits of code – even some text messages – have been found crashing iPhones and even affecting other Apple devices. As long As there are hackers you will never get ahead of these issues. It is best to create a backup backup permutation. At the time of writing, Apple is still investigating. Ask your it consultant to keep an eye on how this is resolved.

1-Amazon launches a small business store.

This week, Amazon launched Amazon Storefronts — a new section of its site that lists only products sold by American and medium-sized businesses. The company says it is a way for shoppers to find fewer merchants easier and has selected more than one million products from about 20,000 businesses to be placed on the site, based on customer ratings. (Source: AJC) (Amazon is a customer of my company, marks group).

Why is it important for your business:

Amazon has about a million U.S. small business merchants and more than half of the items sold on the e-Commerce giant’s website are from small businesses around the world. Smart retailers today covers “click and brick” strategies, and if you are a small retailer my recommendation is to complement your in-store sales with online sales. Amazon Storefronts may be a good option, but you have to be a merchant first.

2-Google will now show bosses if employees actually use their apps.

Google has announced the launch of a new tool for business customers that allows managers to see if employees are using their g Suite productivity apps. (Source: CNBC)

Why is it important for your business:

Why do this? I know why. My company sells business software and I cannot count the times users complain about perfectly good software that their company is paying for and, frankly, just isn’t being used. One way to counter this issue is to track usage and that’s exactly Google’s plan. Called ‘Work Insights,’ the new feature will track adoption at a team level and help companies’ tech administrators understand if employees are actually using the apps they’re paying for and which products might require more training. If you’re using Google apps and have this problem, then this tool may help you focus better on where the problems are.

3-the U.S. will spare some Apple products from China’s new tariffs.

This week, when the trump administration announced its newest round of tariffs on Chinese goods, it spared a category of high-tech products that includes Apple Watch headphones and AirPods, as well as adapters and chargers for several products. Some Apple products, including its MacMini, will still be affected by the tariffs. The office of the U.S. trade representative has published a list of about $200 billion of Chinese goods that will be subject to a 10% tariff. Apple said the tariffs would raise prices for consumers. (Source: Bloomberg).

Why is it important for your business:

That’s good news for consumers, but not so great for small businesses, especially if you’re a Mac fan. Apple’s desktop, portable and network products, which are used by many small businesses, will be affected by the tariffs. A little silver lining: it will take a few months for the likely price hike to all-black come into force, so buy the equipment now.

4-Microsoft backs away from Windows 10 “warning” about Chrome and Firefox.

In its latest Windows 10 preview, Microsoft has now reversed a controversial test it began using last week that warned Windows 10 users that Chrome or Firefox was about to be installed. However, the company says it may continue to test these types of requests in future updates in an attempt to convince Windows 10 users to stick with Microsoft’s built-in Edge browser. (Source: The Verge)

Why is it important for your business:

My company, The Marks Group PC, is a Microsoft partner and I say: low marks to Microsoft for this little episode. I hate it when companies diss their competitors and, as a Google Chrome user, I’m not a fan of Microsoft “warning” me about using a competitive browser. It’s better to let the tech community decide the pros and cons on our own and help our clients with the decision. If you’re a Google Chrome user like me – or you use Firefox – then go ahead and enjoy your browser on Windows 10. If you have any concerns then ask your IT firm – you’ll likely get a more objective opinion.

5-These few lines of CSS code will ruin your iPhone.

A security researcher has discovered that due to a vulnerability in the WebKit rendering engine used by the Safari browser, it only takes a few lines of CSS code to break an iPhone or iPad. He warned that any link containing the code could freeze the phone. Sabri Haddouche, the researcher who discovered the problem, says: “Anything that displays HTML on iOS is affected.” This is a task that takes up most of the device’s resources and can be used to crash it. (Source: the Next web)

Why is it important for your business:

This is not new. In the past, similar bits of code – even some text messages – have been found crashing iPhones and even affecting other Apple devices. As long As there are hackers you will never get ahead of these issues. It is best to create a backup backup permutation. At the time of writing, Apple is still investigating. Ask your it consultant to keep an eye on how this is resolved.