Apple Unveils iPad Mini, Asus Pushes VivoBook


New Apple and Asus products introduced Tuesday offer great possibilities for entrepreneurs and business users alike. The long anticipated Apple iPad mini is joined by a fleet of new Asus Windows 8 machines including notebooks, ultrabooks, and all-in-one desktops, all offering greater mobility and flexibility. This roundup looks at how these tools and other developments are offering ever increasing productivity for your business.

Better Tools

Apple introduces its new device. Check out the incredible capabilities packed into a device so thin and light. As Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller explains, “iPad mini is as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper, yet packs a fast A5 chip, FaceTime HD and 5 megapixel iSight cameras and ultrafast wireless—all while delivering up to 10 hours of battery life.” Apple Press Info

iPad mini offers mobility. This review by tech and business blogger Wayne Liew looks at how the new iPad mini specifically will improve the lives of business owners and entrepreneurs. “For business owners and entrepreneurs, as the device is highly portable, you can basically get tasks like emails, web browsing, news reading and even minor document editing done wherever you are,” Liew writes. Sprout Geek

Asus offers many flavors. In a separate announcement Tuesday, Asus introduced a gaggle of new machines ranging from the VivoBook, with multiple possible configurations and two screen sizes to the VivoTab Series tablets, featuring optional keyboard docks, making them a hybrid between a mobile device and a notebook or laptop. PC Mag.com

Better Techniques

Build a mobile business tool kit. Whether you’re a work-at-home dad like Timo Kiander or the head of a small to medium sized company who’s always on the go, this list of simple tech tools (hardly revolutionary these days, as Timo himself observes) will keep you productive not only during times specifically set aside for work, but during the “time pockets” in your daily life when you loose valuable time while away from the office. Productive Superdad

Master every minute you have. Improving productivity means just one thing: master your time! Here Mark Long, lecturer and clinical professor at Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, gives us a look at five tips intended to strengthen your time management, making you able to accomplish more in your business. Buzz Small Business Magazine

Write a shorter e-mail today. Yep, your e-mails are probably too long. Business consultant Matthew Needham got this idea straight from 17th century mathematician Blaise Pascal who, in a letter roughly translated once wrote, “I made this letter so long only because I didn’t have the time to make it shorter.” The Big Red Tomato Company

Don’t forget to take a nap. We aren’t joking here. Some companies are beginning to realize nap time is as important to productive adult workers as it is to pre-schoolers, maybe more so because pre-schoolers aren’t trying to run a business or launch a new product or service. Take a lesson from companies like Google and “The Huffington Post”. Everybody needs a nap! Spark Hire

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  1. Thank you for featuring my blog post on the brand new iPad mini. As always, users have split opinion about the device and I’m sure the Android camp will have something cool coming up very soon.

    One thing is for sure though, we are living in exciting times. 🙂

  2. Despite the fact that the iPad mini is not a revolutionary piece of technology, it is still a brilliant device packed with many of the features we have all come to expect from Apple. I believe that the iPad mini will be the device that most people will go for when it comes to birthday or Christmas gifts, as opposed to the Asus VivoBook.

  3. I think the iPad Mini will be one of the most bought devices this year for Christmas. I know I am very excited for it, and I cannot wait for it to come in. I have a regular iPad now, but it is too heavy to carry around with me in my purse, so I have been shopping around for a smaller tablet. I have been looking for a while, but none of the other small tablets has been appealing to me, which I guess is because I already have an iPad. A co-worker at DISH told me about the iPad Mini a couple months ago, so I was looking up everything I could find on it. With having to travel a lot and always being on the go, I like to have my iPad with me so I can watch all my shows on the DISH Remote Access app. I can access my DVR and subscription channels and watch live TV. The smaller iPad would definitely work for that, and I can easily carry it with me everywhere I go.