The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) is celebrating a milestone this year, marking 70 years of advocating for small business owners.

While the nature of its job has changed somewhat in those 70 years, NFIB continues to advocate for small business owners nationwide.

“Seventy years ago, the National Federation of Independent Business began its mission to protect the right to own, operate and grow a business,” NFIB President and CEO Dan Danner said in a recent statement. “Since then, NFIB has garnered more members — and earned more credibility — than any other small-business group in history.”

NFIB was founded in 1943 by C. Wilson Harder. Harder saw a need for soldiers returning home from World War II to find jobs at small businesses. While they were “over there” many of the small businesses over here were being consumed by the war effort and big business blossomed. At the same time, the federal government began catering more to the needs of big business, so Harder left his job at the U..S. Chamber of Commerce to start NFIB.

There are more than 350,000 NFIB members and nearly 90 percent of them employ fewer than 20 people. Today, the “war machine” isn’t impeding small business owners, but there have been three items that have made it more difficult for small business owners to survive over the last 30 years.

Cynthia Magnuson of NFIB said in an email to Small Business Trends that members of the group have identified health insurance costs, taxes and regulations as the main factors making it more difficult to operate a small business.

“In spite of our nation’s present struggles, we at NFIB continue to work to make America’s entrepreneurs heard in Washington and across the country,” Danner said. “As the engine of the U.S. economy, small-business owners epitomize the American Dream in every way. We are very fortunate to have such a robust membership that continues to inspire and influence the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

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[Slatebook X2]

Hewlett-Packard is introducing a new HP Android tablet hybrid, the SlateBook x2, that’s aiming to rival the popular iPad.

HP is pricing its entry into the hybrid tablet market at $20 less than the cost of iPad. But the SlateBook x2 also comes standard with a keyboard. The HP Android tablet features a 10.2-inch screen. There is one USB port, an HDMI port, and an SD card slot, according to an early review from LaptopMag.com.

Striking While the Iron is Hot?

The introduction of the SlateBook x2 comes during recent good times at HP. After suffering internal struggles and slower sales, HP’s second-quarter sales were much higher than expected. That announcement on Wednesday sent stock prices 13 percent higher in after-hours trading, according to The New York Times.

Sales of the company’s notebooks were still slow, according to its earnings reports. The SlateBook x2 could be a way to make a big splash in the mobile device market and possibly snag potential iPad customers by offering its versatile device at an economical price. SlateBook x2 is retailing for $479, a price that should entice budget-conscious customers to at least consider it.

Keeping Up With the Joneses … Almost

HP has realized what others have in the tablet market: the need for versatility. Competitors are also introducing tablet and desktop/laptop combos.

The keyboard has become an essential peripheral for tablet owners. As convenient as it is to have a touchscreen, jobs that require extensive data entry, for example, are just not a fit for a touchscreen alone. The keyboard essentially turns a tablet into a laptop. This should make the SlateBook x2 more versatile as a viable business machine. LaptopMag.com reports that they got 14 hours of juice from the batteries in the tablet and keyboard (each has one), meaning you can get more business done without worrying about a recharge.

One drawback: the 2MP camera mounted on the back of the tablet is not exactly the best means to capture digital media, like shooting photos of your products or even sharing quick snapshots on social media. The review noted photos were grainy in good lighting. The SlateBook X2 is expected to be available by July.

Corrected: a previous version of this article erroneously referred to the iPad2 instead of the most current iPad model.

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Have you ever dreamed of becoming a mega-millionaire with your next business idea? It’s a reality for 26-year-old David Karp. The founder of Tumblr, the popular social blogging platform, has become the latest tech tycoon almost overnight.

Today Yahoo officially announced plans to purchase the site Karp started at age 21 out of his mother’s Manhattan apartment. The Daily Mail has Karp’s story as a high school dropout who taught himself HTML. Karp then started his own computer consulting company before launching his incredibly popular platform.

Yahoo’s board of directors recently approved a $1.1 billion cash purchase price for Tumblr, according to a report from AllThingsD.com. In an official announcement, the companies said Tumblr would continue to operate as a separate business with CEO Karp at the helm.

Tumblr, a blogging platform that has following, sharing and other social features, gives Yahoo a stake in the social networking world, The New York Times observes. The platform also provides a source of user-generated content Yahoo management believes the company needs. How Yahoo would integrate Tumblr content into its current model remains to be seen.

Initially, the two companies will work to create advertising opportunities that are “seamless” and “enhance the user experience.” But a joint announcement was not specific about what kinds of advertising opportunities these might be.

Tumblr boasts 300 million monthly unique visitors and 120,000 signups every day, 900 posts per second and 24 billion minutes spent on site each month. The two companies state in their joint release that this makes Tumblr one of the fastest growing media networks in the world.

Even Small Business Trends has a Tumblr presence.

The announcement said the deal is subject to the customary conditions and will close in the second half of the year.

Photo Source: Davids Log

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The Q5 device, aimed at markets like Latin America, the Middle East, parts of Europe and Asia, will be available in July. The company has announced no plans to introduce the device in the U.S. thus far.

The new BlackBerry Q5 smartphone is a spin on BlackBerry’s recent new releases, the Blackberry Q10 and Z10.

Confused Yet By All the Qs and Zs?

Let us sort it out for you:

• The Q5 is aimed at reaching younger audiences, and features fun colors like red. It has a full QWERTY physical keyboard. It uses the new BlackBerry 10 software.  It has a 3.1-inch touchscreen for those who prefer that method for communicating or navigating. The CrackBerry video below previews it.
• The Z10 is BlackBerry’s flagship touchscreen phone. It was launched in March and represents a departure from previous BlackBerry devices which mostly have featured a physical keyboard. The Z10 is also built on the new BlackBerry 10 operating system. That system offers a number of new features, including the BlackBerry Flow which helps you save time by not having to  jump in and out of applications. It also features the BlackBerry Hub, which gives access to all your messages from various apps in one place. The Z10 is an attempt to catch up with smartphone competitors in a mobile industry BlackBerry helped create.
• The Q10, also using the BlackBerry 10 software, is a return to the company’s roots with a physical QWERTY keyboard. The physical keyboard is beloved by stalwart BlackBerry users. The Q10 is a more high-end product than the Q5.

No Mention Of a North America Release

BlackBerry made no mention of introducing the Q5 model into North America.  That has some BlackBerry fans disappointed. One fan said in a comment on BlackBerry’s official blog, “What about the USA or will we have to wait until next year? I think Blackberry is forcing many of us in the USA and myself to go to other manufacturer(s).”

Image: BlackBerry

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Have you updated your company’s Google+ page today? How about in the last week? Or month? … Year?

Maybe your company doesn’t even have a Google+ page yet, and if that’s the case or you’ve been abandoning that page in favor of other social media networks, you’re not alone. According to a Reuters report, Google+ continues to generate less interest from brands than other social networks including rival Facebook.

In an informal survey, Reuters found that of the 100 most valuable global brands in 2012, only 72 have a presence on Google+ compared to 87 on Facebook.

Of the brands that have established a presence on Google+, 40 percent have either never posted content on Google+ or do so infrequently, Reuters found.

For example, Nike and Pepsi hadn’t updated their Google+ pages in more than a week.

Some other companies, like McDonald’s, had never updated their page, even though it was created. Another example provided by Reuters, was a side-by-side comparison of a recent Cinco de Mayo promotion run by pizza company Domino’s. The promotion was loudly touted on Facebook, but the company’s Google+ page hadn’t been updated since 2012.

Reuters’ Alexei Oreskovic writes, “For Google+ to thrive, it is vital to draw in household names, not just to lay the groundwork for potential future business, but also because users of the site have come to expect being able to follow, comment on or even vent about their favorite brands.”

There are many reasons why Google+ has been slow to get more active users since its launch. Remember, there wasn’t an initial crush of users to Facebook, either, and the look and feel of the site certainly has changed dramatically, even in just the last few years.

Google+ vs Facebook

Facebook of all other social networks has more active users. More than a billion people worldwide use their Facebook account at least once a month, and the average user spends at least six hours on the site in a month. While there are more than a half-billion people with Google+ profiles, the average per-month user time is less than seven minutes, according to the Reuters research.

As we noted recently, our own research here at Small Business Trends shows small businesses are still flocking to Facebook.  There are now 16 million small business Facebook pages.  And 3 million of those were added in the just the first quarter of 2013.

Also hindering the use of Google+, especially for business owners, is the discomfort level with learning a new social media environment and how to make what this site offers over rivals Facebook and Twitter work for their companies. For some functions, like video conferencing or streaming live video, Google+ clearly has an advantage.

Untapped Potential in Google+

However, the way brands react today may not reflect the future potential of Google+.  Reuters notes that some companies are beginning to realize that maintaining at a presence for their business or product on Google+ appears to help them in Google searches. “Many businesses do build outposts on Google+, eager to benefit from its integration with Google’s popular Internet search service,” the Reuters report concludes.

Here’s another reason to get more active on Google+:  Google is focusing more resources on Google+. Clearly Google sees Google+ as key to its future.  In fact, Google just rolled out some new features and a new look for Google+ this past week.

For small businesses, there are advantages to getting in early on a social network, learning the ropes and building your base, before the competition.  In the Google+ vs Facebook stakes, you may not want to wait.

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Nokia will release a new Lumia 925 Windows phone in June.  This phone will have a metal case and upgrades to its camera technology.

The Lumia 925 features the same software and technical specifications as its predecessor from Nokia, the Lumia 720. The most notable changes are how the phone looks and feels, and the quality of image it produces. The Verge.com’s Tom Warren writes that the Lumia 925 is made from aluminum on a polycarbonate base rather than the traditional  polycarbonate case common among Nokia phones.

The addition of aluminum on the frame and on the sides makes it lightweight.  But metal also makes this Windows Phone sturdy — an advantage if employees will use a phone outdoors or in rugged conditions.

Nokia has been focused lately on upgrading its photo and video capture capabilities (Nokia recently invested in a camera technologies company).   The Lumia 925 makes improvements on the previous model of Windows phone from the company.  An 8.7-megapixel camera accentuated by two LED flash lights adorns the rear of the phone. The camera is mounted inside a small hump on the rear of the phone.

At the time of the 925 release, Nokia announced an update to all Lumia phones, with the addition of Nokia Smart Camera. This camera software captures up to ten images at one time of a moving subject.

The camera upgrades should be welcome news to small business personnel who use smartphone images in their operations or post frequently to social networks. Nokia claims that its low-light images are better than similar ones taken using an iPhone 5.

Windows 8 An Advantage for Business Users

The Lumia 925 is a Windows 8 based smartphone. Warren calls this a weakness, but that depends on how you plan to use a phone.  Business owners may find the Windows 8 phone system to be an advantage.  The applications and overall look/feel will be familiar to those who use Windows 8 on their desktops. The IT department can provide enterprise-wide support.  And there’s integration with desktop Windows.

“We keep innovating,” Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices, said in a statement announcing the details of the Lumia 925. “We’re advancing experiences on the Nokia Lumia portfolio whether that means great new benefits for an existing Lumia owner, or bringing new showcase devices like the Nokia Lumia 925.”

The Lumia 925 Windows phone will be introduced in the U.S. through T-Mobile. A retail cost has not yet been established.

Lumia 925 Photo via Nokia

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Small businesses are borrowing less again.

A March report from the U.S. Small Business Administration showed small business lending had increased for the first time in 10 quarters in the last part of 2012.

But more recently the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index (SLBI) says that trend hasn’t carried into the new year. Instead, a recent update in the index shows lending to small businesses has dropped for three consecutive months of the new year ending in March.

The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index measures the overall volume of lending to small U.S. companies. The index fell to 98.5 from a total of 105.4 in February.

PayNet President Bill Phelan told Reuters News that this key indicator can be seen as a predictor of the economic climate. He said that decreased borrowing and lending is not a good sign for job growth among small businesses for the next nine months.

“We are seeing that they don’t want to take on new projects, to invest in capital,” Phelan told Reuters. “They’re kinda hunkering down right now. They don’t have the appetite to take on new projects at this time.”

On the other hand, Phelan did acknowledge some bright spots, such as industrial manufacturing. We reported recently on small manufacturers reinventing themselves in the changing economy.

While any negative lending news should sound some alarms for small business owners, especially those teetering to stay afloat, the updated SLBI numbers could just be an expected and normal trend.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going into a contraction,” Phelan added, talking to Reuters. ”The recovery has been going for a while. The cycle has been advancing. You get natural changes in the cycle.”

A key reason why the SLBI shows declines in small business lending over the last three months is because the asset class for these companies has become “riskier” and loan default rates have increased recently. Overall, small business loan default rates will increase to 2.1 percent this year from 1.3 percent.

Phelan said “economically sensitive” small businesses like transportation companies and small retailers continue to recover slowly from the recession and are more likely to default on loans.

The PayNet Index of loan research collects real-time loan information from more than 200 U.S. lenders. Its proprietary database covers 17 million current and historic commercial loans and leases, worth over $740 billion.

Lending Down Photo via Shutterstock

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Small business owners in states that did not establish healthcare exchanges in advance of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act will be harshly impacted by a recent rule enacted by the Internal Revenue Service. Some small business owners have filed a lawsuit in Federal court over it.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) reports on a lawsuit filed by six small business owners and several individuals against the U.S. government, challenging the IRS rule.   The IRS rule seeks to provide tax credits to people in states that did not opt to create state healthcare exchanges under Obamacare.

CEI noted in a prepared statement last week:

“The Affordable Care Act authorizes health insurance subsidies to qualifying individuals in states that created their own healthcare exchanges. Those subsidies trigger the employer mandate (a $2,000/employee penalty) and expose more people to the individual mandate.  But last spring, without authorization from Congress, the IRS vastly expanded those subsidies to cover states that refused to set up such exchanges.  Under the Act, businesses in these nonparticipating states should be free of the employer mandate, and the scope of the individual mandate should be reduced as well.  But because of the IRS rule, both mandates will be greatly enlarged in scope, depriving states of the power to protect their residents.”

One effect of the lawsuit is to make sole proprietors subject to consequences they otherwise would not be subject to. For instance, Jacqueline Halbig, one of the plaintiffs, is a sole proprietor who says that under the IRS rule she would be subject to paying a penalty for her own coverage.  In the lawsuit she asserts she “will be forced to either pay a penalty or purchase more insurance than she wants.”

Chuck Willey, an MD who also is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement through CEI: “Contrary to the clear language in the Affordable Care Act, government is directly impeding my ability to design a quality affordable health plan for my employees. The IRS will extra-legislatively extend this onerous benefit requirement (which will increase premiums and costs of care) and impose the employer penalty in states with federally-run exchanges. I maintain the right to choose my own employees’ health plan without government intervention into its benefit design and without penalty.”

Thirty-three states have opted not to establish state healthcare exchanges.  Those states that have not established their own exchanges include Wyoming, Wisconsin, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, South Dakota, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio, North Dakota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Montana, Missouri, Mississippi, Michigan, Maine, Louisiana, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, Delaware, Arkansas, Arizona, Alaska, and Alabama.

The lawsuit is complex, but can be viewed here in its entirety.

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If your business website or blog is using WordPress as its content management system (CMS), you’re in good company. The majority of  the top 100 blogs are using WordPress, says a new study from Pingdom.

Fifty-two percent of the top 100 blogs are currently using WordPress, either hosted or self-hosted, according to an annual study conducted by Pingdom.com. Pingdom gets the top 100 list of blogs from Technorati.

The study notes that the Web and blogging sites, specifically, have changed considerably in the last few years. Pingdom says:

“For many of us, what we used to blog about we now publish to social networks. But there’s also no denying that blogging is not gone. It has, however, changed as has the tools used to publish blogs with. Some, like WordPress, started out as blogging platforms and has taken on more general content management functionality. Others have developed in the opposite direction.”

The 2013 study from Pingdom shows that 4 more of the top 100 are now using WordPress compared with last year. No other single CMS provider even comes close to matching WordPress’ dominance among the top Technorati blogs.

Interestingly, 12 of the top 100 have custom systems created specifically for them. Drupal is the second-most popular blog platform, with 7 of the 100 using it.

But some of the old stalwarts are no longer as popular as in years past, specifically Movable Type, Typepad and Blogger.

Two of the top five blog sites, including the most popular (The Huffington Post), are using Movable Type for their CMS system.

And while TypePad added two spots in the top 100 and and Google’s Blogger added one, they are still mere shadows of their former place in the lives of bloggers.

Not only is WordPress popular for blogs, but as the report points out, WordPress has taken on a much larger role as a general CMS system. It’s become very popular with small businesses that use WordPress to build their entire websites, not just their blogs. WordPress keeps a running counter of the number of WordPress sites, and reports the total is over 65 million worldwide.

Image: Pingdom.com

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For small business owners and staff who find remembering passwords challenging and find it difficult to manage the multitude of online passwords, a solution may be in the works beginning as soon as later this year.

PayPal Chief Security Officer Michael Barrett told those in attendance at a recent Interop show in Las Vegas that the end of the era of multiple passwords may be near, according to PCMag.com.

An alternative is being advanced by the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance founded in July 2012 by tech firms like PayPal, Lenovo, Agnito, Infineon, Nok Nok Labs and Validity.

FIDO proposes a system it claims would be simpler to use while at the same time respecting the user’s privacy. It involves authentication using using a few different methods, including use of FIDO-recognized devices, biometrics, and use of portable memory.

Three examples of authentication are given on the FIDO website. One involves a finger swipe or biometric identification process. Another involves a memory stick that can be inserted into a variety of devices but which would then require only one password for all accounts. A third would employ embedded hardware that identifies devices accessing a particular account.

Barrett, who also serves as FIDO Alliance president, admitted at the conference that even with technology options to replace multiple passwords coming out soon it might take years to see mass adoption.

In an April news release on FIDO’s progress, Barrett observed: “By overcoming the limits of proprietary authentication methods, FIDO opens up a vast marketplace for strong authentication where FIDO enabled devices and services interoperate. We encourage all who require secure user authentication, and those who provide various methodologies to join us on a very fast track to FIDO universal strong authentication.”

With cloud applications being used, the number of passwords each person has to remember is exploding.  Security experts caution us to change passwords regularly and not use the same password for multiple accounts.  But given the sheer numbers of accounts most people have — 15 or 20 online accounts is not uncommon — that advice can be hard to follow.   And password vulnerability puts small businesses at risk. We all want a solution to the password problem.

Password Photo via Shutterstock

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