Join us in celebrating Thomas Edison's enduring legacy, one that continues to inspire innovation. Read on to learn more about how he helped establish the motion picture industry. [Read Full Article]

Tips from January 29, 2010 The Small Business tips today discuss marketing to Generation Y via incentives, instant gratification, & innovative new products. Generation Y is a big fan of free gifts or free trials. They are open to try new things, especially if they are free. Gen Yers don't appreciate or value the dollar, but they are big fans of free products. New products that help Gen Yers interact, organize, & stay connected are hot items. In fact, Gen Yers expect and appreciate products that will work to their advantage. Gen Yers appreciate & will take part in incentive deals. Buy one get one half off deals catch their eye. With little careful spending habits, Gen Yers will actually purchase more to receive savings. Impulse purchasing is a frequent habit of Generation Y. Instead of going to the store knowing what they need or want, Gen Yers will browse and impulsively buy something they did not necessarily need.... [Read Full Article]

  Government, Politics and the Economy How Should Government Encourage Small Business Innovation? Within Congress, there are two visions of how the government should harness the power of small firms to innovate that need to be reconciled, visions that pit bootstrapped companies against venture-backed companies. NYTimes.com Consumer Sentiment Posts First Drop Since February Confidence among American consumers dropped in July, the first time in five months, as mounting unemployment and depressed wages battered households. Bloomberg.com [Read Full Article]

  Government, Politics and the Economy Treasury to Buy SBA Loans The Treasury Department is finalizing its plans for a $15 billion initiative to stimulate SBA lending by using federal bailout money to buy up SBA loans. WashingtonPost.com Global Warming Bill Will Hit Homeowners and Small Business the Hardest A Heritage Foundation analysis of the Waxman-Markey global warming bill predicts the bill will result in sky-high costs averaging $393 billion annually and destroying over a million jobs from 2012 to 2035. Heritage.org Management and Operations [Read Full Article]

  Government, Politics and the Economy Recession May be Stimulating Increase in Non-Employer Businesses According to the latest Census figures, 2007 saw a million new non-employer businesses in 2007, for a total of 21.7 million, that together had sales of nearly $1 trillion, about 7% of the 2007 US GDP. BusinessWeek.com Senate Plan to Overhaul Healthcare may Advance on $1 Trillion Pricetag According to Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, the cost of the healthcare reform options before his panel can be cut to $1 trillion, which could remove a major barrier to the bill’s passage. Bloomberg.com... [Read Full Article]

  Government and Economy White House: A Bit Loose with Stimulus Success Figures It is difficult to capture the full effect of the stimulus at this early stage, but with the high bars set for success, the White House seems to be playing fast and loose with the facts in their first report on the effect of the program. Google.com/AP Will Business Forward Help Small Business? Business Forward, a Washington-based group soon to be launched by the Democratics, is dedicated to improving the business climate in the US, especially for small business. But the group prefers to remain silent on specific issues and now some are counselling caution about the... [Read Full Article]

  Government and Economy House Forgets Small Business in New Credit Card Reform Bill The Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, which restricts some aggressive tactics by credit card companies, passed the House but doesn’t apply to small business credit cards even though such cards function the same way consumer credit cards do. BusinessWeek.com Stress-Tests Results Delayed With banks disputing the findings of the recent federal stress tests, the Fed and US banking regulators will now reveal the results on May 7 after the financial markets close. Bloomberg.com [Read Full Article]

  Government and Economy Bill Could Make Healthcare Cheaper for the Self-Employed The measure under consideration would put an end to the FICA tax on health insurance premiums for the self-employed, making them more affordable and leveling the playing field with other businesses. WRN.com Startups May Get Big Tax Break New, bipartisan legislation proposes to amend the IRS code to allow new businesses to write off more of their operating costs. The Small Business Formation and Job Creation Act, would raise the start-up business deduction from the current $5,000 to $20,000. WSJ.com [Read Full Article]