CRM Update – Mar 20 : 1:47 pm

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the equinox and the coming of spring in Earth’s northern hemisphere, both of which occur today, March 20.
The equinox is an event that occurs twice a year, when the sun crosses the celestial equator, and the day and night are approximately equal in length.
It is traditionally connected with the coming of Spring in many different cultures, usually marked by harvest festivals falling on or near the same date.
To mark the coming of spring, today’s flowery Google Doodle has been designed by Finnish clothing design company Marimekko…

It’s inevitable. A few days after Apple releases a new product, reports and complaints surface that something’s amiss.
Sometimes these problems are legitimate. When Apple released the iPhone 4 in 2010, it soon emerged that a design flaw related to the device’s antenna resulted in more dropped calls. But often there’s nothing to the complaints. Remember the iPhone 4S’s “Yellowgate” issue for instance?
SEE ALSO: New iPad Has a Smart Cover Problem
The latest iPad release is not immune to the trend…

Are you looking for some new ideas to simplify your social media marketing?Do you wonder how others use social media to attract customers?We asked the pros for their hottest social media tips. Here’s their advice to help you power up your social media marketing.#1: Draw Attention to Your Custom Tabs in the New Facebook TimelinesAndrea Vahl @AndreaVahlIf you have a special offer on your website, why not use Facebook to showcase your freebie?With the new Facebook Timelines fan pages, you can no longer have a custom tab as a default landing tab, so now you will have to draw attention to your freebie with the custom tab photo and the custom tab name…

There appears to be tremendous confusion around the use and benefits of Business Process Management (BPM). BPM has already become like many other three letter abbreviations from the recent past such as ERP and CRM which have been misused and misinterpreted. I would like to clarify one thing right away. BPM is neither a technology nor an initiative for business process improvement. However, that being said, BPM usually involves technology and business process improvement. Much of the confusion stems from the many vendors in the market who claim they offer BPM technology…

College degree = $650,000 more in earnings [CNN Money] “Typical college grads earn about $650,000 more than their peers who just have a high school diploma.”7 Deadly Energy Sinners: The Energy Hogs Hiding in Your Home [Wise Bread] “Here’s a look at some of those power-hungry appliances, and what you can do to be more efficient and economical without backbreaking hassle.”Weddings on a Budget [Wall Street Journal] “Here are some ways to make the most of your time and money.”3 money tips for every income [MSN Money] “These tips offer a good place to start for any household…

ClothingThreadless: [Apparel] $9.99 T-Shirt SaleGap: [Clothing & Accesories] Save 25% Off Your Order use coupon code GAPEVENT.Banana Republic: [Apparel] 20% Off your ‘Shoes & Accessories’ order w/ Coupon BREXTRA

Computers and Electronics

Tmart: [iPhone Accessories] LCD Screen Protector for iPhone 4 / 4S for 1 cent + free shipping Best Buy: [Laptops] Toshiba Core i3 Dual 2.3GHz 17″ LED Laptop for $400 + free shippingTanga.com: [Sylvania 7" Android Tablet] Sylvania 7″ 4GB Android Tablet with Micro SD Slot for $79…

Email marketing fails when a message contains just biz-blab and fake emotion. Here’s how to write a note that generates real leads.One of the weirdest phenomenons I see: otherwise articulate people who lapse into biz-blab and jargon as soon they try to write an email pitch.For example, I recently received a reader request to rewrite her email pitches.Here’s how she described herself:I’ve parlayed a clinical nursing background and a successful medical device sales and management career into a career in executive recruiting for health-care technology firms…

Three hours. That’s how long Nate’s Internet connection goes out for, every day except Saturday. He has no idea why. His Internet service provider, Charter, has no idea why. All Charter is able to do is send technician after technician to check out the problem, replace hardware, and ultimately not solve the problem.

Since August of 2011 I have had 7 technicians in my house to fix my internet with Charter. I have literally had every piece of cable, hardware, modem, line, and pole replaced from outside my house into my living room…

A new Office Web Apps Server is part of the next version of Microsoft’s coming Office 15 productivity suite.

Hi Suhel, We did have an issue with Yahoo! Web Analytics tracking on several sites. This was due to our rolling out a version of the code that was incorrect.

As you watch via social media as your friends travel the world, a new site called Tripbirds turns their Instagram, Foursquare and Facebook posts into a guidebook that can help you plan your own trip.
The site, which launched after a month in private beta on Tuesday, lets users search their friends’ social media activity based on destination and add items to city-specific “to-do” lists.
Instead of relying on friends to create content on a travel-specific site, Tripbirds instead organizes the geotagged content friends are already creating on other platforms in a way that makes it useful for planning a trip…

Updates span business applications, include a greater push into the cloud

It’s the entire point, really. New smart TVs from Samsung boast video cameras with facial-recognition software and microphones with speech-recognition software. They can tell who’s in the room, understand spoken commands, and be controlled with gestures. That’s great news for those of us who can never find the remote, but made our friends over at HD Guru wonder: is there anyone behind that camera watching us back?

Having an always-connected camera in your home that periodically checks in with Samsung’s cloud servers raises all kinds of scary and slightly creepy questions…