The high profile search engine giant Google Inc., recently announced it’s new pay-by-phone service, Google Wallet, slated for a limited run this summer. Though many are quick to point out the service’s glaring shortcomings, such as that it only works with the MasterCard network, is available for only one Android phone model, and so far only 15 retailers are signed up, nevertheless Google’s foray into the mobile processing market has drawn a significant amount of attention to mobile payments in general.

Then there are the newcomers, such as Square, the brainchild of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. This service promises to simplify the complicated, convoluted world of credit card processing costs and fees, and in many cases offers a cheaper payment processing option for those who already own an iPhone, iPad, or Android mobile device.

But even as the tech world is abuzz, the majority of small business owners are receiving these announcements with a resounding “So what?”

Despite wide adaption in many Asian countries, industry experts do not expect mobile payments to really take off in the U.S. for another few years. While muc Full Post…

In New York and in other parts of the nation, lending for small businesses has seen a clear rise. This is because the economy has improved and there is confidence among businesses though the activity is well below pre-recession levels.

The SBA’s 7(a) program has been used by 28 lenders to make 507 loans for $88.55 million in Buffalo District. That is an increase of 8.3 percent in loan volume and 13.8 percent in dollars. A 57 percent increase in loans took place inclusive of all programs of the SBA after the financial crisis of 2009.

Loan demand is returning and the incentives found as part of small business jobs act also has helped. Small business lending has been a key objective for the Obama administration and the Congress. Keeping this into consideration, small businesses representing vast majority of employers are paying part of nation’s private payroll, generating bulk of the country’s economic output and creating new jobs.

SBA does not play the role of disbursing loans, but it actually insures them. The federal government too guarantees repayment in cases of default up-to 85 percent of the principal amount. The year 2010 has been a year of recovery and small businesses are now in a position to buy new machinery and afford new inventory. Borro

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Does it make sense to reduce one burden by taking on another? This is the first question that would be top of mind when faced with the question of whether to refinance an existing home loan. Given the fact that a home loan is the biggest reason for cash outflow in most Indian households, this decision has to be taken after a lot of thought. Here is some food for thought to help you arrive at the best decision.

Refinancing a loan can give multiple benefits depending on the situation of your current personal finance

-      Get you a lower interest rate thus reducing your EMI and monthly burden

-      Give you the option to go for lower tenures and be out of the burden soon

-      Reduce your EMI by going in for longer tenures

-      Shift from a Floating rate to fixed rate or vice-versa depending upon interest rate trends.

Wow! With so many benefits, I should immediately go and refinance my loan! On second thoughts, should I?

Every home loan buyer will agree that it is a paper work loaded process to get the loan, as all the previous procedures have to be repeated afresh. Add to this the man

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Almost as soon as Steve Ballmer took over as chief executive of Microsoft in January 2000, the stock crashed. It wasn’t his fault; the dotcom crash pulled every tech stock down with it, including the Seattle software empire that, the previous year, had been the world’s most valuable at $612-billion.

This is the sort of mistiming that has dogged Ballmer’s tenure: always arriving a bit too late and overseeing a collapse of a promising lead. It happened with internet search, with tablets, with cellphones, with music players.

Ballmer last week faced calls for his removal from David Einhorn, a powerful Wall Street hedge fund manager famous for his early warnings about the weakness of doomed bank Lehman Brothers. Though sources on the company’s board backed him, investors know that Ballmer does not have a free pass just because he joined in 1980 as employee number 30.

“Bill Gates is ruthless,” said a fund manager at one of Microsoft’s largest shareholders. “If he wanted to, he’d walk Ballmer to the [exit] door himself.”

A fresh indignity came last week when after Ballmer spoke in Tokyo about the next version of Windows. Full Post…