Week 15 : Curated Shorts

You spend 13 hours a week emailing. You know those emails you receive from your feline-obsessed coworker with pictures of his or her cat wearing tiny snowflake sweaters? Yeah, those aren’t just creepy—they’re costing your employer a fortune.

According to a new infographic, businesses lose $650 billon a year due to unnecessary emails, with the average worker costing his or her employer an annual $10,000 because of distractions such as emailing.

So, cat ladies and gentlemen, do yourself a favor and pay close attention to this flowchart. It might save your job. Look to your right ——->

This Calendar Fills Itself Based on What You Like.

Quick Pitch: UPlanMe is an online notification system that filters upcoming events and specials based on what you like into one place for your viewing pleasure.

Genius Idea: Instead of searching blogs, websites, magazines and newspapers for local events, simply unlock a category of interest — sports, music, shopping, food, nightlife and T.V. — to collect new events and local news on a customized events page.

For those of us who don’t have access to human lint rollers (ahem, Sean “Diddy” Combs at this year’s Oscars) or personal assistants, say hello to UPlanMe. This free product will save the social lives of busy bees.

UPlanMe is called the “Pandora of calendars” for a reason. It tailors your events calendar based on what you like on Facebook, what categories you have unlocked and prior events you’ve noted as interesting. If you say Bloomingdale’s sales on UPlanMe are appealing to you, similar related shopping experiences at Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Barney’s and other high-end retailers will show up in your queue.

If your Facebook page says you “like” Jeremy Lin, it will remind you when New York Knicks’ games are airing on television or when front-row tickets are available on Ticketmaster.com.

The site pulls from various APIs for events and special happenings. Sports fans will appreciate the latest game updates from ESPN, CBS Sports and other national networks. Fashionistas will hear the first word about sample sales, store openings, and beauty events in their area. There’s also a television section, so people can keep up with when their favorite shows and movies air. [read more]

How to get a better seatmate. THE DUTCH airline KLM is testing a new programme that allows passengers to pick their in-air neighbours by evaluating Facebook and LinkedIn profiles before take-off. The New York Times reports:

With Facebook alone claiming nearly 500 million daily active users — more than 60 times the eight million people who fly each day — KLM and others are betting that many of them would be willing to share their profiles in exchange, say, for a chance to meet someone with a common interest or who might be going to the same event. [read more]

New Service Gives Any Job Seeker A Slick, Custom Resume. On average, employers spend less than 30 seconds scanning each resume, which is just enough time to determine if you went to the right college and joined the right eating club. Not that you can totally blame them. Perusing entire stacks of single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman crammed improbably between the margins is enough to make a guy go cross-eyed. [read more]

Online firm looks overseas to boost turnover. International agreements have helped a Welsh online booking firm to raise its turnover by almost 30%.
Key overseas contracts have seen Cardiff-based Zipporah record a turnover of £915,000, following collaborations with organisations in Ireland and Australia, while it was also bolstered by improved services to existing customers. [read more]

Priceline’s annual results published recently leave us much to speculate about regarding Netherlands-based booking.com and it’s strategy going forward.
Booking.com has been tipped for rapid expansion around the world including Europe although new markets including Asia Pacific and North and South America are growing faster than core Western European markets. The brand will be used to further develop worldwide operations – details on how are sketchy and booking.com is tight-lipped. [read more]

Traveldoo to open London office in spring. Online booking agency Traveldoo is planning to open its first UK office in the spring as it looks for a major increase in sales in the British business travel market.

The Paris-based company is planning a major international expansion beyond France following its purchase by TMC Egencia, which is part of Expedia, in December. Traveldoo CEO Nabih El Aroussi told ABTN that it planned to open an office in London in the second quarter of this year but that it would be run “totally separately” from Egencia and would be competing for business against its parent company. [read more]

The Surprising Old-School Secret to Blogging Success (2012 Edition). if you blog, you’ve probably noticed that about 80% of your blog’s success comes from “ass in chair” time. That’s the time you spend writing posts, editing posts, finding images, pitching guest posts, answering comments, shaping up your SEO, and all the other tasks required. You’ve got to get that stuff right. But great blogs are not built by “ass in chair” time alone. There’s actually a significant element to your success that you may be neglecting with all that work and focus. [read more]

On Line Booking Reaps Rich Rewards for Wheal Rodney Holiday Park. Wheal Rodney holiday Park that caters mainly for families but welcomes everyone. Open all year, visitors can enjoy everything this beautiful part of the world has to offer in every season.

Wheal Rodney offers spaces for campers, motorhomes, caravans and tourers. There are also ten delightful self-contained, purpose built holiday lodges on site. These come fully equipped with everything you would expect and more. These holiday lodges are available all year round and are even available as a bed and breakfast.

Wheal Rodney has, for some time, offered on-line booking through their web-site using the Eviivo system. Bookings received over the internet have then been re-entered by hand into their long-standing property management system, which was also used to record all telephone and other non-internet bookings. [read more]

Week Shorts is a curated compendium of interesting news articles compiled at Connected and published for those interested in the new media world. All the articles are taken from third party sources and links are provided back to see the full article after minor editing and formatting changes. Connected acknowledges the owners of the work and respective copyrights. The article is provided, as-is with no warranty as to its accuracy. Connected cannot control and therefore will not be held liable for the content of third-party web-sites.