Do you have what it takes to be an amazing developer? It’s time to find out.

Whether you’re already a programmer or want to become one, we’re in search of people passionate about solving challenging engineering problems. If you have the heart and mind we’ll teach you the skills and techniques.

In this unique program you’ll spend five months entrenched in the most intense, comprehensive, and challenging software devlopment training ever offered. You’ll spend one third of your time learning in a classroom environment, one third working on team projects, and one third giving back to the community through education and open source contributions. We believe that the only way to become a great developer is through practice, so you will be writing code all day, every day.

Read more at Living Social

The Hungry Academy is a unique and game changing five-month learning experience. It’s your opportunity to push yourself to the limits.

At Hungry Academy you’ll:

• Work with and be mentored by the industry’s best programmers.
• Learn how to build successful products using software development tools, like Ruby on Rails.
• Prepare yourself to join LivingSocial’s elite engineering team.
• Have a huge impact on the world of local commerce.

Sound like a crazy proposition? It’s the best kind of crazy.

• We’ll pay you to come learn the skills you need to become an excellent developer.
• You’ll be trained by Jeff Casimir and the team from JumpstartLab while being mentored by LivingSocial. engineers.
• If you survive the five-month program, you’ll be offered a position on LivingSocial’s elite engineering team (18-month commitment required).

This is the chance of a lifetime. Are you Hungry? Show us.

• Applications will be considered as they come in and must be submitted by January 9th, 2012
• Hungry Academy will be onsite at LivingSocial‘s DC office from March through July.

Learn more: The Hungry Academy

For the past five years, Socialmedia.biz has assembled a calendar of the best social media, technology, marketing and news media conferences for the upcoming year.

The list features a monthly breakdown of events across the country focused on those of interest to folks in the tech, marketing and media sectors AND great events for everyone to learn more and network.

They also offer a Calendar of 2012 nonprofit and social change conferences on their sister site, Socialbrite.

The Apps for Entrepreneurs Competition was an initiative of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to help make Federal government programs and information more useful to small businesses.

A new electronic application that quickly and efficiently finds loans, grants, and other useful small business resources, and its developer Somesh Kumar of Freemont, Calif., won first prize and $5,000 in a nationwide competition sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The competition and resulting seven “apps” are meant to put new and useful web tools at the fingertips of growing entrepreneurs.

As a result of SBA’s “Apps for Entrepreneurs Challenge,” a competition for tech-savvy developers to build new and useful web tools for small businesses, entrepreneurs can reach for their smartphone or tablet and search federal, state and local databases for vital information by using one of seven award-winning apps.

“It was a great learning experience to participate in SBA’s Apps for Entrepreneurs Challenge and to create SBA Gems,” said Kumar, whose winning app can be downloaded at “SBA Gems” at entrepreneurs.challenge.gov/submissions/5458.

“Smart phones and tablets are increasingly the vehicles through which Americans access information,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “This is certainly true of many entrepreneurs and small business owners.  Greater mobility fits with SBA’s new focus and is among the steps we are taking to do a better job of connecting entrepreneurs and small business owners with the tools to help them start or grow their businesses and create jobs.”

The SBA competition produced seven winners – one First Place winner ($5,000), three Second Place winners ($3,000 each), and three Third Place winners ($2,000 each) for a total of $20,000 in prize money – as follows (all seven apps can be downloaded from SBA’s web site, with URLs listed below):

1. First Place [1 Prize at $5,000]

SBA Gems – Find loans, grants permits etc.
Developer – Somesh Kumar, Freemont, California entrepreneurs.challenge.gov/submissions/5458

2. Second Place [3 Prizes at $3,000 each]

CapitaList – Find federal databases for licenses, awards, proposals and websites.
Developer – Muneeb Akhter, Springfield, Virginia entrepreneurs.challenge.gov/submissions/5464 

Small Business Toolbox – Find small business programs SBA offices etc.
Developer — Joseph Blough, Dexter, Michigan entrepreneurs.challenge.gov/submissions/5450

SBA Loan Search App — Find loans, venture capital, tax incentives etc.
Developer – Richard Murphy, Silver Spring, Maryland entrepreneurs.challenge.gov/submissions/5462

3. Third Place [3 Prizes at $2,000 each]

Energy SBA – Find property rights, oil and gas leases, solar etc.
Developer – Robert Grogan, Eden Prairie, Minnesota entrepreneurs.challenge.gov/submissions/5470

SB Alert – Find contracting opportunities and get push notification.
Developers – Ben McGinnis and Team, Fairfax, Virginia entrepreneurs.challenge.gov/submissions/5445

Every Thing For The Entrepreneur – Find SBIR solicitations and more.
Developer – Edwardo Martinez, San Francisco, California entrepreneurs.challenge.gov/submissions/5469

These new mobile apps complement SBA’s mobile application created for iPhone in partnership with Palo Alto Software.  Users can employ the SBA app to find local Small Business Administration-affiliated advisers and get free, personal, one-on-one help with starting and growing their businesses.

The SBA mobile app also features a built-in startup cost calculator to help estimate the costs associated with getting a business off the ground, plus an SBA partner locator to help users find SBA offices, Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers and SCORE.

Users will also have mobile access to SBA video content and social media alerts to provide them with tips on the go.  This will include live updates from the SBA’s YouTube channel and from SBA’s Twitter feeds.  The free mobile app can be downloaded from the SBA’s website at sba.gov/content/sba-mobile-app.

About Paramount Builders
The mission of Paramount Builders is to improve our community one home at a time. As a company, our goal is to establish the highest standard of excellence and integrity for our industry in our market and beyond. We pursue our goal by cultivating our people to become the best that they can be, growing professionally and personally, performing with excellence and reaping the satisfaction, recognition and rewards earned by fully investing their talent, dedication and creativity.

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That scenario is making small business advocates and even lawmakers fume as holiday shopping heats up and attempts at boosting business at Main Street shops are barely getting off the ground.

A furor has erupted over Amazon’s Price Check shopping app that allows users to compare prices with “brick-and-mortar” retailers – the post-Internet jargon for your local store.  Amazon recently launched a campaign to gives customers a 5 percent discount off (up to $5.00) on up to three qualifying items. The discounts are available only if the customer checks the price of the goods on the Price Check app while at a physical store carrying the goods.

But a growing voice of critics say it amounts to “showrooming,” where shoppers visit a store to browse products in person, only to purchase them online from Amazon.

“Amazon’s promotion – paying consumers to visit small businesses and leave empty-handed – is an attack on Main Street businesses that employ workers in our communities,” said Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, ranking member on the Senate’s Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. “Small businesses are fighting everyday to compete with giant retailers, such as Amazon, and incentivizing consumers to spy on local shops is a bridge too far. “

Current proposed legislation, the Marketplace Fairness Act, would overhaul the current system in which taxes only need to be collected from consumers if a retailer has a physical location within the state. It would give states the authority to collect sales taxes on online retailers.

Read the full article: Amazon’s Price Check App Stirs Small Business Outcry

The candy king: Alex 'Tracks' McFarland has been selling candy on the subway for 13 years, starting when he was 11

I love the fact that entrepreneurship comes in a variety of ways and doesn’t always appear the way you think it would. Check out this article at AOL’s job site on Alex “Tracks” McFarland and his innovative business venture.

Alex “Tracks” McFarland started selling candy on the subway at age 11, and is the subject of a two-minute documentary by Bianca Consunji (via New York magazine). With his 13 years of experience, Tracks knows the business well. Peanut M&Ms is his biggest seller, but he’s got Welch’s Fruit Snacks if you prefer your candy grape-flavored and gummy.

And many New Yorkers spend that dollar. Tracks walks the D train in $300 kicks, and takes home around $55,000 a year, in cash. “These M&Ms, I take care of my family with this,” he tells the camera. British paper The Daily has also reported on this NYC go-getter, stating that McFarland, “says he’s offering a valued service by helping to boost the blood sugar of wilting travelers.”

Read More: NYC Man Earns $55,000 A Year Peddling Candy On Subway

As the approach of 2012 inspires entrepreneurs to launch new ventures and start the next chapter in their business plans, Entrepreneur magazine reveals 10 emerging markets and business opportunities ready to be seized. At a time of high market saturation, these sectors offer opportunities still on the upward trend for business owners looking to make their mark, expand their agendas, and position their companies for growth.

“It’s time for business owners to step back, refocus and take a look at their companies with a fresh perspective,” says Amy Cosper, VP and editor in chief of Entrepreneurmagazine. “The top trends are indicators of business strength and areas of opportunity. Examining how they are working for others today can influence how other entrepreneurs can adapt and enhance their companies for the future.”

Entrepreneurship has never been more practical, either. According to the Kauffman Foundation, 565,000 new businesses were created in 2010–the most in 15 years–as many new ‘treps were forced into it by the downturn. “Young people know that there’s a high likelihood they’ll have to make it on their own,” says Thomas Knapp, associate director at the University of Southern California’s Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. USC has seen a 13.2 percent year-over-year increase in students taking entrepreneurship courses at the school.

The list looks at the companies leading the way by demonstrating how business in these areas is being done:

1. Decision Engines – Discovery fueling invention and purchases
2. Collaborative Commerce – Community sharing, bartering, lending, renting and gifting
3. Customization – Uber personalization
4. True Mobility – Leaving the PC behind
5. Creativity – Inspiration from the Everyman
6. Urban Farming – Local, local, local
7. Gamification – Revolutionizing customer engagement
8. Design – Pretty goods for the masses
9. Extreme Fitness – Boot camps and mud runs to beat workout boredom
10. Jobs – Rescuing the unemployed

*BONUS: Trend to Watch: Unmarrieds – Catering to Singles

Read the full article: 10 Hot Startup Sectors for New Business Ideas in 2012

The FCC is launching the Small Biz Cyber Planner, an online resource to help small businesses create customized cybersecurity plans.

This is the result of an unprecedented public-private partnership between government experts and private IT and security companies, including DHS, NCSA, NIST, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Chertoff Group, Symantec, Sophos, Visa, Microsoft, HP, McAfee, The Identity Theft Council, ADP and others. The online tool is available at FCC.gov/cyberplanner.

By almost any measure small businesses have an outsized impact on our economy and it is critically important that small businesses, a vibrant engine for job and idea creation, are secure using the many broadband enabled tools they need to efficiently run their businesses. According to a survey released in October, 2011 by Symantec and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), two-thirds of U.S. small businesses rely on broadband Internet for their day-to-day operations.

However, the Symantec survey also found that 85 percent of small businesses think their companies are cyber-secure, but barely half of these businesses actually have a cybersecurity strategy or plan in place and nearly 80 percent say they lack a written Internet security policy. With larger companies increasing their online defenses, small businesses are now the low hanging fruit for cyber criminals and many may have a false sense of security.

The Small Biz Cyber Planner will be of particular value for businesses that lack the resources to hire a dedicated staff member to protect themselves from cyber-threats. Even a business with one computer or one credit card terminal can benefit from this important guidance.  The tool will walk users through a series of questions to determine what cybersecurity strategies should be included in the planning guide. Then a customized PDF is created that will serve as a cybersecurity strategy template for a small business.

Read More: FCC Launches the Small Biz Cyber Planner

For years, marketers have been told the same story: “This year is the year of mobile! The mobile age has arrived and is here to stay.” Mobile has arrived—now it’s on marketers to catch up.

Consumers are using the mobile channel to research products, share information with friends and family, shop, and browse the web. Online marketers who invest in mobile optimization now to reach, engage and convert visitors, will lead the way in their industries.

This mobile research bundle provides you with the necessary tools, best practices, trends and steps to help you charge into the mobile marketing space.

Marketers who download this bundle, will gain get best practices and tips from world-class marketers like NBC Universal who are using the Adobe Online Marketing Suite to deliver relevant, engaging optimized mobile experiences to their users.

This mobile research bundle includes:

• Forrester’s research on key mobile trends to watch
• Adobe research on consumer mobile usage
• How marketers are measuring mobile campaign ROI

Eighty-nine percent of organizations have a mobile strategy in place, yet 33% of businesses cannot measure the ROI of their mobile campaigns. If you want to excel in the mobile marketing space, you need to download this mobile marketing research bundle today to get access to tactics and research that will help you customize your strategy to ensure you are increasing your bottom line.

The results reported are based on a national telephone survey of 2,277 adults conducted April 26-May 22, 2011. The report notes that staying in touch with family members is a major factor across a range of social media users, but it’s especially important to women and Middle-aged and older adults place a relatively high value on social media as a tool to connect with others around a hobby and interest

Two-thirds of online adults (66%) use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn.¹ These internet users say that connections with family members and friends (both new and old) are a primary consideration in their adoption of social media tools. Roughly two thirds of social media users say that staying in touch with current friends and family members is a major reason they use these sites, while half say that connecting with old friends they’ve lost touch with is a major reason behind their use of these technologies.

Other factors play a much smaller role—14% of users say that connecting around a shared hobby or interest is a major reason they use social media, and 9% say that making new friends is equally important. Reading comments by public figures and finding potential romantic partners are cited as major factors by just 5% and 3% of social media users, respectively.

View the full report: Why Americans Use Social Media